Eucharist
Part 3 History

Chapter 35 The Council of Trent

Preliminary Questions

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Bibliography

R. C. D. Jasper and G. J. Cuming. Prayers of the Eucharist: Early and Reformed. Third Revised Edition 1987. New York: Pueblo Publishing Company, 1987, #25-43 pp 177-314.

Kenan Osborne. The Christian Sacraments of Initiation (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), pp 212-225.

Robert Cabié. The Eucharist, New Edition 1986. Vol II of The Church at Prayer, G. Martimort editor. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1986, pp 149-186.

Nathan Mitchell. Cult and Controversy: The Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press [A Pueblo Book], 1982, pp 129-200.

Gregory Dix. The Shape of the Liturgy. London: Dacre Press, 1970, pp 613-734.

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The Council of Trent
 

1551 — Thirteenth Session: Decree on the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist

Chapter:

1. The Real Presence

2. The Reason for the Institution of This Most Holy Sacrament

3. The Excellence of the Most Holy Eucharist Above the Other Sacraments

4. Transubstantiation

5. The Worship and Veneration of This Sacrament

6. The Reservation of the Sacrament and Viaticum

7. Preparation for Worthy Reception

8. The Use of this Admirable Sacrament

1562 — Twenty-first Session: Communion Under Both Kinds;

Communion of Children:  1562 — Twenty-second Session: Doctrine Concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass.  1562 — Twenty-second Session: Decree on Those Things To Be Observed and To Be Avoided in the Celebration of Mass.

For the text of the Tridentine Profession of Faith, see Chapter i51 Initiation in Particular Circumstances

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After Trent

[1700-1899]

1. Rome: Pope makes law; bishop enforces it; priest keeps it.
2. Catechism: Creed Code Cult.
3. Rites become fixed.
4. Rigid Rubricism
5. Triumph of the baroque.

6. No Lectionary.

7. Mortal sin to miss a) offertory, b) consecration, and c) communion (of priest).

8. 1570 — Pope St. Pius V, Decree Quo primum: By this our decree, to be valid in perpetuity, we determine and order that never shall anything be added to, omitted from, or changed in this Missal. ... We specifically warn all persons in authority, of whatever dignity or rank, Cardinals not excluded, and command them, as a matter of strict obedience, never to use or permit any ceremonies or Mass prayers other than the ones contained in this Missal ordered by the Sacred council of Trent and encompassing all that is necessary to preserve a pure and uniform way of worshipping God. ... At no time in the future can a priest, whether secular or order priest, ever be forced to use any other way of saying Mass. And so as to preclude once and for all any scruples of conscience and fear of ecclesiastical penalties and censures, we herewith declare that it is in virtue of our Apostolic Authority that we decree and determine that this, our present order and decree, is to last in perpetuity and can never be legally revoked or amended at a future date. ... And if anyone would nevertheless ever dare to attempt any action contrary to this order of ours, given for all times, let him know that he has incurred the wrath of almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul."

9.  Theologians in the period following The Council of Trent reduce the Eucharist as reduced to "the consecration of the gifts. Here it is shown that theologians and liturgists of the second millennium had no grasp of the literary structure and theological dynamic of the Eucharistic Prayer.  They reduced the matter to a 'central space' with the result that the narrative of the institution of the Eucharist was poised in the air without access to the other elements of the structure."  (Kilmartin 332)

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Video: Sunday Low Mass with Congregation

[Mass video: 35 min.]

The rite used is the Tridentine Rite using the Missale Romanum of 1962 celebrated in accordance with the Papal Indult of October 3, 1984. Recorded on the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, August 31, 1986 at St. Mary of the angels, Bayswater, London, England. [Note: The Mass on this video looks exactly the way Sunday Mass looked in our Seminary when I was a seminarian in 1962.]

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To Think About

What events prepared for the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council?

Click here to go to the next chapter of this history  Click here to return to the summary chapter

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© Copyright: Tom Richstatter, Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist, Cincinnati Ohio, Order of Friars Minor. All Rights Reserved.  This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M.  Every effort has been, and is being made, to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own.  Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it.  This site was updated on 10/07/08 .  Your comments on this site are welcome at tomrichs@psci.net.