Encyclical letter of his holiness Pius XII on the Sacred Liturgy.


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Encyclical tetter of Tope DIusXII

on the 6acrefc Difurgy



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ENCYCLICAL LETTER
OF HIS HOLINESS

PIUS XII

THE SACRED LITURGY
(Vatican Library Translation)

National Catholic Welfare Conference
1312 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE, N. W.

WASHINGTON 5, D. C.



Discussion Outline, Suggested Religious Practices and Suggestions for

Further Reading by Rev. Shawn G. Sheehan, Secretary,
National Liturgical Conference

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First Printing, June, 1948

Second Printing, September, 1948



TO OUR VENERABLE BRETHREN

THE PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS

AND OTHER ORDINARIES
IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE

POPE PIUS XII

VENERABLE BRETHREN

HEALTH AND APOSTOLIC BENEDICTION

INTRODUCTION

Jesus Christ Redeemer of the World

1. Mediator between God and men 1 and High Priest Who has
gone before us into heaven, Jesus the Son of God 2 quite clearly had
one aim in view when He undertook the mission of mercy which
was to endow mankind with the rich blessings of supernatural grace.
Sin had disturbed the right relationship between man and his
Creator; the Son of God would restore it. The children of Adam
were wretched heirs to the infection of original sin

;
He would bring

them back to their Heavenly Father, the primal Source and final
Destiny of all things. For this reason He was not content, while
He dwelt with us on earth, merely to give notice that Redemption
had begun, and to proclaim the long-awaited Kingdom of God, but
gave Himself besides in prayer and sacrifice to the task of saving
souls, even to the point of offering Himself, as He hung from the
Cross, a Victim unspotted unto God, to purify our conscience of
dead works, to serve the living God.3 Thus happily were all men
summoned back from the byways leading them down to ruin and
disaster, to be set squarely once again upon the path that leads to
God. Thanks to the shedding of the Blood of the Immaculate
Lamb, now each might set about the personal task of achieving
his own sanctification, so rendering to God the glory due to Him.

1 I Tim., II, 5.
2 Cf. Hcbr., IV, 14.
3 Cf. Hebr., IX, 14.

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The Church continues the priestly office of Jesus Christ

2. But what is more, the Divine Redeemer has so willed it that
the priestly life begun with the supplication and sacrifice of His
mortal Body should continue without intermission down the ages
in His Mystical Body which is the Church. That is why He estab-
lished a visible priesthood to offer everywhere the clean oblation 4

which would enable men from East to West, freed from the shackles
of sin, to offer God that unconstrained and voluntary homage which
their conscience dictates.

3. In obedience, therefore, to her Founder’s behest, the Church
prolongs the' priestly mission of Jesus Christ mainly by means of
the sacred Liturgy. She does this in the first place at the altar,
where constantly the Sacrifice of the Cross is re-presented 5 and,
with a single difference in the manner of its offering, renewed.6 She
does it next by means of the Sacraments, those special channels
through which men are made partakers in the supernatural life.
She does it finally by offering to God, all Good and Great, the daily
tribute of her prayer of praise. “What a spectacle for heaven and
earth,” observes Our Predecessor of happy memory, Pius XI,
“is not the Church at prayer ! For centuries without interruption,
from midnight to midnight, the divine psalmody of the inspired
canticles is repeated on earth; there is no hour of the day that is
not hallowed by its special liturgy; there is no stage of human life
that has not its part in the thanksgiving, praise, supplication and
reparation of this common prayer of the Mystical Body of Christ
which is His Church !” 7

Revival of liturgical studies

4. You are of course familiar with the fact, Venerable Brethren,
that a remarkably widespread revival of scholarly interest in the
sacred Liturgy took place towards the end of the last century and
has continued through the early years of this one. The movement
owed its rise to commendable private initiative and more particu-
larly to the zealous and persistent labor of several monasteries
within the distinguished Order of Saint Benedict. Thus there
developed in this field among many European nations and in lands
beyond the seas as well, a rivalry as welcome as it was productive
of results. Indeed, the salutary fruits of this rivalry among the

4 Cf. Mal., I. 11.
5 Cf. Cone. Trid, Sess. XXII, c. 1.
o Cf. Ibid., c. 2.
7 Litt. Encj'cl. Caritate Christi d. d. iii Mail a. mcmxxxii.

4



scholars were plain for all to see, both in the sphere of the Sacred

Sciences, where the liturgical rites of the Western and Eastern
Church were made the object of extensive research and profound
study, and in the spiritual life of considerable numbers of individual
Christians.

5. The majestic ceremonies of the Sacrifice of the altar became
better known, understood and appreciated. With more widespread
and more frequent reception of the Sacraments, the worship of the
Eucharist came to be regarded for what it really is : the fountain-
head of genuine Christian devotion. Bolder relief was given like-
wise to the fact that all the faithful make up a single and very com-
pact body with Christ for its Head, and that the Christian com-
munity is in duty bound to participate in the liturgical rites accord-
ing to their station.

Provision of the Holy See for Liturgical Worship

6. You are surely well aware that this Apostolic See has always
made careful provision for the schooling of the people committed
to its charge in the correct spirit and practice of the Liturgy; and
that it has been no less careful to insist that the sacred rites should
be performed with due external dignity. In this connection We
Ourselves in the course of Our traditional address to the Lenten
Preachers of this gracious City of Rome in 1943, urged them
warmly to exhort their respective hearers to more faithful par-
ticipation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Only a short while previ-
ously, with the design of rendering the prayers of the Liturgy more
correctly understood and their truth and unction more easy to per-
ceive, We arranged to have the Book of Psalms, which forms such
an important part of these prayers in the Catholic Church, trans-
lated once more into Latin from their original text.8

7. But while We derive no little satisfaction from the wholesome
results of the movement just described, duty obliges Us to give
serious attention to this “revival” as it is advocated in some quar-
ters, and to take proper steps to preserve it at the outset from ex-
cess or outright perversion.

Deficiencies of some . . . Exaggerations of others

8. Indeed, though We are sorely grieved to note, on the one
hand, that there are places where the spirit, understanding or prac-

8 Cf. Litt. Ap. Motu Proprio In cotidianis precibus d. d. xxiv Martii a.
MCMXXXXV.

5



tice of the sacred Liturgy is defective, or all but inexistent, We
observe with considerable anxiety and some misgiving, that else-
where certain enthusiasts, over eager in their search for novelty,
are straying beyond the path of sound doctrine and prudence. Not
seldom, in fact, they interlard their plans and hopes for a revival
of the sacred Liturgy with principles which compromise this holiest
of causes in theory or practice, and sometimes even taint it with
errors touching Catholic faith and ascetical doctrine.

9. Yet the integrity of faith and morals ought to be the special
criterion of this sacred science, which must conform exactly to
what the Church out of the abundance of her wisdom teaches and
prescribes. It is consequently Our prerogative to commend and
approve whatever is done properly, and to check or censure any
aberration from the path of truth and rectitude.

10. Let not the apathetic or half-hearted imagine, however, that

We agree with them when We reprove the erring and restrain the
overbold. No more must the imprudent think that We are com-
mending them when We correct the faults of those who are negli-
gent and sluggish.

11. If in this Encyclical Letter We treat chiefly of the Latin
Liturgy, it is not because We esteem less highly the venerable
Liturgies of the Eastern Church, whose ancient and honorable
ritual traditions are just as dear to Us. The reason lies rather in
a special situation prevailing in the Western Church, of sufficient
importance, it would seem, to require this exercise of Our Au-
thority.

12. With docile hearts, then, let all Christians hearken to the
voice of their Common Father, who would have them, each and
every one, intimately united with him as they approach the altar of
God, professing the same faith, obedient to the same law, sharing
in the same Sacrifice with a single intention and one sole desire.
This is a duty imposed, of course, by the honour due to God. But
the needs of our day and age demand it as well. After a long and
cruel war which has rent whole peoples asunder with its rivalry and
slaughter, men of good will are spending themselves in the effort
to find the best possible way to restore peace to the world. It is,
notwithstanding, Our belief that no plan or initiative can offer
better prospect of success than that fervent religious spir.it and zeal
by which Christians must be formed and guided; in this way their
common and whole-hearted acceptance of the same truth, along
with their united obedience and loyalty to their appointed pastors,
while rendering to God the worship due to Him, makes of them

6



one brotherhood : “for we, being many, are one body : all that par-
take of one bread.” 9

PART I

THE NATURE, SOURCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE LITURGY

I. The Liturgy is Public Worship

To honor God: The duty of individuals

13. It is unquestionably the fundamental duty of man to orien-
tate his person and his life towards God. “For He it is to Whom
we must first be bound, as to an unfailing principle ; to Whom even
our free choice must be directed as to an ultimate objective. It is
He, too, Whom we lose when carelessly we sin. It is He Whom
we must recover by our faith and trust.” 10 But man turns properly
to God when he acknowledges His supreme majesty and supreme
authority; when he accepts divinely revealed truths with a sub-
missive mind; when he scrupulously obeys divine law, centering
in God his every act and aspiration; when he accords, in short,
due worship to the One True God by practicing the virtue of
religion.

The duty of the community

14. This duty is incumbent, first of all, on men as individuals.
But it also binds the whole community of human beings, grouped
together by mutual social ties: mankind, too, depends on the
sovereign authority of God.

15. It should be noted, moreover, that men are bound by this
obligation in a special way in virtue of the fact that God has raised
them to the supernatural order.

16. Thus we observe that when God institutes the Old Law, He
makes provision besides for sacred rites, and determines in exact
detail the rules to be observed by His people in rendering Him the
worship He ordains. To this end He established various kinds
of sacrifice and designated the ceremonies with which they were to
be offered to Him. His enactments on all matters relating to the
Ark of the Covenant, the Temple and the Holy Days are minute
and clear. He established a sacerdotal tribe with its high priest,
selected and described the vestments with which the sacred min-

9 I Cor., X, 17.
10 S. Thom., Summa Theol., II-II, q. LXXXI, art. 1.

7



isters were to be clothed and every function in any way pertain-
ing to divine worship. 11 Yet, this was nothing more than a faint
foreshadowing 12 of the worship which the High Priest of the New
Testament was to render to the Father in heaven.

Honor given to the Father by the Incarnate Word ... on Earth

17. No sooner, in fact, “is the Word made flesh” 13 than He
shows Himself to the world vested with a priestly office, making
to the Eternal Father an act of submission which will continue
uninterruptedly as long as He lives : “When He cometh into the
world He saith . . . ‘behold I come ... to do Thy will’.” 14 This
act He was to consummate admirably in the bloody Sacrifice of the
Cross : “In the which ‘will’ we are sanctified by the oblation of
the Body of Jesus Christ once.” 15 He plans His active life among
men with no other purpose in view. As a Child He is presented
to the Lord in the Temple. To the Temple He returns as a grown
Boy, and often afterwards to instruct the people and to pray. He
fasts for forty days before beginning His public ministry. His
counsel and example summon all to prayer, daily and at night as
well. As Teacher of the truth He “enlighteneth every man” 16 to
the end that mortals may duly acknowledge the immortal God.
“not withdrawing unto perdition, but faithful to the saving of the

soul.” 17 As Shepherd He watches over His flock, leads it to life-
giving pasture, and lays down a law that none shall wander from
His side, off the straight path He has pointed out, and that all shall
lead holy lives imbued with His spirit and moved by His active aid.
At the Last Supper He celebrates a New Pasch with solemn rite
and ceremonial, and provides for its continuance through the divine

institution of the Eucharist. On the morrow, lifted up between
heaven and earth, He offers the saving Sacrifice of His life, and
pours forth, as it were, from His pierced Heart the Sacrament^

destined to impart the treasures of Redemption to the souls of men.

All this He does with but a single aim : the glory of His Father
and man’s ever greater sanctification.

11 Cf. Lib. Levitici.

12 Cf. Hebr., X, 1.
13 IoAN., I, 14.

14 Hebr., X, 5-7.

15 Ibidem, X, 10.

16 IOAN, I, 9.
17 Hebr, X, 39.

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... in Heaven

18. But it is His will, besides, that the worship He instituted
and practiced during His life on earth shall continue ever after-

wards without any intermission. For He has not left mankind an
orphan. He still offers us the support of His powerful, unfailing
intercession, acting as our “advocate with the Father.” 18 He aids
us likewise through His Church, where He is present indefectibly
as the ages run their course; through the Church which He con-
stituted “the pillar of truth,” 19 and dispenser of grace, and which,
by His sacrifice on the Cross, He founded, consecrated and con-
firmed forever.20

In union with Christ, the Church continues to honor God

19. The Church has, therefore, in common with the Word In-
carnate the aim, the obligation and the function of teaching all men
the truth, of governing and directing them aright, of offering to
God the pleasing and acceptable Sacrifice

;
in this way the Church

reestablishes between the Creator and His creatures that unity and
harmony to which the Apostle of the Gentiles alludes in these
words : “Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners

;

but you are fellow citizens with the saints and domestics of God,
built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
Himself being the chief corner stone: in Whom all the building,
being framed together, groweth up into a holy temple in the Lord,
in Whom you also are built together into a habitation of God in
the Spirit.” 21 Thus the society founded by the Divine Redeemer,
whether in her doctrine and government, or in the Sacrifice and
Sacraments instituted by Him, or finally, in the ministry, which
He has confided to her charge with the outpouring of His prayer
and the shedding of His blood, has no other goal or purpose than to
increase ever in strength and unity.

20. This result is in fact achieved when Christ lives and thrives,
as it were, in the hearts of men, and when men’s hearts in turn are
fashioned and expanded as though by Christ. This makes it pos-
sible for the sacred temple, where the Divine Majesty receives the
acceptable worship which His law prescribes, to increase and

18 Cf. I loan., II, 1.
19 Cf. I Tim., Ill, 15.
20 Cf. Bonif. IX, Ab origine mundi, d. d. vn Oct. a. mcccxci; Callist. Ill,

Summus Pontifex, d. d. i Ian. a. mcccclvi; Pius II, Triumphans Pastor,
d. d. xxn Apr. mcccclix; Innoc. XI, Triumphans Pastor, d. d. hi Oct. a.
MDCLXXVIII.

21 Ephes., II, 19-22.

9



prosper day by day in this land of exile on earth. Along with the
Church, therefore, her divine Founder is present at every liturgical
function : Christ is present at the august Sacrifice of the altar both
in the person of His minister and above all under the Eucharistic
species. He is present in the Sacraments, infusing into them the
power which makes them ready instruments of sanctification. He
is present finally in the prayer of praise and petition we direct to
God, as it is written: “Where there are two or three gathered
together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.” 22 The
sacred Liturgy is consequently the public worship which our
Redeemer as Head of the Church renders to the Father as well as
the worship which the community of the faithful renders to its
Founder, and through Him to the Heavenly Father. It is, in
short, the worship rendered by the Mystical Body of Christ in the
entirety of its Head and members.

Historical beginnings of the sacred Liturgy

21. Liturgical practice begins with the very founding of the
Church. The first Christians, in fact, “were persevering in the
doctrine of the apostles and in the communication of the breaking
of bread and in prayers.” 23 Whenever their Pastors can summon
a little group of the faithful together, they set up an altar on which
they proceed to offer the Sacrifice, and around which are ranged
all the other rites appropriate for the saving of souls and for the
honor due to God. Among these latter rites, the first place is
reserved for the Sacraments, namely the seven principal founts of
salvation. There follows the celebration of the divine praises in
which the faithful also join, obeying the behest of the Apostle Paul

:

“In all wisdom : teaching and admonishing one another in psalms,
hymns and spiritual canticles, singing in grace in your hearts to
God.” 24 Next comes the reading of the Law, the Prophets, the
Gospel and the Apostolic Epistles; and last of all the homily or
sermon in which the official head of the congregation recalls and
explains the practical bearing of the commandments of the Divine
Master and the chief events of His life, combining instruction with
appropriate exhortation and illustration for the benefit of all his
listeners.

Its organization and developments

22. As circumstances and the needs of the Christians warrant,

22 Matth., XVIII, 20.
23 Act., II, 42.
24 Coloss., Ill, 16.

10



public worship is organized, developed and enriched by new rites,
ceremonies and regulations, always with the single end in view

:

“that we may use these external signs to keep us alert, learn from
them what distance we have come along the road, and by them be
heartened to go on further with more eager step; for the effect
will be more precious the warmer the affection which precedes it.” 25

Here then is a better and more suitable way to raise the heart to
God. Thenceforth the priesthood of Jesus Christ is a living and
continuous reality through all the ages to the end of time, since the
Liturgy is nothing more nor less than the exercise of this priestly
function. Like her divine Head, the Church is forever present in
the midst of her children. She aids and exhorts them to holiness,
so that they may one day return to the Father in heaven clothed in
that beauteous raiment of the supernatural. To all who are born
to life on earth she gives a second, supernatural kind of birth. She
arms them with the Holy Spirit for the struggle against the im-
placable enemy. She gathers all Christians about her altars, invit-
ing and urging them repeatedly to take part in the celebration of
the Mass, feeding them with the Bread of Angels to make them
ever stronger. She purifies and consoles the hearts that sin has
wounded and soiled. Solemnly she consecrates those whom God
has called to the priestly ministry. She fortifies with new gifts
of grace the chaste nuptials of those who are destined to found and
bring up a Christian family. When at last she has soothed and
refreshed the closing hours of this earthly life by Holy Viaticum
and Extreme Unction, with the utmost affection she accompanies
the mortal remains of her children to the grave, lays them reverently
to rest, and confides them to the protection of the Cross, against
the day when they will triumph over death and rise again. She
has a further solemn blessing and invocation for those of her chil-
dren who dedicate themselves to the service of God in the life of
religious perfection. Finally, she extends to the souls in Purgatory
who implore her intercession and her prayers the helping hand
which may lead them happily at last to eternal blessedness in
heaven.

II. The Liturgy is Exterior and Interior Worship

Exterior worship

23. The worship rendered by the Church to God must be, in its
entirety, interior as well as exterior. It is exterior because the

25 S. Augustin., Epist. 130, ad Probam, 18.

11



nature of man as a composite body and soul requires it to be so.
Likewise, because divine Providence has disposed that “while we
recognize God visibly, we may be drawn by Him to love of things
unseen.” 26 Every impulse of the human heart, besides, expresses
itself naturally through the senses

;
and the worship of God, being

the concern not merely of individuals but of the whole community
of mankind, must therefore be social as well. This obviously it
cannot be unless religious activity is also organized and manifested
outwardly. Exterior worship finally, reveals and emphasizes the
unity of the Mystical Body, feeds new fuel to its holy zeal, fortifies
its energy, intensifies its action day by day: “for although the
ceremonies themselves can claim no perfection or sanctity in their
own right, they are, nevertheless, the outward acts of religion,
designed to rouse the heart, like signals of a sort, to veneration

of the sacred realities, and to raise the mind to meditation on the
supernatural. They serve to foster piety, to kindle the flame of
charity, to increase our faith and deepen our devotion. They pro-
vide instruction for simple folk, decoration for divine worship,

continuity of religious practice. They make it possible to tell
genuine Christians from their false or heretical counterparts.” 27

But it is especially interior worship

24. But the chief element of divine worship must be interior.
For we must always live in Christ and give ourselves to Him
completely, so that in Him, with Him and through Him the
heavenly Father may be duly glorified. The sacred Liturgy re-
quires, however, that both of these elements be intimately linked
with each other. This recommendation the Liturgy itself is care-
ful to repeat, as often as it prescribes an exterior act of worship.
Thus we are urged, when there is question of fasting, for example
“to give interior effect to our outward observance.” 28 Otherwise
religion clearly amounts to mere formalism, without meaning and
without content. You recall, Venerable Brethren, how the Divine
Master expels from the sacred Temple, as unworthy to worship
there, people who pretend to honour God with nothing but neat
and well-turned phrases, like actors in a theatre, and think them-
selves perfectly capable of working out their eternal salvation
without plucking their inveterate vices from their hearts.29 It is.

