22 September 2023

Mass of our Lady of Walsingham

In the old Roman Missal, in the Appendix pro Aliquibus Locis, there is (December 10) the Mass Pro Translatione Almae Domus Lauretanae i.e. the Holy House at Loretto). It is a beautiful and sophisticated combination of Marian texts with those for the Dedication of a Church. Innocent XII (1691-1700) ordered to be kept in the Province of Picenum.

When (the unlatinate) Fr Hope Patten rebuilt the Holy House, his Latinist collaborator Fr Fynes Clinton, adapted this Mass; all he needed to do was to remove the phrase from the Collect about the miraculous nature of the House's Translation (eamque in sinu ecclesiae tuae mirabiliter collocasti). The Mass, thus adapted, was printed in the next edition of the Anglican Pilgrims' Manual and we used it over the decades. It appears now in the Ordinariate Missal (although, sadly, some alternative texts have been added for optional use).

So for use on next Sunday, we have this fine liturgical set of texts ... of impeccably Papal and Counter-Reformation origin!


1 comment:

  1. Do you know how/why the ordinariate feast day ended up on 24 September (Our Lady of Ransom)? It makes sense that they would not want to use the 15 October Anglican date of the translation of the image. I thought perhaps 24 September was the date of the dedication of the Slipper Chapel, but that is not the case. Was there an ancient feast day associated with Walsingham?

    ReplyDelete