Such is the (highly convenient) term used in the Ordinariate Missal for the 'Gesima' two-and-a-half-weeks.
That same Missal, like the Old Roman Rite, sensibly provides that the A-word should not be used during 'Prelent'.
Life must be difficult, during this time, for clergy who, obliged to remember not to say the A-word, perhaps in their next Mass an hour later are required by the Novus Ordo to utter it. Such 'pastoral' details are not unimportant.
In order to facilitate the convergence of different forms of the Roman Rite, it is surely appropriate that the A-word should be eliminated from the Novus Ordo during these three weeks. Perhaps the colour Purple could be allowed optionally during this period, to help people to remember not to say ... Furthermore, the S Paul VI version of the preface I have discussed in my last two posts is already available for use in the NO during these Sundays.
Incidentally, the Ordinariate Missal does provide a Preface for Prelent (which may also be used during Lenrt as an alternative to the Lenten Preface). I suspect its origin may lie in an American Book of Common Prayer. (Is that right?)
I favour the provision of an (optional) 'Gesima' Preface such as the one I have been discussing (or its Ordinariate equivalent). For those using the Old Roman Rite, it would provide a reminder that we are in a different part of the year even on days when, as today, we climb into white vestments to say Mass of S Scholastica or whoever. And on the Sundays, this is surely the moment to move on from the Holy Trinity preface prescribed for green Sundays by Pope Clement XIII in 1759 ... after all, these Gesima Sundays are not 'green'. (For the same reasons, I welcome the use in Advent of the 'Gallican' Advent Preface commended in the SSPX francophone ORDO ... somebody once told me that it's provided optionally in the 1962 Missal ... is that right? ... my four altar missals are from deplorably early vintages ...).
Surely there is someone out there who could whisper into Cardinal Sara's receptive ear the importance of ...
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4 comments:
Dear Father,
I can confirm that the 1962 Missal does indeed provide the Gallican Preface as an alternative. It is to be found in a section of the Missal headed Gallican Prefaces, together with those for the Dedication of a Church, the Most Blessed Sacrament, St John the Baptist, and All Saints and Holy Patrons. (The Roman Missal 1962 p. 875f Baronius Press, London, 2007). Although content with the Novus Ordo, I find the 1962 Roman Missal to be full of spiritual and intellectual riches - a manual of the Catholic Mass as it was received, loved and venerated for countless centuries.
Honestly, I would not favor the convergence of two forms of the Roman Rite, one of which was cobbled up by a committee. I would favor abrogating the cobbled-up form in favor of the venerable form that nurtured generation upon generation of saints. Why try to reinvent the wheel?
With regard to the Advent preface: the Church Music Association of America provides a scan of the 1962 edition of the Missale Romanum. The Proprium de Tempore of the Advent Sundays prescribes the Preface of the Most Holy Trinity (and the Common Preface when repeated on ferial days); neither have I been able to find it in the appendix. I have seen this preface in German altar missals (as well as the Preface of Patrons and Saints), but it does not seem to be optional universally.
Yes, Father, much like the three "Lord's Day" prefaces for Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Pre-Lent preface in Divine Worship comes from the American 1979 Prayer Book. There it is not mandated for pre-Lent, which was removed, but the first of two options for Lent. It may stem from an earlier American Prayer Book for pre-Lent, of that I am not sure.
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