Sancti Ladíslai Regis et Confessoris (die 27 iunii)

Introitus
Os justi meditábitur sapiéntiam et lingua ejus loquétur judícium: lex Dei ejus in corde ipsíus. Ps. Noli æmulári in malignántibus: neque zeláveris faciéntes iniquitátem. Glória Pátri. Euouae.

Collecta
Deus, qui Beátum Ladíslaum regem nostrum et confessórem tuum miro miseratiónis modo delinquéntem ad véniam et justum transtulísti ad glóriam, prǽsta, quǽsumus, ut quem rectórem habúimus in terris, cum modo protectórem sentiámus in cælis. Per Dóminum nostrum...

alia oratio

Deus, qui Beáto Ladíslao, regi et confessóri tuo post terrénæ dignitátis fastígium æternitátis láuream contulísti, concéde propítius, ut qui ejus festivitátes devótis méntibus venerámur in terris, ipsi quoque in glória consociémur in cælis. Per Dóminum nostrum...

Lectio Libri Sapiéntiæ (Ecclesiasticus 47,9-13. 24,1-4)
Dedit Dóminus confessiónem Sancto suo et Excélso in verbo glóriæ de omni corde suo laudávit Dóminum, et diléxit Deum qui fecit illum. Et dedit illi contra inimícos poténtiam, et stare fecit cantóres contra altárium, et in sono eórum dulces fecit modos. Et dedit in celebratiónibus decus, et ornávit témpora usque ad consummatiónem vitæ. Christus purgávit peccáta ipsíus et exaltávit in ætérnum cornu ipsíus. Sapiéntia laudávit ánimam suam, et in Deo honorificábitur, et in médio pópuli sui gloriábitur. Et in ecclésiis Altíssimi apériet os suum, et in conspéctu virtútis illíus gloriábitur. In médio pópuli laudábitur et in plenitúdine sancta admirábitur. Et in multitúdine electórum habébit laudem, et inter benedíctos benedicétur.

Graduale
Dómine, prævenísti eum in benedictiónibus dulcédinis: posuísti in cápite ejus corónam de lápide pretióso. V. Vitam pétiit, et tribuísti ei longitúdinem diérum in sǽculum sǽculi.

Alleluja
(MNS) Allelúja. V. Iste sanctus digne in memóriam vértitur hóminum, qui ad gáudium tránsiit angelórum. Allelúja.
(Nyomtatott Missale) Allelúja. V. Beátus vir, sanctus rex Ladíslaus fulget ut sol in cælo, ampléctens immortaliátem gaudet in ætérnum in paradíso. Allelúja.

Sequentia
Novæ laudis extollámus
regem, cujus exsultámus
speciáli glória.

Dulce melos novam favum
dulci regem Ladíslaum
cánimus melódia.

Regis laudi nil discórdet,
cujus laudem non remórdet
cæléstis symphónia.

Confessórum Regem laudent,
per quem reges sibi gaudent
vitæ dari múnera.

Quem precámur laudántes sínguli;
gemma regum totíus sǽculi
et spes salutífera.

O quam felix, quam præclára
Varadíni fulget ara
tuo claro nómine.

Cujus regens sǽcula
manus sine mácula
cavit omni crímine.

Scala gentis Hungarórum,
per quam scandit ad cælórum
cathédram Pannónia.

Fama cujus cælo tendit
et terrárum comprehéndit
quáttuor confínia.

Per hunc vigent sacraménta
et firmátur jam invénta
fídei relígio.

Ægros curans sanos fecit
et salútis opem iecit
Moysi offício,

Exáuditur in hac domo,
quicquid orans petit, homo
per regis suffrágia.

Per quem neque gládium,
nec incúrsus hóstium
trépidat Hungária.

Hostis arte plebs arrépta
prece regis est adépta
salútis piácula.

Per quem auctor fídei
cornu stillat ólei
pósteris per sǽcula.

Per hunc gentes univérsas
Hungarórum jam convérsas
nóvimus império.

Procul ense parent per se
feræ gentes et advérsæ
nutu voluntário.

Ex obscúris sui iuris
iubar latens, sed jam patens
réserat prodígia.

Hostem cædit, victor redit,
barbarórum Hungarórum
unus fugat mília.

