Summorum Pontificum and the Growth of Religious Life, by Fr Stefano M. Manelli, F.I. (Part 2)

This is the second part of a lecture by Fr Stefano Manelli, the founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, originally delivered at the 2nd annual conference of Giovani e Tradizione and Amicizia Sacerdotale Summorum Pontificum, which took place in Rome on October 16-18, 2009. It was published in Italian in the acts of the conference by Fede e Cultura, in the volume “Il motu proprio Summorum Pontificum di SS Benedetto XVI: un grande dono per tutta la Chiesa.” (The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI: a great gift for the whole Church.) It is reproduced here in an English translation by Mr Zachary Thomas, with permission of the Italian publisher. To read the first part, click here.

2. Religious Life and the Holy Mass

Certainly the even more profound spiritual motive that binds the religious life to the liturgy is, in particular, the liturgical prayer par excellence: the Holy Mass. The religious state, indeed, following the thought of the spiritual authors of primary importance such as P. Ludovic Colin and Ven. Columba Marmion, has a very particular connection to the Holy Sacrifice of the altar.

“What is the religious?” Fr Ludovic Colin asks. He responds: “A host. And religious life? A mystical Mass.”

For every religious, in fact, the three solemn vows signify the ascent of Calvary, and being crucified with Jesus! The religious must go up and surrender himself as one with his crucified Lord, and every time that the sacrifice of the cross is so renewed on the altar, then also he will renew his sacrifice and place himself again on the altar with the Divine Victim.

A man accomplishes a sacrifice, a true holocaust, insofar as he is consecrated and devoted totally to God, because in so doing he dies to the world to live in God. This sacrifice, after the Mass and martyrdom, is the most perfect, the most acceptable to God and the most fecund in time and for all eternity. And indeed, in the religious state we discover all the elements constitutive of the sacrifice of the altar, namely: oblation (in the offertory), immolation (at the consecration), consumption of the victim (at communion).

Not only does the religious who takes a vow of poverty, of chastity, and of obedience offer himself to God, but the very formula of offering is also an act of consecration, by which comes about, so to speak, the transformation of the Christian into a religious, a spiritual victim and a holy offering.

At his profession, the religious truly gives and consecrates himself to divine service; God, by His own will, ratifies and confirms this consecration for all eternity. As has been justly observed, religious profession is at once a work of God and a work of man. We may say that God holds in his hands the soul that offers itself to Him, and blesses it: “Accepit in manus suas et benedixit.” This blessing is not merely a word without meaning, but an act, a work of sanctification and of consecration.

And the consecration entails the immolation and the total consumption of the victim. This aspect is more grave and splendid, the fulcrum of the religious state. In fact, the religious is, through his vocation, a being-sacrificed, a living host which is consumed totally in the holocaust of love for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls.

“It is not the case of a bloody immolation: here the blood of the soul takes the place of that of the veins; a mystical death suffices for a spiritual sacrifice. Here, for example, St. Francis de Sales writes to a spiritual daughter: ‘Look, my dear daughter, upon a spirit consecrated on the altar to be sacrificed, immolated, and consumed in a holocaust in the sight of the living God.’ ”

For the celebration of the Year of the Priest, our Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, wanting side by side with the holy Curé of Ars, who was a model for secular priests, to place also a model of a holy priest for the religious, has selected St. Pio of Pietrelcina, a saint of our times, a Franciscan Cappuccian who was marked with the bloody stigmata for fifty long years of his life, and happily declared by Pope Paul VI “a representative of the stigmata of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He was an extraordinary priest who, especially in the celebration of the Holy Mass, appeared like St. Francis of Assisi to be a true “image of Jesus crucified” (from the Preface of the Mass of St. Francis of Assisi).

