I noticed, winking at me from my revolving book-case, my 1845 (Hanicq) Pontificale Romanum. Nice engravings! Idly wasting the lazy moment, I just happen to notice that, on Ash Wednesday, the Pontiff expels the Penitents from Church and warns them not to darken its doors again until Maundy Thursday.
Ah, happy days, when the clergy told people not to come to Church!
The (barefoot) penitents were to be garbed in sackcloth and ashes; the penitential psalms and the Litany were to be sung and then the Pontiff was to say: "Look! You are chucked out today from the thresholds of Holy Mother Church on account of your sins, just as Adam the first Man was ejected from Paradise on account of his transgression."
Then the choir were to sing a couple of very heart-warming anthems: "In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread ... etc. etc.."
Tomorrow: the next stage (2) in the story.
I wonder how this penitential system fits into the conviction of PF and his Teutonic Knights that (as long as people pay their Church Tax) they ought not to be expelled?
And I do rather wonder how those people nuance I Corinthians chapter 5 (especially arthei ek mesou humon ... ego kekrika ... paradounai toi satanai ... me sunanamignusthai pornois ... exarate ton poneron ex humon auton ...).
It is often a good idea, when listening to a slippery/dodgy politican, to notice what s/he is very careful not to claim. When PF claimed not long ago that Jesus never sent anybody away (datum sed non concessum), what about S Paul's praxis?
Or are the 'Pauline writings' yet another bit of the Bible which Ming the Mighty and Merciless has cut out of the Canon of Holy Scripture?
When PF issues to the Bishops some document headed Sacrae Scripturae custodes, what action should we take?
Big Man, Huge Errors, Hefty Scissors.
