Videos of the Ambrosian Rite at Sacra Liturgia 2017

The Youtube channel Prigioniero di Zenda has just posted quite a large number of videos of the ceremonies held in the Ambrosian Rite during the Sacra Liturgia Conference in Milan last week. There are far too many to include them all, so here are the first in each of the four major ceremonies. If you click the title of each video and view it in a separate tab or window, the video that follows will appear on the Youtube sidebar on the right. (They are also numbered.)

Solemn Mass (EF) in the Presence of a Greater Prelate, (His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke), at the church of Sant’Alessandro in Zebedia.

Solemn Vespers in the Presence of a Greater Prelate (His Eminence Robert Cardinal Sarah) at the Basilica of St Ambrose.

Pontifical Mass (OF) at the Basilica of St Ambrose, celebrated by the Mitred Abbot of Basilica, Mons. Ermino de Scalzi

Solemn Vespers (OF) in the Duomo, celebrated by Mons. Gianantonio Borgonovo, Archpriest of the Chapter 

Sacra Liturgia Milan: Solemn Mass in the Presence of a Greater Prelate, Ancient Ambrosian Rite

As many of you will know, Sacra Liturgia is hosting a liturgical conference in Milan as we speak (see details here), the territory of the ancient and venerable Ambrosian rite. As part of that conference -- as is to be expected and as is appropriate and desireable -- the Ambrosian rite is front and centre in the liturgical celebrations.

Today, a Solemn Mass in the Presence of a Greater Prelate was celebrated in the ancient Ambrosian rite in the church of S. Alessandro in Zebedia. Here are just a few highlights. (Full photo album here).

As an aside, some of you may recognize various elements from the Ambrosian rite that we have spoken of here on NLM before, such as the grammatae (the square apparel on the alb) and cappino (the rectangular ornament worn around the neck -- a remnant of the old apparelled amice); the uncapped thurible (a more ancient form of the thurible), the manner in which the chasuble is held during the incensations, and the position of the deacon and subdeacon at various points within the liturgy. While not shown here in these photos, the ferula (a crozier like staff, topped by an orb instead of a the crook) was also in evidence today. Were this video, you would also see many other variances from the Roman rite in liturgical texts and ceremonial. For more information on the Ambrosian rite, do look in the NLM archives.

Without further ado, the photos.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Program for Sacra Liturgia Milan Published and Part Time Registrations Open

The program for Sacra Liturgia Milan, which will take place from June 6-9, 2017, has just been published on the conference website.

The program includes one further liturgical celebration to which Sacra Liturgia has been invited. The community who celebrate the older form of the Ambrosian rite have invited those participants who will be in the city before the conference to join them for a Missa Cantata in their beautiful church of S. Maria della Consolazione al Castello on Tuesday, June 6th at 11:30 a.m. Sacra Liturgia is profoundly grateful for their gracious invitation and hospitality. The church is located in Largo Callas 1, very close to the Cairoli/Castello metro stop on line 1.

Part time registrations for the inaugural session on the afternoon of June 6th, featuring the keynote address of His Eminence, Robert Cardinal Sarah, as well as for individual days of the conference, are now open on the conference website.

Full-time registrations remain open at this time. Those who wish to register full time are urged to do so as soon as possible to avoid disappointment if some sessions are fully booked. All conference liturgies are open to the public. Seating will be reserved for registered delegates. Booklets containing the liturgical texts in Latin with translations in Italian and English will be distributed to registered delegates only.

CWR Interview with Dom Alcuin Reid on Upcoming Sacra Liturgia Milan

Yesterday, Catholic World Report published an interview with Dom Alcuin Reid on this year’s Sacra Liturgia Conference, which will take place in Milan from June 6-9, and include a number of celebrations in both Forms of the Ambrosian Rite. Dom Reid outlines the conference’s liturgical program, and some of the topics which the invited speakers will address, among them Card. Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, and Cardinal Raymond Burke, and comments on the reception of Card. Sarah’s call at last year’s conference for a broad return to ad orientem worship. Here are a few keys excerpts.

