Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Excesses of the Pre-Vatican II Church?

There is a lively discussion taking place on Fr. Z's blog about this picture of the new Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Cañizares Llovera...


Would you like to comment on this Cappa Magna? Needless to say, this is a bit much for me! Do we as a Church have to go back to this triumphalism?

7 comments:

Der Herr Alipius said...

Define "have to".

Anonymous said...

Definition: Dictionary.com

Have To

"Have to" is used to express certainty, necessity, and obligation.

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In other words, of a certainty I don't see the necessity to have an obligation to return to the days of the cappa magna! (chuckle)

I enjoyed the captions on your rom, römer, am römsten website. :)

Anonymous said...

No obligation.

It's great, though!

I'm a convert, and in my limited experience converts are more likely to relish tradition and liturgical solemnity than older (in the sense of long-standing, not age) Catholics.

Anonymous said...

Dear Standing Maryanna:

Father Z prefaced his post with:

"Hey you liturgical progressivists! Get a load of this!"

I think this was meant as a good natured poke at some of the "liturgically progressive" notions in the style of felt banners with hearts and doves.

On a related theme, the architectural exuberance of the baroque and rococo churches in Europe and elsewhere, is somewhat equivalent to this capa magna. These styles work wonders on the imagination, especially that of a child who's not old enough to understand the spoken word. The wonderful art (and music) of these churches bring the child closer to Christ by inspiring his or her imagination with visual images of Christ's teachings.

On the other hand, sterile white walls, absence of art or anything resembling it, low quality music, will all act as a "boredom" barrier between a child and Christ's Church.

So let's not be too offended by this capa magna.

Der Herr Alipius said...

Maryanna: Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

I asked for a definition of "have to" because taken in the sense of a life-saving means we certainly do not need the cappa.

But: Wearing the cappa would not mean a return, because the days of the cappa magna never came to an end. In his motu proprio "ut sive sollicite" from 1969 Paul VI merely banished the cappa from Rome. Bishops were always allowed to wear the cappa in their diocese on solemn occasions. The fact that most of them stopped doing it doesn't mean that this is the new status quo. Lots of (especially younger) Catholics start to kind of grow fond of the old forms again, so why not? If it were only for the "show" I'd object. But I know quite a lot of those young Catholics who are fond of the old form and they are decent and sound people. You couldn't make the cappa magna obligatory nowadays anyways so in my humble opinion: When the circumstances are right, get the cappa out!

Anonymous said...

Alipius said: "Maryanna: Sprechen Sie Deutsch?"

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Yes... I can understand and read better than I can speak the language. My email address is with my profile.

Anonymous said...

It's nice to see a Cardinal who is not afraid to embrace the traditions of our Church.