The Abbey of St Martin in Disentis, Switzerland

Our resident Ambrosian expert Nicola de’ Grandi recently visited the abbey of St Martin in the town of Disentis, which is located in the central Swiss canton of Grisons, about 35 miles to the southeast of Lucerne. In Romansch, a Romance language which is spoken principally in Grisons, the town is called “Mustér”, which is to say, monastery, after this foundation, which began in the late 7th or early 8th century. The monastery is also dedicated to the Virgin Mary, to St Peter, and to its founders, Placidus and Sigbert, but St Martin is the titular of the main church. Like so many ancient monasteries, it has been rebuilt many times; the current church dates to the late 17th and early 18th century.

The main sanctuary and choir.

The nave seen as one looks back from the crossing.

The altar to the left of the main choir is dedicated to St Benedict

On the opposite side, an altar dedicated to a Saint called Placid, not the disciple of St Benedict, but a local landowner who assisted St Sigbert in the foundation of the abbey, and was killed by the regional governor, a man named Victor.

The preaching pulpit

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Pictures from Mt Athos (Part 4): The Skete of St Andrew

Here is another group of pictures graciously shared by a friend who recently visited Mt Athos, this time from a monastery called the Skete of St Andrew, about a kilometer from the administrative center at Karyes, in the center of the peninsula. “Skete” is a Greek word of uncertain origin which means a monastery which is dependent on another; there are twelve such on Athos. That of St Andrew is actually the largest monastery on the peninsula, but it is not part of the hierarchy of twenty major monasteries, which includes only the ancient ones founded in the Byzantine period.

It was originally a small house dedicated to St Anthony the Abbot, founded in the 15th century after the fall of Constantinople, dependent on the Vatopedion monastery, then rebuilt in the mid-18th century and jointly dedicated to St Andrew. In 1841, Vatopedion gave it to Russian monks; under the patronage of Tsar Nicholas I, it was massively rebuilt, and the community grew to over 700. In the early 20th century, it became the center of a very peculiar heresy founded by one of its monks, known as the Imiaslavie doctrine, the belief that the name of God is God Himself. After this heresy was condemned by the Russian Orthodox Church, the community was violently dispersed by the Russian Imperial Navy; four monks were killed, and many others injured. After a long period of decline and abandonment, it was repopulated by Greeks at the beginning of this century. The monastery possesses the relic of the skull of St Andrew which was returned to the Orthodox Church from the Vatican in 1966. 

The entrance to the monastic complex.

Frescos of the titular Saint, Andrew the Apostle, known as the First-Called in the Byzantine tradition...

and another of St Anthony the Abbot, called Anthony the Great in the East, the original titular Saint.

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Pictures from Mt Athos (Part 3): The Church of the Dormition at Karyes

We continue with the pictures which a friend has graciously shared with us from his recent visit to Mt Athos, this time from the little town of Karyes (population 135), right in the middle of the peninsula, which serves as the administrative center of the Monastic Republic. The main church, dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, is also called the Protaton, after the Protos (the Greek word for “first”), the monks who serves as the administrative head of the entire community. The church was founded in the early 10th century, even before the completion of the Great Lavra, the first monastery of the Athonite hierarchy. (Below the divider, there are some pictures of the town and of the view of the sea.)

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Pictures from Mt Athos, Part 2: Koutloumousiou Monastery

Here is another set of pictures graciously shared with us by a friend who recently visited Mt Athos, this time from the Koutloumousiou Monastery, which is 6th in the Athonite hierarchy of the 20 great monasteries. It was founded in the 1060s by a man named Kallistos Koutloumous, a prince of the Seljuk Turks who converted to Christianity, and received its first major benefactions from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081-1118). For a long time, it was populated predominantly by Romanians, and the present structure of a large courtyard with the church in the middle mostly dates from the 14th century, with some later rebuilding and fortification.

A first view of the church. Below the break are a lot of pictures of the church’s interior, including some very nice frescoes in the narthex.

Going up into the monastery building...

one sees the wooden semantron, a board which is knocked with hammers, as a way of calling the monks to services, just as western churches use bells.