CWR: So Sacra Liturgia Milan will feature the Ambrosian rite liturgy?

Dom Alcuin Reid: Yes, as at all our conferences the celebration of the liturgy is at the heart of what we do and because we shall be in Milan those celebrations, naturally, will be in the Ambrosian rite. The opening Solemn Vespers will be celebrated in the historic Basilica of Saint Ambrose; His Eminence, Cardinal Tettamanzi, has kindly agreed to celebrate for us.

So too, one of the conference Masses will be celebrated there in the modern Ambrosian rite by its Bishop-Abbot, Bishop DeScalzi, who has been very welcoming to us. His Eminence, Cardinal Scola, has facilitated our use of the beautiful church of St Alessandro for our celebration of Holy Mass in the ancient Ambrosian rite, and the conference will conclude in the Metropolitan Cathedral with Solemn Vespers, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and a statio at the altar of Blessed Ildephonse Schuster, the famous liturgist and Archbishop of Milan from 1929-1954. The Archpriest of the Duomo, who has also been very welcoming, will celebrate Vespers for us. ...

CWR: Robert Cardinal Sarah is once again a presenter; what will he be speaking on? Will his talk touch on the some of the matters he discusses in his new book, The Power of Silence?

Dom Alcuin Reid: His Eminence is speaking on “The Sacred Liturgy—Our Encounter With God: A Christological and Ecclesiological Perspective.” I cannot imagine that he would speak of our encounter with Almighty God without reflecting on the necessity of a fruitful silence and receptivity on the part of the Church and of each of us as we contemplate God’s saving action in the liturgy. But we shall have to wait and see what he says. Certainly the question of liturgy and ecclesiology is an important one and has been discussed quite a bit in recent years.

CWR: Another well-known cardinal, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, will be presenting as well. What is the focus of his address?

Dom Alcuin Reid: Cardinal Burke is speaking, ten years after its promulgation, about Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum and is presenting an assessment of those ten years as well as a prospective view of the future of the usus antiquior, the more ancient form, of the Roman rite. It promises to be an important address both in its analysis and in its vision for the years to come. ...

CWR: In his address at Sacra Liturgia London last summer (link in original), Cardinal Sarah suggested that Catholics consider a return to worship ad orientem. Overall, in hindsight, what sort of response was there to those remarks? What did those responses indicate to you, as someone who has been studying liturgical reform for many years?

Dom Alcuin Reid: Well, as we know, the responses were many and varied. Some—including responses from people in authority—were incredible in their naivety and lack of understanding of what the Cardinal actually said and indeed of the relevant ecclesiastical regulations. Nevertheless his message was not drowned by the noise created by its ill-informed critics. It reached the ears of those whose ears were indeed prepared to listen.

I understand that Cardinal Sarah has received many, many messages of support from around the world and that these far outnumber any criticisms he has received. And one continues to hear of more priests and parishes adopting his proposal to celebrate the Sacred Liturgy ad orientem; I have even seen reports of priests commencing this at the beginning of Lent because they judged it necessary to take a longer period to provide the catechesis necessary in their parish. This seems very wise and prudent.

In spite of the “dictatorship of noise” that attempts to rule liturgical discourse at times, His Eminence’s calm and considered message has in fact reached many people who are quietly getting on with the business of enriching the liturgical life of the Church according to a hermeneutic of continuity and not of rupture. His “still small voice” (cf. 1 Kings 19:12) rings true in the hearts and souls of many, and in time it will bear more fruit.

Sacra Liturgia This Summer: Conference in Milan, and Summer School

Sacra Liturgia has announced its major activities for this coming summer, a conference to be held in June in Milan, from June 6-9, and the annual liturgical summer school, from August 5-17.

The conference sessions of Sacra Liturgia Milan, will be held in both Italian and English, with simultaneous translation of all presentations, at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) centrally located in Milan next to the Basilica of Saint Ambrose, where many of the conference’s liturgical celebrations will take place.

