Mozarabic Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica

New Liturgical Movementto PT 3 has reported that when Archbishop Braulio Rodríguez Plaza of Toledo visits the Vatican, he will celebrate the Mozarabic Rite at the High Altar in St. Peter’s Basilica. NLM notes that this will be the fourth time that the Mozarabic Rite has been celebrated at the Vatican. The first was on October 15, 1963 during the Second Vatican Council. The second occasion was on the promulgation of the revised Mozarabic Missal and Lectionary. On that occasion, John Paul II presided. The third occasion was on December 16, 2000 amid the celebrations at the end of the Great Jubilee.

to PTThe Mozarabic Rite, or more properly speaking the Hispano-Mozarabic Rite, is one of a few Western non-Roman rites that are part of the Catholic Church today. Given my studies of the rite, the Mozarabic Rite holds a special place in my heart. During my studies here in Europe, I was lucky enough to be able to attend a Mozarabic Rite Mass in the Cathedral of Toledo this past November.

Archdale King, a liturgist who summarized most of the ancient liturgical rites, dedicates a whole chapter to the Mozarabic Rite in his book Liturgies of the Primatial Sees. When talking about mixed marriages between a Mozarabic Rite spouse and a Roman Rite spouse, he had this to say about the relevance of the Mozarabic Rite today:

It is unlikely that these regulations and customs have very much meaning today, when the old national rite is confined to a single chapel in the cathedral church, with the Mass, at which Holy Communion is not given, attended by no one except an occasional tourist.

to PT 2Despite renewed interest in the Mozarabic Rite, his comments still ring true. I was able to receive communion, but there were very few people there. In fact, I was the only layperson in the chapel, though a larger group of us attempted to celebrate the rite on the previous day only to discover that it had been canceled.

The Mozarabic Rite, along with a few other ancient rites in the West, is a testament to a time in which liturgical diversity, and dare I say inculturation, was the norm not the exception. Over the centuries the Roman Rite came to dominate, and rites such as the Mozarabic were greatly limited or even suppressed. I find these Western non-Roman rites intriguing because I think they offer interesting historical examples of the need for a plurality of liturgical forms. They also serve as reminders of a time in which the Roman Rite was far from universal.

 

 

 

Nathan Chase

Nathan P. Chase is Assistant Professor of Liturgical and Sacramental Theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO. He has contributed a number of articles to the field of liturgical studies, including pieces on liturgy in the early Church, initiation, the Eucharist, inculturation, and the Western Non-Roman Rites, in particular the Hispano-Mozarabic tradition. His first book The Homiliae Toletanae and the Theology of Lent and Easter was published in 2020. His second monograph, published in 2023, is titled The Anaphoral Tradition in the ‘Barcelona Papyrus.’

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Comments

20 responses to “Mozarabic Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica”

  1. mary collins

    Nathan:

    A former student did his doctoral dissertation on the Mozarabic rite as it is observed in a local parish in the city of Toledo, with a focus on Good Friday. It appeared in 2007 as “Mozarabs, Hispanics, and the Cross,” Raul Gomez-Ruiz, published by Orbis.

    Reply
    1. Nathan Chase

      @mary collins – comment #1:
      I have read over parts of that book. It is very good. There are several parishes that celebrate the Mozarabic Rite still, and apparently the number is growing…or so I have heard. Thanks!

      Reply
  2. Joshua Vas

    Nathan, are you aware of resources that treat the reformed Mozarabic liturgy vis-a-vis the traditional Mozarabic liturgy?

    Reply
    1. Nathan Chase

      @Joshua Vas – comment #3:
      I do not know of any resources that compare the new vs. the old Mozarabic liturgy in any great detail. I think your best resource for the pre-reformed liturgy in general would be Liturgies of the Primatial Sees by Archdale King. His book was published in 1957 long before the reforms carried out after Vatican II in the 80s and 90s. You would then have to look at the current books to see how they depart from the pre-reformed liturgies. I am sure there are also some articles and resources in Spanish, but I have not come across any systematic analysis. Sorry!

      Reply
      1. Halbert Weidner

        @Nathan Chase – comment #5:
        When I first got to England I tried to find tomato sauce in the grocery store. The staff person took me over to the ketchup. I said tomato sauce was cooked tomatoes and herbs. The staff person said, “Why dont you make your own?” I said, “Iwas trying to avoid that.” I think the persons asking about the resources know how to do their own, don’t you?