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Interview with Abbot of Fontgombault on the 1965 Missal, Questions of Reform, and the Current Situation in the Church

In these times when much discussion is under way about the restoration of the pre-55 Roman Rite in view of the problematic aspects of the Pius XII Holy Week reform and the Bugninian aspects of the 1962 missal, it seems more than a curiosity to be reminded that the monastery of Fontgombault adheres to the 1965 interim missal, a sort of island that has nearly disappeared due to erosion from the oceans of controversy. Of interest to NLM readers will be this interview given by the abbot, Jean Pateau, to Lothar Rilinger in early May (translated from the German at kath.net). N.B. This article was scheduled long before a version of the same interview was posted at Rorate Caeli. Nevertheless, it won’t hurt to have the interview at both places. -PAK 

Interview with Abbot of Fontgombault on the 1965 Missal, Questions of Reform, and the Current Situation in the Church

Lothar C. Rilinger

The Abbey of Fontgombault was founded in 1091. After an eventful history, the Romanesque monastery complex, which is also of extraordinary value in terms of art history, now belongs once again to the Benedictine Order, specifically to the Congregation of Solesmes. The religious community of Fontgombault celebrates the liturgy in the extraordinary form. Abbot Jean Pateau OSB provides insight into the background of this in an interview with lawyer Lothar C. Rilinger.

Lothar Rilinger: You celebrate Mass in the old rite in your monastery. Do you believe that this type of celebration could jeopardize the unity of the faithful?

Abbot Jean Pateau OSB: First of all, I owe you a clarification. The monastery Mass in the abbey is not celebrated according to the 1962 Missal, known as the Vetus Ordo or old rite, but according to the 1965 Missal. Although this Missal is the result of the implementation of the reform demanded by the Council on December 4, 1963, but it remains closely linked to the 1962 missal and retains the Offertory and most of the gestures. In addition, we have decided to use the current [Novus Ordo] calendar for the Sanctoral. We have retained the old temporal calendar, which includes the season of Septuagesima, the octave of Pentecost, and the Ember Days, but we celebrate with the universal Church on the last Sunday of the year, Christ the King. All of this contributes to a rapprochement with the current 1969 Missal.

To answer your question about ecclesial unity more directly, I would like to recall that Benedict XVI, in his letter to the bishops on the occasion of the publication of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, examined two fears that opposed the publication of this text:

- to diminish the authority of the Second Vatican Council and to cast doubt on the liturgical reform.
- causing unrest and even divisions in parish communities.

As regards the questioning of the authority of the Second Vatican Council, it should be recalled that, a few months after the publication of the Ordo Missae of 1965, the Archabbot of Beuron sent a copy of the post-conciliar edition of the Schott Missal to St. Paul VI. On May 28, 1966, Secretary of State Cardinal Cicognani sent a letter of thanks to the abbot on behalf of the pope, in which he stated: “The characteristic and essential feature of this new revised edition is that it represents the perfect crowning achievement of the Liturgical Constitution of the Council.”

As for the second point, I think we must guard against overly simplistic caricatures. There are places where there have been and still are divisions. There are also places where things are peaceful. Many would be surprised to learn that the majority of young people who decide to join so-called traditional communities are not young people who originally came from traditional communities. I myself am an example of this.

As for the young people who are drawn to traditional communities, they are very free in their liturgical practice and have long since left their home parishes.

Unity in the Church is not uniformity. An example of this is the Eastern Church.

Working toward unity does not mean working toward uniformity. I would even say that imposing uniformity is detrimental to unity. The question is how to work toward unity. This, it seems to me, was Benedict XVI's perspective.

Do believers in France want to attend Mass according to the old rite?

This question is difficult to answer, as the 1962 Missal is hardly used. What we can say, however, is that people who attend such celebrations have a sense of their contemplative dimension and are more focused on God. Many are willing to attend Masses celebrated according to this Missal from time to time and readily admit that it strengthens their faith.

Benedict XVI had already pointed out in the letter quoted above that, contrary to all expectations, “many people remained strongly attached to the old missal.” It is certain, and we can add that many people who get to know it develop an attachment to it.
 

Have you noticed that young believers in particular appreciate the old form of the missal and therefore go to church more often?

I can testify that a young religious who attended a Mass according to the Vetus Ordo asked me the following question, which was completely unexpected for me: “How is it possible that the Church hid this from us?” Others have expressed to me their desire to attend a Mass according to this Ordo.

Contact with the Mass in its old form can sometimes be surprising: “I came here because people speak badly of you!” “...Since then, this lady has persevered. Young people who remain steadfast in their religious practice today have high expectations. Drowned in a hyper-connected and noisy world where news is omnipresent, they appreciate the silence and sobriety of the texts in the Vetus Ordo. This more expressive, less intellectual character seems to me to be an advantage on a pastoral level.