3. Religious Life and the Divine Office

Liturgical prayer surpasses in power and efficacy every other praise or prayer or good work. It is an incontestable truth, and the saints have understood it well. St. Magdalen de Pazzi, for example, valued the recitation of the canonical Hours above any private devotion. When one of her religious asked for a dispensation from some prayers, she responded: “No, my daughter; I would mislead you if I should permit it; for you could believe that this particular devotion of yours gives more honor to God and is more acceptable to the Divine Majesty; while it is actually a small thing compared to the Office which you recite with the other sisters.”

This is the wisdom of the saints, and the faith speaks in the same way. The Divine Office is worth more than any other work, it is really the work of God par exellence. Others are “opera hominum” (the works of men), while the Divine Office is from God, as a homage of praise that comes down from God through the Incarnate Word, presented to the Church in the name of Christ.

The Divine Office can become, and often does for a few, a true sacrifice; and thus it can be called in the fullest sense a “Sacrificium Laudis” (Ps. 49:23). This can happen in various ways: foremost because the recitation of the Office (especially the old Office) follows very precise norms and ceremonies to which one must faithfully adhere. This is what constitutes the penitential aspect of the praise of God. Moreover, it is necessary to impress upon the mind a loving attention to the divine Psalmody, and to that end, repeated efforts are necessary to subdue the appetites and our natural inconstancy. These are all sacrifices acceptable to God.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Summorum Pontificum and the Growth of Religious Life, by Fr Stefano M. Manelli, F.I. (Part 1)

The following lecture by Fr Stefano Manelli, the founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, was originally delivered at the 2nd annual conference of Giovani e Tradizione and Amicizia Sacerdotale Summorum Pontificum, which took place in Rome on October 16-18, 2009. It was published in Italian in the acts of the conference by Fede e Cultura, in the volume “Il motu proprio Summorum Pontificum di SS Benedetto XVI: un grande dono per tutta la Chiesa.” (The motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI: a great gift for the whole Church.) It is reproduced here in an English translation by Mr Zachary Thomas, with permission of the Italian publisher.

Introduction

Through the knowledge imparted in Divine Revelation, we have access to the pure waters of that unique fountain of Sacred Scripture, welling up like a great river of perennial tradition and running along through the centuries and millennia of the life of the Church: a perennial tradition expressed in a wonderful manner especially by the Fathers of the Church.

Among these Church Fathers, Saint Ambrose writes in his Hexameron: “The Church, like the moon, goes through frequent waning and waxing, but it is precisely by virtue of its waning that it grows and becomes deserving of greater fullness…The Church shines not with a light of its own but with the light of Christ, and draws its splendor from the Sun of justice” (IV, 32).

To speak about the image and the reality of the moon as applied to the Church is really something unknown to modern Christianity, and it might even sound like irreverence to look upon Her as the supreme light that illumines the world. But the saintly Bishop of Milan, with his insightful and surprising speech helps us to understand the ecclesial mystery more profoundly.

We can draw two considerations from his thinking. The Church does not shine with its own light, but, like the moon, reflects the splendors of the crucified and resurrected Lord. A Church that no longer reflects the light of its Founder would no longer be His Church, but another’s. The “lunacity” of the Church, an expression used by Card. Biffi, should not astonish us.

With an insight that is both direct and tender, Anselm writes that the Church is “ex maculatis immaculata;” She is without stain, though composed of sinful men. This Church, which is never without sinners, is always without sin in herself. In her human structure, therefore, she cannot be otherwise than “moonlike,” since she reflects the fragility and debility of fallen humanity on the road to the kingdom of Heaven.

“The ‘lunacity’ of the Church,” Cardinal Giacomo Biffi notes, “manifests itself above all in the continuous oscillations of its luminosity before us. In the same way as the moon, she too is always “robed in the sun,” though she does not always appear the same way to our observation. There come times when her gleam is slender as a blade, barely sufficing to reveal its presence, and moments when every light appears to be swallowed by the night: this is a time of darkness, though not of darkness’s decisive victory.”