  3. Joseph Villecco

    Anything that preserves a non-Roman Rite, even if only on a limited basis, is worth the effort. Would were a fraction of the energy spent on the Missal of 1962 went towards preserving the forgotten members of the Latin liturgical family.

    It would be nice if, at the very least, the reformed books of the Mozarabic liturgy were more available. I suspect this is highly unlikely.

    Truth be told, you cannot stave off the process when a liturgy begins to decline and fall into disuse. At least, I don’t think we’ve seen an example of such ever happening.

    One can study the years following 1570 and see how, despit Quo Primum, there was “backroom” pressure to assimilate to the Roman liturgy. Although, the Mozarabic liturgy had already been in decline by that point.

    Whatever the case may be, there is a certain perspective from which it is hard not to see the decline of the various non-Roman liturgies in the West as one of most under appreciated tragedies in Western Christianity. There’s a lot out there that has slipped into the forgotten corners of history, some very good prayers that have just fallen into obscurity, save for the appreciation of a few specialists.

    Reply
    1. Jordan Zarembo

      @Joseph Villecco – comment #4:

      Joseph: Whatever the case may be, there is a certain perspective from which it is hard not to see the decline of the various non-Roman liturgies in the West as one of most under appreciated tragedies in Western Christianity.

      Until 1969, certain religious orders had their own missals (Carthusians, Dominicans, Norbertines, etc ). While all of these missals were generally resembled the medieval-renaissance Roman rite, each had significant rubrical, ordinary, and proper variations. Some orders attempted to preserve their distinctive missals in the mid 1960s interim period, given that this period was the 1962 missal with the indult for some vernacular. The brief interim period did not pose a need for significant modifications to the peculiar missals of religious orders.

      I suspect that the general adoption of the 1969 missal among almost all Roman-rite religious orders stemmed from a general inability to re-engineer the 1969 missal to the peculiarities of each orders’ observance. The loss of the the religious order missals is another sad consequence of the radical reformation of the Roman rite. I am heartened by the fact that at least one Dominican community is reviving its preconciliar rites.

      Reply
  4. Fritz Bauerschmidt

    The Carthusians have apparently revised their liturgical books since the Council, but I don’t know what their official status is or whether they are actually used. I’ve only glanced at the Ordo Missae, but it seems to include the traditional Carthusian Offertory Prayers but also includes the three new Eucharistic Prayers.

    Reply
    1. Jordan Zarembo

      @Fritz Bauerschmidt – comment #7:

      Thanks Fritz for this resource.

      It’s interesting that the revised Carthusian missal has preserved a secreta rather than an oratio super oblata. I suppose then that aspects of preconciliar missals can be incorporated into the revised Roman rite with only a slight modification. Then, why did other orders adopt the Roman rite without modification of the ordinary?

      Changes in the sanctoral cycle are not particularly odd, since different countries and regions have their own commemorations for local saints. Likewise, orders could compose sanctoral cycles for the tradition of their order.

      Reply
  5. Juan Enrique de la Rica Barriga

    Relating mixed marriages, perhaps you don’t know (because it is something very specifically spanish) that in the spanish edition of the Roman Sacramentary for Marriage there is a 3rd form of rite of marriage, which is the mozarabic ritual, and this form can be used in whole Spain, even if the both bride and bridegroom are not of mozarabic family, and even if the priest and the church are not mozarabic. This is an ancient privilege: When in Middle Age the mozarabic rite was replaced by the roman rite, the rite of marriage was not replaced. As a matter of fact, before the II Vatican Council all the marriages in Spain were in the mozarabic rite, and one could not find the roman rite in spanish sacramentaries. After the new roman sacramentary was published, the mozarabic rite was not included in the new edition, so the rite was not used anymore; but in the 2nd edition of the roman sacramentary for Spain (year 1996), the Conferencia episcopal obtained the reintroduction of the mozarabic marriage rite for Spain, so we can use it freely now. More young spouses choose this form, because it is the form of their parents or greatparents marriage (with some remarkable rites, v. gr. the “yugo” (yoke), a sort of humeral veil which is put on the bride’s head and the bridesgroom’s shoulders, or the “arras”, thirteen silber coins which the bridegroom gives to the bride, and then the bride gives back to the bridegroom). The nuptial blessing is too in mozarabic style: the people answer “amen” to each sentence of the priest (not only at the end), and with the old mozarabic melody, still now usual in Spain for the Paternoster.

    Reply
    1. Ren Aguila

      @Juan Enrique de la Rica Barriga – comment #8:
      The Mozarabic form of the marriage rite, which as you said became normative in Spain, also made its way to the Philippines, and indeed before the Second Vatican Council, the local version of the Roman Ritual here had the same form. Hence, even in the contemporary Roman marriage rite as used here, some of the rituals from that rite, such as the veil, cord, and arrhae, have been retained.

