1964 Letter from Romano Guardini
Forty-six years after the publication of his seminal work, “The Spirit of the Liturgy,” Fr. Romano Guardini reflected on the challenges of the Liturgical Movement in this 1964 letter.
“Is it not true that prohibiting or suspecting the extraordinary form can only be inspired by the demon who desires our suffocation and spiritual death?” —The Vatican’s chief liturgist from 2014-2021; interview with Edw. Pentin (23-Sep-2019)
Forty-six years after the publication of his seminal work, “The Spirit of the Liturgy,” Fr. Romano Guardini reflected on the challenges of the Liturgical Movement in this 1964 letter.
“Until I turned around for the Ecce Agnus Dei at the people’s Communion, I did not know whose sobs I had been hearing.”
It’s odd to hear Archbishop Annibale Bugnini talk about “chant in its ever stimulating freshness.”
“Pope Francis told the crowd that often when he heard confessions in Buenos Aires, he would ask penitents if they had given alms to those begging on the church steps. If they said yes, he would ask if they looked the person in the eye and if they touched the person or just threw coins at him or her.”
A short film by Watershed which features live footage of the “Sacred Music Colloquium” (Church Music Association of America).
A short film by Watershed which features live footage of the “Sacred Music Colloquium” (Church Music Association of America).
A short film by Watershed which features live footage of the “Sacred Music Colloquium” (Church Music Association of America).
“On 26th September, 1964, it was decreed as follows: In celebrating the divine office in choir, clerics are bound to preserve the Latin language.” — Pope Paul VI, 15 August 1966
(Winooski, Vermont) — “An 87-year-old choirmaster who has not missed a Sunday Mass for more than 64 years will receive an honor from His Holiness Pope Pius XII.”
“In the reforms as they were introduced after the Council, a fundamental misunderstanding took place. Namely, this was that the reforms were undertaken with the idea there had been a rupture …” —Raymond Cardinal Leo Burke
“Could I have imagined at that time that I was sitting and conversing with the future Pope? Not in a million years!” — Fr. Christopher G. Phillips
“Those who worship are not passive, for instance, when listening to the readings or the homily, or following the prayers of the celebrant, and the chants and music of the liturgy.” — John Paul II
Pope John XXIII said that if we cease to value Latin, “poor mortal creatures may well become like the machines they build — cold, hard, and devoid of love.”
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