After the wildly successful first episode, the makers of acclaimed documentary Mass of the Ages have returned for episode two, this time focusing on Sacrosanctum Concilium and the radical alterations in the Mass.
The opening scenes focus on Cardinal Bugnini, the notorious architect of the New Mass, introducing audiences to those plans which emerged in the early 1960s, aimed at altering the nature of the Holy Sacrifice’s celebrations. Montages illustrate the absurdity of the Vatican II generation conflating itself with the spirit and fashions of the 1960s. Speakers on the documentary point out what Fulton Sheen best articulated, ‘To be married to this age is to become a widow in the next’.
One significant aspect of the documentary is that is uses its primary source material and interviews with current prelates not merely for entertainment but as an education tool, the original Vatican II working documents are contrasted with their final forms and also with the nature of how it has affected the reality of religious practice since. Music, language and the direction of the priest during Mass are all vital parts of the liturgy, yet seem to have been tossed out with what Pope Benedict XVI referred to as ‘Banal on the spot fabrications’.
Most powerfully, an animation with actors reading the statements of the Council Fathers who were aghast at some of the innovations contained within the New Mass, with its glaring omissions coming in for criticism. A perceived lack of reverence and an absence of visible signs of piety were all indicative of a Mass that had been made capture short term attention, not to reinvigorate the church with an eye towards long term sustainability, inspiring imaginations of generation after generation.
After being told of the need to accommodate Protestants in the Mass, a no less famous Council Father than Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre stated that these changes would not attract a single Protestant, but rather would cause many Catholics to lose their faith.
Although Vatican II had stated that there need not be unnecessary innovations, we are told that after Vatican II, one of the worst assaults on beauty and ordinary parishioners was launched. Catholics were told to strip their altars, destroy them and instead to erect faceless tables upon which to face the people as the Mass was said. That in and of itself could be a whole episode on its own, though it is worth mentioning that the destruction of churches that were built by communities over centuries was something that had begun in earnest in the late 1950s, early 1960s. Entire parishes were told that the labours of their ancestors were nothing in comparison to the innovations of Modernist architects and theologians who wished to impose their ideas upon them, even if it alienated them from the faith in the process.
Those who are new to this topic may also not know, as the documentary points out, that many prayers were altered during the translation of Missals from Latin into English under committees who glibly threw references to everything from Hell to St. Michael in the bin.
On priest recalls that ‘it did not deliver anything that it promised’. This is the crux of the issue with the changes that occurred post Vatican II, those who ardently cling to it refuse to acknowledge this and in fact stigmatise those who do, despite the fact that they themselves are prone to criticising the Fourth Lateran Council, the Council of Trent and Vatican I amongst others. As Pope Benedict XVI said in his last speech before his abdication:
We know that this Council of the media was accessible to everyone. Therefore, this was the dominant one, the more effective one, and it created so many disasters, so many problems, so much suffering: Seminaries closed, convents closed, banal liturgy … and the real Council had difficulty establishing itself and taking shape; the virtual Council was stronger than the real Council.
Bugnini, we are told, limited the slow of information to Pope Paul VI. It is impressive that the documentary has the courage to also point out the allegations that Bugnini was an alleged Freemason. For Catholics who are dismissive of the significance of this, it must be stated that there are more papal encyclicals on Freemasonry than on any other subject.
The episode is a compelling synopsis of many things that have gone wrong in the church since Bugnini’s revolution, but also alludes to those things that have gone right such as the large numbers of youth who are now flocking to the Traditional Latin Mass.
In short, this is a piece of work which was composed with the intention of illustrating some of the origins of the current liturgical malaise facing the church. It is a particularly good watch for those new to the topic, but those familiar with it will also feel that there are aspects of the conversations between Bugnini and others that they had been previously unaware of.
You can watch the full episode on Youtube below: