The Faces of Tradition

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The Faces of Anglicanae Traditiones

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. - 2 Thessalonians 2:15

Liturgical commissions have something of a mixed reputation in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. Thanks be to God, the commission that discerned the formation of the Missal for use by Ordinariate Catholics did a superb job, publishing errata aside. Given the results, one might characterize the Anglicanae Traditiones Commission members' work as inspired. Certainly, Divine Worship: the Missal, the missal of the Personal Ordinariates established by Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, is a work of art, bringing together streams of the Anglican Patrimony into harmony and communion with the Catholic Church in a way that is true to the traditions of the apostles (cf 2 Thess. 2:15) and the vision of the Council, especially that vision found in Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.

One might be tempted to say that Anglicanae Traditiones has bested the work of another commission or consilium, a committee of experts led by a man described by the eminent scholar, liturgical theologian and consultant to the Council Louis Bouyer, as "a man as bereft of culture as he was of basic honesty", the same man who led the committee that redesigned the Mass of the Church and liberated it, some might complain, from its Counter Reformation moorings.

Divine Worship: the Missal (DWTM) is the only missal in the Latin Church for which there is no Latin typical edition. English is the language of the typical edition of the Ordinariate Missal. The Ordinariate Missal is entirely unique in the Church. Of course, the Latin Patrimony, specifically the Sarum heritage of the English Church, saturates the Missal. Other guiding liturgical monuments include the English Missal, what some refer to as a precise translation of the Latin (Tridentine) Missal with imported texts from the Book of Common Prayer. Indeed, the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) flavours Divine Worship in exquisite ways, most notably the exalted vernacular language fit for Catholic worship, the language used to create stunningly beautiful prayers that ornament the Ordinariate Liturgy. Without the BCP (A.D. 1549, for example, which relied heavily on Sarum for its own substance), there would be no Ordinariate missal. The antecedent of DWTM, the Book of Divine Worship used in communities of the Pastoral Provision, was

an adaptation of the American Book of Common Prayer (BCP) by the Catholic Church. It was used primarily by former members of the Episcopal Church within Anglican Use parishes of the Pastoral Provision. - Wikipedia

Of Whom Are We Speaking?

From the website of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter:

Divine Worship: The Missal was developed under the guidance of the interdicasterial Anglicanae Traditiones Commission, whose task has been to identify Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony and to incorporate it into Catholic worship for the Ordinariates.

Advising the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Divine Worship, the commission included:

Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, O.P., Chair of the Commission and Assistant (Adjunct) Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Msgr. (now Bishop) Steven J. Lopes, Coordinating Secretary of the Commission and a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time.

Msgr. Andrew Burnham of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Auxiliary Bishop Peter J. Elliott of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

Father Uwe Michael Lang of the Congregation of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in London.

Dr. Hans-Jürgen Feulner of the University of Vienna, Austria.

Dr. Clinton A. Brand of the University of St. Thomas of Houston, Texas.

Father Andrew Menke, Associate Director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship and former staff member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Msgr. Peter Wilkinson of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Consulter, a veritable living encyclopedia of the Anglican Patrimony, a solidly orthodox thinker, musician, and pastor of souls who led members of his community into full communion with the Catholic Church.

To these men of prayer, of learning and of skill who navigated the living history of the Church, a massive 'thank you' must be extended, for in and through their faithful work men and women enter in relationship with the Author of all liturgy, the God of our salvation, the Most Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Catholics owe a great debt to these men for providing the way forward into a new chapter of the Church. When the Catholic Church in communion with the successor of Saint Peter emerged from its Greekness into its Latinness, it was a transition which enabled the Faith to be flung to distant shores, just as the shift from Aramaic to Greek provided a way for the Faith to reach contemporary gentile ears. 

English is very much a lingua franca for business, technology, transportation, and even international politics. Perhaps the Latin Church, with a centre of gravity aided by a liturgy in a pervasive vernacular - a sacred vernacular! - will model other vernacular translations on Divine Worship, which is a liturgy in a single language highly inflected by Latin, Greek and Aramaic. Divine Worship provides a model for a way forward, a model that avoids the extremes of rupture and anachronism.