In recent weeks three cardinals passed away in Rome, each in their nineties.
Yes, cardinals do die in threes: Spidlik (ordained in 1949), Mayer (ordained in 1935), Poggi (ordained in 1940).
Mayer had been a peritus at the Vatican Council and Poggi had been an actual Council Father; perhaps the last living Archbishop who had been there.
So sad for me [born in the seventies] to see the disqualifying physique and temperament of the funeral rites at the Vatican these days; even for cardinals. Is this the liturgical reform that was going to save the world?
The Church always sympathized with bereavement and the Usus Antiquior is so exacting and tactful in this regard.
The reform of the sixties got panicky and the hapless pope at that time did not have the will or tools to fight the army which included so many of his own descendents and friends. He remained reticent while ostensibly everybody else remained his allies. "Be resigned," they said, "this is all for the good of modernity."
It is a great surprise for many to see how careless and bonhomie the funeral liturgies for cardinals are at the Vatican these days.
A prince of the Church may not "deserve" a bedroom of crimson or a walnut desk or frescoed corridors, but he does deserve a worthy burial rite in the footprint of the traditions of the Latin rite. And be advised: "tradition" is no longer a dirty word.
I completely agrre with you, John. This "noble simplicity" in the liturgies of the Vatican is not more than minimalism practiced to a maximum. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to witness in the 1950ies in Rome the elaborate and reverent rites, full of symbolism, when funerals for Cardinals were held, appropriately for princes of the church.
ReplyDeleteIN the whole world, there are only 89 "Council Fathers" left. A;; in their very late 80's and 90's, except for Cardinal Arinze who is only 77.
ReplyDeleteThe Pope, 9 living Cardinals, and 80 bishops would wide (all retired) are all that's left of the men who created the disaster of Vatican II and ruined the Church.....perhaps unintentionally.
Certainly Benedict XVI did not ruin the Church, but many of this handful remaining were progressives who actively pushed for the disasterous reforms that ruined the Church world wide.
God Bless Cardinals Poggi and Mayer, who were traditionalists in the best sense of the word...especially Cardinal Poggi.
The Rites for Cardinals was created by the now 88 yr. old radical liberal Cardinal Virgilio Noe, and his cadre of liberals and experimenters who discarded the entire ritual for the burial of a Cardinal....in addition to so much else in the Church liturgically. The infamous Archbishop Piero Marini elaborated on their initial creativity, and downgraded the ceremonies at the Vatican even further.
I doubt if Pope Benedict XVI will take a hand and restore any of the beautiful ponp and symbolism of a funeral of a Cardinal, and indeed....any of the liturgies of the Pope.
If you watched the Masses telivised of the Pope in Torino last week....it was the same improvised, fabricated banal liturgices at which John Paul II officiated.
Except for ornamentation, nothing has changed.
A big disappointment. Let's hope it will change.
I feel the same. When I attended my Great Aunts funeral a year ago I felt I was in a Protestant church. There was absolutely nothing Catholic about it. I felt bad.
ReplyDeleteThe ostentatious humility of Paul VI, kissing the ground and having his coffin placed on the ground is directly responsible for the minimalism here. The fact is that the hierarchy and the clergy ape whatever the latest liturgical fad is at the Vatican. If popes are incompetent to set things straight we should stop bewailing the good old days.
ReplyDeleteI do find it galling and appalling and scandalous how quickly it has spread - JPII (and apparently PVI before him) wanted their coffins laid out on the ground etc. But - what way is this to treat the mortal remains of one of our brethren, let alone a Prince of Holy Mother Church?? Doesn't it make a farce of the incensing and blessing with Holy Water etc - all deigned to recognise the remains of the Temple of the Holy Spirit before us?? And to throw those remains on the ground like rubbish?? "Noble" "simplicity" ?? Please?? More like masonic denial and rejection of all that we hold holy.
ReplyDeleteI would like to think that the late cardinals are not picky, and that they are very grateful that requiem Masses are being said for the repose of their souls, in whatever form. I know I would be!
ReplyDeleteLet us thank God we have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, in whatever rite or form it may happen to be in!
Restore the rites, restore the Church. She stands and falls on the liturgy. She has been falling since the Second Vatican Council and its' decrees which have been implemented with brutal force resulting in banal simplicity. Nothing more..Sad indeed.
ReplyDeleteIn effect the some kind improvements under Marini II can achieve nothing, they even look misplaced, you can not try to embellish something which was fabricated disastrously by "liturgical experts". The pontiff can vest in precious roman chasubles and miters but nevertheless the ceremonies at the Vatican seem further on completely fabricated and improvised. Before the radical break with old papal and prelatial ceremonal, nothing looked like made on drawing board but organically evolved through ages. Today you can see this exclusively in the East.
ReplyDeleteI'm absolutely disappointed but we are going to change these things.
ReplyDeleteThe custom of placing the coffin on the floor is called ‘mos nobilium’. This practice was often seen among members of European royal or noble families. Therefore it does not seem at all inappropriate for a Prince of the Church.
ReplyDelete