26 Missale Rom., Praef. Nativ.
27 I. Card. Bona, De divina psalmodia, cap. 19, § III, 1.
28 Missale Rom., Secreta feriae V post Dom. II Quadrag.
28 Cf. Marc., VII, 6 et Is., XXIX, 13.

12



therefore, the keen desire of the Church that all of the faithful
kneel at the feet of the Redeemer to tell Him how much they ven-
erate and love Him. She wants them present in crowds—like the
children whose joyous cries accompanied His entry into Jerusalem
—to sing their hymns and chant their song of praise and thanks-
giving to Him Who is King of Kings and Source of every blessing.
She would have them move their lips in prayer, sometimes in peti-
tion, sometimes in joy and gratitude, and in this way experience
His merciful aid and power like the Apostles at the lakeside of
Tiberias, or abandon themselves totally, like Peter on Mount
Thabor, to mystic union with the Eternal God in contemplation.

Exaggeration of the external element

25. It is an error consequently and a mistake to think of the
sacred Liturgy as merely the outward or visible part of divine
worship or as an ornamental ceremonial. No less erroneous is the
notion that it consists solely in a list of laws and prescriptions
according to which the ecclesiastical Hierarchy orders the sacred
rites to be performed.

26. It should be clear to all, then, that God cannot be honored
worthily unless the mind and heart turn to Him in quest of the
perfect life, and that the worship^ rendered to God by the Church
in union with her divine Head is the most efficacious means of
achieving sanctity.

27. This efficacy, where there is question of the Eucharistic
Sacrifice and the Sacraments, derives first of all and principally
from the act itself (ex opere operato). But if one considers the
part which the Immaculate Spouse of Jesus Christ takes in the
action, embellishing the Sacrifice and Sacraments with prayer and
sacred ceremonies, or if one refers to the “Sacramentals” and the
other rites instituted by the Hierarchy of the Church, then its
effectiveness is due rather to the action of the Church (ex opere
operantis Ecclesiae), inasmuch as she is holy and acts always in
closest union with her Head.

New theories on “objective piety”

28. In this connection, Venerable Brethren, We desire to direct
your attention to certain recent theories touching a so-called “ob-
jective” piety. While these theories attempt, it is true, to throw
light on the mystery of the Mystical Body, on the effective reality
of sanctifying grace, on the action of God in the Sacraments and in
the Mass, it is nonetheless apparent that they tend to belittle, or

13



pass over in silence, what they call “subjective,” or “personal”
piety.

29. It is an unquestionable fact that the work of our Redemption
is continued, and that its fruits are imparted to us, during the
celebration of the Liturgy, notably in the august Sacrifice of the

altar. Christ acts each day to save us, in the Sacraments and in
His holy Sacrifice. By means of them He is constantly atoning
for the sins of mankind, constantly consecrating it to God. Sacra-
ments and Sacrifice do, then, possess that “objective” power to
make us really and personally sharers in the divine life of Jesus
Christ. Not from any ability of our own, but by the power of God,
are they endowed with the capacity to unite the piety of members
with that of the Head, and to make this, in a sense, the action of
the whole community. From these profound considerations some
are led to conclude that all Christian piety must be centered in the
mystery of the Mystical Body of Christ, with no regard for what
is “personal” or “subjective,” as they would have it. As a result
they feel that all other religious exercises not directly connected

with the sacred Liturgy and performed outside public worship,
should be omitted.

30. But though the principles set forth above are excellent, it
must be plain to everyone that the conclusions drawn from them
respecting the two sorts of piety are false, insidious, and quite
pernicious.

Necessity of personal piety

31.

Very truly, the Sacraments and the Sacrifice of the altar,
being Christ’s own actions, must be held to be capable in themselves
of conveying and dispensing grace from the divine Head to the
members of the Mystical Body. But if they are to produce their
proper effect, it is absolutely necessary that our hearts be rightly
disposed to receive them. Hence the warning of Paul the Apostle
with reference to Holy Communion : “But let a man first prove
himself; and then let him eat of this bread and drink of the
chalice.”

30 This explains why the Church in a brief and significant
phrase calls the various acts of mortification, especially those prac-

ticed during the season of Lent, “the Christian army’s defenses.” 31

They represent, in fact, the personal effort and activity of mem-
bers who desire, as grace urges and aids them, to join forces with
their Captain

—
“that we may discover ... in our Captain,” to

30 1 Cor., XI, 28.
31 Missale Rom., Feria IV Cinerum : orat. post imposit., cinerun}.

14



borrow Saint Augustine’s words, “the fountain of grace itself.”
32

But observe that these members are alive, endowed and equipped
with an intelligence and will of their own. It follows that they

are strictly required to put their own lips to the fountain, imbibe
and absorb for themselves the life-giving water, and rid themselves

personally of anything that might hinder its nutritive effect in their

souls. Emphatically, therefore, the work of Redemption, which
in itself is independent of our will, requires a serious interior effort

on our part if we are to achieve eternal salvation.

Necessity of meditation and spiritual exercises

32. If the private and interior devotion of individuals were to
neglect the august Sacrifice of the altar and the Sacraments, and

to withdraw them from the stream of vital energy that flows from
Head to members, it would indeed be sterile, and deserves to be
condemned. But when devotional exercises, and pious practices
in general, not strictly connected with the sacred Liturgy, confine

themselves to merely human acts, with the express purpose of
directing these latter to the Father in Heaven, of rousing people to
repentance and holy fear of God, of weaning them from seductions
of the world and its vice, and leading them back to the difficult
path of perfection, then certainly such practices are not only highly

praiseworthy but absolutely indispensable
;
because they expose the

dangers threatening the spiritual life
;
they promote the acquisition

of virtue; and because they increase the fervor and generosity
with which we are bound to dedicate all that we are and all that
we have to the service of Jesus Christ. Genuine and real piety,
which the Angelic Doctor calls “devotion,” and which is the
principal act of the virtue of religion—that act which correctly
relates and fitly directs men to God and by which they freely and
spontaneously give themselves to the worship of God in its fullest
sense 33—piety of this authentic sort needs meditation on the
supernatural realities and spiritual exercises, if it is to be nurtured,
stimulated and sustained, and if it is to prompt us to lead a more
perfect life. For the Christian religion, practiced as it should be,
demands that the will especially be consecrated to God and exert
its influence on all the other spiritual faculties. But every act of
the will presupposes an act of the intelligence, and before one can
express the desire and the intention of offering oneself in sacrifice
to the eternal Godhead, a knowledge of the facts and truths which

32 De praedestinatione sanctorum, 31.
33 Cf. S. Thom., Summa Theol., II-II, q. LXXXII, a. 1.

15



make religion a duty is altogether necessary. One must first
know, for instance, man’s last end and the supremacy of the
Divine Majesty; after that, our common duty of submission to our
Creator

;
and finally the inexhaustible treasures of love with which

God yearns to enrich us, as well as the necessity of supernatural
grace for the achievement of our destiny, and that special path
marked out for us by Divine Providence in virtue of the fact that
we have been united one and all, like members of a body, to Jesus
Christ the Head. But further, since our hearts, disturbed as they
are at times by the lower appetites, do not always respond to
motives of love, it is also extremely helpful to let consideration and
contemplation of the justice of God provoke us on occasion to
salutary fear, and guide us thence to Christian humility, repentance
and amendment.

The concrete results of piety

33. But it will not do to possess these facts and truths after the
fashion of an abstract memory lesson or lifeless commentary. They
must lead to practical results. They must impel us to subject our
senses and their faculties to reason, as illuminated by the Catholic
faith. They must help to cleanse and purify the heart uniting it
to Christ more intimately every day, growing ever more in His
likeness, and drawing from Him the divine inspiration and strength
of which it stands in need. They must serve as increasingly effec-
tive incentives to action; urging men to produce good fruit, to
perform their individual duties faithfully, to give themselves eagerly
to the regular practice of their religion and the energetic exercise
of virtue. “You are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” 34 Let every-
thing, therefore, have its proper place and arrangement

;
let every-

thing be “theocentric” so to speak, if we really wish to direct
everything to the glory of God through the life and power which
flows from the divine Head into our hearts: “Having therefore,
brethren, a confidence in the entering into the holies by the Blood
of Christ, a new and living way which He both dedicated for us
through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and a high priest over
the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart, in fulness
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and
our bodies washed with clean water, let us hold fast the confesssion
of our hope without wavering . . . and let us consider one another,
to provoke unto charity and to good works.” 35

34 Cf. I Cor., Ill, 23.
35 Hebr., X, 19-24.

16



Harmony and equilibrium among the members of the Mystical Body

34. Here is the source of the harmony and equilibrium which
prevails among the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ.
When the Church teaches us our Catholic faith and exhorts us to
obey the commandments of Christ, she is paving a way for her
priestly, sanctifying action in its highest sense; she disposes us

likewise for more serious meditation on the life of the Divine
Redeemer and guides us to profounder knowledge of the mysteries
of faith where we may draw the supernatural sustenance, strength
and vitality that enable us to progress safely, through Christ, to-

wards a more perfect life. Not only through her ministers, but
with the help of the faithful individually, who have imbibed in this
fashion the spirit of Christ, the Church endeavors to permeate
with this same spirit the life and labors of men—their private and
family life, their social, even economic and political life—that all
who are called God’s children may reach more readily the end
He has proposed for them.

35. Such action on the part of individual Christians, then, along
with the ascetic effort prompting them to purify their hearts,
actually stimulates in the faithful those energies which enable them
to participate in the august Sacrifice of the altar with better disposi-

tions. They now can receive the Sacraments with more abundant
fruit, and come from the celebration of the sacred rites more eager,
more firmly resolved to pray and deny themselves like Christians,
to answer the inspirations and invitation of divine grace and to
imitate daily more closely, the virtues of our Redeemer. And all
of this not simply for their own advantage, but for that of the
whole Church, where whatever good is accomplished proceeds from
the power of her Head and redounds to the advancement of all her
members.

Agreement between divine action and human cooperation

36.

In the spiritual life, consequently, there can be no opposi-
tion between the action of God, Who pours forth His grace into
men’s hearts so that the work of the Redemption may always abide,
and the tireless collaboration of man, who must not render vain
the gift of God. 36 No more can the efficacy of the external admin-
istration of the Sacraments, which comes from the rite itself ( ex
opere operato), be opposed to the meritorious action of their min-
isters or recipients, which we call the agent’s action ( opus oper-

36 Cf. II Cor VI, 1.

17



antis). Similarly, no conflict exists between public prayer and
prayers in private, between morality and contemplation, between
the ascetical life and devotion to the Liturgy. Finally there is no
opposition between the jurisdiction and teaching office of the
ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and the specifically priestly power exer-
cised in the sacred ministry.

37. Considering their special designation to perform the liturgical
functions of the Holy Sacrifice and Divine Office, the Church has
serious reasons for prescribing that the ministers she assigns to

the service of the sanctuary and members of religious institutes
betake themselves at stated times to mental prayer, to examination

of conscience, and to various other spiritual exercises. 37 Unques-
tionably liturgical prayer, being the public supplication of the illus-

trious Spouse of Jesus Christ, is superior in excellence to private
prayers. But this superior worth does not at all imply contrast or
incompatibility between these two kinds of prayer. For both
merge harmoniously in the single spirit which animates them:
“Christ is all and in all.” 38 Both tend to the same objective: until
Christ be formed in us.39

III. The Liturgy Under the Hierarchy of the Church

The nature of the Church requires a Hierarchy

38. For a better and more accurate understanding of the sacred
Liturgy another of its characteristic features, no less important,
needs to be considered.

39. The Church is a society, and as such requires an authority
and Hierarchy of her own. Though it is true that all the members
of the Mystical Body partake of the same blessings and pursue the
same objective, they do not all enjoy the same powers, nor are they
all qualified to perform the same acts. The Divine Redeemer has
willed as a matter of fact, that His Kingdom should be built and
solidly supported, as it were, on a holy order, which resembles in
some sort the heavenly Hierarchy.

40. Only to the Apostles, and thenceforth to those on whom their
successors have imposed hands, is granted the power of the priest-
hood, in virtue of which they represent the person of Jesus Christ
before their people, acting at the same time as representatives of
their people before God. This priesthood is not transmitted by

37 Cf. C. I. C., can. 125, 126, 565, 571, 595, 1367.
38 Coloss., Ill, 11.

39 Cf. Gal, IV, 19.

18



heredity or human descent. It does not emanate from the Christian
community. It is not a delegation from the people. Prior to acting

as representative of the community before the throne of God, the
priest is the ambassador of the Divine Redeemer. He is God’s
vicegerent in the midst of his flock precisely because Jesus Christ

is Head of that Body of which Christians are the members. The
power entrusted to him, therefore, bears no natural resemblance
to anything human. It is entirely supernatural. It comes from
God. “As the Father hath sent me, I also send you” ... 40 “he
that heareth you heareth me” ... 41 “go ye into the whole world
and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is

baptized shall be saved.” 42

. . . and hence a visible external priesthood

41. That is why the visible, external priesthood of Jesus Christ
is not handed down indiscriminately to all members of the Church
in general, but is conferred on designated men, through what may
be called the spiritual generation of Holy Orders.

42. This latter, one of the seven Sacraments, not only imparts the

grace appropriate to the clerical function and state of life, but
imparts an indelible “character” besides, indicating the sacred
ministers’ conformity to Jesus Christ the Priest, and qualifying
them to perform these official acts of religion by which men are
sanctified and God is duly glorified in keeping with the divine
laws and regulations.

Consecrated by the Sacrament of Holy Orders

43. In the same way, actually, that Baptism is the distinctive
mark of all Christians, and serves to differentiate them from those
who have not been cleansed in this purifying stream and conse-
quently are not members of Christ, the Sacrament of Holy Orders
sets the priest apart from the rest of the faithful who have not
received this consecration. For they alone, in answer to an
inward supernatural call have entered the august ministry, where
they are assigned to service in the sanctuary and become, as it
were, the instruments God uses to communicate supernatural life
from on high to the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. Add to this,
as We have noted above, the fact that they alone have been marked

40 Ioan., XX, 21.
41 Luc., X, 16.
42 Marc., XVI, 15-16.

19



with the indelible sign “conforming” them to Christ the Priest, and
that their hands alone have been consecrated “in order that what-

ever they bless may be blessed, whatever they consecrate may
become sacred and holy, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”43

Let all then who would live in Christ, flock to their priests. By
them they will be supplied with the comforts and food of the
spiritual life. From them they will procure the medicine of
salvation assuring their cure and happy recovery from the fatal
sickness of their sins. The priest, finally, will bless their homes,
consecrate their families and help them, as they breathe their last,
across the threshold of eternal happiness.

The Liturgy depends on Ecclesiastical Authority

a) by its very nature

44. Since therefore it is the priest chiefly who performs the
sacred Liturgy in the name of the Church, its organization, regula-
tion and details cannot but be subject to Church authority. This con-
clusion, based on the nature of Christian worship itself, is further
confirmed by the testimony of history.

b) by its close connection with dogma

45. Additional proof of this indefeasible right of the Ecclesiastical

Hierarchy lies in the circumstance that the sacred Liturgy is inti-
mately bound up with doctrinal propositions which the Church
proposes as perfectly true and certain, and must as a consequence
conform to the decrees respecting Catholic faith issued by the
supreme teaching authority of the Church with a view to safe-
guarding the integrity of the religion revealed by God.

46. On this subject We judge it Our duty to rectify an attitude
with which you are doubtless familiar, Venerable Brethren. We
refer to the error and fallacious reasoning of those who have claimed
that the sacred Liturgy is a kind of proving-ground for the truths
to be held of faith, meaning by this that the Church is obliged to
declare such a doctrine sound when it is found to have produced
fruits of piety and sanctity through the sacred rites of the Liturgy,
and to reject it otherwise. Hence the epigram: “Lex orandi, lex
credendi”—the law for prayer is the law for faith.

47. But this is not what the Church teaches and enjoins. The
worship she offers to God, all Good and Great, is a continuous
profession of Catholic faith and a continuous exercise of hope and

43 Pontif. Rom., De ordinatione presbyteri, in manuum unctione.

20



charity, as Augustine puts it tersely: “God is to be worshipped,”
he says, “by faith, hope and charity.” 44 In the sacred Liturgy we
profess the Catholic faith explicitly and openly, not only by the
celebration of the mysteries, and by offering the Holy Sacrifice
and administering the Sacraments, but also by saying or singing
the Credo or Symbol of the Faith—it is indeed the sign and badge,
as it were, of the Christian—along with other texts, and likewise
by the reading of Holy Scripture, written under the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost. The entire Liturgy, therefore, has the Catholic
faith for its content, inasmuch as it bears public witness to the
faith of the Church.

48. For this reason, whenever there was question of defining
a truth revealed by God, the Sovereign Pontiff and the Councils in
their recourse to the “theological sources,” as they are called, have

not seldom drawn many an argument from this sacred science of
the Liturgy. For an example in point, Our Predecessor of im-
mortal memory, Pius IX, so argued when he proclaimed the Im-
maculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Similarly during the
discussion of a doubtful or controversial truth, the Church and the
Holy Fathers have not failed to look to the age-old and age-
honoured sacred rites for enlightment. Hence the well-known
and venerable maxim: “Legem credendi lex statuat supplicandi

”

—let the rule for prayer determine the rule of belief.45 The sacred
Liturgy, consequently, does not decide or determine independently

and of itself what is of Catholic faith. More properly, since the
Liturgy is also a profession of eternal truths, and subject, as such,
to the Supreme Teaching Authority of the Church, it can supply
proofs and testimony, quite clearly of no little value, towards the
determination of a particular point of Christian doctrine. But if
one desires to differentiate and described the relationship between
faith and the sacred Liturgy in absolute and general terms, it is
perfectly correct to say : “Lex credendi legem statuat supplicandi

”

—let the rule of belief determine the rule of prayer. The same
holds true for the other theological virtues also: “In . . . fide,
spe, caritate continuato desiderio semper oramus—we pray always,
with constant yearning in faith, hope and charity.” 46

IV. Progress and Development of the Liturgy

49. From time immemorial the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy has
exercised this right in matters liturgical. It has organized and

44 Enchiridion, cap. 3.
45 De gratia Dei «Indiculus».
46 S. Augustin., Epist. 130, ad Proham, 18.

21



regulated divine worship, enriching it constantly with new splen-
dor and beauty, to the glory of God and the spiritual profit of
Christians. What is more, it has not been slow—keeping the sub-
stance of the Mass and Sacraments carefully intact to modify what
it deemed not altogether fitting, and to add what appeared more
likely to increase the honor paid to Jesus Christ and the august
Trinity, and to instruct and stimulate the Christian people to
greater advantage. 47

Divine and human elements in the Liturgy

50. The sacred Liturgy does in fact include divine as well as
human elements. The former, instituted as they have been by God,
cannot be changed in any way by men. But the human components
admit of various modifications, as the needs of the age, circum-
stance and the good of souls may require, and as the Ecclesiastical
Hierarchy under guidance of the Holy Spirit, may have authorized.
This will explain the marvellous variety of Eastern and Western
rites. Here is the reason for the gradual addition, through suc-
cessive development, of particular religious customs and practices of
piety only faintly discernible in earlier times. Hence likewise it
happens from time to time that certain devotions long since for-
gotten are revived and practiced anew. All these developments
attest the abiding life of the Immaculate Spouse of Jesus Christ
through these many centuries. They are the sacred language she
uses, as the ages run their course, to profess to her divine Spouse
her own faith, along with that of the nations committed to her
charge, and her own unfailing love. They furnish proof, besides,
of the wisdom of the teaching method she employs to arouse and
nourish constantly the “Christian instinct.”

