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At St. Bridget of Kildare Parish in Moodus, CT,
as in many other parishes in Roman Catholic Dioceses in the United States,
the ancient Mass of the Catholic Church, offered in Latin by a priest
facing in the same direction as the people, is being heard by a growing
number of Catholics, loyal to both the Pope and to the local Bishop but
personally attached to the traditional Catholic liturgy. Many of
these people, both young and old, are also discovering for the first
time, the transcendental intensity and the quiet reverence that
characterizes the so-called "traditional Mass", a solemn
liturgy of ancient and noble lineage.
The traditional Latin Mass represented almost
1900 years of organic growth in the ancient Christian liturgy. That
liturgy was finally "codified" by St. Pope Pius V in 1570 as
part of his implementation of the disciplinary reforms required by the
Council of Trent (1545-1563). The Latin name for Trent was
"Tridentum", and for that reason, the rite is commonly called
the "Tridentine Mass". During the following 400 years,
there were only minor changes to that "codified" liturgy.
However, following the close of Vatican II in the late 1960s, Pope Paul
VI instituted the Novus Ordo Missae, the so-called "New Mass",
and, in 1970, the older rite was essentially suppressed. But in
1984, Pope John Paul II issued the Papal Indult, Quattour Abhinc Annos,
which permitted the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass under
certain conditions and when specifically permitted by the local bishop.
In 1988, the Pope broadened the permissible celebration of the Tridentine
Mass by issuing his Apostolic Letter, Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, in
which he declared that "respect must be
shown everywhere" for the "rightful aspirations of
all the Catholic faithful" who find themselves "attached to the
liturgical and disciplinary forms of the Latin tradition" and then
urged all local bishops to provide a "wide and generous
application" of the permission initially set forth in the 1984
Indult. After that time, the Tridentine Mass slowly began to return
to the Roman Catholic liturgical scene, not as a challenge to the prevailing
rite, but in order to meet "the rightful aspirations" of those
faithful Catholics who prefer
it over the modern rite.
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On
July 7, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued, motu proprio, his Apostolic
Letter, Summorum Pontificum in which he decreed that the Tridentine
form of the Roman Rite, as contained in the typical edition of the Roman
Missal promulgated by Bl. John XXIII in 1962, had never been abrogated,
that it comprised the “extraordinary form” of the Roman Rite and that its
use was entirely permissible subject to the guidelines set forth in the
Apostolic Letter. The rules for
the use of the Tridentine form of the Roman Rite officially took effect
on September 14, 2007, the Feast of the Exultation of the Cross.
In the Diocese of Norwich, Bishop Daniel Reilly
first re-authorized the celebration of the Tridentine Mass at St. Joseph
Church in North Grovenorsdale in 1990, and appointed the pastor there,
Father Gregoire J. Fluet, to undertake a particular apostolate to those
Roman Catholics who preferred the more ancient rite. The next
Bishop of Norwich, Daniel Hart, re-confirmed that apostolate in
1997. In 1998, the Tridentine Mass apostolate moved to St.
Bridget`s in Moodus, where Father Fluet is now the pastor. Upon his
investiture as the current Bishop of Norwich, Bishop Michael R. Cote,
again re-confirmed the Traditional Mass apostolate. Most recently, on August 15, 2007,
Bishop Cote, in beginning to implement the provisions of Summorum
Pontificum, replaced the Diocese’s “Tridentine Mass Apostolate” with
the new “Ecclesia Dei Ministry” for the Diocese of Norwich and named
Father Fluet as the first Chaplain and Head of that Ministry.
The Tridentine Mass that is celebrated at St.
Bridget`s is usually a "Low Mass", but a "Missa
Cantata", or sung "High Mass" is celebrated on some
Sundays and feastdays during the liturgical year, and is sometimes
accompanied by a men`s "schola cantorum" singing the
appropriate Gregorian Chants for that day. All Catholics and any
non-Catholics who might be interested in seeing the ancient Latin Mass
are always welcome at St. Bridget`s.
For the Mass Schedule, click here.
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