The full program, to be released at Easter, will include Vespers and Mass according to the Ambrosian Rite (in both its ancient and modern uses) in the Basilica of Saint Ambrose, the Metropolitan Cathedral (Duomo) and in other locations to be announced. One afternoon will be kept free for cultural visits, including a special visit to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana and the Duomo.

Full time registrations are open now. Part time registration will be possible after Easter when the full conference program is published. Delegates are responsible for their own accommodation arrangements; the Sacra Liturgia Secretrariat is happy to give recommendations for local accommodation upon request.

His Eminence Robert Card. Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, and Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon, at last year’s Sacra Liturgia Conference in London.

The speakers at the conference will be:
Opening address: Robert Cardinal Sarah – The Sacred Liturgy: Our Encounter With God: A Christological and Ecclesiological Perspective
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke – Summorum Pontificum after Ten Years: Assessment and Prospects
Fr Michael Lang – Liturgical Reform in the Carolingian Age
Professor Jennifer Donelson – Sacred Music Renewal Fifty Years after Musicam Sacram
Dom Alcuin Reid – The Reform of the Roman Rite: The work of the Postconciliar Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia
Professor Cesare Alzati – The Ambrosian and Oriental Rites: Historical events and their ecclesiological signficance
Msgr Ennio Apeciti – Blessed Ildefonso Schuster: Liturgist
Msgr Inos Biffi – The Reform of the Ambrosian Missal
Dott. Andrea Gramegna – Lay Participation in the Liturgy
Msgr Claudio Magnoli – The Reform of the Ambrosian Lectionary
Msgr Marco Navoni – The History of the Ambrosian Liturgy
Fr Vincenzo Nuara OP – The Liturgy and Young People
Professor Angelo Rusconi – The music of the Ambrosian rite
Msgr Timothy Verdon – Sacred Liturgy and Art
Abbot Christopher Zielinski OSB Oliv. – The Liturgical Formation of the Human Person: Awakening the soul of contemporary man.

The Fourth International Sacra Liturgia Summer School will be held from August 5-17 in La Garde-Freinet (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), France, an English-language liturgical summer school following on from the international Sacra Liturgia conferences in Rome, New York and London and the summer schools from 2014-2016 organised by the Monastère Saint-Benoît of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon.

Designed for families, individuals and groups of clergy and laity who wish to holiday in Provence in the South of France whilst having the opportunity to participate in liturgical celebrations according to the usus antiquior of the Roman rite, this year, the summer school will have the privilege of welcoming His Eminence, Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke for the celebration of Pontifical First Vespers and Solemn Mass at the Throne for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bishop Dominique Rey of Fréjus-Toulon will welcome His Eminence and be present at Vespers; Cardinal Burke will also give a conference on the Sacred Liturgy for participants.

The summer school includes pilgrimages to and the celebration of solemn Mass in the Royal Basilica housing the relics of St Mary Magdalen at St Maximin-La-Sainte-Baume, and the chapel housing the relics of St Roseline of Villeneuve (†1329). A visit to the ancient Cistercian Abbey of Le Thoronet is also possible.

Solemn Mass at the Basilica of St Mary Magdalene during the 2016 summer school.

The summer school includes practical formation in Gregorian chant (for beginners and for those more advanced), and in the ceremonies of the usus antiquior for priests and seminarians wishing to learn how to celebrate Low Mass, how to serve as deacon and subdeacon, and for seminarians and servers who wish to learn more about the rites and how to serve as a Master of Ceremonies. The daily schedule gives over the mornings to practical training (approximately 14 hours of tuition in total), with presentations and discussions (presenters and topics to be announced) taking place in the evenings after vespers. Afternoons are free for relaxation and exploring the region.

The mountain village of La Garde-Freinet, situated in a wine growing region some 20 km from Saint-Tropez and approximately 15 km from the Mediterranean sea, is an ideal holiday location with mountain walks, a Provencal market, shops and restaurants. English is widely spoken in the village. Participants will arrange their own accommodation, meals and transport.

For full information, including the daily schedule, the program of training sessions, and practical information about arrangements, see the following page on the Sacra Liturgia blog: http://www.sacraliturgia.org/2017/01/sacra-liturgia-summer-school-france-5.html