51. Several causes, really, have been instrumental in the progress

and development of the sacred Liturgy during the long and glorious
life of the Church.

Development of some human elements

a) due to a more explicit formulation of doctrine

52. Thus for example, as Catholic doctrine on the Incarnate
Word or God, the Eucharistic Sacrament and Sacrifice, and Mary
the Virgin Mother of God came to be determined with greater
certitude and clarity, new ritual forms were introduced through

47 Cf. Const. Divini cultus

,

d. d. xx Dec. a. mcmxxviii,

22



which the acts of the Liturgy proceeded to reproduce this brighter

light issuing from the decrees of the teaching Authority of the
Church, and to reflect it, in a sense, so that it might reach the minds

and hearts of Christ’s people more readily.

b) due to disciplinary modifications

53. The subsequent advances in ecclesiastical discipline for the
administering of the Sacraments, that of Penance for example

;
the

institution and later suppression of the Catechumenate ; and again,
the practice of Eucharistic Communion under a single species,
adopted in the Latin Church; these developments were assuredly
responsible in no little measure for the modification of the ancient
ritual in the course of time, and for the gradual introduction of
new rites considered more in accord with prevailing discipline in
these matters.

c) due also to non-liturgical practices

54. Just as notable a contribution to this progressive transforma-

tion was made by devotional trends and practices not directly re-
lated to the sacred Liturgy, which began to appear, by God’s
wonderful design, in later periods, and grew to be so popular. We
may instance the spread and ever mounting ardor of devotion to
the Blessed Eucharist, devotion to the most bitter Passion of Our
Redeemer, devotion to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the
Virgin Mother of God and to her most chaste Spouse.

55. Other manifestations of piety have also played their circum-
stantial part in this same liturgical development. Among them
may be cited the public pilgrimages to the tombs of the martyrs
prompted by motives of devotion, the special periods of fasting
instituted for the same reason, and lastly, in this gracious City of
Rome, the penitential recitation of the litanies during the “Station”
processions, in which even the Sovereign Pontiff frequently joined.

d) due also to the development of the fine arts

56. It is likewise easy to understand that the progress of the fine
arts, those of architecture, painting and music above all, have
exerted considerable influence on the choice and disposition of the
various external features of the sacred Liturgy.

57. The Church has further used her right of control over liturgi-
cal observance to protect the purity of divine worship against abuse
from dangerous and imprudent innovations introduced by private
individuals and particular churches. Thus it came about—during
the 16th century, when usages and customs of this sort had become

23



increasingly prevalent and exaggerated, and when private initiative
in matters liturgical threatened to compromise the integrity of faith
and devotion, to the great advantage of heretics and further spread
of their errors—that in the year 1588, Our Predecessor Sixtus V
of immortal memory established the Sacred Congregation of Rites,
charged with the defence of the legitimate rites of the Church and
with the prohibition of any spurious innovation.48 This body ful-
fills even today the official function of supervision and legislation
with regard to all matters touching the sacred Liturgy.49

V. Its Development May Rot Be Left to Private Judgment

58. It follows from this that the Sovereign Pontiff alone enjoys
the right to recognize and establish any practice touching the wor-
ship of God, to introduce and approve new rites, as also to modify
those he judges to require modification.50 Bishops, for their part,
have the right and duty carefully to watch over the exact observance
of the prescriptions of the sacred canons respecting divine wor-
ship.51 Private individuals, therefore, even though they be clerics,
may not be left to decide for themselves in these holy and vener-
able matters, involving as they do the religious life of Christian
society along with the exercise of the priesthood of Jesus Christ
and worship of God

;
concerned as they are with the honor due

to the Blessed Trinity, the Word Incarnate and His august Mother
and the other Saints, and with the salvation of souls as well. For
the same reason no private person has any authority to regulate
external practices of this kind, which are intimately bound up with
Church discipline and with the order, unity and concord of the
Mystical Body and frequently even with the integrity of Catholic
faith itself.

Some rash abuses

59. The Church is without question a living organism, and as an
organism in respect of the sacred Liturgy also, she grows, matures,
develops, adapts and accommodates herself to temporal needs and
circumstances, provided only that the integrity of her doctrine be

safeguarded. This notwithstanding, the temerity and daring of those
who introduce novel liturgical practices, or call for the revival of
obsolete rites out of harmony with prevailing laws and rubrics,
deserve severe reproof. It has pained Us grievously to note, Vener-

48 Const. Immensa, d. d. xxii Ian. mdlxxxviii.
49 C. I. C.. can. 253.
so Cf. C. I. C., can. 1257. ' r
5i Cf. C. I. C., can. 1261.

24



able Brethren, that such innovations are actually being introduced,

not merely in minor details but in matters of major importance as
well. We instance, in point of fact, those who make use of the
vernacular in the celebration of the august Eucharistic Sacrifice;

those who transfer certain feast-days—which have been appointed
and established after mature deliberation—to other dates; those
finally who delete from the prayer-books approved for public use
the sacred texts of the Old Testament, deeming them little suited
and inopportune for modern times.

60. The use of the Latin language, customary in a considerable
portion of the Church, is a manifest and beautiful sign of unity,
as well as an effective antidote for any corruption of doctrinal truth.
In spite of this, the use of the mother tongue in connection with
several of the rites may be of much advantage to the people. But
the Apostolic See alone is empowered to grant this permission. It
is forbidden, therefore, to take any action whatever of this nature
without having requested and obtained such consent, since the
sacred Liturgy, as We have said, is entirely subject to the discre-
tion and approval of the Holy See.

Exaggerated attachment to ancient rites

61. The same reasoning holds in the case of some persons who
are bent on the restoration of all the ancient rites and ceremonies
indiscriminately. The Liturgy of the early ages is most certainly
worthy of all veneration. But ancient usage must not be esteemed
more suitable and proper, either in its own right or in its signifi-
cance for later times and new situations, on the simple ground that
it carries the savor and aroma of antiquity. The more recent
liturgical rites likewise deserve reverence and respect. They too owe
their inspiration to the Holy Spirit, Who assists the Church in
every age even to the consummation of the world.52 They are
equally the resources used by the majestic Spouse of Jesus Christ
to promote and procure the sanctity of men.

62. Assuredly it is a wise and most laudable thing to return in
spirit and affection to the sources of the sacred Liturgy. For re-
search in this field of study, by tracing it back to its origins, con-
tributes valuable assistance towards a more thorough and careful
investigation of the significance of feast-days, and of the meaning
of the texts and sacred ceremonies employed on their occasion.
But it is neither wise nor laudable to reduce everything to antiquity
by every possible device. Thus, to cite some instances, one would

52 Cf. Matth,, XXVIII, 20.

25



be straying from the straight path were he to wish the altar restored
to its primitive table-form; were he to want black excluded as a
colour for the liturgical vestments; were he to forbid the use of
sacred images and statues in Churches

;
were he to order the cruci-

fix so designed that the Divine Redeemer’s Body shows no trace
of His cruel sufferings; and lastly were he to disdain and reject
polyphonic music or singing in parts, even where it conforms to
regulations issued by the Holy See.

Excessive archaism

63. Clearly no sincere Catholic can refuse to accept the formula-
tion of Christian doctrine more recently elaborated and proclaimed
as dogmas by the Church, under the inspiration and guidance of
the Holy Spirit with abundant fruit for souls, because it pleases
him to hark back to the old formulas. No more can any Catholic in
his right senses repudiate existing legislation of the Church to
revert to prescriptions based on the earliest sources of canon law.
Just as obviously unwise and mistaken is the zeal of one who in
matters liturgical, would go back to the rites and usage of antiquity,
discarding the new patterns introduced by disposition of Divine
Providence to meet the changes of circumstances and situation.

64. This way of acting bids fair to revive the exaggerated and
senseless antiquarianism to which the illegal Council of Pistoja
gave rise. It likewise attempts to reinstate a series of errors which
were responsible for the calling of that meeting as well as for those
resulting from it, with grievous harm to souls, and which the
Church, the ever watchful guardian of the “deposit of faith” com-
mitted to her charge by her Divine Founder, had every right and
reason to condemn.53 For perverse designs and ventures of this
sort tend to paralyze and wreaken that process of sanctification by
which the sacred Liturgy directs the sons of adoption to their
Heavenly Father for their souls’ salvation.

65. In every measure taken, then, let proper contact with the
Ecclesiastical Hierarchy be maintained. Let no one arrogate to
himself the right to make regulations and impose them on others at
will. Only the Sovereign Pontiff, as the successor of Saint Peter,
charged by the Divine Redeemer with the feeding of His entire
flock,

54 and with him, in obedience to the Apostolic See, the Bishops
“whom the Holy Ghost has placed ... to rule the Church of

53 Cf. Pius VI, Const. Auctorem fidei, d. d. xxvm Aug. mdccxciv, nn.
XXXI-XXXIV, XXXIX, LXII, LXVI, LXIX-LXXIV.

54 cf. Ioan., XXI, 15-17.

26



God,” 55 have the right and the duty to govern the Christian people.

Consequently, Venerable Brethren, whenever you assert your au-

thority—even on occasion with wholesome severity—you are not
merely acquitting yourselves of your duty; you are defending the

very will of the Founder of the Church.

PART II

EUCHARISTIC WORSHIP

I. The Nature of the Eucharistic Sacrifice

66. The mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist which Christ, the
High Priest instituted, and which He commands to be continually
renewed in the Church by His Ministers, is the culmination and
center, as it were, of the Christian religion. We consider it oppor-
tune in speaking about the crowning act of the Sacred Liturgy, to
delay for a little while and call your attention, Venerable Brethren,
to this most important subject.

67. Christ the Lord, “Eternal Priest according to the order of

Melchisedech,” 56 “loving His own who were in the world,” 57 “at
the last supper, on the night He was betrayed, wishing to leave His
beloved Spouse, the Church, a visible sacrifice, such as the nature

of men requires, that would re-present the bloody Sacrifice offered
once on the cross, and perpetuate its memory to the end of time,
and whose salutary virtue might be applied in remitting those
since which we daily commit, . . . offered His Body and Blood
under the species of bread and wine to God the Father, and under
the same species allowed the Apostles, whom He at that time con-
stituted the priests of the New Testament, to partake thereof

;
com-

manding them and their successors in the priesthood to make the
same offering.” 58

It is a true renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross

68.

The august Sacrifice of the altar, then, is no mere emptv
commemoration of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, but a true
and proper act of sacrifice, whereby the Higdi Priest by an unbloody
immolation offers Himself a most acceptable Victim to the Eternal

ss Act., XX, 28.
56 Psalm, CIX, 4.
57Ioan., XIII, 1.
58 Cone. Trid., Sess. XXII, c. 1.

27



Father, as He did upon the Cross. “It is one and the same Victim

;

the same Person now offers it by the ministry of His Priests, Who
then offered Himself on the Cross, the manner of offering alone
being different.” 59

a) The same Priest

69. The Priest is the same, Jesus Christ, whose sacred Person
His minister represents. Now the minister by reason of the sacer-
dotal consecration which he has received, is made like to the High
Priest and possesses the power of performing actions in virtue of
Christ’s very Person.60 Wherefore in his priestly activity he in a
certain manner “lends his tongue, and gives his hand” to Christ.61

b) The same Victim

70. Likewise the Victim is the same, namely our Divine Re-
deemer in His human nature with His true Body and Blood. The
manner, however, in which Christ is offered is different. On the
Cross He completely offered Himself and all His sufferings to
God, and the immolation of the Victim was brought about by the
bloody death, which He underwent of His free will. But on the
altar, by reason of the glorified state of His human nature, “death
shall have no more dominion over Him,” 62 and so the shedding
of His Blood is impossible; still according to the plan of Divine
Wisdom, the Sacrifice of our Redeemer is shown forth in an admir-
able manner by external signs which are symbols of His death.
For by the “transubstantiation” of bread into the Body of Christ
and of wine into His Blood, His Body and Blood are both really
present: now the Eucharistic species under which He is present,
symbolize the actual separation of His Body and Blood. Thus the
commemorative representation of His death, which actually took
place on Calvary, is repeated in every Sacrifice of the altar, seeing
that Jesus Christ is symbolically shown by separate symbols to
be in a state of victimhood.

c) The ends of the Sacrifice are the same

71. Moreover, the appointed ends are the same. The first of
these is to give glory to the Heavenly Father. From His birth to
His death Jesus Christ burned with zeal for the divine glory; and

59 Ibidem, c. 2.
60 Cf. S. Thom., Summa Theol., III, q. XXII, a. 4.
61 Ioan. Chrys., In loan. Horn., 86, 4.
62 Rom., VI, 9.

28



the offering of His Blood upon the Cross rose to heaven in an
odor of sweetness. To perpetuate this praise, the members of the
Mystical Body are united with their Divine Head in the Eucharistic
Sacrifice, and with Him, together with the Angels and Archangels,
they sing immortal praise to God 63 and give all honor and glory
to the Father Almighty.64

72. The second end is duly to give thanks to God. Only the
Divine Redeemer, as the Eternal Father’s most beloved Son Whose
immense love He knew, could offer Him a worthy return of
gratitude. This was His intention and desire at the Last Supper
when He “gave thanks.” 65 He did not cease to do so when hang-
ing upon the Cross, nor does He fail to do so in the august Sacrifice
of the altar, which is an act of thanksgiving or a “Eucharistic” act

;

since this “is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salva-
tion.” 66

73. The third end proposed is that of expiation, propitiation and
reconciliation. Certainly no one was better fitted to make satis-
faction to Almighty God for all the sins of men than was Christ.
Therefore He desired to be immolated upon the Cross “as a propi-
tiation for our sins, not for ours only but also for those of the
whole world.” 67 And likewise He daily offers Himself upon our
altars for our redemption, that we may be rescued from eternal
damnation and admitted into the company of the elect. This He
does, not for us only who are in this mortal life, but also “for all
who rest in Christ, who have gone before us with the sign of faith
and repose in the sleep of peace ;” 68 for whether we live, or whether
we die “still we are not separated from the one and only Christ.” 69

74. The fourth end, finally, is that of impetration. Man, being
the prodigal son, has made bad use of and dissipated the goods
which he received from his Heavenly Father. Accordingly, he
has been reduced to the utmost poverty and to extreme degrada-
tion. However, Christ on the Cross “offering prayers and sup-
plications with a loud cry and tears, has been heard for His rever-
ence.” 70 Likewise upon the altar He is our Mediator with God
in the same efficacious manner, so that we may be filled with every
blessing and grace.

63 Cf. Missale Rom., Praefatio.
64 Cf. Ibidem, Canon.
65 Marc., XIV, 23.
66 Missale Rom., Praefatio.
67 I loan., II, 2.
68 Missale Rom., Canon.
6» S. Augusttn., De Trinit., lib. XIII, c. 19.
70 Hebr., V, 7.

29



The Infinite Value of the Divine Sacrifice

75. It is easy, therefore, to understand why the holy Council of
Trent lays down that by means of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, the
saving virtue of the Cross is imparted to us for the remission of
the sins we daily commit.71

76. Now the Apostle of the Gentiles proclaims the copious
plenitude and the perfection of the Sacrifice of the Cross, when
he says that Christ by one oblation has perfected for ever them
that are sanctified.72 For the merits of this Sacrifice, since they
are altogether boundless and immeasurable, know no limits; for
they are meant for all men of every time and place. This follows
from the fact that in this Sacrifice the God-Man is the Priest and
Victim; that His immolation was entirely perfect, as was His
obedience to the will of His Eternal Father; and also that He
suffered death as the Head of the human race : “See how we were
bought : Christ hangs upon the Cross, see at what a price He makes
His purchase . . . He sheds His Blood, He buys with His Blood,
He buys with the Blood of the Spotless Lamb, He buys with the
Blood of God’s only Son. He who buys is Christ

;
the price is His

Blood
;
the possession bought is the world.” 73

77. This purchase, however, does not immediately have its full
effect

;
since Christ after redeeming the world at the lavish cost of

His own Blood, still must come into complete possession of the
souls of men. Wherefore, that the redemption and salvation of
each person and of future generations unto the end of time may
be effectively accomplished, and be acceptable to God, it is necessary
that men should individually come into vital contact with the Sacri-
fice of the Cross, so that the merits, which flow from it, should be
imparted to them. In a certain sense it can be said that on Calvary
Christ built a font of purification and salvation which He filled
with the Blood He shed ; but if men do not bathe in it and there
wash away the stains of their iniquities, they can never be purified
and saved.

But the cooperation of the faithful is necessary

78. The cooperation of the faithful is required so that sinners
may be individually purified in the Blood of the Lamb. For though,
speaking generally, Christ reconciled by His painful death the

71 Cf. Sess. XXII, c. 1.
72 Cf. Hebr., X, 14.
73 S. Augustin., Enarr. in Ps. CXLVII, n. 16.

30



whole human race with the Father, He wished that all should ap-
proach and be drawn to His Cross, especially by means of the
Sacraments and the Eucharistic Sacrifice, to obtain the salutary
fruits produced by Him upon it. Through this active and in-
dividual participation, the members of the Mystical Body not only
become daily more like to their divine Head, but the life flowing
from the Head is imparted to the members, so that we can each
repeat the words of St. Paul : «With Christ I am nailed to the
Cross: I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.” 74 We have
already explained sufficiently and of set purpose on another oc-
casion, that Jesus Christ “when dying on the Cross, bestowed
upon His Church, as a completely gratuitous gift, the immense
treasure of the Redemption. But when it is a question of dis-
tributing this treasure, He not only commits the work of sanc-
tification to His Immaculate Spouse, but also wishes that, to a
certain extent, sanctity should derive from her activity.” 75

79. The august Sacrifice of the altar is, as it were, the supreme
instrument whereby the merits won by the Divine Redeemer upon
the Cross are distributed to the faithful : “as often as this commemo-
rative Sacrifice is offered, there is wrought the work of our Redemp-
tion.” 76 This, however, so far from lessening the dignity of the
actual Sacrifice on Calvary, rather proclaims and renders more
manifest its greatness and its necessity, as the Council of Trent
declares. 77 Its daily immolation reminds us that there is no salva-
tion except in the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ,78 and that God
Himself wishes that there should be a continuation of this Sacrifice
“from the rising of the sun till the going down thereof,” 79 so that
there may be no cessation of the hymn of praise and thanksgiving
which man owes to God, seeing that he requires His help con-
tinually and has need of the Blood of the Redeemer to remit sin
which challenges God’s justice.

II. Participation of the Faithful in the Eucharistic Sacrifice

Participation without priestly power

80. It is therefore desirable, Venerable Brethren, that all the
faithful should be aware that to participate in the Eucharistic Sacri-

74 Gal.

,

II, 19, 20.
75 Litt. Encycl. Mystici Corporis, d. d. xxix Iun. mcmxliii.
76 Missale Rom., Secreta Dom. IX post Pentec.
77 Cf. Sess. XXII, c. 2 et can. 4.
78 Cf. Gal, VI, 14.
79 Mal., I, 11.