Ipse suos contemptóres
pœnæ facit contentóres,
morbos illis et languóres
infert et dæmónia.

Sed, qui suam sanctitátem
colunt, his fert sanitátem
et ad vitæ sospitátem
rex redúcit ómnia.

Regum genus triumphále,
Hungarórum salus, vale,
nunc refúlsit jubar tale
regum florens gérmine.

Regum radix Christiána,
lauda laudes, fide sana
quas exsúltans vox humána
fert in tuo nómine.

Assisténtes regis laudi,
coronátor regis, audi
atque servos sancti regis
post hanc vitam tui gregis
transfer ad palátia.

Cujus laudi vis servíre
nos ac lætos conveníre,
fac ad ipsum perveníre,
nobis confer et largíre
sempitérna gáudia.
Amen.

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam (11,33-36)
In illo témpore: dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Nemo accéndit lucérnam et in abscóndito ponit neque sub módio, sed supra candelábrum, ut qui ingrediúntur lumen vídeant. Lucérna córporis tui est óculus tuus. Si óculus tuus fúerit simplex, totum corpus tuum lúcidum erit. Si autem nequam fúerit, étiam corpus tuum tenebrósum erit. Vide ergo, ne lumen quod in te est ténebræ sint. Si ergo corpus tuum totum lúcidum fúerit, non habens alíquam partem tenebrárum, erit lúcidum totum, et sicut lucérna fúlgoris illuminábit te.

Offertorium
Véritas mea et misericórdia mea cum ipso: et in nómine meo exaltábitur cornu ejus.

Secreta
Hóstias pie placatiónis cleméntiæ tuæ offérimus, omnípotens Deus, ut Beáti Ladíslai regis nostri et confessóris tui méritis et précibus placátus accípias et cleménter dispénses. Per Dóminum nostrum...

Communio
Beátus servus, quem, cum vénerit Dóminus, invénerit vigilántem: amen dico vobis, super ómnia bona sua constítuet eum.

Postcommunio
Sacraménta, Dómine, salutária suméntes, cleméntiam tuam humíliter exorámus, ut intercessiónem Beáti Ladíslai regis nostri et confessóris tui, et præséntibus non destituámur subsídiis, et gáudiis perfruámur ætérnis. Per Dóminum nostrum...

Inventionis dexteræ Sancti Stephani Regis et Confessoris (die 30 maii)

(Commemoratio: Szent Félix pápa)

Introitus

Tenuísti manum déxteram meam, et in voluntáte tua deduxísti me, et cum glória suscepísti me. (T. P. alleluja, alleluja) Ps. Beátus, qui intélligit super egénum et páuperem, in die mala liberábit eum Dóminus. Glória Pátri. Euouae.

Collecta

Deus, qui es sanctórum tuórum splendor mirábilis, quique hodiérna die beáti Stéphani, Regis et Confessóris tui, gloriósam déxteram revelásti: da nobis fámulis tuis de ejus semper protectióne gaudére. Per Dóminum nostrum...

Lectio Libri Tobíæ (4,6-12)

Ómnibus diébus vitæ tuæ Deum in mente habéto Deum, et cave ne aliquándo peccáto conséntias, et prætermíttas præcépta Dómini Dei nostri. Ex substántia tua fac eleemósynam, et noli avértere fáciem tuam ab ullo páupere; ita enim fiet, ut nec a te avertátur fácies Dómini. Quómodo potúeris, ita esto miséricors. Si multum tibi fúerit, abundánter tríbue; si exíguum tibi fúerit, étiam exíguum libénter inpertíri stude. Prǽmium enim bonum tibi thesaurízas in die necessitátis, quóniam eleemósyna ab omni peccáto et a morte líberat, et non patiétur ánimam ire in ténebras. Fidúcia magna erit coram summo Deo eleemósyna ómnibus facientibus eam.

Graduale

Frange esuriénti panem tuum et egénos, vagósque induc in domum tuam. Dum víderis núdum, óperi eum, et carnem tuam ne despéxeris.

Alleluja

Allelúja. Tunc erúmpet quasi mane lumen tuum, et glória Dómini cólliget te. Allelúja.

