Sign the Petition Against Suppression of the Traditional Latin Mass—Like It Or Not
Dana Gioia asked us to circulate this request from Sir James MacMillan
Today Dana Gioia emailed Maggie Gallagher and me and asked us to circulate this request from eminent composer Sir James MacMillan.
I just started the petition "Stop the ban on the Traditional Latin Mass" and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.
You can read more and sign the petition here.
Thanks!
James
What do I mean by “Like It or Not” in the title of this piece? You don’t have to like the traditional Latin Mass or even be a Catholic to agree that it is worth preserving and add your signature to the petition.
See for example this quote from Sir James, which he published in a Comment titled “Traditional Latin Mass is a jewel that must be treasured,” on July 02 2024, at the The Times of London.
"In the spirit of our common humanity, we appeal to the Holy See to restore to Catholics the precious freedom to participate in the glorious liturgy of their ancestors."
And see this: After the new Mass of 1969 was mandated, prominent intellectuals also protested that the Traditional Latin Mass should be preserved not only for Catholics who love the liturgy of their ancestors but also because it is a magnificent accomplishment of Western civilization.
“Today, as in times gone by, educated people are in the vanguard where recognition of the value of tradition in concerned, and are the first to raise the alarm when it is threatened. We are not at this moment considering the religious or spiritual experience of millions of individuals. The rite in question, in its magnificent Latin text, has also inspired a host of priceless achievements in the arts - not only mystical works, but works by poets, philosophers, musicians, architects, painters and sculptors in all countries and epochs. Thus, it belongs to universal culture as well as to churchmen and formal Christians.”—From the 1971 petition signed by Agatha Christie and various others asking Pope Paul VI not to completely prohibit the celebration of the Traditional Mass. [More about that further down in this article.]
Sir James explains the background to his Comment at the Times here, where he asks us all to join him in signing the petition:
Signatories included the human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger, fellow musicians Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Lord Lloyd-Webber and Sir András Schiff; historians Tom Holland and A.N. Wilson; Tristram Hunt, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum; Lord Stirrup, former Chief of the Defence Staff; and the fashion designer Sir Paul Smith. [Also, among others not mentioned: Princess Michael of Kent.]
Some of them are Catholics, but many are non-Catholics and they include non-believers. All of us recognise that, to quote the letter, the destruction of the Traditional Latin Mass would be 'an unnecessary and insensitive act in a world where history can all too easily slip away forgotten'.
There are continuing reports from Rome that the Vatican, having already severely restricted access to the Latin Mass, is planning what would amount to a formal worldwide ban on its celebration in ordinary parishes.
This petition, like the Times letter, is entirely ecumenical and non-political. Whatever your beliefs, I urge you to sign it as a gesture of support for those Catholics who have found spiritual solace in the old Latin Mass and now – at a time when religious minorities around the globe are facing harassment – face the prospect of being forced to disown their own precious heritage. Please keep any messages of support respectful, as this petition does in any way not challenge the authority of Pope Francis and attacks on him would damage our cause.
The Agatha Christi Indult
Not everyone is aware, at least I wasn’t until 2016, but this isn't the first time artists, writers, and intellectuals inside and outside the Church petitioned the pope to preserve the traditional Latin Mass. That past petition was successful in getting a special permission, an indult, the one notable exception to the virtual worldwide ban on the traditional Latin Mass in diocesan churches during all that time, and it was called the "English indult," which was also nicknamed the "Agatha Christie indult." I wasn’t a practicing Catholic when all these changes were coming down. But eight years ago, when I learned about it, I published this article at my CatholicPunditWannabe.blogspot.com blog and republished it at Latin Mass Magazine, “The Fascinating Story of the Agatha Christie Indult.”
Here is an excerpt:
“After the revised Mass of Pope Paul VI was introduced and became the ordinary form of the Mass on the first Sunday of Advent in 1969, the new liturgy was the only form of the Mass that was allowed to be celebrated by priests of the Roman Catholic Church. Old or retired priests could apply to their own bishop for permission to use the previous form of the Mass, but for private use only. . . .
“The one notable exception to the virtual worldwide ban on the traditional Latin Mass during all that time was the English indult, which was also nicknamed the Agatha Christie indult, which was obtained by the efforts of The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales. As documented in ‘The 1971 'English' Indult - a Recollection,’ by Alfred Marnau, The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales was formed in 1964, even before the council had ended.
“They saw that ‘the form of the Mass seemed to be changing by the month, and no sooner had one novelty been introduced then it was replaced very quickly by something else. A number of priests took the opportunity to introduce their own whims and fancies, which only exacerbated the problem.’
“In response to how Latin was being removed from the Mass by individual priests as far back as November 1965, The Latin Mass Society then sent an appeal to Pope Paul VI that stated ‘the discontinuance of the use of the Latin tongue in parts of the Mass has proved a grave spiritual privation and a source of great anguish of soul.’ The petition also requested ‘that, side by side with the continued employment of the mother-tongue, the Mass may frequently and regularly be celebrated wholly in Latin.’ They received no reply to that petition.
“The change from Latin that the Latin Mass Society wrote about was far from the only change about to be universally mandated. In 1971, The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales circulated another petition among musicians, artists, writers, and intellectuals.
“Agatha Christi was only one of several non-Catholics who signed it. Other signers whose names I recognize out of the total of 57 who signed are: Kenneth Clark, Robert Graves, Graham Greene, Nancy Mitford, Malcolm Muggeridge, Iris Murdoch, Sean O'Faolain, and Joan Sutherland.”
The appeal stated the planned obliteration of the centuries-old Mass equivalent to a senseless decree that destroy equally venerable basilicas or cathedrals. The appeal deplored the intolerance of modern man for traditions and the modern anxiety to suppress those traditions. The text of the appeal letter is as follows:
‘If some senseless decree were to order the total or partial destruction of basilicas or cathedrals, then obviously it would be the educated - whatever their personal beliefs - who would rise up in horror to oppose such a possibility. Now the fact is that basilicas and cathedrals were built so as to celebrate a rite which, until a few months ago, constituted a living tradition. We are referring to the Roman Catholic Mass. Yet, according to the latest information in Rome, there is a plan to obliterate that Mass by the end of the current year. One of the axioms of contemporary publicity, religious as well as secular, is that modern man in general, and intellectuals in particular, have become intolerant of all forms of tradition and are anxious to suppress them and put something else in their place. But, like many other affirmations of our publicity machines, this axiom is false. Today, as in times gone by, educated people are in the vanguard where recognition of the value of tradition in concerned, and are the first to raise the alarm when it is threatened. We are not at this moment considering the religious or spiritual experience of millions of individuals. The rite in question, in its magnificent Latin text, has also inspired a host of priceless achievements in the arts - not only mystical works, but works by poets, philosophers, musicians, architects, painters and sculptors in all countries and epochs. Thus, it belongs to universal culture as well as to churchmen and formal Christians. In the materialistic and technocratic civilisation that is increasingly threatening the life of mind and spirit in its original creative expression - the word - it seems particularly inhuman to deprive man of word-forms in one of their most grandiose manifestations. The signatories of this appeal, which is entirely ecumenical and non-political, have been drawn from every branch of modern culture in Europe and elsewhere. They wish to call to the attention of the Holy See, the appalling responsibility it would incur in the history of the human spirit were it to refuse to allow the Traditional Mass to survive, even though this survival took place side by side with other liturgical reforms.’
“This appeal was successful. So why is it popularly called the Agatha Christi indult? As the story goes, Pope Paul VI was reading through the list of signatories and then suddenly said, "Ah, Agatha Christie!" and signed his approval. With that signature, Paul VI gave permission for the traditional form of the Latin Mass to be used on special occasions with the consent of the local Roman Catholic bishop, but only in England and Wales.
That permission was extended worldwide in 1984.
I’m hoping and praying that Sir James MacMillan’s petition may have a similarly positive outcome. Is there a particular name you might think would grab Pope Francis’s attention, and cause him to sign off on an indult? Could we expect an “Andrew Lloyd Webber indult?” Or maybe a “Bianca Jagger indult?” God only knows.
Further Recommended Reading:
“Non-Catholics Come to Rescue the TLM?” by Joseph Shaw, July 5, 2024 at OnePeterFive.Com
Objective Beauty of the Traditional Latin Mass Evangelizes” by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone July 8, 2024 at National Catholic Register.
A Review of Joseph Shaw’s ‘The Latin Mass and the Intellectuals’ and ‘Sacred and Great: A Brief Introduction to the Traditional Latin Mass’ by Michael P. Foley, July 5, 2024 at New Liturgical Movement.
Of course I will sign the petition. It is shocking that those who repeatedly say they are “open to those on the periphery” (including enemies of the Faith) seem bent (whether by hell or some other mysterious force) closed to those in the heartland.