31



fice is their chief duty and supreme dignity, and that not in an
inert and negligent fashion, giving way to distractions and day-
dreaming, but with such earnestness and concentration that they
may be united as closely as possible with the High Priest, accord-
ing to the Apostle: “Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus.”

80 And together with Him and through Him let
them make their oblation, and in union with Him let them offer
up themselves.

81. It is quite true that Christ is a Priest; but He is a Priest
not for Himself but for us, when in the name of the whole human
race He offers our prayers and religious homage to the Eternal
Father

;
He is also a Victim and for us, since He substitutes Him-

self for sinful man. Now the exhortation of the Apostle: “Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” requires
that all Christians should possess, as far as is humanly possible,
the same dispositions as those which the Divine Redeemer had
when He offered Himself in sacrifice: that is to say, they should
in a humble attitude of mind, pay adoration, honor, praise and
thanksgiving to the supreme Majesty of God. Moreover, it means
that they must assume to some extent the character of a victim,
that they deny themselves as the Gospel commands, that freely
and of their own accord they do penance, and that each detests
and satisfies for his sins. It means, in a word, that we must all
undergo with Christ a mystical death on the Cross so that we can
apply to ourselves the words of St. Paul : “With Christ I am nailed
to the Cross.” 81

82. The fact, however, that the faithful participate in the
Eucharistic Sacrifice, does not mean that they also are endowed
with priestly power. It is very necessary that you make this quite
clear to your flocks.

83. For there are today, Venerable Brethren, those who, ap-
proximating to errors long since condemned,82 teach that in the
New Testament by the word “priesthood” is meant only that priest-
hood which applies to all who have been baptized; and hold that
the command by which Christ gave power to His Apostles at the
Last Supper to do what He Himself had done, applies directly to
the entire Christian Church, and that thence, and thence only,
arises the hierarchical priesthood. Hence they assert that the
people are possessed of a true priestly power, while the priest only

acts in virtue of an office committed to him by the community.

80 Philipp II, 5.
si Gal

,

II, 19.

82 Cf. Cone. Trid., Sess. XXIII, c. 4.

32



Wherefore they look on the Eucharistic Sacrifice as a “concelebra-
tion,” in the literal meaning of that term, and consider it more
fitting that priests should “concelebrate” with the people present

than that they should offer the Sacrifice privately when the people
are absent.

84. It is superfluous to explain how captious errors of this sort
completely contradict the truths which we have just stated above,
when treating of the place of the priest in the Mystical Body of
Jesus Christ. But we deem it necessary to recall that the priest
acts for the people only because he represents Jesus Christ, Who
is Head of all His members and offers Himself in their stead.
Hence he goes to the altar as the minister of Christ, inferior to
Christ but superior to the people.83 The people, on the other
hand, since they in no sense represent the Divine Redeemer and
are not a mediator between themselves and God, can in no way
possess the sacerdotal power.

I—Participation inasmuch as they offer it with the priest
85. All this has the certitude of faith. However, it must also

be said that the faithful do offer the Divine Victim, though in a
different sense.

a ) It is declared by the Church

86. This has already been stated in the clearest terms by some
of Our Predecessors and some Doctors of the Church. “Not only,”
says Innocent III of immortal memory, “do the priests offer the
Sacrifice, but also all the faithful : for what the priest does personal-
ly by virtue of his ministry, the faithful do collectively by virtue
of their intention.” 84 We are happy to recall one of St. Robert
Bellarmine’s many statements on this subject. “The Sacrifice,”
he says “is principally offered in the person of Christ. Thus the
oblation that follows the Consecration, is a sort of attestation that
the whole Church consents in the oblation made by Christ, and
offers it along with Him.” 85

b) It is signified by the rites themselves

87. Moreover the rites and prayers of the Eucharistic Sacrifice
signify and show no less clearly that the oblation of the Victim
is made by the priests in company with the people. For not only

83 Cf. Robertus Bellarm., De Missa, II, cap. 4.
84 De Sacro Altaris Mysterio, III, 6.
85 De Missa, I cap. 27.

33



does the sacred minister, after the oblation of the bread and wine
when he turns to the people, say the significant prayer: “Pray
Brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God
the Father Almighty 86 but, also the prayers by which the divine
Victim is offered to God are generally expressed in the plural num-
ber; and in these it is indicated more than once that the people
also participate in this august Sacrifice inasmuch as they offer
the same. The following words, for example, are used : “For whom
we offer, or who offer up to Thee ... We therefore beseech Thee,
O Lord, to be appeased and to receive this offering of our bounden
duty, as also of thy whole household ... We thy servants, as also
thy whole people ... do offer unto thy most excellent majesty, of
thine own gifts bestowed upon us, a pure victim, a holy victim, a
spotless victim.” 87

88. Nor is it to be wondered at, that the faithful should be raised
to this dignity. By the waters of Baptism, as by common right,
Christians are made members of the Mystical Body of Christ the
Priest, and by the “character” which is imprinted on their souls,
they are appointed to give worship to God. Thus they participate,
according to their condition, in the priesthood of Christ.

c ) The offering of bread and wine made by the people

89. In every age of the Church’s history, the mind of man, en-
lightened by faith, has aimed at the greatest possible knowledge of
things divine. It is fitting, then, that the Christian people should

also desire to know in what sense they are said in the canon of the
Mass to offer up the Sacrifice. To satisfy such a pious desire, then,
We shall here explain the matter briefly and concisely.

90. First of all the more extrinsic explanations are these:—it
frequently happens that the faithful assisting at Mass join their
prayers alternately with those of the priest, and sometimes—a more
frequent occurrence in ancient times—they offer to the ministers
at the altar bread and wine to be changed into the Body and Blood
of Christ, and, finally, bv their alms they get the priest to offer the
divine Victim for their intentions.

91. But there is also a more profound reason why all Christians,
especially those who are present at Mass, are said to offer the
Sacrifice.

d) Sacrifice offered by the faithful

92. In this most important subject it is necessary, in order to

86 Missale Rom., Ordo M'issae.
87 Ibidem, Canon Missae.

34



avoid giving rise to a dangerous error, that we define the exact
meaning of the word “offer.” The unbloody immolation at the
words of consecration, when Christ is made present upon the altar
in the state of a victim, is performed by the priest and by him
alone, as the representative of Christ and not as the representative
of the faithful. It is because the priest places the divine Victim

upon the altar that he offers it to God the Father as an oblation
for the glory of the Blessed Trinity and for the good of the whole
Church. Now the faithful participate in the oblation, understood
in this limited sense, after their own fashion and in a twofold
manner, namely because they not only offer the Sacrifice by the
hands of the priest, but also, to a certain extent, in union with
him. It is by reason of this participation, that the offering made
by the people is also included in liturgical worship.

93. Now it is clear that the faithful offer the Sacrifice by the
hands of the priest from the fact that the minister at the altar in
offering a Sacrifice in the name of all His members represents
Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body. Hence the whole Church
can rightly be said to offer up the Victim through Christ. But
the conclusion that the people offer the Sacrifice with the priest
himself is not based on the fact that, being members of the Church
no less than the priest himself, they perform a visible liturgical
rite; for this is the privilege only of the minister who has been
divinely appointed to this office: rather, it is based on the fact
that the people unite their hearts in praise, impetration, expiation

and thanksgiving with the prayers or intention of the priest, even
of the High Priest Himself, so that in the one and same offering
of the Victim and according to a visible sacerdotal rite, they may
be presented to God the Father. It is obviously necessary that
the external sacrificial rite should, of its very nature, signify the
internal worship of the heart. Now the Sacrifice of the New Law
signifies that supreme worship by which the principal Offerer Him-
self, Who is Christ, and in union with Him and through Him
all the members of the Mystical Body, pay God the honor and
reverence that are due to Him.

94. We are very pleased to learn that this teaching, thanks to a
more intense study of the Liturgy on the part of many, especially
in recent years, has been given full recognition. We must, how-
ever, deeply deplore certain exaggerations and over-statements
which are not in agreement with the true teaching of the Church.

95. Some in fact disapprove altogether of those Masses which
are offered privately and without a congregation, on the ground
that they are a departure from the ancient way of offering the Sacri-

35



fice
;
moreover, there are some who assert that priests cannot offer

Mass at different altars at the same time, because, by doing so,
they separate the community of the faithful and imperil its unity;
while some go so far as to hold that the people must confirm and
ratify the Sacrifice if it is to have its proper force and value.

96. They are mistaken in appealing in this matter to the social
character of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, for as often as a priest
repeats what the Divine Redeemer did at the Last Supper, the
Sacrifice is really completed. Moreover, this Sacrifice, necessarily
and of its very nature, has always and everywhere the character of
a public and social act, inasmuch as he who offers it, acts in the
name of Christ and of the faithful, whose Head is the Divine
Redeemer, and he offers it to God for the Holy Catholic Church,
and for the living and the dead.88 This is undoubtedly so, whether
the faithful are present—as We desire and commend them to do
in great numbers and with devotion—or are not present, since it
is in no wise required that the people ratify what the sacred Minister
has done.

97. Still, though it is clear from what We have said that the
Mass is offered in the name of Christ and of the Church and that
it is not robbed of its social effects though it be celebrated by a
priest without a server, nonetheless, on account of the dignity of
such an august mystery, it is our earnest desire—as Mother Church
has always commanded—that no priest should say Mass unless
a server is at hand to answer the prayers, as canon 813 prescribes.

II Participation inasmuch as they offer themselves as
victims

98. In order that the oblation by which the faithful offer the
divine Victim in this Sacrifice to the Heavenly Father may have
its full effect, it is necessary that the people add something else,
namely the offering of themselves as a victim.

99. This offering in fact is not confined merely to the liturgical

Sacrifice. For the Prince of the Apostles wishes us, as living
stones built upon Christ the corner stone, to be able as “a holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by
Jesus Christ.”

89
St. Paul the Apostle addresses the following

words of exhortation to Christians, without distinction of time:
“I beseech you therefore, . . . that you present your bodies, a

88 Missale Rom., Canon Missae.
88 1 Petr., II, 5.

36



living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service.” 90

But at that time especially when the faithful take part in the
liturgical service with such piety and recollection that it can truly
be said of them : “whose faith and devotion is known to Thee,” 91

it is then, with the High Priest and through Him they offer them-
selves as a spiritual sacrifice, that each one’s faith ought to become
more ready to work through charity, his piety more real and
fervent, and each should consecrate himself to the furthering of
the divine glory, desiring to become as like as possible to Christ
in His most grievous sufferings.

Purifying their own souls

100. This we are also taught by those exhortations which the
Bishop, in the Church’s name, addresses to priests on the day of
their ordination: “Understand what you do, imitate what you
handle, and since you celebrate the mystery of the Lord’s death,
take good care to mortify your members with their vices and
concupiscences.” 92 In almost the same manner the sacred books
of the liturgy advise Christians who come to Mass to participate
in the Sacrifice : “At this . . . altar let innocence be in honour, let
pride be sacrificed, anger slain, impurity and every evil desire laid
low, let the sacrifice of chastity be offered in place of doves and
instead of the young pigeons the sacrifice of innocence.” 93 While
we stand before the altar, then, it is our duty so to transform our
hearts that every trace of sin may be completely blotted out, while
whatever promotes supernatural life through Christ, may be zeal-
ously fostered and strengthened even to the extent that, in union
with the Immaculate Victim, we become a victim acceptable to the
Eternal Father.

101. The prescriptions in fact of the sacred Liturgy aim, by
every means at their disposal, at helping the Church to bring about
this holy purpose in the most suitable manner possible. This is
the object not only of readings, homilies and other sermons given
by priests, as also the whole cycle of mysteries which are proposed
for our commemoration in the course of the year, but it is also
the purpose of vestments, of sacred rites and their external splen-
dour. All these things aim at “enhancing the majesty of this great
Sacrifice, and raising the minds of the faithful by means of these

90 Rom., XII, 1.
91 Missale Rom., Canon Missae.
92 Pontif. Rom., De Ordinatione presbyteri.
93 Ibidem, De altaris consecrat., Praefatio.

37



visible signs of religion and piety, to the contemplation of the
sublime truths contained in this Sacrifice.” 94

Reproducing the image of Jesus Christ

102. All the elements of the Liturgy, then, would have us repro-
duce in our hearts through the mystery of the Cross the likeness
of the Divine Redeemer according to the words of the Apostles
of the Gentiles “With Christ I am nailed to the Cross, I live, now
not I, but Christ liveth in me.” 95 Thus we become a victim, as
it were, along with Christ to increase the glory of the Eternal
Father.

103. Let this then be the intention and aspiration of the faithful,
when they offer up the divine Victim in the Mass. For if, as St.
Augustine writes, our mystery is enacted on the Lord’s table, that
is Christ our Lord Himself,96 Who is the Head and symbol of
that union through which we are the Body of Christ 97 and mem-
bers of His Body

:

98
if St. Robert Bellarmine teaches, according

to the mind of the Doctor of Hippo, that in the Sacrifice of the
altar there is signified the general sacrifice by Which the whole
Mystical Body of Christ, that is all the city of the redeemed, is
offered up to God through Christ, the High Priest : 99 nothing can
be conceived more just or fitting than that all of us in union with
our Head, Who suffered for our sake, should also sacrifice our-
selves to the Eternal Father. For in the Sacrament of the altar, as
the same St. Augustine has it, the Church is made to see that in
what she offers she herself is offered.100

104. Let the faithful, therefore, consider to what a high dignity
they are raised by the Sacrament of Baptism. They should not
think it enough to participate in the Eucharistic Sacrifice with
that general intention which befits members of Christ and children
of the Church, but let them further, in keeping with the spirit of
the sacred Liturgy, be most closely united with the High Priest
and His earthly minister, at the time the consecration of the divine
Victim is effected, and at that time especially when those solemn
words are pronounced: “By Him and with Him and in Him, is
to Thee, God the Father Almighty, in the unity of the Holy Ghost,

94 Cf. Cone. Trid., Sess. XXII, c. 5.
95 Gal, II, 19-20.
96 Cf. Serm., CCLXXII.
97 Cf. / Cor., XII, 27.
98 Cf. Eph., V, 30.
99 Cf. S. Robertus Bellarm., De Missa, II, cap. 8.
100 Cf. De Civ. Dei, lib. X, cap. 6.

38



all honor and glory for ever and ever
101 to these words in fact

the people answer : “Amen.” Nor should Christians forget to offer
themselves, their cares, their sorrows, their distress and their neces-

sities in union with their Divine Saviour upon the Cross.

Ill Means of promoting this participation

105. Therefore they are to be praised who with the idea of
getting the Christian people to take part more easily and more
fruitfully in the Mass, strive to make them familiar with the
“Roman Missal,” so that the faithful, united with the priest, may
pray together in the very words and sentiments of the Church.

They also are to be commended who strive to make the Liturgy
even in an external way a sacred act in which all who are present
may share. This can be done in more than one way, when, for
instance, the whole congregation in accordance with the rules of

the Liturgy, either answer the priest in an orderly and fitting
manner, or sing hymns suitable to the different parts of the Mass,
or do both, or finally in High Masses when they answer the prayers
of the minister of Jesus Christ and also sing the liturgical chant.

But subject to the directions of the Church

106. These methods of participation in the Mass are to be ap-
proved and commended when they are in complete agreement with
the precepts of the Church and the rubrics of the Liturgy. Their
chief aim is to foster and promote the people’s piety and intimate
union with Christ and His visible minister and to arouse those
internal sentiments and dispositions which should make our hearts
become like to that of the High Priest of the New Testament.
However, though they show also in an outward manner that the
very nature of the Sacrifice, as offered by the Mediator between
God and men,102 must be regarded as the act of the whole Mystical
Body of Christ, still they are by no means necessary to constitute
it a public act or to give it a social character. And besides, a
“dialogue” Mass of this kind cannot replace the High Mass, which,
as a matter of fact, though it should be offered with only the sacred
ministers present, possesses its own special dignity due to the
impressive character of its ritual and the magnificence of its cere-
monies. The splendor and grandeur of a High Mass, however,
are very much increased if, as the Church desires, the people are
present in great numbers and with devotion.

101 Missale Rom., Canon Missae.
102 Cf. / Tim., II, 5 .

39



The value of these methods should not he exaggerated

107. It is to be observed also that they have strayed from the
path of truth and right reason who, led away by false opinions, make
so much of these accidentals as to presume to assert that without
them the Mass cannot fulfil its appointed end.

108. Many of the faithful are unable to use the “Roman Missal”
even though it is written in the vernacular; nor are all capable of
understanding correctly the liturgical rites and formulas. So
varied and diverse are men’s talents and characters that it is im-
possible for all to be moved and attracted to the same extent by
community prayers, hymns, and liturgical services. Moreover,
the needs and inclinations of all are not the same, nor are they
always constant in the same individual. Who then would say, on
account of such a prejudice, that all these Christians cannot partic-
ipate in the Mass nor share its fruits? On the contrary, they can
adopt some other method which proves easier for certain people,
for instance, they can lovingly meditate on the mysteries of Jesus
Christ or perform other exercises of piety or recite prayers which,
though they differ from the sacred rites, are still essentially in
harmony with them.

Let diocesan committees he set up to promote the Liturgy

109. Wherefore We exhort you, Venerable Brethren, that each
in his Diocese or ecclesiastical jurisdiction supervise and regulate
the manner and method in which the people take part in the Liturgy,
according to the rubrics of the “Missal” and in keeping with the
injunctions which the Sacred Congregation of Rites and the Code
of Canon Law have published. Let everything be done with due
order and dignity, and let no one, not even a priest, make use of
the sacred edifices according to his whim to try out experiments.
It is also Our wish that in each Diocese an advisory Committee
to promote the liturgical Apostolate should be established, similar
to that which cares for sacred music and art, so that with your
watchful guidance everything may be carefully carried out in ac-
cordance with the prescriptions of the Apostolic See.

110. In religious communities let all those regulations be ac-
curately observed which are laid down in their respective constitu-
tions, nor let any innovations be made which the superiors of these
communities have not previously approved.

111. But however much variety and disparity there may be in
the exterior manner and circumstances in which the Christian laity
participate in the Mass and other liturgical functions, constant and

40



earnest effort must be made to unite the congregation in spirit as
much as possible with the Divine Redeemer, so that their lives
may be daily enriched with more abundant sanctity, and greater
glory be given to the Heavenly Father.

III. Holy Communion

112. The august Sacrifice of the altar is concluded with Com-
munion or the partaking of the divine feast. But, as all know, the
integrity of the Sacrifice only requires that the priest partake of

the heavenly Food. Although it is most desirable that the people

should also approach the holy table, this is not required for the

integrity of the Sacrifice.

For the integrity of the Sacrifice the Communion
of the priest is sufficient

113. We wish in this matter to repeat the remarks which Our
Predecessor Benedict XIV makes with regard to the definitions
of the Council of Trent: “First We must state that none of the
faithful can hold that private Masses, in which the priest alone
receives Holy Communion, are thereby unlawful and do not fulfil
the idea of the true, perfect and complete unbloody Sacrifice in-
stituted by Christ our Lord. For the faithful know quite well, or
at least can easily be taught, that the Council of Trent, supported
by the doctrine which the uninterrupted tradition of the Church has
preserved, condemned the new and false opinion of Luther as op-
posed to this tradition.” 103 “If anyone shall say that Masses in
which the priest only receives Communion, are unlawful, and there-
fore should be abolished, let him be anathema.” 104

114. They therefore err from the path of truth, who do not
want to have Masses celebrated unless the faithful communicate;
and those are still more in error who, in holding that it is altogether
necessary for the faithful to receive Holy Communion as well as
the priest, put forward the captious argument that here there is
question not of a Sacrifice merely, but of a Sacrifice and a supper
of brotherly union, and consider the general Communion of all
present as the culminating point of the whole celebration.

