Tuesday, July 01, 2008

The Archive and Documentation of the Early Critical Reactions to the Liturgical Reforms: A Progress Report

Some of you may recall the initiative I recently began, to collect some of the earliest "traditionalist" literature which followed the Council and preceeded the original 1984 "indult" (Quattuor Abhinc Annos). This was with a sense that some of this literature may now be beginning to take on some historical interest from both an archival and liturgical perspective, particularly in the light of Summorum Pontificum and the legal clarifications it made.

I shared with you some early, first edition Michael Davies pamphlets that I had so far acquired and noted that I was also looking for early editions of certain periodicals related to this same movement.

Some kind souls have responded to that request and are presently unearthing some of these early materials from their attics and storage closets, to which I am thankful -- and indeed, anyone else who would like to contribute, or thinks they may have something to contribute, do contact me to discuss what you have and possible terms of acquisition.

What I am specifically looking for are titles from the latter 1960's, the 1970's generally and the first part of the 1980's, in their original editions (and not reprints). This will range from books, pamphlets, booklets to periodicals and newspapers.

I would like to find some of the earliest material of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales in particular, and anything related to the "Agathie Christie Indult", including relevant diocesan or secular newspaper reports on the subject.

But I digress.

In the light of all this, I thought some of our readers would enjoy another update on how this process is going. I am expecting to receive early editions of a journal called Triumph shortly, as well as some other early periodicals, though these are not yet in my poession to show you.

That said, I did unearth these publications (primarily booklets and a few small books) from my bookseller friend who received these as part of a collection:



A number of these titles are from the 1970's, with one from 1969 and at least one other from the early 1980's. The time period and circumstances in part dictates the evident polemicism of so many of the titles, but given their vintage, they stand apart from later polemicist accounts, particularly those which followed the 1988 document, Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, as more of an anguished response and critique than an ideological rant. This is what makes them of particular historical and liturgical interest.

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