Mass in a hidden chapel

Today we attended a Latin Mass in a tiny chapel one mile off the main road and set half way up the side of a combe in glorious Devon.
What, in Wales would be called a Cwm, a valley, in other words.

The celebrant was an elderly, frail and venerable priest.

A man bent almost double with paralysis and to whom every movement is an immense effort.

A November Mass for the Dead

Yet, the Mass that he offered had a wonderful, translucent quality about it, it was not quite of this earth.

That is partly because this priest celebrated the Mass with great dignity despite his physical restrictions.

And partly because pure goodness emanates from him.
He is also, one might say, 'untainted' by the modern Mass.

He elected, in 1970, not to continue with the incoming changes of offering the Mass in the vernacular (as we called it then) and wrote his Bishop a letter stating that: "The changes that you are implementing are aimed at destroying the Church".

Strong words from such a mild mannered man.

Since then he has tirelessly travelled Wales and England, celebrating the Mass of Ages for those who requested it.

Hearing confessions, catechizing the children, anointing the dying.

He ministers, today, to a tiny flock who attend Mass in his private chapel and he counsels seminarians and priests who are troubled by the continuing storms that affect the orthodoxy of the Faith.

While we were there he received a phone call from a very prominent priest who wished to visit him.

This is the 50th year of his priesthood and he maintains that he will continue in his ministry as long as he has the strength to do God's work.

As the Mass proceeded it seemed to me that we were transported back to the time of the Recusants and that, at any moment, we would hear the thunder of approaching hooves swiftly followed by sword hilts hammering on the door.

Such events would not have phased this priest.

After Mass we chatted over cups of tea and he mourned the fact that young priests are not following the path that he chose, the lonely one of only offering the Tridentine Latin Mass.

"They lack Faith" said Father.

"And courage, Father" we replied. "You need both Faith and courage to leave all and follow Him".

Sadly, those two qualities appear to be lacking today.

Perhaps the prospect of losing one's pension scheme overrides the prospect of losing one's soul.

Who's afraid of the Latin Mass?

I mean, of course, the Tridentine Latin Mass, the Mass of all time, the EF Mass.

There certainly does seem to be a fear of this form of Mass (Latinophobia?) among many members of the clergy and, certainly among the laity, the bulk of whom, I suspect, have never attended a Latin Mass in their young lives.

We know, of course, that most of the English and Welsh Bishops are phobic about the old Mass but, leaving them on one side for a change let's examine the fear amongst priests and laity.

I believe that the 'fear' takes two forms.

Firstly the fear of the  unknown and of hearing or using a foreign language, and, secondly, the fear of what they believe the old rite of Mass might represent (old fashioned, fuddy duddy fire and brimstone type attitudes and smoke and bells pageantry).

Let us employ some aversion therapy:-

1. The Latin Mass is only 'unknown' because it is unfamiliar - you know how to crack that one don't you Father?
Just say the black and do the red.

2. Worried about the 'Latin'? - remember those initial summer holidays in France and how you struggled to muster enough French to order a round of drinks?
 Well, it's the same with Latin, only.....much easier.

Basically, you won't go far wrong pronouncing Latin more or less as it appears on the page.
Just a couple of exceptions...'J' is pronounced as a 'Yay' or a 'Yu' and 'C' can be either a 'Ch' sound (when it appears followed by a vowel as in 'Caeli' ('Chay-lee') or, as a hard 'K' sound when it is followed by an 'H', for example, 'Choro; becomes 'Kor-oh'.

There, that was easy wasn't it?

Also, if you are worried about how you can follow a Mass in Latin as a layman, your missal has a vernacular translation opposite the Latin text.

And if you still think that only Oxbridge graduates can speak Latin, remember that medieval peasants coped with it very well.

3. As for the ritual and smoke and bells, they all help to link us back both to elements of the Jewish tradition of the Old Testament and to the formation of the liturgy in the years following the crucifixion and resurrection. And they all have a meaning, they are not symbolic relics of a dimly remembered past, although, at times, some symbolism may be involved.

4. Lastly, some priests and laymen and women are worried that attendance at Latin Masses will change them in some way.
That is true. You will become less self focused and more God focused, you will be led down a route to greater reverence, you will comprehend the benefits of meditative prayer and you will understand the universality of the Faith.

Best of all, you will no longer be Latinophobic!

The Mass - unchanged throughout the centuries!

"When the priest sayeth his Mass at the altar, commonly there is an image before him, and commonly it is a crucifix, stone or wood or protrayed.

For every Mass is a special remembrance of Christ's passion, and therefore he hath before him a crucifix to enable him to have the more fresh remembrance, as he ought to, of Christ's Passion.
Before this image the priest says his Mass, and makes the highest prayers the holy Church can devise for the salvation of the quick and the dead.
He holds up his hands, he bows, or else he kneels down, and all the worship he can do, he does.

Moreover, he offers up the highest sacrifice and the best offering that anyone can devise, that is Christ, God's Son of Heaven, under the form of bread and wine.
All this worship does the priest at Mass before the image".

From "Dives and Pauper" printed by Wynken de Worde 1496

Please pray for the soul of Henry Thompson whose Requiem Mass will be held today at St Paul's Church, Haywards Heath

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death nor crying nor sorrow for the former things are passed away