115. Now it cannot be over-emphasized that the Eucharistic
Sacrifice of its very nature, is the unbloody immolation of the

103 Litt. Encycl. Certiores effecti, d. d. xiii Nov. a. mdccxlii, § 1.
104 Cone. Trid., Sess. XXII, can. 8.

41



divine Victim, which is made manifest in a mystical manner by
the separation of the Sacred Species and by their oblation to the
Eternal Father. Holy Communion pertains to the integrity of
the Mass and to the partaking of the august Sacrament

;
but while

it is obligatory for the priest who says the Mass, it is only some-
thing earnestly recommended to the faithful.

An exhortation to spiritual and sacramental Communion

11 6. The Church, as the teacher of truth, strives by every means
in her power to safeguard the integrity of the Catholic faith, and
like a mother solicitous for the welfare of her children, she exhorts
them most earnestly to partake fervently and frequently of the
richest treasure of our religion.

117. She wishes in the first place that Christians—especially
when they cannot easily receive Holy Communion—should do so
at least by desire, so that with renewed faith, reverence, humility
and complete trust in the goodness of the Divine Redeemer, they
may be united to Him in the spirit of the most ardent charity.

118. But the desire of Mother Church does not stop here. For
since by feasting upon the Bread of Angels we can by a “sacra-
mental” Communion, as we have already said, also become par-
takers of the Sacrifice, she repeats the invitation to all her children

individually “Take and eat . . . Do this in memory of Me” 105 so
that “we may continually experience within us the fruit of our
Redemption” 106 in a more efficacious manner. For this reason
the Council of Trent, reechoing, as it were, the invitation of Christ

and His Immaculate Spouse, has earnestly exhorted “the faithful
when they attend Mass to communicate not only by a spiritual
communion but also by a sacramental one, so that they may obtain
more abundant fruit from this most holy Sacrifice.” 107 Moreover,
our Predecessor of immortal memory, Benedict XIV, wishing to
emphasize and throw fuller light upon the truth that the faithful by
receiving the Holy Eucharist become partakers of the divine Sacri-
fice itself, praises the devotion of those who, when attending Mass,
not only elicit a desire to receive Holy Communion but also want
to be nourished by Hosts consecrated during the Mass, even though,
as he himself states, they really and truly take part in the Sacrifice
should they receive a Host which has been duly consecrated at a
previous Mass. He writes as follows : “And although in addition

105 1 Cor., XI, 24.
106 Missale Rom., Collecta Festi Corp. Christi.
107 Sess. XXII, c. 6.

42



to those to whom the celebrant gives a portion of the Victim he
himself has offered in the Mass, they also participate in the same
Sacrifice to whom a priest distributes the Blessed Sacrament that
has been reserved; however, the Church has not for this reason
ever forbidden, nor does she now forbid, a celebrant to satisfy the
piety and just request of those who when present at Mass want to
become partakers of the same Sacrifice, because they likewise offer
it after their own manner, nay more, she approves of it and desires
that it should not be omitted and would reprehend those priests
through whose fault and negligence this participation would be
denied to the faithful/’ 108

For all classes of people

119. May God grant that all accept these invitations of the
Church freely and with spontaneity. May He grant that they
participate even every day, if possible, in the divine Sacrifice, not
only in a spiritual manner, but also by reception of the august
Sacrament, receiving the Body of Jesus Christ which has been
offered for all to the Eternal Father. Arouse, Venerable Brethren,
in the hearts of those committed to your care, a great and in-
satiable hunger for Jesus Christ. Under your guidance let the chil-
dren and youth crowd to the altar rails to offer themselves, their
innocence and their works of zeal to the Divine Redeemer. Let
husbands and wives approach the holy table so that nourished on
this food they may learn to make the children entrusted to them
conformed to the mind and heart of Jesus Christ.

120. Let the workers be invited to partake of this sustaining and
never failing nourishment that it may renew their strength and
obtain for their labors an everlasting recompense in heaven; in a
word, invite all men of whatever class and compel them to come
in

;

109 since this is the Bread of life which all require. The Church
of Jesus Christ needs no other bread than this to satisfy fully our
souls’ wants and desires, and to unite us in the most intimate
union with Jesus Christ, to make us “one body,” 110 to get us to
live together as brothers who, breaking the same bread, sit down
to the same Heavenly Table to partake of the elixir of immortal-
ity.

111

108 Litt. Encycl. Certiores effecti, § 3.
109 Cf. Luc., XIV, 23.
no / Cor., X, 17.
in Cf. S. Ignat. Martyr., Ad Ephes., 20.

43



Communion to be received if possible during the Mass

121. Now it is very fitting, as the Liturgy otherwise lays down,
that the people receive Holy Communion after the priest has
partaken of the divine repast upon the altar; and, as we have
written above, they should be commended who, when present at
Mass, receive Hosts consecrated at the same Mass, so that it is
actually verified : “that as many of us as, at this altar, shall partake
of and receive the most holy Body and Blood of thy Son, may be
filled with every heavenly blessing and grace.” 112

122. Still sometimes there may be a reason, and that not in-
frequently, why Holy Communion should be distributed before or
after Mass and even immediately after the priest receives the
Sacred Species—and even though Hosts consecrated at a previous
Mass should be used. In these circumstances,—as we have stated
above,—the people duly take part in the Eucharistic Sacrifice and
not seldom they can in this way more conveniently receive Holy
Communion. Still though the Church with the kind heart of a
mother, strives to meet the spiritual needs of her children, they, for
their part, should not readily neglect the directions of the Liturgy
and, as often as there is no reasonable difficulty should aim that
all their actions at the altar manifest more clearly the living unity
of the Mystical Body.

Followed by suitable thanksgiving

123. When the Mass, which is subject to special rules of the
Liturgy, is over, the person who has received Holy Communion
is not thereby freed from his duty of thanksgiving

;
rather, it is

most becoming that, when the Mass is finished, the person who
has received the Eucharist should recollect himself, and in intimate
union with the Divine Master hold loving and fruitful converse
with Him. Hence they have departed from the straight way of
truth, who, adhering to the letter rather than the sense, assert and
teach that when Mass has ended, no such thanksgiving should be
added, not only because the Mass is itself a thanksgiving, but also
because this pertains to a private and personal act of piety and
not to the good of the community.

124. But, on the contrary, the very nature of the Sacrament
demands that its reception should produce rich fruits of Christian
sanctity. Admittedly the congregation has been officially dismissed,
but each individual, since he is united with Christ, should not in-

112 Missale Rom., Canon Missae.

44



terrupt the hymn of praise in his own soul “always returning thanks
for all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God and the
Father.” 113 The sacred Liturgy of the Mass also exhorts us to
do this when it bids us pray in these words: “Grant, we beseech
thee, that we may always continue to offer thanks 114 .. . and may
never cease from praising Thee.” 115 Wherefore, if there is no
time when we must not offer God thanks, and if we must never
cease from praising Him, who would dare to reprehend or find
fault with the Church, because she advises her priests 116 and faith-
ful to converse with the Divine Redeemer for at least a short while
after Holy Communion, and inserts in her liturgical books, fitting
prayers, enriched with indulgences, by which the sacred ministers
may make suitable preparation before Mass and Holy Communion
or may return thanks afterwards? So far is the Sacred Liturgy
from restricting the interior devotion of individual Christians, that
it actually fosters and promotes it so that they may be rendered
like to Jesus Christ and through Him, be brought to the Heavenly
Father; wherefore this same discipline of the Liturgy demands
that whoever has partaken of the Sacrifice of the altar, should return
fitting thanks to God. For it is the good pleasure of the Divine
Redeemer to hearken to us when we pray, to converse with us
intimately and to offer us a refuge in his loving Heart.

Necessary to obtain more abundant fruit

125. Moreover such personal colloquies are very necessary that
we may all enjoy more fully the supernatural treasures that are
contained in the Eucharist and, according to our means, share
them with others, so that Christ Our Lord may exert the greatest
possible influence on the souls of all.

126. Why then, Venerable Brethren, should We not approve of
those who, when they receive Holy Communion, remain on in
closest familiarity with their Divine Redeemer even after the con-
gregation has been officially dismissed, and that not only for the
consolation of conversing with Him, but also to render Him due
thanks and praise and especially to ask help to defend their souls
against anything that may lessen the efficacy of the Sacrament and
to do everything in their power to cooperate with the action of
Christ Who is so intimately present. We exhort them to do so

Ephes., V., 20.
n4 Missale Rom., Postcommunio Dominicae infra Oct. Ascens.
n5 Ibidem, Postcommunio Dominicae I post Pentec.
116 C. I. C., can. 810.

45



in a special manner by carrying out their resolutions, by exercising
the Christian virtues as also by applying to their own necessities
the riches they have received with royal liberality. The author
of that golden book “The Imitation of Christ” certainly speaks in
accordance with the letter and the spirit of the Liturgy, when he
gives the following advice to the person who approaches the altar

:

“Remain on in secret and take delight in your God; for He is
yours Whom the whole world cannot take away from you.” 117

127. Therefore let us all enter into closest union with Christ
and strive to lose ourselves, as it were, in His most holy Soul and
so be united to Him that we may have a share in those acts with
which He adores the Blessed Trinity with a homage that is most
acceptable, and by which He offers to the Eternal Father supreme
praise and thanks which find an harmonious echo throughout the
heavens and the earth, according to the words of the prophet:
“All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord.” 118 Finally in union
with these sentiments of Christ, let us ask for heavenly aid at that
moment that is supremely fitting to pray for and obtain help in
His name.119 For it is especially in virtue of these sentiments that
we offer and immolate ourselves as a victim saying: “make of us
Thy eternal offering.” 120

128. The Divine Redeemer is ever repeating His pressing in-
vitation : “Abide in Me.” 121 Now by the Sacrament of the
Eucharist, Christ remains in us and we in Him; and just as Christ,
remaining in us, lives and works, so should we remain in Christ
and live and work through Him.

IV. Adoration of the Eucharist

129. The Eucharist Food contains, as all are aware, “truly, really
and substantially the Body and Blood together with the Soul and
Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” 122 It is no wonder, then,
that the Church, even from the beginning, adored the Body of
Christ under the appearance of bread

;
this is evident from the very

rites of the august Sacrifice, which prescribe that the sacred mini-

sters should adore the Most Holy Sacrament by genuflecting or by
profoundly bowing their heads.

130. The Sacred Councils teach that it is the Church’s tradition

Lib. IV, cap. 12.
ns Dan., Ill, 57.
H9 Cf. Ioan., XVI, 23.
120 Missale Rom., Secreta Missae SS. Trinit.
121 Ioan., XV, 4.
122 Cone. Trid., Sess. XIII, can. 1.

46



right from the beginning, to worship «with the same adoration the

Word Incarnate as well as His own flesh,” 123 and St. Augustine
asserts that: “No one eats that flesh, without first adoring it,”
while he adds that “not only do we not commit a sin by adoring it,
but that we do sin by not adoring it.” 124

131. It is on this doctrinal basis that the cult of adoring the

Eucharist was founded and gradually developed as something dis-
tinct from the Sacrifice of the Mass. The reservation of the Sacred
Species for the sick and those in danger of death introduced the
praiseworthy custom of adoring the Blessed Sacrament which is

reserved in our Churches. This practice of adoration, in fact, is

based on strong and solid reasons. For the Eucharist is at once a
Sacrifice and a Sacrament : but it differs from the other Sacraments
in this that it not only produces grace, but contains in a permanent
manner the Author of grace Himself. When, therefore, the Church
bids us adore Christ hidden behind the Eucharistic veils and pray
to Him for spiritual and temporal favors of which we ever stand
in need, she manifests living faith in her divine Spouse Who is
present beneath these veils, she professes her gratitude to Him
and she enjoys the intimacy of His friendship.

Development of the Eucharistic Cult

132. Now, the Church in the course of centuries has introduced
various forms of this worship which are ever increasing in beauty
and helpfulness

;
as, for example, visits of devotion to the Taber-

nacles, even every day, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament:
solemn processions, especially at the time of Eucharistic Con-
gresses, which pass through cities and villages, and adoration of
the Blessed Sacrament publicly exposed. Sometimes these public
acts of adoration are of short duration. Sometimes they last for
one, several and even for forty hours. In certain places they con-
tinue in turn in different churches throughout the year, while else-
where adoration is perpetual, day and night, under the care of
Religious Communities, and the faithful quite often take part in
them.

133. These exercises of piety have brought a wonderful increase
in faith and supernatural life to the Church militant upon earth
and they are re-echoed to a certain extent by the Church triumphant

123 Cone. Constant. II, Anath. de trib. Capit.. can. 9 collat. Cone. Enhes.,
Anath. Cyrill.. can. 8. Cf. Cone. Trid., Sess. XIII, can. 6; Pius VI Const.
Avctorem Met, n. LXI.

124 Cf. Enarr. in Ps. XCVIIJ, 9.

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in heaven which sings continually a hymn of praise to God and to
the Lamb “Who was slain.” 125 Wherefore the Church not merely
approves these pious practices which in the course of centuries
have spread everywhere throughout the world, but makes them her
own, as it were, and by her authority commends them.126 They
spring from the inspiration of the Liturgy and if they are performed
with due decorum and with faith and piety, as the liturgical rules
of the Church require, they are undoubtedly of the very greatest
assistance in living the life of the Liturgy.

No confusion between “the Historic Christ

”

and “the Eucharistic Christ”

134. Nor is it to be admitted that by this Eucharist Cult men
falsely confound the Historical Christ, as they say, Who once lived
on earth, with the Christ who is present in the august Sacrament
of the altar, and Who reigns glorious and triumphant in heaven
and bestows supernatural favors. On the contrary, it can be
claimed that by this devotion the faithful bear witness to and
solemnly avow the faith of the Church that the Word of God is
identical with the Son of the Virgin Mary, Who suffered on the
Cross, Who is present in a hidden manner in the Eucharist and
Who reigns upon His heavenly throne. Thus St. John Chrysos-
tom states : “When you see It (the Body of Christ) exposed, say
to yourself : thanks to this Body, I am no longer dust and ashes, I
am no more a captive but a freeman : hence I hope to obtain Heaven
and the good things that are there in store for me, eternal life, the
heritage of the Angels, companionship with Christ; death has not
destroyed this Body which was pierced by nails and scourged, . . .
this is that Body which was once covered with blood, pierced by a
lance, from which issued saving fountains upon the world, one
of blood and the other of water . . . This Body He gave to us to
keep and eat, as a mark of His intense love.” 127

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

135. That practice in a special manner is to be highly praised
according to which many exercises of piety, customary among the
faithful, end with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. For
excellent and of great benefit is that custom which makes the priest

125 Apoc., V, 12, coll. VII, 10.
126 Cf. Cone. Trid., Sess. XIII, c. 5 et can. 6.
127 In I ad Cor., XXIV, 4.

48



raise aloft the Bread of Angels before congregations with heads
bowed down in adoration, and forming with It the sign of the
cross implores the Heavenly Father to deign to look upon His Son
Who for love of us was nailed to the Cross and for His sake and
through Him Who willed to be our Redeemer and our Brother,
be pleased to shower down heavenly favors upon those whom the
Immaculate Blood of the Lamb has redeemed.128

136. Strive then, Venerable Brethren, with your customary de-
voted care so that the Churches, which the faith and piety of Chris-
tian peoples have built in the course of centuries for the purpose of
singing a perpetual hymn of glory to God Almighty and of provid-
ing a worthy abode for our Redeemer concealed beneath the Eucha-
ristic species, may be entirely at the disposal of greater numbers
of the faithful who, called to the feet of their Saviour, hearken to
His most consoling invitation : “Come to Me all you who labor
and are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you.” 129 Let your
Churches be the house of God where all who enter to implore
blessings rejoice in obtaining whatever they ask 130 and find there
heavenly consolation.

137. Only thus can it be brought about that the whole human
family settling their differences may find peace, and united in mind
and heart may sing this song of hope and charity : “Good Pastor,
truly Bread—Jesus have mercy on us—feed us, protect us—bestow
on us the vision of all good things—in the land of the living.” 131

PART III

THE DIVINE OFFICE AND THE LITURGICAL YEAR

I. The Divine Office

138. The ideal of Christian life is that each one be united to God
in the closest and most intimate manner. For this reason, the wor-
ship that the Church renders to God, and which is based especially
on the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the use of the Sacraments, is
directed and arranged in such a way that it embraces, by means
of the Divine Office, the hours of the day, the weeks and the whole
cycle of the year, and reaches all the aspects and phases of human
life.

128 Cf. I Petr., I, 19.
129 Matth., XI, 28.
130 Cf. Missale Rom., Coll, in Missa Ded. Eccl.
131 Missale Rom., Seq. Lauda Sion in festo Ssmi Corporis Christi.

49



139. Since the Divine Master commanded “that we ought always
to pray and not to faint” 182 the Church faithfully fulfils this in-
junction and never ceases to pray : she urges us in the words of the
Apostle of the Gentiles : “by Him (Jesus) let us offer the sacrifice
of praise always to God.” 133

140. Public and common prayer offered to God by all at the same
time was customary in antiquity only on certain days and at certain
times. Indeed, people prayed to God not only in groups but in
private houses and occasionally with neighbors and friends. But
soon in different parts of the Christian world the practice arose of
setting aside special times for praying, as for example, the last hour
of the day when evening set in and the lamps were lighted : or the
first, heralded, when the night was coming to an end, by the crowing
of the cock and the rising of the morning star. Other times of the
day, as being more suitable for prayer are indicated in Sacred
Scripture, in Hebrew customs or in keeping with the practice of
every-day life. According to the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples
of Jesus Christ all came together to pray at the third hour, when
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost

;

134 and before eating, the
Prince of the Apostles went up to the higher parts of the house to
pray, about the sixth hour; 135 Peter and John “went up into the
Temple at the ninth hour of prayer” 136 and “at midnight Paul and
Silas praying . . . praised God.”

137

141. Thanks to the work of the monks and to those who prac-
ticed asceticism, these various prayers in the course of time become
ever more perfected and by the authority of the Church, are gradu-
ally incorporated into the sacred Liturgy.

It is the perennial prayer of the Church

142. The Divine Office is the prayer of the Mystical Body of
Jesus Christ, offered to God in the name and on behalf of all Chris-
tians, when recited by priests and other ministers of the Church
and by religious who are deputed by the Church for this.

143. The character and value of the Divine Office may be
gathered from the words recommended by the Church to be said
before starting the prayers of the Office, namely that they be said
“worthily, with attention and devotion.”

132 Luc, XVIII, 1.
133 Hebr., XIII, 15.
134 Cf. Act

,
II, 1-15.

135 Ibidem

,

X, 9.
136 Ibidem, III, 1.
137 Ibidem. XVI. 25.

