I wonder when I'll be able to MC my first High Mass in the Old Rite? I have been trying to read and memorise points from Fortescue and O'Connell, and I watch all the time, but there is always something I don't know, or can't remember. I know the Rite of High Mass up to just after the Celebrant blesses the Subdeacon after the Epistle, but afterwards my mind is rather hazy. Like the Missa Cantata, however, perhaps it comes with experience rather than just reading about it. Would that there were more High Masses, and blast the shortage of priests! There are, of course, odd points in Fortescue - for example, for the Consecration, he has the MC kneeling at the Epistle corner with the Thurifer - this seems rather odd since shortly afterwards, at Per Quem Haec Omnia, he is supposed to replace the Deacon at the Celebrant's left and attend to the Missal. Also, I have never seen any MC do as Fortescue says on this point in all the time I have served or merely attended High Mass.
In any case, the Master of Ceremonies at a High Mass is there just as much for the Ministers as the Servers, and although he does less, he has to know everything - and everything is a hell of a lot! But then I expect like my knowledge of Tolkien, it comes with years rather than months of reading...
Sunday, 25 October 2009
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I was all excited to see that Missa coram Sanctissimo. I'll have to look up and see if it's in Fortescue! Mind you, I heard Baldeschi is good!
ReplyDeleteBaldeschi is mediocre at best. Try reading Fortecue's infamous comments on Dale's translation of Baldeschi. You will need to consult a first edition Fortescue as there was a threat of legal action against Fortescue.
ReplyDeleteBy far the best, non-English, authors for ceremonial are Bauldry, Le Vavasseur and Martinucci.
I chuckled when I first read that delectable preface! I can't remember exactly how it went, but Fortescue asks disparagingly how many English Subdeacons kicked the door of the church with their foot because of Dale's rubbish translation. Which is, of course, why we have Fortescue in the first place. Fortescue despaired of Dale's constant Italianisms such as his insistence on spelling biretta ''beretta'' etc. I have never read Dale, but I think I shall trust Fortescue's wit and just consign it to some of the embarrassing annals of liturgical/rubrical history - maybe the New Rite will be so consigned one day!
ReplyDeleteAh okay, I'm outvoted it seems.... ;-)
ReplyDeleteI still found the excerpts I read interesting!