It is said that believers who attend Mass according to the Vetus Ordo have a more regular practice. I believe this without hesitation. But I believe that the same is true for young people who are connected to a parish or a community.

Could the celebration according to the old rite also be a means of beginning a new evangelization?

To answer your question correctly, let us return to the 1965 Missal. Pierre Jounel dedicated a book to the rites of the Mass in 1965. In the introduction, he remarks: “When the Congregation for Rites published a new typical edition of the Roman Missal in 1962, no one had the impression that it was a real novelty. On the contrary, on March 7, 1965, priests and faithful discovered a new liturgy ...: the use of the vernacular, the celebration of the liturgy of the word outside the sanctuary, the fact that the celebrant no longer recited silently the texts proclaimed by a cleric or sung by the congregation.”

These reflections by a liturgist who witnessed the implementation of the reform, and the aforementioned judgment of Pope Paul VI, seem to me to lend the 1965 Missal a special authority and thus a specific missionary effectiveness. It is from this perspective that I would like to respond to you.

However, Jounel continues in his introduction by stating that “since March 7, certain problems raised by the liturgical reform have matured surprisingly quickly” – the imprimatur of the book dates from July 16, 1965! “In the celebration facing the people ... gestures dating back to the Middle Ages, such as the many altar kisses, the blessing of the oblates, the repeated genuflections, or even the quiet recitation of the canon, became a real burden for the priests, who until then had followed the rubrics in complete tranquility.”

This is precisely one of the criticisms of the current missal.

The connection between the celebration before the people and the fact that liturgical gestures suddenly become a burden is remarkable and seems to me to be evidence of a change in the mindset and spirit of these priests. Why have these gestures, which were previously taken for granted, become a burden? Is the priest ashamed? Does he find it ridiculous when the faithful see him doing what he has always done before God as a matter of course? Not everyone is able to ignore the stares.

Hasn't the same change of heart and soul taken place among the faithful? The undeniable striving for holiness among young people and many believers certainly deserves that liturgists hear this question and that we pause and reflect on it. The Apostolic Letter Desiderio desideravi has the merit of addressing this question.

Today, priests profess that they celebrate privately according to the Vetus Ordo. This nourishes their spiritual life. Even if the celebration of the Eucharist is not a matter of personal devotion, one cannot blame a priest for wanting to draw from it, for seeking substantial nourishment from it. In this sense, we can regret the abandonment of the orientation toward the Offertory and the drastic reduction of gestures.

Furthermore, I believe that evangelization could undoubtedly be strengthened by a rediscovery of the traditional orientation and gestures, which could very well be included in the current missal at will and which remind us that the Eucharist is the living memory of redemption, that there is Another who is made present, and that before this Other all go in adoration. The only subject of the liturgy is the mystical body of Jesus Christ, whose head and only high priest is Christ and whose members are the priests and faithful. A mutual enrichment of the two missals should be accompanied by a mystagogical catechesis in the spirit of the Church Fathers.

Do you believe that the Pope's motu proprio Traditionis Custodes represents a break with the theology of Benedict XVI/Ratzinger, who had actually made the celebration in the old rite possible?

It cannot be denied that Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI made the celebration according to the Vetus Ordo possible. Benedict XVI also paved the way for mutual influence between the two missals, first through his choice of terminology: ordinary form and extraordinary form of the same Roman rite, then through his invitation: “The new saints and some of the new prefaces can and must be inserted into the old Missal... In the celebration of Mass according to the Missal of Paul VI, this holiness, which attracts many people to the old rite, can be expressed more fully than has often been the case in the past.”

It is surprising that the Ecclesia Dei Commission took 13 years to introduce new saints and new prefaces into the old missal. Such a delay can only be explained by resistance that may have come from circles interested in retaining the old missal without any additions, as well as from liturgists who, after the death of the Vetus Ordo, were very opposed to updating this missal in a way that could prolong its use.

It seems important to me to reread Pope Benedict's letter to the bishops on the occasion of the publication of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum, which attests to its objectives:

- internal reconciliation within the Church
- that all who truly desire unity may have the possibility of remaining in this unity or of rediscovering it

Has the desired reconciliation taken place? It must be admitted that this is not the case. The Church, its members, bishops, priests, and faithful are suffering as a result, albeit for different reasons. Nevertheless, the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum undeniably calmed the situation. It ushered in a new era. However, I always believed that this era would not last unless real work was done in the direction desired by Benedict XVI. This work was not done.