50



144. By assuming human nature, the Divine Word introduced
into this earthly exile a hymn which is sung in heaven for all
eternity. He unites to Himself the whole human race and with it
sings this hymn to the praise of God. As we must humbly recog-
nize that “we know not what we should pray for, as we ought, the
Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings.”138 More-
over, through His Spirit in us, Christ entreats the Father. “God
could not give a greater gift to men . . . (Jesus) prays for us,
as our Priest

;
He prays in us as our Head : we pray to Him as our

God ... We recognize in Him our voice and His voice in us . . .
He is prayed to as God, He prays under the appearance of a servant

;

in heaven He is Creator, here created though not changed, He
assumes a created nature which is to be changed and makes us with
Him one complete man, Head and body.” 139

Interior devotion is required

145. To this lofty dignity of the Church’s prayer, there should
correspond earnest devotion in our souls. For when in prayer the
voice repeats those hymns written under the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost and extolls God’s infinite perfections, it is necessary that the
interior sentiment of our soul accompany the voice so as to make
those sentiments our own in which we are elevated to heaven, ador-
ing and giving due praise and thanks to the Blessed Trinity : “so let
us chant in choir that mind and voice may accord together.” 140 It
is not merely a question of recitation or of singing which, however
perfect according to norms of music and the sacred rites, only
reaches the ear, but it is especially a question of the ascent of the

mind and heart to God so that, united with Christ, we may com-
pletely dedicate ourselves and all our actions to Him.

146. On this depends in no small way the efficacy of our prayers.
These prayers in fact when they are not addressed directly to the
Word made man, conclude with the phrase “through Jesus Christ
Our Lord.” As our Mediator with God, He shows to the heavenly
Father His glorified wounds, “always living to make intercession
for us.” 141

The wonderful content of the Psalter

147. The Psalms, as all know, form the chief part of the Divine
Office. They encompass the full round of the day and sanctify it.

iss Rom., VIII, 26.
139 S. Augustin., Enarr. in Ps. LXXXV

,
n. 1.

140 S. Benedict., Regula Monachorum, c. XIX.
141 Hebr., VII, 25.

51



Cassiodorus speaks beautifully about the Psalms as distributed in
his day throughout the Divine Office : “with the celebration of
matins they bring a blessing on the coming day, they set aside for us
the first hour and consecrate the third hour of the day, they gladden
the sixth hour with the breaking of bread, at the ninth they termi-
nate our fast, they bring the evening to a close and at nightfall they
shield our minds from darkness.” 142

148. The Psalms recall to mind the truths revealed by God to
the chosen people, which were at one time frightening and at
another filled with wonderful tenderness : they keep repeating and
fostering the hope of the promised Liberator which in ancient times
was kept alive with song, either around the hearth or in the stately
Temple; they show forth in splendid light the prophesied glory of
Jesus Christ : first, His supreme and eternal power, then His lowly
coming to this terrestrial exile, His kingly dignity and priestly
power and finally His beneficent labors, and the shedding of His
Blood for our redemption. In a similar way they express the joy,
the bitterness, the hope and fear of our hearts and our desire of
loving God and hoping in Him alone, and our mystic ascent to
divine tabernacles.

149. “The psalm is ... a blessing for the people, it is the praise
of God, the tribute of the nation, the common language and accla-
mation of all, it is the voice of the Church, the harmonious confes-
sion of faith, signifying deep attachment to authority: it is the joy
of freedom, the expression of happiness, an echo of bliss.” 143

The participation of the jaithful in Sunday Vespers

150. In an earlier age, these canonical prayers were attended by
many of the faithful: but this gradually ceased, and, as We have
already said, their recitation at present is the duty only of the

clergy and of religious. The laity have no obligation in this matter.
Still, it is greatly to be desired that they participate in reciting or
chanting Vespers sung in their own parish on feast-days. We earn-
estly exhort you, Venerable Brethren, to see that this pious practice
is kept up, and that wherever it has ceased you restore it if possible.
This, without doubt, will produce salutary results when Vespers
are conducted in a worthy and fitting manner and with such helps
as foster the piety of the faithful. Let the public and private ob-
servance of the feasts of the Church, which are in a special way

142 Explicatio in Psalterium. Praefatio
;
ut legitur in ed. P. L., LXX, 10.

Nonnulli tamen censent partem huius dictionis non esse Cassiodoro tribuendam.
143 S. Ambros., Enarrat. in Ps. I, n. 9.

52



dedicated and consecrated to God, be kept inviolable : and especially

the Lord’s day which the Apostles under the guidance of the Holy
Ghost, substituted for the Sabbath. Now, if the order was given to
the Jews : “Six days shall you do work : in the seventh day is the
sabbath, the rest holy to the Lord. Every one that shall do any
work on this day, shall die 144 how will these Christians not fear
spiritual death, who perform servile work on feast-days, and whose
rest on these days is not devoted to religion and piety but given
over to the allurements of the world ? Sundays and Holydays, then,
must be made holy by divine worship, which gives homage to God
and heavenly food to the soul. Although the Church only com-
mands the faithful to abstain from servile work and attend Mass
and does not make it obligatory to attend evening devotions, still
she desires this and recommends it repeatedly : moreover, the needs
of each one demand it, seeing that all are bound to win the favor
of God if they are to obtain His benefits. Our Soul is filled with
the greatest grief when We see how the Christian people of today
profane the afternoon of feast-days

:
public places of amusement and

public games are frequented in great numbers while the Churches
are not as full as they should be. All should come to our Churches
and there be taught the truth of the Catholic faith, sing the praises
of God, be enriched with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
given by the priest, and be strengthened with help from heaven
against the adversities of this life. Let all try to learn those prayers
which are recited at Vespers and fill their souls with their meaning.
When deeply penetrated by these prayers they will experience what
St. Augustine said about himself : “How much did I weep during
hymns and verses, greatly moved at the sweet singing of thy
Church. Their sound would penetrate my ears and their truth
melt my heart, sentiments of piety would well up, tears would flow
and that was good for me.” 145

II. The Cycle of the Mysteries in the Liturgical Year

151. Throughout the entire year, the Mass and the Divine Office
center especially around the person of Jesus Christ: this arrange-
ment is so suitably disposed that Our Saviour dominates the scene
in the mysteries of His humiliation, of His redemption and triumph.

152. While the sacred Liturgy calls to mind the mysteries of
Jesus Christ, it strives to make all believers take their part in them
so that the divine Head of the Mystical Body may live in all the

144 Exod., XXXI, 15.
145 Confess., lib. IX, cap. 6.

53



members with the fulness of His holiness. Let the souls of Chris-
tians be like altars on each one of which a different phase of the
Sacrifice, offered by the High Priest, comes to life again, as it
were:—pains and tears which wipe away and expiate sin; suppli-
cation to God which pierces heaven; dedication and even immola-
tion of oneself made promptly, generously and earnestly

;
and finally

that intimate union by which we commit ourselves and all we
have to God, in whom we find our rest

;
“the perfection of religion

is to imitate whom you adore.” 146

The significance of the Liturgical Season

1 53. By these suitable ways and methods in which the Liturgy at
stated times proposes the life of Jesus Christ for our meditation, the
Church gives us examples to imitate, points out treasures of sanc-
tity for us to make our own

;
since it is fitting that the mind believes

what the lips sing, and that what the mind believes should be prac-
tised in public and private life.

Advent

154. In the period of Advent, for instance, the Church arouses in
us the consciousness of the sins we have had the misfortune to com-
mit, and urges us, by restraining our desires and practicing volun-
tary mortification of the body, to recollect ourselves in meditation,

and experience a longing desire to return to God Who alone can
free us by His grace from the stain of sin and from its evil conse-
quences.

Christmas

155. With the coming of the birthday of the Redeemer, she would
bring us to the cave of Bethlehem and there teach that we must be
born again and undergo a complete reformation

;
that will only

happen when we are intimately and vitally united to the Word of
God made man and participate in His divine nature, to which we
have been elevated.

Epiphany

156. At the solemnity of the Epiphany, in putting before us the
call of the gentiles to the Christian faith, she wishes us daily to give

thanks to the Lord for such a blessing ; she wishes us to seek with
lively faith the living and true God, to penetrate deeplv and re-

146 S. Augustin., De Civ. Dei, lib. VIII, cap. 17.

54



ligiously the things of heaven, to love silence and meditation in

order to perceive and grasp more easily heavenly gifts.

Septuagesima

157. During the days of Septuagesima and Lent, Our Holy
Mother the Church over and over again strives to make each of us
seriously consider our misery, so that we may be urged to a prac-
tical emendation of our lives, detest our sins heartily and expiate
them by prayer and penance. For constant prayer and penance
done for past sins obtain for us divine help, without which every

work of ours is useless and unavailing.

Holy Week

158. In Holy Week, when the most bitter sufferings of Jesus
Christ are put before us by the Liturgy, the Church invites us to
come to Calvary and follow in the blood-stained footsteps of the
Divine Redeemer, to carry the cross willingly with Him, to repro-
duce in our own hearts His spirit of expiation and atonement, and
to die together with Him.

Easter

159. At the Paschal Season, which commemorates the triumph
of Christ, our souls are filled with deep interior joy: we, accord-
ingly, should also consider that we must rise, in union with the
Redeemer, from our cold and slothful life to one of greater fervour
and holiness by giving ourselves completely and generously to God,
and by forgetting this wretched world in order to aspire only to
the things of heaven : “if you be risen with Christ, seek the things
that are above . . . mind the things that are above.” 147

Pentecost

160. Finally, during the time of Pentecost, the Church by pre-
cept and practice urges us to be more docile to the action of the
Holy Spirit Who wishes us to be on fire with divine love so that
we may daily strive to advance more in virtue and thus become
holy as Christ Our Lord and His Father are holy.

161. Thus, the Liturgical Year should be considered as a splendid
hymn of praise offered to the Heavenly Father by the Christian
family through Jesus their perpetual Mediator. Nevertheless, it

147 Coloss Ill, 1-2.

55



requires a diligent and well ordered study on our part to be able to
know and praise Our Redeemer ever more and more: it requires
a serious effort and constant practice to imitate His mysteries, to
enter willingly upon His path of sorrow and thus finally share His
glory and eternal happiness.

Errors of modern authors

162. From what We have already explained, Venerable Brethren,
it is perfectly clear how much modern writers are wanting in the
genuine and true Liturgical spirit who, deceived by the illusion
of a higher mysticism, dare to assert that attention should be paid

not to the historic Christ but to a “pneumatic” or glorified Christ.
They do not hesitate to assert that a change has taken place in the
piety of the faithful by dethroning, as it were, Christ from His
position

;
since they say that the glorified Christ, Who liveth and

reigneth forever and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, has
been overshadowed and in His place has been substituted that
Christ who lived on earth. For this reason, some have gone so
far as to want to remove from the Churches images of the Divine
Redeemer suffering on the cross.

163. But these false statements are completely opposed to the
solid doctrine handed down by tradition. “You believe in Christ
born in the flesh,” says St. Augustine, “and you will come to Christ
begotten of God.” 148 In the sacred Liturgy, the whole Christ is

proposed to us in all the circumstances of His life, as the Word
of the Eternal Father, as born of the Virgin Mother of God, as He
Who teaches us truth, heals the sick, consoles the afflicted, Who
endures suffering and Who dies; finally, as He Who rose tri-
umphantly from the dead and Who, reigning in the glory of heaven
sends us the Holy Paraclete and Who abides in His Church for-
ever” : “Jesus Christ, yesterday and today; and the same for-

ever.” 149 Besides, the Liturgy shows us Christ not only as a

Model to be imitated but as a Master to Whom we should listen
readily, a Shepherd Whom we should follow, Author of our salva-
tion, the Source of our holiness and the Head of the Mystical Body
whose members we are, living by His very life.

164. Since His bitter sufferings constitute the principal mystery

of our Redemption it is only fitting that the Catholic faith should
give it the greatest prominence. This mystery is the very center

of divine worship since the Mass represents and renews it every

148 S. Augustin., Enarr. in Ps. CXXIII, n. 2.
149 Hebr., XIII, 8.

56



day and since all the Sacraments are most closely united with the

Cross.150

Christ lives again in the Church during the Liturgical Year

165. Hence the Liturgical Year devotedly fostered and accom-
panied by the Church, is not a cold and lifeless representation of the
events of the past, or a simple and bare record of a former age. It
is rather Christ Himself Who is ever living in His Church. Here
He continues that journey of immense mercy which He lovingly
began in His mortal life, going about doing good 151 with the design
of bringing men to know His mysteries and in a way live by them.
These mysteries are ever present and active not in a vague and
uncertain way as some modern writers hold, but in the way that
Catholic doctrine teaches us. According to the Doctors of the
Church, they are shining examples of Christian perfection, as well
as sources of divine grace, due to- the merit and prayers of Christ

;

they still influence us because each mystery brings its own special
grace for our salvation. Moreover, our holy Mother the Church,
while proposing for our contemplation the mysteries of Our Re-
deemer, asks in her prayers for those gifts which would give her
children the greatest possible share in the spirit of these mysteries

through the merits of Christ. By means of His inspiration and
help and through the cooperation of our wills we can receive from
Him living vitality as branches do from the tree and members from
the head

;
thus slowly and laboriously we can transform ourselves

‘‘unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ.” 152

III. Feasts of the Saints

166. In the course of the Liturgical Year besides the mysteries
of Jesus Christ, the feasts of the Saints are celebrated. Even
though these feasts are of a lower and subordinate order, the Church
always strives to put before the faithful examples of sanctity in
order to move them to cultivate in themselves the virtues of the
Divine Redeemer.

Examples proposed to us

167.

We should imitate the virtues of the Saints just as they imi-
tated Christ, for in their virtues there shines forth under different

150 S. Thom., Summa Theol.

,

III, q. XLIX et q. LXII, art. 5.
151 Cf. Acta, X. 38.
152 Eph., IV. 13.

57



aspects the splendor of Jesus Christ. Among some of these saints
the zeal of the apostolate stood out, in others courage prevailed even
to the shedding of blood, constant vigilance marked others out as
they kept watch for the Divine Redeemer, while in others the vir-
ginal purity of soul was resplendent and their modesty revealed
the beauty of Christian humility: there burned in all of them the
fire of charity towards God and their neighbor. The sacred Liturgy
puts all these gems of sanctity before us so that we may consider
them for our salvation, and “rejoicing at their merits, we may be
inflamed by their example.” 153 It is necessary then to practice
“in simplicity innocence, in charity concord, in humility modesty,

*

diligence in government, readiness in helping those who labor,
mercy in serving the poor, in defending truth constancy, in the
strict maintenance of discipline justice, so that nothing may be
wanting in us of the virtues which have been proposed for our
imitation. These are the footprints left by the Saints in their
journey homeward, that guided by them we might follow them into
glory.” 154 In order that we may be helped by our senses also, the
Church wishes that images of the Saints be displayed in our
Churches, always, however, with the same intention “that we imi-
tate the virtues of those whose images we venerate.” 155

And as our intercessors

168. But there is another reason why the Christian people should
honor the Saints in heaven, namely, to implore their help and “that

we be aided by the pleadings of those whose praise is our de-
light.” 156 Hence, it is easy to understand why the sacred Liturgy
provides us with many different prayers to invoke the intercession
of the Saints.

Preeminent devotion to Mary Most Holy

169. Among the Saints in heaven the Virgin Mary Mother of
God is venerated in a special way. Because of the mission she re-
ceived from God, her life is most closely linked with the mysteries

of Jesus Christ, and there is no one who has followed in the foot-
steps of the Incarnate Word more closely and with more merit than
she : and no one has more grace and power over the Most Sacred
Heart of the Son of God and through Him with the Heavenly

153 Missale Rom., Collecta III M'issae pro plur. Martyr extra T. P.
154 S. Beda Vener., Horn. subd. LXX in solemn, omnium Sanct.
155 Missale Rom., Collecta S. loan. Damascen.
156 S. Bern., Sermo II in festo omnium Sanct.

58



Father. Holier than the Cherubim and Seraphim, she enjoys un-
questionably greater glory than all the other Saints, for she is “full

of grace,” 157 she is the Mother of God, who happily gave birth to
the Redeemer for us. Since she is, therefore, “Mother of mercy,
our life, our sweetness and our hope” let us all cry to her “mourning
and weeping in this vale of tears,” 158 and confidently place our-
selves and all we have under her patronage. She became our
Mother also when the Divine Redeemer offered the Sacrifice of
Himself; and hence by this title also, we are her children. She
teaches us all the virtues ; she gives us her Son and with Him all
the help we need, for God “wished us to have everything through
Mary.” 159

170. Throughout this liturgical journey which begins anew for us
each year under the sanctifying action of the Church, and strength-
ened by the help and example of the Saints, especially of the Im-
maculate Virgin Mary, “let us draw near with a true heart, in
fulness of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
and our bodies washed with clean water” 160 let us draw near to
the “High Priest” 161 that with Him we may share His life and
sentiments and by Him penetrate “even within the veil,” 162 and
there honor the Heavenly Father for ever and ever.

171. Such is the nature and the object of the sacred Liturgy: it
treats of the Mass, the Sacraments, the Divine Office; it aims at
uniting our souls with Christ and sanctifying them through the
Divine Redeemer in order that Christ be honored and, through
Him and in Him, the Most Holy Trinity: Glory be to the Father
and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.

PART IV

PASTORAL DIRECTIVES

I. Other Devotions Not Strictly Liturgical Warmly
Recommended

172. In order that the errors and inaccuracies, mentioned above,
may be more easily removed from the Church, and that the faithful

137 Luc., I, 28.
158 « Salve Regina».
159 S. Bern., In Nativ. B. M. V., 7.
iMHebr., X, 22.
161 Ibidem, X, 21.
162 Ibidem, VI, 19.

59



following safer norms may be able to use more fruitfully the liturgi-
cal apostolate, We have deemed it opportune, Venerable Brethren, to
add some practical applications of the doctrine which We have
explained.

173. When dealing with genuine and solid piety We stated that
there could be no real opposition between the sacred Liturgy and
other religious practices, provided they be kept within legitimate
bounds and performed for a legitimate purpose. In fact, there are
certain exercises of piety which the Church recommends very much
to clergy and religious.

174. It is Our wish also that the faithful, as well, should take
part in these practices. The chief of these are: meditation on
spiritual things, diligent examination of conscience, enclosed re-
treats, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and those special prayers in
honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary among which the rosary, as all
know, has pride of place.163

The action of the Holy Spirit is not foreign to these devotions

175. From these multiple forms of piety, the inspiration and
action of the Holy Spirit cannot be absent. Their purpose is, in
various ways, to attract and direct our souls to God, purifying them
from their sins, encouraging them to practice virtue and finally
stimulating them to advance along the path of sincere piety by
accustoming them to meditate on the eternal truths and disposing
them better to contemplate the mysteries of the divine and human
nature of Christ. Besides, since they develop a deeper spiritual life

in the faithful, they prepare them to take part in sacred public
functions with greater fruit, and they lessen the danger of liturgical
prayers becoming an empty ritualism.

Errors from which the faithful should he protected

176. In keeping with your pastoral solicitude, Venerable

Brethren, do not cease to recommend and encourage these exercises
of piety from which the faithful, entrusted to your care, cannot but
derive salutary fruit. Above all, do not allow—as some do, who
are deceived under the pretext of restoring the Liturgy or who,

idly claim that only liturgical rites are of any real value and dig-

nity—that Churches be closed during the hours not appointed for
public functions, as has already happened in some places: where
the adoration of the august Sacrament and visits to Our Lord in the

‘ 60

163 Cf. C. /., can. 125.



tabernacles are neglected : where confession of devotion is discour-
aged: and devotion to the Virgin Mother of God, a sign of “pre-
destination” according to the opinion of holy men, is so neglected,
especially among the young, as to fade away and gradually vanish.
Such conduct most harmful to Christian piety is like poisonous
fruit, growing on the infected branches of a healthy tree, which
must be cut off so that the life-giving sap of the tree may bring
forth only the best fruit.

