I received a letter this morning from Maney Publishing, informing me of the upcoming launch of the new academic journal Usus Antiquior, on the Sacred Liturgy, and thanking me for my subscription interest. The contents are online, at this link, but I won't read any of it just yet, as I am in a terrible rush to get other stuff finished.
I can't say I am altogether satisfied with the labels ''usus antiquior'' or ''extraordinary form'' (and those who know me, and read this blog, will note that I am careful to use neither in designating the Old Rite). Antiquior is a comparative adjective, which means ''more ancient;'' than what? The New Rite? That goes without saying; but it is misleading, because the Old Rite is old, old as the hills; the New Rite is exactly that; new, and its history goes no farther back than the 1950s. I am not keen on ''extraordinary form'' because I don't believe that the Old Rite should be ''extraordinary.'' Quite apart from theological and liturgical misgivings about labelling, it's also a bit of a mouthful!
Another term that irritates me is "Classical Roman Rite" - which I cannot help but think that such a term is used by some sloany, middle class, pompous elite who want the traditional mass to be posession of a few.
ReplyDeleteI say that we just call it the traditional Roman rite because that is what it is.
Of course, the Holy Father was keen to point out that the Roman Rite is only ONE Rite, albeit in two forms... and where the Holy Father leads, the faithful should try to follow...
ReplyDelete;-)
Having said that, I use the term "Extraordinary Form" only once or twice in a post (to establish my credentials, so to speak!), and then refer to it as the Usus antiquior
Calling them two forms one rite is, I think, just a legality. This way bishops can't forbid priests from celebrating the 'extraordinary form'. In my opinion though they are essentially two different rites, especially when we consider that most priests who celebrate the 'ordinary form' don't even use the Roman Canon.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I too don't like the term 'extraordinary', and I only support the Holy Father's 'reform of the reform' as a means to an end: the eventual abrogation of the Novus Ordo.