      Reply
  6. Alan Johnson

    Quite apart from the antiquarian aspect, I think local hierarchies should be pushing for liturgical diversity anyway.
    I spent a bit of time on Youtube yesterday watching clips of the Zaire Mass. Wonderful local expression of the universal church.
    Sorry for going off topic.

    Reply
  7. Joseph Villecco

    Jordan Zarembo : The loss of the the religious order missals is another sad consequence of the radical reformation of the Roman rite. I am heartened by the fact that at least one Dominican community is reviving its preconciliar rites.

    The liturgical family of the Dominican Rite is, I believe, long disputed. It has been variously argued that it is Gallican, early Roman, medieval, etc.

    A rather unfortunate decision was made after the promulgation of the 1570 Missale Romanum to jettison the original readings of the Dominican Rite in order to allign with the Roman.

    With regards to standarization in 1969, I think this has to be seen int the context of Pius X’s liturgical reforms. The impact of Pius X’s reforms on the Dominican Breviary was such that the Dominican breviary effectively no longer existed. As a result, the Dominican Missal was essentially defunct.

    “Radical reform” begins well before Paul VI. However one wishes to judge these reforms, they consciously followed the reforms of Pius X and Pius XII, reforms which rested on the authority accorded to the papacy under Roman ecclesiology. On this authority, radical propositions that significantly recast the Roman liturgy were followed. We have to be clear on this, if only for honesty’s sake. To argue that the Missal of Paul VI is a radical reform without sufficient reference to how radical the reforms of Pius X and Pius XII were creates a convenient narrative at the cost of the truth.

    Taking the historical perspective, the Missal of Paul VI tries to resolve a problem impacting the Latin Church since the implementation of Quo Primum which continued into the twentieth century. The Latin tradition was ossified into a particular form, not necessarily the best of the available options at the time. One is left to one’s own opinion regarding its success.

    Reply
  8. Joseph Villecco

    Fritz Bauerschmidt : The Carthusians have apparently revised their liturgical books since the Council, but I don’t know what their official status is or whether they are actually used. I’ve only glanced at the Ordo Missae, but it seems to include the traditional Carthusian Offertory Prayers but also includes the three new Eucharistic Prayers.

    That has been my impression as well. The Carthusians seem to have applied a very reserved reform to their rite. It would be a real boon if some publisher put together a study edition of their books. Based upon the limited correspondence I’ve had with the order a few years ago, it is unlikely this would happen.

    Reply
  9. Juan Enrique de la Rica Barriga

    Regarding ressources about the old and modern mozarabic liturgical textes, you can examine this page, where you can see a great part of the modern mozarabic missal, both latin and spanish:

    http://www.hispanomozarabe.es/Liturgia/ind-mis.htm

    And here you have links to diverse old mozarabic liturgical books

    http://www.hispanomozarabe.es/Liturgia/libros/biblioteca-ind.htm#inicio

    Reply
  10. Josemaria Martin

    The Mozarabic rite is alive in the Philippines,at least in Traditionalist circles.

    Reply
    1. Nathan Chase

      @Josemaria Martin – comment #15:
      Could you tell us more? I did not know it had a following in the Philippines.

      Reply
      1. Ren Aguila

        @Nathan Chase – comment #16:
        One glimpse of this is in this article:

        http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/508559/marrying-in-ancient-sacred-catholic-rites

        I could not access this link at work, but this might be related:

        https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDsQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdeipraesidiofultus.blogspot.com%2F2013%2F06%2Fthe-sacrament-of-matrimony-according-to.html&ei=7lo0VbPmE4SxmwXczoGoAQ&usg=AFQjCNFUbO55iNERkP1c3Fxqr3CmmFeANw&bvm=bv.91071109,d.dGY

  11. Alan Johnson

    Here’s an interesting bit from Trent
    “If, however, in any provinces, other laudable customs and ceremonies are in use besides the foregoing in the celebration of the Sacrament of Matrimony, the holy Council of Trent desires that they should be retained” (see Decreta Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV, De Reformatione, cap. 1).
    This applied also to England, where the Catholic marriage rite was a hangover from Sarum et al, so it resembled the Anglican service. I’m not sure if that is still the case since the revisions of the rite.

    Reply
  12. Bob

    Does anyone know if there are any churches in the USA that practice the Mozarabic rite?

    Reply

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