Sacramental Confession

1 77. Since the opinions expressed by some about frequent con-
fession, are completely foreign to the spirit of Christ and His Im-
maculate Spouse and are also most dangerous to the spiritual life,
let Us call to mind what with sorrow We wrote about this point
in the Encyclical on the Mystical Body; We urgently insist once
more that what We expounded in very serious words, be proposed
by you for the serious consideration and dutiful obedience of your
flock, especially to students for the priesthood and young clergy.

Spiritual Exercises and Retreats

1 78. Take special care that as many as possible, not only of the
clergy but of the laity and especially those in religious organizations
and in the ranks of Catholic Action, take part in monthly days of
recollection and in retreats of longer duration, made with a view to
growing in virtue. As We have previously stated, such spiritual
exercises are most useful and even necessary to instill into souls
solid virtue, and to strengthen them in sanctity so as to be able to
derive from the sacred Liturgy more efficacious and abundant
benefits.

179. As regards the different methods employed in these exer-
cises, it is perfectly clear to all that in the Church on earth, no less
than in the Church in heaven, there are many mansions

;

164 and
that asceticism cannot be the monopoly of anyone. It is the same
Spirit who breatheth where He will

;

165 and Who with differing
gifts and in different ways enlightens and guides souls to sanctity.
Let their freedom and the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit
be so sacrosanct that no one presume to disturb or stifle them for
any reason whatsoever.

180. However, it is well known that the spiritual exercises ac-

164 Cf. Ioan., XIV, 2.
165 Ioan., Ill, 8.

61



cording to the method and norms of St. Ignatius have been fully
approved and earnestly recommended by Our Predecessors on ac-
count of their admirable efficacy. We, too, for the same reason
have approved and commended them and willingly do We repeat
this now.

181. Any inspiration to follow and practice extraordinary exer-
cises of piety must most certainly come from the Father of Lights,
from Whom every good and perfect gift descends

;

166 and of course
the criterion of this will be the effectiveness of these exercises in
making the divine cult loved and spread daily ever more widely,
and in making the faithful approach the Sacraments with more
longing desire, and in obtaining for all things holy due respect and
honor. If, on the contrary, they are an obstacle to the principles
and norms of divine worship, or if they oppose or hinder them, one
must surely conclude that they are not in keeping with prudence
and enlightened zeal.

Other practices not strictly liturgical

182. There are, besides, other exercises of piety which although
not strictly belonging to the sacred Liturgy are, nevertheless, of
special import and dignity, and may be considered in a certain way
to be an addition to the liturgical cult: they have been approved
and praised over and over again by the Apostolic See and by the
Bishops. Among these are the prayers usually said during the
month of May in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God, or
during the month of June to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ; also
Novenas and Triduums, Stations of the Cross and other similar
practices.

183. These devotions make us partakers in a salutary manner of
the liturgical cult, because they urge the faithful to go frequently
to the Sacrament of Penance, to attend Mass and receive Com-
munion with devotion, and, as well, encourage them to meditate
on the mysteries of our Redemption and imitate the example of the
Saints.

184. Hence he would do something very wrong and dangerous,
who would dare to take on himself to reform all these exercises of
piety and reduce them completely to the methods and norms of
liturgical rites. However, it is necessary that the spirit of the
sacred Liturgy and its directives should exercise such a salutary
influence on them that nothing improper be introduced nor anything

166 Cf. Iac., I, 17.

62



unworthy of the dignity of the House of God or detrimental to the
sacred functions or opposed to solid piety.

185. Take care then, Venerable Brethren, that this true and solid
piety increases daily more and more under your guidance and bears
more abundant fruit. Above all, do not cease to inculcate into the
minds of all that progress in the Christian life does not consist in
the multiplicity and variety of prayers and exercises of piety, but
rather in their helpfulness towards spiritual progress of the faithful

and constant growth of the Church universal. For the Eternal
Father “chose us in Him, (Christ) before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and unspotted in His sight.” 167 All
our prayers, then, and all our religious practices should aim at di-
recting our spiritual energies towards attaining this most noble
and lofty end.

II. Liturgical Spirit and Liturgical Apostolate

186. We earnestly exhort you, Venerable Brethren, that after
errors and falsehoods have been removed, and anything that is con-
trary to truth or moderation has been condemned, you promote a
deeper knowledge among the people of the sacred Liturgy so that
they more readily and easily follow the sacred rites and take part
in them with true Christian dispositions.

Obedience to the directions of the Church

187. First of all, you must strive that with due reverence and
faith all obey the decrees of the Council of Trent, of the Roman
Pontiffs, and the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and what the litur-
gical books ordain concerning external public worship.

188. Three characteristics, of which Our Predecessor Pius X
spoke, should adorn all liturgical services :—sacredness, which ab-
hors any profane influence: nobility, which true and genuine arts
should serve and foster: and universality, which while safeguard-
ing local and legitimate custom, reveals the Catholic unity of the
Church.168

The adornment of Churches and altars

189. We desire to commend and urge the adornment of Churches
and altars. Let each one feel moved by the inspired word: “the

i™ Efihes., I, 4.
168 Cf. Litt. Apost. Motu Proprio Tra le sollecitudini, d. d. xxii Novem.

a. MCMIII.

63



zeal of thy house hath eaten me up”

;

169 and strive as much as in
him lies, that everything in the Church, including vestments and
liturgical furnishings, even though not rich nor lavish, be perfectly
clean and appropriate, since all is consecrated to the Divine Majesty.
If We have previously disapproved of the error of those who would
wish to outlaw images from Churches on the plea of reviving an
ancient tradition, We now deem it Our duty to censure the inconsid-
erate zeal of those who propose for veneration in the Churches
and on the altars, without any just reason, a multitude of sacred
images and statues, and also those who display unauthorised relics,
those who emphasize special and insignificant practices, neglecting
essential and necessary things ; they thus bring religion into derision
and lessen the dignity of worship.

190. Let us recall, as well, the decree about “not introducing
new forms of worship and devotion.” 170 We commend the exact
observance of this decree to your vigilance.

191. As regards music, let the clear and guiding norms of the
Apostolic See be scrupulously observed. Gregorian chant, which
the Roman Church considers her own as handed down from an-
tiquity and kept under her close tutelage, is proposed to the faithful
as belonging to them also. In certain parts of the Liturgy the
Church definitely prescribes it

;

171
it makes the celebration of the

Sacred Mysteries not onlv more dignified and solemn but helps very
much to increase the faith and devotion of the congregation. For
this reason, Our Predecessors of immortal memory, Pius X and
Pius XI, decreed—and We are happy to confirm with Our authority
the norms laid down by them—that in Seminaries and Religious
Institutes, Gregorian chant be diligently and zealously promoted,

and moreover that the old “Scholae Cantorum” be restored, at least
in the principal Churches ; this has already been done with happy

results in not a few places.” 172

Gregorian chant and congregational singing

192. Besides, “so that the faithful take a more active part in

divine worship, let Gregorian chant be restored to popular use in

the parts proper to the people. Indeed it is very necessary that

the faithful attend the sacred ceremonies not as if they were out-

siders or mute onlookers, but let them fully appreciate the beauty

169 Psalm. LXVIII, 10; Ioan., II, 17.
170 Suprema S. Congr. S. Officii : Decretum d. d. xxvi Man mcmxxxvii.
171 Cf. Pius X, Litt. Apost. Motu Proprio Tra le sollecitudini.
172 Cf. Pius X, loc. cit Pius XI, Const. Divini cultus, II, V.

64



of the Liturgy and take part in the sacred ceremonies, alternating
their voices with the priest and the choir, according to the pre-
scribed norms. If, please God, this is done, it will not happen
that the congregation hardly ever or only in a low murmur answer
the prayers in Latin or in the vernacular/’ 173 A congregation
that is devoutly present at the Sacrifice, in which Our Saviour
together with His children redeemed with His Sacred Blood sings
the nuptial hymn of His immense love, cannot keep silent, for “song
befits the lover” 174 and, as the ancient saying has it, “he who sings
well prays twice.” Thus the Church militant, faithful as well as
clergy, joins in the hymns of the Church triumphant and with the
choirs of Angels, and, all together, sing a wondrous and eternal
hymn of praise to the most Holy Trinity in keeping with words
of the Preface: “with whom our voices too, thou wouldst bid to
be admitted.” 175

193. It cannot be said that modern music and singing should be
entirely excluded from Catholic worship. For, if they are not pro-
fane nor unbecoming to the sacredness of the place and function,
and do not spring from a desire of achieving extraordinary and
unusual effects, then our Churches must admit them since they can
contribute in no small way to the splendor of the sacred cere-
monies, can lift the mind to higher things and foster true devotion
of soul.

194. We also exhort you, Venerable Brethren, to promote with
care congregational singing, and to see to its accurate execution
with all due dignity, since it easily stirs up and arouses the faith and
piety of large gatherings of the faithful. Let the full harmonious
singing of our people rise to heaven like the bursting of a thunder-
ous sea 176 and let them testify by the melody of their song to the
unity of their hearts and minds, 177 as becomes brothers and the
children of the same Father.

The other arts in the liturgical cult

195.

What We have said about music, applies to the other fine
arts, especially to architecture, sculpture and painting. Recent
works of art which lend themselves to the materials of modern com-
position, should not be universally despised and rejected through

173 Pius XI, Const. Divini cultus, IX.
174 S. Augustin., Sertn. CCCXXXVI, n. 1.
175 Missale Rom., Praefatio.
176 Cf. S. Ambros., Hexameron, III, 5, 23.
177 Cf. Act., IV, 32.

65



prejudice. Modern art should be given free scope in the due and
reverent service of the Church and the sacred rites, provided that
they preserve a correct balance between styles tending neither to
extreme realism nor to excessive “symbolism/’ and that the needs
of the Christian community are taken into consideration rather than
the particular taste or talent of the individual artist. Thus modern
art will be able to join its voice to that wonderful choir of praise
to which have contributed, in honor of the Catholic faith, the
greatest artists throughout the centuries. Nevertheless, in keeping
with the duty of Our office, We cannot help deploring and con-
demning those works of art, recently introduced by some, which
seem to be a distortion and perversion of true art and which at
times openly shock Christian taste, modesty and devotion, and
shamefully offend the true religious sense: these must be entirely
excluded and banished from our Churches, like “anything else that
is not in keeping with the sanctity of the place.” 178

196. Keeping in mind, Venerable Brethren, Pontifical norms and
decrees, take great care to enlighten and direct the minds and hearts
of the artists to whom is given the task today of restoring or
rebuilding the many Churches which have been ruined or com-
pletely destroyed by war : let them be capable and willing to draw
their inspiration from religion to express what is suitable and more
in keeping with the requirements of worship. Thus the human
arts will happily shine forth with a wondrous heavenly splendor,
and contribute greatly to human civilization, to the salvation of
souls and the glory of God. The fine arts are really in conformity
with religion when “as noblest handmaids they are at the service
of divine worship.” 179

Important that clergy and people live the liturgical life

197. But there is something else of even greater importance,
Venerable Brethren, which We commend to your apostolic zeal, in
a very special manner. Whatever pertains to the external worship
has assuredly its importance; however, the most pressing duty of
Christians is to live the liturgical life, and increase and cherish its
supernatural spirit.

198. Readily provide the young clerical student with facilities to
understand the sacred ceremonies, to appreciate their majesty and
beauty and to learn the rubrics with care, just as you do when he
is trained in ascetics, in dogma and in canon law and pastoral the-

178 C. I C., can. 1178.
179 Pius XI, Const. Divini cultus.

66



ology. This should not be done merely for cultural reasons and to
fit the student to perform religious rites in the future, correctly
and with due dignity, but especially to lead him into closest union
with Christ the Priest so that he may become a holy minister of
sanctity.

199. Try in every way, with the means and helps that your
prudence deems best, that the clergy and people become one in mind
and heart, and that the Christian people take such an active part
in the Liturgy that it becomes a truly sacred action of due worship
to the Eternal Lord in which the priest, chiefly responsible for the
souls of his parish, and the ordinary faithful are united together.

Altar boys in the service of the altar

200. To attain this purpose, it will greatly help to select carefully
good and upright young boys from all classes of citizens who will
come generously and spontaneously to serve at the altar with care-
ful zeal and exactness. Parents of higher social standing and cul-
ture should greatly esteem this office for their children. If these

youths, under the watchful guidance of the priests, are properly
trained and encouraged to fulfil the task committed to them punc-
tually, reverently and constantly, then from their number will
readily come fresh candidates for the priesthood. The clergy will
not then complain—as, alas sometimes happens even in Catholic
places—that in the celebration of the august Sacrifice they find no
one to answer or serve them.

Pastoral Zeal

201. Above all, try with your constant zeal to have all the faith-
ful attend the Eucharistic Sacrifice from which they may obtain
abundant and salutary fruit ; and carefully instruct them in all the
legitimate ways We have described above so that they may de-
voutly participate in it. The Mass is the chief act of divine wor-
ship; it should also be the source and center of Christian piety.
Never think that you have satisfied your apostolic zeal until you
see your faithful approach in great numbers the celestial banquet
which is a sacrament of devotion, a sign of unity and a bond of
love.

180

202. By means of suitable sermons and particularly by periodic
conferences and lectures by special study weeks and the like, teach
the Christian people carefully about the treasures of piety contained

l80 Cf. S. Augustin., Tract. XXVI in loan., 13.

§7



in the sacred Liturgy so that they may be able to profit more abund-
antly by these supernatural gifts. In this matter, those who are
active in the ranks of Catholic Action will certainly be a help to

you, since they are ever at the service of the Hierarchy in the work
of promoting the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Vigilance against errors and prejudices

203. But in all these matters, it is essential that you watch vigi-
lantly lest the enemy come into the field of the Lord and sow cockle
among the wheat

;

181 in other words, do not let your flocks be
deceived by the subtle and dangerous errors of false mysticism or
quietism—as you know We have already condemned these
errors;

—

182 also do not let a certain dangerous “humanism” lead
them astray, nor let there be introduced a false doctrine destroying
the notion of Catholic faith, nor finally an exaggerated zeal for an-
tiquity in matters liturgical. Watch with like diligence lest the
false teaching of those be propagated, who wrongly think and
teach that the glorified human nature of Christ really and continu-
ally dwells in the “just,” by His presence and that one and numeri-
cally the same grace, as they say, unites Christ with the members
of His Mystical Body.

204. Never be discouraged by the difficulties that arise, and never
let your pastoral zeal grow cold. “Blow the trumpet in Sion . . .
call an assembly, gather together the people, sanctify the Church,
assemble the ancients, gather together the little ones and them that
suck at the breasts,” 183 and use every help to get the faithful every-
where to fill the Churches and crowd around the altars so that they
may be restored by the graces of the Sacraments and joined as liv-
ing members to their divine Head, and with Him and through
Him celebrate together the august Sacrifice that gives due tribute
of praise to the Eternal Father.

EPILOGUE

205. These, Venerable Brethren, are the subjects We desired to
write to you about. We are moved to write that your children,
who are also Ours, may more fully understand and appreciate the
most precious treasures which are contained in the sacred Liturgy

:

namely, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, representing and renewing the

isi Cf. Matth., XIII, 24-25.
182 Litt. Encycl. Mystici Corporis.
183 Ioel, II, 15-16.

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Sacrifice of the Cross, the Sacraments, which are the streams of
divine grace and of divine life, and the hymn of praise, which heaven
and earth daily offer to God.

206. We cherish the hope that these Our exhortations will not
only arouse the sluggish and recalcitrant to a deeper and more cor-
rect study of the Liturgy, but will also instill into their daily lives

its supernatural spirit according to the words of the Apostle : “ex-
tinguish not the spirit.” 184

207. To those whom an excessive zeal occasionally led to say and
do certain things which saddened Us and which We could not
approve We repeat the warning of St. Paul : “But prove all things,
hold fast that which is good”

;

185
let Us paternally warn them to

imitate in their thoughts and actions the Christian doctrine which
is in harmony with the precepts of the Immaculate Spouse of Jesus
Christ, the Mother of Saints.

208. Let Us remind all that they must generously and faithfully
obey their holy Pastors who possess the right and duty of regulating
the whole life, especially the spiritual life, of the Church: “Obey
your prelates and be subject to them. For they watch as being to
render an account of your souls

;
that they may do this with joy

and not with grief.” 188

209. May God, Whom we worship, and Who is “not the God
of dissension but of peace,” 187 graciously grant to us all that during

our earthly exile we may with one mind and one heart participate
in the sacred Liturgy which is, as it were, a preparation and a token
of that heavenly Liturgy in which we hope one day to sing together
with the most glorious Mother of God and our most loving Mother

:

“To Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction
and honor, and glory and power for ever and ever.” 188

210. In this joyous hope, We most lovingly impart to each and
every one of you, Venerable Brethren, and to the flocks confided
to your care, as a pledge of divine gifts and as a witness of Our
special love, the Apostolic Benediction.

211. Given at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, on the 20th day of
November in the year 1947, the 9th of Our Pontificate.

PIUS PP. XII

484 I Thess., V, 19.
183 Ibidem, V, 21.
™Q Hebr., XIII, 17.
187 1 Cor., XIV, 33.
!83 Apoc., V, 13.

69



DISCUSSION CLUB OUTLINE

By Rev. Shawn G. Sheehan
Secretary, National Liturgical Conference

This outline of questions for discussion covers only selected

passages because of the length of the encyclical and because several
parts are of only indirect concern to the laity. Some of the passages
that need not be studied closely should be summarized for the
group by individual members. These passages are indicated in the
outline.

The discussion group should have a Bible and Missal at hand
and should find in these books the citations given in the text of the
encyclical.

The practical suggestions at the end of each lesson are directed
toward fostering, according to the teaching of the encyclical, those
things which the Holy Father lists in paragraph 5 as the good
results of the liturgical movement.

It would be well if each member had a daily Missal, a book of
psalms (preferably one of the translations based on the new Latin
version issued by Pope Pius XII), and a copy of the Manual of
Prayers for the laity published under the direction of the Third
Plenary Council of Baltimore.

Appropriate prayers at the meetings of the study club would be
the Collect from the Mass of the day to open the meeting and the
prayer which the Holy Father gives us in paragraph 209 along with
a prayer for the Holy Father, to close the meeting.
The numbers in the outline refer to the numbered paragraphs

in the encyclical. The Roman numerals in the captions refer to
eight divisions in the outline rather than to divisions in the
Encyclical itself.

I. The Meaning of the Liturgy

1. Why is Jesus Christ appropriately called “the Mediator of
God and men?” Did He come merely as a messenger of God’s
forgiveness of men? What is the source of our restoration to the
friendship of God? On what condition is each man to be made
holy? What is the ultimate purpose of our sanctification?

2. How is the Redeemer’s mediation continued in His Mystical
Body ? What is the purpose of the continuance of His mediation ?

3. In what actions principally does the Church continue the
priestly work of its Founder?

17. Show how the three texts from Scripture at the beginning
of this paragraph provide answers to the first three questions

70



given for the study of paragraph 1. Show how our Lord exercised
His priesthood by example, by teaching, by ruling, and by offering

sacrifice. What is the twofold purpose of His priestly action ?
18. In what twofold way does Jesus Christ continue His media-

tion between God and mankind?
19,20. How does the Church continue Christ’s priestly work?

