Quattuor abhinc annos

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Quattuor abhinc annos (

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments sent on 3 October 1984 to presidents of episcopal conferences concerning celebration of Mass in the Tridentine
form.

History

The letter explained that previously Pope John Paul II had invited comments from the bishops concerning the reception of the Missal promulgated in 1970 by authority of Pope Paul VI in accordance with the decisions of the Second Vatican Council, and any difficulties arising in the implementation of the liturgical reform. The Congregation subsequently granted diocesan bishops an indult to authorize specified priests and groups of the faithful who requested it, celebration of the Tridentine Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal promulgated by Pope John XXIII.[1] The permitted Tridentine Masses were to be in full accord with the 1962 Missal and in Latin.

This was not the first time that such an indult had been granted: after the promulgation of the Ordo Missae of 1970, Pope Paul VI issued a letter on 30 October 1971,[2] the so-called Agatha Christie indult, which gave permission to a large segment of priests in the United Kingdom to retain the usage of the classical Roman Rite.[3]

Content

Tridentine Low Mass of a priest wearing a maniple in an old church in Szydłowiec, Poland

An important condition for granting the requests was "that it be made publicly clear beyond all ambiguity that such priests and their respective faithful in no way share the positions of those who call in question the legitimacy and doctrinal exactitude of the Roman Missal promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970."[4]

Diocesan bishops refused many requests by people whom they considered not to have met this condition. But authorization was in fact granted either by diocesan bishops or directly by the

Communities using the Tridentine Mass
for a list of priestly societies and religious institutes which celebrate the Tridentine Mass.

The Pope further expanded upon this with the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei of 1988, in which he exhorted the bishops to be generous in granting such a faculty for all the faithful who requested it.[1] Ecclesia Dei supersedes Quattuor abhinc annos regarding the extent of the privilege.[3]

Groups such as the

Society of St. Pius V
, preferred to celebrate Mass according to pre-1962 editions of the Roman Missal.

The view that use of the earlier form of the Roman liturgy had never been formally abrogated[5] was authoritatively confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI, who declared that permission to use it (which can be granted by the priest in charge of the church) is required only for public celebration.[6]

Pope Benedict XVI revoked the directives on 7 July 2007, replacing them with the norms enunciated in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Levada, William. Instruction on the application of the apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, §5, Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, 30 April, 2011
  2. ^ Bugnini, A., Heenan Indult, 5 November 1971, published by Latin Mass Society, accessed 22 August 2020
  3. ^ a b Kwasniewski, Peter A., "Introibo Ad Altare Dei", Ignatius Press, May/June 2000
  4. ^ Mayer, Augustin (22 October 1984). "Indult for Use of Roman Missal of 1962 - Congregation for Divine Worship". Archived from the original on 4 March 2012.
  5. ^ Dossier by N. Bux and S. Vitiello on the motu proprio of Benedict XVI Summorum Pontificum cura Archived 2007-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Summorum Pontificum, articles 1, 2 and 5
  7. ^ Summorum Pontificum, article 1

External links

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