Mindful of the words and thought of the saintly Archbishop of Milan, we turn our attention now to the ecclesial reality in which we live. First, it is not at all difficult to admit that in our time the splendor of the Bride of Christ is going through an eclipse of perhaps unique proportions in its bi-millenial history.

This crisis, which entirely encompasses the whole life of the Bride of Christ, according to the Holy Father Benedict XVI, “depends in large part on the collapse of the liturgy” that came not in the Council, but in the post-conciliar period.

Such words, taken up again in another of his writings, extend even beyond the limits of the Church to constitute a fundamental element of all life and of the human sphere: “What is right and what is moral do not remain the same,” the Pope also writes, “as long as they are not anchored in their liturgical center and do not draw their inspiration from it […]. Only if our relationship with God is just will all the other relations of man – those of men with themselves and of man with the rest of created reality—be able to function”.

But where, in general, does the basis of this influence of the liturgical cult on human life reside? With worlds of heavenly light, Cardinal Ratzinger responds in what immediately follows the cited text: “Adoration, the correct modality of cult, of man’s relationship with God, is constitutive of correct human existence in the world: this is for the very reason that in the midst of daily life it makes us participants of the mode of existence of heaven, God’s world, thereby letting the light of the divine world penetrate into our own […]. [Cult] prefigures a more definitive life, and in so doing gives to the present life its proper measure. A life bereft of such anticipation, into which heaven is not at all sketched, would become leaden and empty”.

For the Pope, therefore, the liturgy of the Church becomes the favored channel of divine governance upon the earth, and contains in itself a demiurgical power which fashions the events of the world according to its own model, making itself the “measure” of “the present life.”

Continue Reading this Article. . .

New Commissioner for the FFI

The Italian website Corrispondenza Romana reports that a new Apostolic Commissioner for the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate has been appointed, following the recent death of the first Commissioner, Fr Fidenzio Volpi.

“The new Apostolic Commissioner of the Institute of the Francescans of the Immaculate is the Salesiano Fr Sabino Ardito, a well-known canonist, professor for many years at the Pontifical Salesian University, and collaborator with various dicasteries of the Roman Curia. Fr Ardito will be assisted by two coadjutors, a Jesuit and a Capuchin, who were also chosen as specialists in the field of canon law, which has been so little respected in the previous commissarial administration. Fr Ardito replaces Fr Fidenzio Volpi, who passed away on June 7 at the age of 75, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage on April 29 of this year.”

News of the FFI Apostolic Commissioner

The Italian blog Messa in Latino posted a report at 10 pm Italian time (4 pm East Coast United States), today, May 6th, which states as follows.

“This morning news was circulated of the presumed death of Fr (Fidenzio) Volpi, reported to have happened yesterday after a stroke. It has been confirmed that Fr Fidenzio did suffer a stroke a few days ago, but the report of his death has been denied. Messa in Latino’s sources, persons close to the Capuchin, and very reliable, have confirmed to our editors that Fr Volpi is still alive, but in extremely serious condition. Let us pray for him.”

This report will be updated as events warrant.

The Letter of the Apostolic Commissioner to the FFI - Full Text in English

To the Brethren and the Fraternities of the Congregation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, in all their abodes.

Peace and Charity!

The Holy Father Pope Francis has entrusted to me the delicate duty of Apostolic Commissioner of your congregation. Attached is the decree of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, dated July 11, 2013.

Although I realize the difficulties of this duty, I have accepted the responsibility because it is my desire to accompany you on a journey of renewed ecclesiality. In order to do this with the certainty of corresponding to the wishes of the Magisterium, I can find no better way than to recall this passage of a recent discourse of Pope Francis: ecclesiality is one of the constructive dimensions of the consecrated life, a dimension that must be constantly reclaimed and deepened in life. Your vocation is a fundamental charism for the Church’s path, and it is not possible that consecrated persons should not “be of one mind” with the Church. A “being of one mind” with the Church that has begotten us in Baptism; a “being of one mind” with the Church which finds its filial expression in fidelity to the Magisterium, in communion with the Shepherds and with the Successor of Peter, Bishop of Rome, the visible sign of unity. The proclamation of and witness to the Gospel, for every Christian, are never an isolated act. This is important: the proclamation of and witness to the Gospel for every Christian are never an isolated act, or the act of a group, and anyone who proclaims the Gospel does not act, as Paul VI well recalled, “in virtue of a personal inspiration, but in union with the mission of the Church and in its name.” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi 80). Feel the responsibility which you have to care for the formation of your Institutes in the sound doctrine of the Church, in love for the Church, and in the ecclesial spirit. (Discourse of the Holy Father Pope Francis to those participating in the plenary assembly of the International Union of Superiors General, May 8, 2013)

I believe that I do not need to add anything to such a clear and urgent thought of Pope Francis, who rightly concerns himself with the “feeling with the Church”, since only in this way can the Consecrated Life correspond to what the Church expects from it, and become, in this way, the Light of the Gospel in the world for the faithful who need to know and follow the truth which Christ has revealed to us. In the spirit of that obedience asked for by Our Holy Father Francis in the “Letter to a Minister”, I greet you fraternally in Christ.

Fr. Fidenzio Volpi

Apostolic Commissioner

Translator’s note: I have translated the Italian verb “sentire” and its derivative “sentano” with the periphrasis “being of one mind,” since its normal meanings “hear” and “sense” are not appropriate to the context. It could also be translated “feel”, but in English, “feel” has negative connotations of vagueness and subjectivity which are also inappropriate to the context. 

This letter has been made available by the courtesy of the editors of the Italian website Messa in Latino. The translation is my own. Free use of the text is given to all.

 

The Recent Decree Concerning the FFI - Full Text in English.

From the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Protocol number 52741/2012

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, attentive to the considerations formulated in the report presented by Mons. Vito Angelo Todisco at the conclusion of the Apostolic Visitation orderd by a decree of July 5, 2012, in order to protect and promote the internal unity of religious institutes and fraternal communion, the suitable formation of religious and consecrated life, the organization of apostolic activities, the correct management of temporal goods, has deemed it necessary to name an Apostolic Commissioner for the Congregation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, with the jurisdictions attributed by particular and universal law to the General Government of the aforementioned religious Institute.

Since the aforementioned decision was approved in its specific form on July 3, 2013, in accordance with article 18 of the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, by the Holy Father Francis, by the present decree

The Rev. Fr. Fidenzio Volpi, O.F.M. Cap. is nominated

Apostolic Commissioner

ad nutum Sanctae Sedis (at the will of the Holy See)

for the Communities and Members

of the Congregation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.

In the fulfillment of his duties, the Rev. Fr. Volpi will assume all the jurisdictions which the particular legislation of the Institute and the universal (legislation) of the Church attribute to the General Government (of the F.F.I.) Furthermore, he will have the authority, if he deems it opportune, to avail himself of collaborators chosen at his discretion and named by him, subject to the assent of this Dicastery, whose opinion he may ask for when he deems necessary.

The Rev. Fr. Volpi must inform this Dicastery every six months on his actions, sending a detailed report in writing on the decisions he has made, the results of them, and the initiatives which he deems useful for the good of the Institute.

Finally, it will be the duty of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate both to reimburse the expenses incurred by the aforementioned Commissioner and the collaborators which may eventually be nominated by him, and to pay the honorarium for their services.

In addition to what is stated above, on the same date, the previous July 3, the Holy Father Francis has decided that every religious of the Congregation of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate is obliged to celebrate the liturgy according to the Ordinary Rite, and that, in the event, the use of the Extraordinary Form (Vetus Ordo) must be explicitly authorized by the competent authorities, for every religious and/or community that requests it.

All instructions to the contrary notwithstanding.

This letter has been made available by the courtesy of the editors of the Italian website Messa in Latino. The translation is my own. Free use of the text is given to all.

Pontifical Mass of Cardinal Brandmüller

Our friends at Messa in Latino have some first photos of the Pontifical Mass which His Eminence Walter Cardinal Brandmüller, the former President of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, celebrated yesterday, Sunday 6 February, with the Franciscans of the Immaculate at Campocavallo di Osimo. Deacon of the Mass, as you can see, was Fr Uwe M. Lang CO.

New Deacons for the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Today, H.E. Msgr. Velasio de Paolis, Titular Archbishop of Thelepte, President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and to be created Cardinal at the coming consistory of 20 November, ordained nine new deacons for the Franciscans of the Immaculate. Pontifical Mass was sung and Holy Orders were conferred according to the usus antiquior.

Here are some pictures, via John Sonnen at Orbis Catholicus.

The Extraordinary Form Conquers More and More of the Souls of the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Paix Liturgique, in its newest Italian newsletter, has an interview with Fr Alessandro M. Apollonio, rector of the theological seminary of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FFI), which brings splendid news from this young order which now has more than 700 members. Here is a translation of the part concerning the liturgy:

The vocation of a seminary is to give priests to Holy Church. This year eight of your friars will be ordained in Florence, on the Feast of the Annunciation, 25 March. Last year, the ceremony took place at Tarquinia and, for the first time in the history of your institute, the sacrament of orders had been conferred on five of your friars according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. Monsignor Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, officiated. This year Cardinal Rodé, another prelate of the Curia, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, will be the celebrant. Again, the Pontifical Mass will be accordiing to the older form: can we conclude that the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite now becomes the ordinary manner of your ordinations to the priesthood?

Yes, as long as the Pope allows it, in the sense of being the preferred form, not the exclusive.

Meaning?

Allow me to interpret the thought of our superior, Father Manelli ... Since the Extraordinary Form is the liturgical form closest to our spirituality, as long as the Pope allows this, we will prefer the ancient rite for our ordinations. Of course, if tomorrow we have to ordain some friars directly in Africa or the United States and the bishop prefers to celebrate according to the Novus Ordo, the ordinations will be according to the modern liturgy in its most solemn form.

What brings your spirituality particularly close to the ancient rite?

Our Franciscan and Marian spirituality is characterised by its being theocentric, christocentric and mariocentric. God, the God-Man and the Immaculate Coredemptrix are central to our vocation. And, in its sacrificial and mystical dimensions, the traditional liturgy responds really fittingly to this spirituality of ours. There is salvation only in God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin, died on the Cross and risen, and the millennial liturgy of the Church constantly reminds us of this, even in its most subtle details.

If your friars are now entering the priesthood through the ancient rite, it would seem natural that they might enjoy its treasures every day: What is your position on the breviary for example? Can your priests use the traditional one?

Indeed, to accompany the spiritual growth of every single priest and of our religious family as a whole, the traditional breviary is a valuable tool. So much so that in the seminary, for all our functions in choir, it is now the one which we use. For personal reitation or on mission, the friars can however use the breviary of Paul VI.

How far are you along in the implementation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum in your houses?

In Italy, the Extraordinary Form is the form of our conventual Masses, recommended by the Father Founder, both for the friars and the sisters, and it is ever increasingly being celebrated in our public ceremonies also in parishes when we have the consent of the bishop. Abroad, things are done according to local needs. For example, in the United States, in order to prudently avoid any kind of confusion, things go at a slower pace than in Italy. However, from Brazil to the Philippines, the Extraordinary Form conquers more and more the souls of our brothers and sisters Franciscans of the Immaculate.

Pontifical Mass at Campocavallo

Yesterday for the Feast of the Epiphany, Cardinal Castrillón celebrated Pontifical Mass at the Marian shrine of Campocavallo (Osimo, Province of Ancona, Italy) with the Franciscans of the Immaculate who celebrate the Extraordinary Form there every Sunday. Rinasicmento Sacro has images and a report (in Italian). Some more images on Elsas Nacht(b)revier.

Cardinal Cañizares Pontificates in the Usus Antiquior at the Lateran

As mentioned several times before since February, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has celebrated Pontifical Mass according to the usus antiquior this morning in the Lateran Basilica. This is the first time since the liturgical reforms of the late 1960s, as far as I am aware, that a sitting Prefect of the Congregation responsible for the liturgy has publicly celebrated Pontifical Mass in the usus antiquior. [As pointed out by readers, Cardinal Medina had also celebrated in the older form. This does not, in my opinion, diminish the importance of the occasion, given the conjuncture of circumstances here. Also, it is the first time since the publication of Summorum Pontificum and the end of the former indult situation.] Moreover, he has done so not just anywhere, but in the Lateran Archbasilica of the Most Holy Saviour, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, Cathedral of Rome and thus of the Pope, and "mater et caput" of all the churches of the city and the world.

In addition to the advance pictures already posted, our good friends at Rinascimento Sacro have let us know that images taken by the Franciscans of the Immaculate, who also provided the liturgical service including the major ministers and the chant for this occasion, have become available. Here is a selection (click to enlarge):











Again, the importance of this occasion cannot be overstated. The FFI are greatly to be commended for having been instrumental in making it happen.

FFI Easter

The good news from the Franciscans of the Immaculate, who have recently declared their predilection for the usus antiquior, and whose founder has celebrated a Solemn Mass in the Lateran Basilica last Thursday, is not ending. Now, our friends at messa in latino offer us a selection of images from the Triduum, which the FFI celebrated at Città di Castello.

Tenebrae:


Mass of Maundy Thursday:



At the altar of repose:


Good Friday liturgy:



Easter Vigil Mass:


Low Masses of Easter morn:


Also, there are some more images from the Mass at the Lateran:




A video of the Mass at the Lateran can be watched at regular intervals here.

Solemn Mass in the Usus Antiquior at the Lateran [Update]

Back in February I had mentioned three important Masses to be celebrated according to the usus aniquior in Italy in March and April. We have already seen images of the first of them, the ordination of five priests for the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FFI) by Archbishop Raymond Burke in Tarquinia.

Yesterday now, the Superior of the FFI, Fr Stefano Maria Manelli, celebrated Solemn Mass in the Cathedral of the Pope, the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, on the occasion of the Octocentennial of the Approbation of the Rule of St. Francis by Innocent III on 16 April 1209. This took place in the context of the Chapter of Mats, a Conference of the Ministers General of the First Order and the TOR of the Franciscans (Friars Minor, Conventuals, and Capuchins) to celebrate this Octocentennial. Here are some images of the Mass, by way of our friends at Rinascimento Sacro.

UPDATE, Saturday 18 April

Speaking of the Chapter of Mats, while not strictly liturgical, I thought some of you might still be interested in seeing some pictures from the audience they had today with the Pope:






(Images: Daylife)

Ordinations for the Franciscans of the Immaculate

As mentioned earlier, Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, today celebrated Pontifical Mass in the usus antiquior and ordained five priests for the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FFI) in the church of St. Francis in Tarquinia (a small town in Latium). Our good friend John Sonnen of ORBIS CATHOLICVS has some pictures of this splendid occasion. Here is a selection:

The church:


The Mass. Archbishop Burke and the sacred ministered, incidentally, were wearing some rather fine gothic vestments, and these pictures show, in my opinion, how these can go perfectly well together with other paraments in more Roman/baroque forms, such as the mitre, the copes of the book and bugia bearers or the chasubles of the ordinandi. In the first image, you can see to the left Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli, the Minister General and Founder of the FFI, and to the right his Co-Founder, Fr. Gabriele Maria Pellettieri.







Adsum:





The First Blessing of the new priests:


Followed by the kissing of the anointed palms:


The recession.




The NLM congratulates the new priests and the FFI.