Pope Francis' motu proprio Traditionis custodes has now changed the discipline. The situation has become more difficult for the faithful who are attached to the old missal. Some have turned to the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X. Others travel many miles to attend Mass according to the 1962 or 1965 missal or to receive a sacrament. In many places, tensions have flared up again. Jealousy is intensifying; misunderstandings are exacerbated, especially when the number of faithful attending Mass according to the Vetus Ordo increases and their average age is rather low. Anyone looking for political motives behind this success is mistaken. If the faithful go to these places, it is simply because they find what they are looking for there. Pope Francis' motu proprio ended the work desired by Pope Benedict to bring the two missals closer together.

In my opinion, there are two reasons for resuming this work. First of all, we cannot ignore the fact that the Second Vatican Council took place and that the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, was published, calling for a reform of the missal. The retention of the 1962 missal or the old Pontifical seems to me difficult to reconcile with this fact.

Furthermore, we cannot ignore the sharp decline in religious practice. Contrary to what is often claimed, the appeal of the old missal is not limited to certain European countries or the United States. The question is therefore justified as to whether a more expressive rite might not halt this decline to some extent. The reactions of the faithful and tourists who happen to attend a convent Mass in our monastery and are deeply moved lead me to believe that an enrichment of the 1969 Missal at will in terms of gestures, specifically the use of the Ordinary of the 1965 Missal with the Offertory and a celebration oriented towards it, would not be without fruit. Then it would be legitimate for all priests and Christians to benefit from it.

The 1969 Missal is a missal developed by learned liturgists, a missal “from above.” After more than 50 years, by drawing on the accumulated experience and feedback of a considerable number of faithful and priests, we can embark on a synodal path that for some is also a path of healing. The Church and her liturgy can only be enriched by this.

Pope Francis has invited us to be pilgrims of hope this year. I would like to believe that dialogue will be possible and that this dialogue will be beneficial for the whole Church. But genuine dialogue can only take place in trust, in truth, and in openness to what the other can teach me.

The Eucharist is the sacrament of God's love, in which Christ communicates his life. Too many believers, priests, and bishops are torn apart because of this sacrament, while Christ is present there with his body, his blood, his soul, and his divinity, begging for love.

Daily private Masses at Fontgombault: a definitive sign that this monastery is not "on board" with the liturgical reform's general thrust

Visit Dr. Kwasniewski’s Substack “Tradition & Sanity”; personal site; composer site; publishing house Os Justi Press and YouTube, SoundCloud, and Spotify pages.

Gothic and Baroque Sculptures in a Swiss Abbey

Following up on three recent posts from earlier this month, this is the final set of Nicola’s photos of the abbey of St John in Müstair, Switzerland. The first part showed frescos from the Carolingian era, the second those of the Romanesque period, and the third, various Romanesque sculptures. I have titled this post Gothic and Baroque Sculptures for the sake of simplicity, but they are mixed in with some other things, including the abbess’ crook and pectoral cross, and some pictures of the nuns’ living quarters.

A wooden altar of Our Lady of the Rosary, with small panels of the fifteen mysteries arranged around the central image of the Virgin and Child, as Mary hands a rosary and a scapular to the faithful beneath Her.

Two late Gothic (1520s) sculptural panels, originally part of a triptych, of the Annunciation and Visitation.

The pectoral cross, ring and crook of the last abbess, Rev. Mother Augustina Wolf, who held the title from 1806-10. (When the area was invaded by the kingdom of Bavaria in 1810, the abbey was not suppressed, but degraded to a priory.)

Rings with the letters IHS or some other symbol on them, which signify that the nuns’ are brides of Christ.

The refectory was built in a large within the complex by the abbess Angelina Planta ca. 1500; these decoration were added to it by another abbess in the 1760s.

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The Abbey of Grottaferrata

Today is the feast of St Nilus, who founded the important Byzantine Rite monastery of Grottaferrata, about 13 miles to the southeast of Rome, fairly close to the famous Papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. He was originally from a town called Rossano in the southern Italian region of Calabria, and lived an ordinary life until he was about 30 years old, when his wife and daughter both died within a short time of each other, and then he fell seriously ill. These events set him on the path to a religious conversion, and the embracing of monastic life in one of the many Byzantine communities in southern Italy, in which state he earned a great reputation for sanctity and learning. The political vicissitudes of the era brought him north to Rome; in 1004, while passing through the Alban hills, he had a vision of Our Lady, from which it was made known to him that he was to found a community in that place. Nilus is reckoned the first abbot and founder of the monastery because he obtained from a local nobleman the grant of land in Grottaferrata on which it was built, and established the community, but he did not live to the see building of it even begun. This was accomplished by his successor Bartholomew, who is also a Saint.

