In December 2024, Father Uwe Michael Lang, a liturgist and priest of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London, spoke on the CatholicCulture.org YouTube channel about the classical Roman Rite. Main points:
- The Mass has been celebrated in Rome since the earliest days of the Church. St Justin Martyr provides an outline of the Mass in the middle of the 2nd century.
- The Roman Canon did not appear out of nowhere, but it is impossible to reconstruct how it developed.
- Important written texts of the Roman Rite that provide greater clarity date from the 4th century. From then on, sources become more abundant.
- In the late 4th century, Ambrose of Milan quotes parts of the Roman Canon. Some words were still changed then. The Gregorian Canon, dating to around 600, is fuller. This remained the same prayer in the Roman Rite until Vatican II.
- In a general sense, when any act of religious sacrifice is performed, the priest approaches the deity to present the sacrifice. With priest and participants facing the same direction, this is a more fitting expression even in natural religiosity.
- Throughout all of Church history until Vatican II, the common practice, with only a few exceptions, was for the priest and the faithful to face the same direction. It took an "important contribution" to historical scholarship in the 20th century to convince people otherwise. However, the historical argument was not the most important one. The principle of encouraging 'active participation' was the most important factor.
- The participation of the faithful was not described or regulated like the rubrics for clergy. We don’t know how people historically participated at Mass.
- One reason why the classical Roman Rite is attractive to many young Catholics is that it allows for freer participation. You can either follow the prayers or adopt a meditative form of prayer. In the Novus Ordo, the spoken word dominates.
- In the old Roman basilicas only the clergy would have heard the words on the altar; people further back couldn't have. The modern attitude is to hear every word spoken at Mass.
- The Councils of Trent and Vatican II are not comparable. The first council made certain adjustments, such as to the liturgical calendar or the simplification of octaves. There wasn't such far-reaching reworking of all liturgical books as happened after Vatican II. These liturgical reforms were not on the same level.
- We have received a treasure that previous generations have handed on to us. Our attitude towards the liturgy should be that of a gardener, not a technician who replaces one machine with another and discards the old one. Like a plant or a tree, liturgy can grow or be pruned, but it cannot be cut off and created anew.
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