Gregorius Magnus 12, Winter 2021, published

I am pleased to announce the Winter 2021 issue of Gregorius Magnus is available.

Gregorius Magnus 12, Winter 2021, is now available as a PDF, and on ISSUU, optimised for mobile devices.

In this edition:

Reactions to Traditionis Custodes

From members' magazines: Peter Kwasniewski on proclaiming the Gospel to the north; Pope Francis and Dante; Remembering Mgr Richard Soseman; Cardinal Merry del Val.

Features: J.R.R.Tolkien by Robert Lazu Kmita; Traditional walking pilgrimage in Spain.

50th Anniversary of the English Indult; Petitions from 1966 to 1997.

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See past issues here.

Support the FIUV by becoming a Friend.

Message from the President, Dr Joseph Shaw

To the Member Associations of the Federation, and all our supporters and friends.

It is with some apprehension that I take up the role of President of the FIUV, in light of my personal limitations, and at a time when the situation of the Church’s ancient Latin liturgy is more difficult than it has been for many years. Yet I do so with confidence in the strength of the Federation, represented above all by our membership and support base. This is larger and more active than it has ever been in our history, and the current difficulties are stimulating further growth.

Over the last decade I have been closely involved in two large-scale projects undertaken by the Federation: the production of the Position Papers on the 1962 Missal, which began to appear individually in 2012 and were published as a book in 2019, and the Report on the implementation of Summorum Pontificum for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which we submitted to the Holy See in July 2020. These utilised different aspects of the deep reserves of experience which exist among the Federation’s members and supporters: the Position Papers calling on their intellectual resources, and the Report on their practical knowledge of their local situations. No other organisation could have undertaken either project so successfully, and they demonstrate the Federation’s irreplaceable role in the traditionalist movement.

New President and Officers of the FIUV

Joseph Shaw on the Latin Mass Society's
Walking Pilgrimage to Walsingham, Aug 2021

At the General Assembly held (for the first time) online, on Saturday 2nd October 2021, a new Council and President were elected. The Council subsequently confirmed the Officers.

The outgoing President, Felipe Alanis Suarez (Una Voce Mexico) had served three consecutive terms of office; he remains on the Council as the First Vice President.

The new President is Joseph Shaw (Latin Mass Society, England and Wales); he had previously been the Secretary.

The new Secretary is Christopher Cordeiro (Una Voce South Africa).

The Treasurer remains Monika Rheinschmitt (Pro Missa Tridentina, Germany).

The full Council is listed here.

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FIUV Video series

The Una Voce Federation has created a series of illustrative videos that show some of the most relevant aspects of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) in order that more people can get to know and appreciate the richness of our Catholic Heritage.

Our YouTube channel is here; they are also collected on this page.

Here are the two most recent. More are planned.

The celebration of Mass ad orientem

Silence in Mass

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Gregorius Magnus: call for submissions for the Winter edition

The deadline for submissions to the 12th edition of the FIUV magazine, Gregorius Magnus, is 15th September.

See the call for submissions which went out by email here. Previous issues here.

Gregorius Magnus is mostly online-only, but we print a few copies as well.

Canonical Guidance from the Latin Mass Society on Traditionis Custodes

Cross-posted from the blog of the LMS Chairman,

The 1962 Mass in the Chapel of the Throne, in St Peter's Basilica, Rome, celebrated by
Bishop Rey of Frejus, France, for the Summorum Pontificum Pilgrimage 2019.

With thanks to Edward Pentin for breaking the story on the National Catholic Register, with some helpful commentary, the Latin Mass Society is pleased to present the fruits of our consultations with a number of Canon lawyers, in a short document available on our website.

We have circulated this a little privately but we believe that it would be valuable to present it to the widest possible audience. It is clear to us that many bishops, priests, and lay Catholics, are finding it difficult to see exactly what the force of the Apostolic Letter might be.

It is our hope that the arguments contained in this Guidance will commend themselves to careful readers from across the spectrum of opinion, and contribute to a calm and reasoned discussion. 

Key points from the Guidance:

*Traditionis Custodes does not abrogate the 1962 Missal (otherwise it could not allow it to be said in certain circumstances).

* It follows that it is not the right of priests to celebrate it that is at issue--this remains intact--but the public exercise of this right, which is a matter of regulation by the local bishop.

* The right of priests to celebrate privately, to say the older Office, to celebrate the other sacraments, to use the older Rituale: all these are unrestricted by Traditionis Custodes.

* The restrictions mentioned in Article 3, notably on the use of parish churches, only apply in the case of 'authorised' 'groups', such as came into existence in the course of the formal application of Summorum Pontificum, or are served by a 'personal parish'. 

* Although preists need permission from the bishop to celebrate the 1962 Missal, with this permission, and outside the context of a formalised 'group', he may do so without the restrictions of Art 3: for example, in a parish church.

*It would also follow that there need be no difficulty allowing the 1962 Missal to be used for special occasions such as pilgrimages. 

See the document in full here.