Is the purpose of this work the sanctification of individuals only as
individuals? Why does the liturgy have a supreme value and
dignity? Define the liturgy.

21. What were the principal actions of the early Christian com-
munities ?

22. What have been the chief reasons guiding the development
of liturgical prayers and ceremonies? Identify each of the Sacra-
ments and the other liturgical actions for which descriptive defini-
tions are given here.

Report: a summary of paragraphs 4 to 12.

Practices

:

1. Use the Collect from the Mass of the day in your daily prayers,
noting that in doing this you pray with the Church through Christ,
the Mediator, and ratify the prayer with your Amen.

2. Use Holy Water frequently, recalling your incorporation into
Christ and the Church at Baptism, adoring God for His goodness,
and thanking Him for your sanctification.

3. Frequently make the sign of the Cross, realizing that it is the
sign with which you were sealed at your Baptism and that by
making this sign you reaffirm your dedication of your whole self
to the Most Holy Trinity through the Cross of Christ.

4. Recite the Creed and Lord’s Prayer frequently and attentively.

II. The Action of God and the Action of Man
23. Which term in the Catechism’s definition of a sacrament

is explained here ? Give examples of signs in every-day life. What
are the advantages arising from the fact that the Church’s worship
is expressed in signs?

24. Why is it best in our study of the liturgy to avoid being
distracted by long discussions on externals ? How should we study
and discuss the externals of the liturgy? How does the liturgy
itself emphasize its own internal element ? What command of our
Lord applies to the sincerity with which the celebrant, the servers,
the choir, and all the people should perform their proper parts in
the Mass? What models for our singing and reciting are given
here ?

71



25, 26. How has a rather common misunderstanding of the
meaning of the liturgy made a liturgical movement necessary?

27. What is the twofold origin of the liturgy’s power to make
us holy?

31. In what does the action of God consist in the work of making
us holy? In what does the action of man consist in gaining holi-
ness? What title is given to Christ and what title is given to us
throughout this paragraph? What is the value of these titles in
making clearer the lesson contained here?

32. Name the actions that we are urged to perform. What are
the various reasons given for the necessity of these actions ? What
basic truths should we understand and what basic virtues should
we have before we can take part in the liturgy intelligently and
rightly?

33. How are the purposes of spiritual exercises summarized?
How can we hope that our good works will give glory to God?

34. How are people failing in a full appreciation of Catholic life
when they think of it only as belief in a certain set of truths and
obedience to certain rules? What is the relation between holiness
and Catholic Action?

35. How are the purposes of private spiritual exercises sum-
marized? Compare the value of holiness in an individual Catholic
to the value of health in members of a body and in branches of a
vine or tree.

Report: a summary of paragraphs 172 to 185.

Practices

:

1. Increase your prayers of adoration and thanksgiving, reciting

frequently the Gloria ( Glory to God in the highest), Sanctus
{Holy, Holy, Holy), the ordinary Last Gospel of Holy Mass,
Magnificat {My soul magnifies the Lord, from Vespers), psalms
of praise, for example the Good Shepherd psalm {ps. 22) and the
last seven psalms.

2. Frequently acknowledge your dependence on God and your
need of His mercy by reciting the Confiteor (/ confess), Kyrie,
Eleison {Lord, have mercy), Agnus Dei {Lamb of God), Domine,
non sum dignus {Lord, I am not worthy), and the penitential
psalms.

3. Set aside some time each day to read Holy Scripture.
4. Join with others to bring the spirit of Christ into your par-

ticular field of living and working.

72



III. The Holy Sacrifice

66, 67, 68. Why did Jesus Christ institute the Holy Eucharist?
In what ways are the Crucifixion and the Sacrifice of the Mass the
same? In what way are they different?

69. What is the role of the priest celebrating Holy Mass?
70. How is the death of Christ signified in Holy Mass ?
71. How are we able to praise and adore God in an acceptable

and indeed in a perfect way?
72. What does the word “Eucharist” mean? How can we

give adequate thanks to God ?
73. How are we saved from our sins?
74. What attitude should we have in approaching God to ask

favors from Him? Why does He grant our requests?
75. 76. What three reasons are given for saying that Christ’s

Crucifixion could save all men of all times? How did Jesus Christ
redeem us (buy us back) from the slavery of sin?

77. What is required for Christ’s taking possession of us?
78. What are the principal actions we must perform in order

to be united with Christ? What is the value of the designation,
“Head and members,” to explain our relation to Christ? What
part does the Church have in making us holy?

79. How is the power of Holy Mass related to the power of the
Crucifixion ?

Practices

:

1. Have a crucifix in a prominent place in your home and ij
possible where you work. Recall frequently these words: “there
is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, himself man,
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all ” (I Tim. 2:5, 6)
and “With Christ 1 am nailed to the cross. It is now no longer
I that live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:19, 20.)

2. Learn to pray according to the spirit of the great Eucharistic
prayer that begins zvith the Preface of Holy Mass, thanking God
for His gifts and His majesty, offering Him the Sacrifice of His
Son, uniting your offering of yourself with His Sons sacrifice,
associating yourself with the Blessed Mother, the angels and saints
and the whole Church, praying for the living and the dead and all
the intentions of Holy Mother Church, and doing all this “through
Christ and zvith Him and in Him.”

IV. The Doctrinal Basis of Lay Participation

80. YVhat part are the faithful to take in the offering of the
Eucharistic Sacrifice?

73



81. What is the basis of our power to offer sacrifice to the
Father? What are the actions of Christ’s mind and heart in which
we can and should share in Holy Mass?

85, 86. How does the part of the laity in the offering of the
Sacrifice differ from the priest’s part? Who is the principal offerer
of the Sacrifice?

87. Point out the “we”-verbs throughout the Canon of the Mass.
88. How have the laity received the power to take part with

Christ in the offering of His Sacrifice?
89. Are the laity reaching too high in seeking to understand this

doctrine in which there is a renewed interest in our day? (Cf.
also paragraph 94.)

90. What are the principal external expressions of lay partici-
pation in the offering of the Sacrifice?

91. 92. What is the twofold part which the priest has in the
offering of the Sacrifice? With which of these two parts of the
priest’s action are the laity joined?

93. On what basis does the priest act in behalf of the people?
By what internal actions do the people take their part in the
offering ? How are their actions of mind and heart signified in the
rite? Why is the Holy Eucharist called a Sacrament of unity?

Report: a summary of paragraphs 82 to 84 and 94 to 96, to
point out the errors that must be avoided in regard to the share
of the laity in the priesthood of Christ.

Practices

:

1. Frequently offer your prayers, work, trials of mind and body,
and your whole self to God in union with the Holy Sacrifice, which
is being offered continuously around the world

.

2. Pray and work to increase the spirit of unity in your parish,
both among the parishioners and between the parishioners and the
pastor.

3. In the family circle and in other lay groups turn the conver-
sation frequently to religious topics, especially to Christ, the

Church, the Sacraments, the dignity of the priesthood, and the
dignity of the Christian lay person by reason of the Sacraments he

has received.

4. In the family celebrate the anniversary of the Baptism of each
member.

V. Intelligent, Whole-hearted, Active Participation

98. What is the twofold offering which the faithful make in
the Mass?

74



99. What offerings can we make to God at all times? What
are the sentiments of mind and heart which we should have at
Mass?

103. What do St. Augustine and St. Robert Bellarmine teach
about the Holy Eucharist as a sign? How must we act if we are
to take our proper part according to this signification of the Most
Blessed Sacrament?

104. Show how the last prayer of the Canon and the people’s
response to the Canon signify the mystery of the Mass as the
Sacrifice offered by the whole Mystical Body.

105. In what ways can the people take part in the external
actions of the liturgy?

191. What are the advantages of the Gregorian chant?
192. What should be the purpose and spirit in the promotion

of congregational singing of the chant ? What does singing signify ?
In the liturgy how is it a sign of the unity of the Mystical Body?
(Cf. also paragraph 194.)

193. What qualities are required in modern musical pieces if they
are to be sung at liturgical celebrations?

199. What are the principal signs and the mysteries signified
in the offering of the Holy Sacrifice as a communal action in a
living parish?

Report: a summary of paragraphs 38 to 65.

Practices

:

1. Observe the Friday abstinence and other days of abstinence
and of fasting, as well as other mortifications, in the spirit of the
victimhood in which you are united by grace with Christ our Head
and Victim and Priest . Sum up this offering by reciting the Secret
from the Mass of the day.

2. Sanctify Saturday evening in the home as the preparation for
the Lord's Day, the night of watching for the Coming of the Lord.
Discuss together in the family circle the proper prayers and readings
of the Sunday Mass.

3. Contribute according to your talents and opportunities to the
external beauty of the liturgy in your parish, that is, to the singing,
the artistic decoration of the church, the making and repairing of
vestments and altar linens, etc.

4. Join with others to improve the attitude of the parishioners
toward the achievement of greater participation and a more com-
plete celebration of the liturgy in the parish.

75



VI. Holy Communion, Thanksgiving, and Adoration

115. Give a complete descriptive definition of the Holy Eucharist.
116, 117. What are the three principal acts in a sincere desire

to receive Holy Communion?
118. How often should we receive Holy Communion? For

what reason? What is the relation between the Sacrifice and the
Communion ?

119, 120. What are the effects of Holy Communion?
121. Why is it most fitting that the reception of Holy

Communion by the people take place at the prescribed time in
the Mass? -

122. What considerations should enter into the solution of prac-
tical difficulties that may arise in connection with the distribution
of Holy Communion to the people ?

126, 127, 128. What kind of prayers should we address to our
Lord in thanksgiving after Mass? In what ways should we join
our prayers with those of Christ?

Report: a summary of paragraphs 129 to 132.
133. What actions are described respectively as the offering,

the reception, and the adoration of the Holy Eucharist? How
is adoration outside of Mass related to the Sacrifice? Why does
the Church encourage adoration of the Holy Eucharist outside of
Holy Mass? Read the quotation from St. John Chrysostom in
paragraph 134.

135. In what phrases are we reminded of the relations between
Benediction and Holy Mass?

Practices

:

1. Pray with gratitude for the grace that is in you by virtue

of your latest reception of Holy Communion, uniting yourself with

Christ’s Sacrifice, adoring and thanking Him, adoring and thanking

the Father through Him, renewing your love for all men, stirring

up contrition for your sins, asking for God’s continued blessings,

and expressing your confidence in His promises of eternal life.

2. In your prayers after receiving Holy Communion, unite your

prayers with those zvho have received Holy Communion with you,
and join with them and with the Celebrant by reading the Com-
munion antiphon, the Postcommunion prayer, and the Last Gospel.

2. After Holy Mass and at other times, join your voice zvith that

of Christ in reciting the Benedicite ( All works of the Lord, bless

the Lord), recommended by the Church as one of our prayers of
thanksgiving.

76



4. Frequently visit the church and pray before the Blessed

Sacrament.

VII. The Divine Office

138, 139. Re-read paragraph 3. Comment on 138. and 139 in the
light of 3 and in the light of the definition of the liturgy at the end

of paragraph 20.

140, 141. Who originated and developed the Divine Office?
142. What is the position and importance in the Church of the

religious groups who are devoted primarily to the solemn recita-
tion of the Divine Office? What significance should a person see
in a priest reading his Breviary ?

144. Compare the first half of this paragraph with paragraphs
1 and 17. When we join in the official prayers of the Church who
is praying? Compare the second part of this paragraph with
paragraph 20.

05, 146. What lessons found in the first part of the encyclical
are applied here to the recitation of the Divine Office?

147, 148, 149. Why should the psalms be the prayers most
commonly used by all Christians ?

150. Are the laity urged merely to be present at Vespers on
Sundays and feast days? What reasons are given, throughout this
paragraph, for attending and taking part in Vespers on Sundays
and feasts ?

Practices

:

1. It would be well to develop the habit of saying formal prayers
several times a day, for example at the beginning and end of each
half-day's zvork and early in the evening, as well as at morning
and, night. One could recite a psalm and the Collect of the day,
or some of the other prayers recommended above.

2. In the Manual of Prayers one will find the Church's official
morning, evening, and night prayers for Sunday: Prime, Vespers,
and Compline. Prime and Compline for everyday are available
in booklets published by St. John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minn.

3. Make definite plans for the sanctification of the whole Lord's
Day, especially working tozvard the restoration of Sunday Vespers
in the parish.

VIII. The Liturgical Year

151, 152. What is the purpose of the liturgical feasts and sea-
sons? Why is it appropriate here to refer to Christ and Christians
as Head and members?

77



153. What are the three things that the Church does in the
liturgical celebrations? How are we to respond?

154. How are the relations between the action of God and the
action of man in the work of man’s sanctification manifested in
our proper participation in the Advent liturgy?

155. How is the general outline of the Church’s actions, as given
in par. 153, applied here to the Christmas celebration?

156. What should be our thoughts and desires at the time of
Epiphany ?

157. 158. What is the relation of Lent to Passiontide?
159. How is the celebration of Easter a sign of hope and an

incentive to greater effort?

160. By what twofold action are we to increase in holiness at
Pentecost ?

161. What are the past, present, and future aspects of the
liturgical year?

163. Name the various titles given to Christ in this paragraph.
164. What is the central action in every liturgical feast?
165. When we say that through the liturgical celebrations we

take part now in the mysteries of Christ, what basis is there for
this on the part of Christ? on the part of the mysteries? on the
part of the Church? on our part?

166. 167, 168. What are the chief reasons for the Church’s es-
tablishment of saints’ feasts? What is the ultimate reason for imi-
tating the saints?

169. Does the liturgy honor the Blessed Mother only on her
special feasts? Name the titles given to her in this paragraph
and discuss their significance.

170. What is the role of the Church in the liturgical year? What
is the role of the saints and the Blessed Mother? What is the
role of the faithful? What is the role of Christ? What is the
final aim of all?

171. In what way has your understanding of the meaning of
the liturgy changed during the study of this encyclical? Recite
together the prayer recommended by the Holy Father in para-
graph 209, and pray for the Holy Father.

Practices:

1. Each day recall the events in the work of Redemption which
are being celebrated in the particidar season of the Church’s year,
strive to imitate Christ in that particular phase of His work, and
endeavor by prayer and various spiritual exercises to receive an
ever greater increase of the merits of His works.

78



2. Strive to imitate the saints who are commemorated each day,
and pray for and through their intercession.

3. As the year goes on, draw up a calendar of observances for
the home in accordance with the liturgical feasts and seasons.

4. Venerate the Blessed Mother Mary,
((who kept all these

things in her heart” and who was associated with Christ in His
work of Redemption. Venerate Holy Mother Church, who, as
the Bride of Christ and His Mystical Body, reenacts His works

in the sacred liturgy and so continues His work of glorifying God
and sanctifying men, “through Him and with Him and in HimA

Suggestions for Further Study

The principal organs of the liturgical movement in the United
States are Orate Fratres, published monthly since 1926 by St.

John’s Abbey, Collegeville, Minn., and the Proceedings of the
National Liturgical Weeks, published annually since 1940 by
the Liturgical Conference (49 Franklin Street, Boston). These
publications contain a wealth of material on the topics that are
treated in the encyclical.

The following books on the liturgy in general will be found help-
ful: Christian Life and Worship, by Gerald Ellard, S.J. ; Forming
a Christian Mentality, by Kilian Hennrich, O.F.M.

;
The Liturgy

of the Church, by Virgil Michel, O.S.B. ; Speaking of How to Pray,
by Mary Perkins; Liturgy and Life, by Theodore Wesseling,
O.S.B.

;
Catholic Liturgies, by Rev. R. Stapper and D. Baier,

O.F.M.
;
and The Sacramental Way, a selection of talks from the

Liturgical Weeks, arranged topically, with suggestions for study.

On the mediatorship of Jesus Christ, see Christ Our Brother,
by Karl Adam, and Christ, Priest and Redeemer, by M. C. D’Arcy,
S.J., as well as works on the doctrine of the Mystical Body.

Besides the encyclical of Pope Pius XII on the Mystical Body,
to which the present encyclical is a sequel, the following books
are valuable: That You May Live, by L. F. Cervantes, S.J., a
popular presentation; The Mystical Christ, by John C. Gruden, a
clear dogmatic exposition; The Whole Christ, by Emile Mersch,
S.J., a history of the doctrine; J. Anger, The Doctrine of the Mys-
tical Body of Christ, a work on the relation of this doctrine to all
other doctrines and its application to life and worship; The Spirit
of Catholicism, by Karl Adam, a work of apologetics.
On the relations of liturgy and piety, a topic so strongly recom-

mended to our attention throughout the present encyclical, the
following articles in the Proceedings of the Liturgical Weeks are

79



helpful as special studies of the subject: in 1940, V. Rev. M. B.
Hellriegel on the spirit of a living parish, and H. A. Reinhold on
devotions

;
in 1941, Rev. W. LeBeau on Penance; in 1943, Rt. Rev.

R. Hillenbrand on the true spirit of social reform
;
in 1944, Rev. B.

Ehmann on the liturgical year in relation to piety; in 1945, Rev.
L. Rudloff on private prayer; in 1946, B. Sause, O.S.B., on asceti-
cism in family life; in all the Proceedings, the reports of pastors
on their efforts to bring the liturgical revival to their parishes.
(Most of these papers are also found in The Sacramental Way.)

On the same topic, see the books on the spiritual life by J. B.
Chautard, O.C.R.

; J. Duperray, S.J. ; Columba Marmion, O.S.B.;
R. Plus, S.J. ; Anselm Stolz, O.S.B.

On the Ploly Sacrifice of the Mass the following books are
especially helpful: The Meaning of the Mass, by Rev. P. Bussard
and F. Kirsch, O.F.M.

;
The Mass of the Future, by G. Ellard,

S.J. ; The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by V. Rev. M. B. Hellriegel

;

The Liturgy of the Mass, by Rev. Pius Parsch; My Mass, by J.
Putz, S.J. ; The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, a Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine text for discussion clubs.

On the share of the laity in the priesthood of Christ, see the
following: The Common Priesthood of the Mystical Body, by
Rev. James Rea; The Theology of Catholic Action, by Theodore
Hessburgh, C.S.C.

;
“The Priestliness of God’s People,” by Eugene

Burke, C.S.P. in Liturgical Week, 1944 (and in The Sacramental
Way)

;
“The Lay Priesthood: Real or Metaphorical?” by Paul F.

Palmer, S.J., in Theological Studies, VIII (1947), 574-613.

On methods of participation in the liturgy see the reports o f
pastors in the Liturgical Weeks, The Dialog Mass, by G. Ellard,

S.J., and the general works on the liturgy and works on the Mass.

To enter into the understanding and spirit of the feasts and sea-
sons the simplest way is to study the Propers of the Masses in the
Missal with the aid of the explanatory notes generally given in the

vernacular translations. The best commentaries are in two large
sets of books, The Liturgical Year, by Abbot Gueranger, and The
Sacramentary. by Cardinal Schuster.

Descriptions of observances in home and school in keeping with
the spirit of the sacred liturgy can be found in the Proceedings of

the National Liturgical Week. 1946 ( The Family in Christ), pages
73-127 and 149-159. and in most of the isues of Orate Fratres.

A more complete list of suggestions for reading is to be found
in the pamphlet. What is the Liturgical Movement

?

published by

the Liturgical Conference.

SO





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