A painting in the abbey of Saints Nilus and Bartholomew, by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609); public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

I stumbled across the following documentary about the abbey, which tells some of its history and shows many of the church’s interesting artistic and architectural features. (It was posted on YouTube about four years ago by the Italian Basilian monks, but it seems to have been made rather longer ago, and is pretty grainy.)

A Visit to the Monastery of Camaldoli

As a follow-up to my recent article on the feast of St Romuald, here are some photos taken by Nicola de’ Grandi during a visit to the Monastery and Hermitage of Camaldoli, the mother house of the Saint’s order, just under 30 miles to the east of Florence.

The church of the hermitage.

Part of the screen which divides the monks’ choir, the bulk of the church, from the rest of it.

Internal view of the choir.

A side chapel.

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The Abbey of Grottaferrata

Today is the feast of St Nilus, who founded the important Byzantine Rite monastery of Grottaferrata, about 13 miles to the southeast of Rome, fairly close to the famous Papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. He was originally from a town called Rossano in the southern Italian region of Calabria, and lived an ordinary life until he was about 30 years old, when his wife and daughter both died within a short time of each other, and then he fell serious ill. These events set him on the path to a religious conversion, and the embracing of monastic life in one of the many Byzantine communities in southern Italy, in which state he earned a great reputation for sanctity and learning. The political vicissitudes of the era brought him north to Rome; in 1004, while passing through the Alban hills, he had a vision of Our Lady, from which it was made known to him that he was to found a community in that place. Nilus is reckoned the first abbot and founder of the monastery because he obtained from a local nobleman the grant of land in Grottaferrata on which it was built, and established the community, but he did not live to the see building of it even begun. This was accomplished by his successor Bartholomew, who is also a Saint. I recently stumbled across the following documentary about the abbey, which tells some of its history and shows many of the church’s interesting artistic and architectural features. (It was posted only a year and a half ago by the Italian Basilian monks, but it seems to have been made some time ago, and is rather grainy.)

The Abbey of St Columbanus in Bobbio, Italy

Later this month, the Church will celebrate the feast of St Columbanus, an Irish monk who founded several important monasteries on continental Europe in the mid-sixth and early seventh centuries. His last foundation, and the place where he died and was buried, was in the town of Bobbio, about 50 miles to the south of Milan, and in the Saint’s time, part of the Lombard kingdom. For centuries, it was one of the most important religious centers in Europe, boasting a famous scriptorium and library, which counted the fantastic number of 700 volumes at the end of the 10th century. In the later 15th century and early 16th century, the abbey itself was almost completely rebuilt, and very little of the previous Romanesque structures remains to be seen. The remains of St Columbanus and two other Sainted abbots are preserved in the crypt, along with part of a very interesting mosaic of the 12th century. (Click here to see the first of a series of 3-D panoramas of the mosaic; the others are accessed through the toolbar on that site.) Here are some pictures taken by Nicola de Grandi during a recent visit.

The church and abbey seen from the nearby Castello Malaspina.

The 9th century Romanesque bell-tower.

Part of the cloister.

The late 15th-century façade.

The paintings of Saints in the nave were done by a local artist named Bernardino Lanzani (1460-1530), during the last three years of his life, with the help of only a single assistant.

St Gregory the Great and four of early monastic founders, Ss Benedict, Columbanus, and the first two successors of the latter as abbot of Bobbio, Ss Attala and Bertulf. The image beneath represents St Gregory the Great anachronistically “approving” the Rule of St Benedict.

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Historical Images of the English Benedictine Abbeys

We are very grateful to Mr Richard Barton, who runs a blog called btsarnia, for his kind permission to reproduce the following images from one of his recent posts, photographs and drawings of the English Benedictine abbeys in the early 20th century. The first several of these are from Caldey Abbey, which was founded as an Anglican monastic community on the island of Caldey off the southern coast of Wales in 1906; in 1913, most of the community were received into the Catholic Church, while those who remained Anglicans moved first to a house that had belonged to Caldey called Pershore, and then to Nashdom. In 1925, the Catholic Benedictines left Caldey for Prinknash; Caldey itself was taken over in 1929 by the Cistercians, who still have it to this day. Here we give just a selection; there are a great many more to see in the original post.

Caldey Abbey

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