St. Augustine's Press

 In 1947 Dom Lambert Beauduin, father of the twentieth century liturgical movement, acclaimed Mediator Dei as "a solemn, unique document by which the supreme authority rehabilitates the liturgy – yesterday's Cinderella – in its rights and claims of primacy. . . . Popes Pius X and Pius XI had spoken decisive words, but . . . Pius XII is the first to explain in a magisterial document, vibrant with apostolic ardor, the basic prerogatives which entitle the liturgy to a post of the first order in the spiritual life." Another writer declared that the liturgical movement had finally "come of age." With Sacrosanctum Concilium, as one Father declared following the Council, the liturgical movement was seen to have "reached its maturity."

Yet, Nichols asserts, Sacrosanctum Concilium "carried within it, encased in the innocuous language of pastoral welfare, some seeds of its own destruction." And ongoing debate questions whether the ideals of the liturgical movement have in fact been realized.

These texts are a tutorial in liturgical spirituality and tradition. Their comparison informs assessment of the liturgical practice of the Church today, and considerations for future reform.

 

Home

Books



Print out, fax or mail your order
A Pope and a Council
on the Sacred Liturgy
Pope Pius XII’s Mediator
Dei and the Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosanctum
Concilium with a comparative
study “A Tale of Two Documents”
by Aidan Nichols, O.P.

160 pages, paperbound,
$20.50
ISBN: 0-907077-38-2, 2002