(T. P. Allelúja, Allelúja. Beátus, qui intélligit super egénum et páuperem, in die mala liberábit eum Dóminus. Tota die miserétur, et cómodat, semen illíus in benedictióne erit. Allelúja.)

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Lucam (12,32-34)

In illo témpore: dixit Jesus discípulis suis: Nolíte timére, pusíllus grex, quia complácuit Pátri vestro dare vobis regnum. Véndite quæ possidétis, et dáte eleemósynam. Fácite vobis sácculos, qui non veteráscunt, thesáurum non deficiéntem in cælis: quo fur non apprópriat, neque tínea corrúmpit. Ubi enim thesáurus vester est, ibi et cor vestrum erit.

Offertorium

Dispérsit, dedit paupéribus, justítia ajus manet in sæculum sǽculi: cornu ejus exaltábitur in glória. Allelúja.

Secreta

Múnera tibi, Dómine, nostræ devotiónis offérimus, quæ et pro sancti Stéphani, regis et Confessóris tui tibi grata sint honóra, et nobis salutária te miseránte reddántur. Per Dóminum nostrum...

Communio

Qui adminístrat semen seminánti, et panem manducándum præstábit, et augébit increménta frugum justítiæ ejus, Allelúja.

Postcommunio

Súmpsimus, Dómine, cæléstia sacraménta, beátis Stéphani Regis et Confessóris tui sollémnia celebrántres: præsta, quǽsumus, ut ipso intercedénte, quod temporáliter géssimus, ætérnis gáudiis consequámur. Per Dóminum nostrum...

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.
(Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice)

Dominica Quarta post Epiphaniam

SERMO 63 S. Aurelii Augustini

DE VERBIS EVANGELII MT 8, 23-27:
"ET ASCENDENTE EO IN NAVICULAM", ET CETERA

Somnus Christi signum est sacramenti.

1. De lectione recentissima sancti Evangelii, donante Domino, alloquor vos, et in illo exhortor, ut contra tempestates et fluctus saeculi huius non dormiat fides in cordibus vestris. Non enim revera Dominus Christus mortem habuit in potestate, somnum non habuit in potestate; et forte Omnipotentem navigantem somnus pressit invitum. Hoc si credideritis, dormit in vobis: si autem in vobis vigilat Christus, vigilat fides vestra. Apostolus dicit: Habitare Christum per fidem in cordibus vestris. Ergo et somnus Christi signum est sacramenti. Navigantes sunt animae in ligno saeculum transeuntes. Etiam navis illa Ecclesiam figurabat. Et singuli quippe templa sunt Dei, et unusquisque in corde suo navigat: nec facit naufragium, si bona cogitat.

Vindicta conturbat cor tuum: ignosce, tranquillitas erit.

2. Audisti convicium, ventus est: iratus es, fluctus est. Vento igitur flante, fluctu surgente, periclitatur navis, periclitatur cor tuum, fluctuat cor tuum. Audito convicio vindicari desideras: et ecce vindicatus es, et malo alieno gaudens, fecisti naufragium. Et quare hoc? Quia dormit in te Christus. Quid est, dormit in te Christus? Oblitus es Christum. Excita ergo Christum, recordare Christum, evigilet in te Christus: considera illum. Quid volebas? Vindicari. Excidit tibi, quia ipse cum crucifigeretur dixit: Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt? Qui dormiebat in corde tuo, noluit vindicari. Excita illum, recole illum. Memoria ipsius, verbum ipsius: memoria ipsius, iussio ipsius. Et dices apud te, si vigilat in te Christus: Qualis ego homo, qui volo vindicari? Qui sum ego, qui in hominem exsero comminationes? Morior forte antequam vindicer. Et cum anhelans, ira inflammatus, et sitiens vindictam, exiero de corpore, non me suscipit ille qui noluit vindicari: non me suscipit ille qui dixit: Date, et dabitur vobis; dimittite, et dimittetur vobis. Ergo compescam me ab iracundia mea, et redibo ad quietem cordis mei. Imperavit Christus mari, facta est tranquillitas.

Christum excitemus ut in tranquillo navigamus.

3. Quod autem dixi ad iracundiam, hoc tenete regulariter in omnibus tentationibus vestris. Nata est tentatio, ventus est: turbatus es, fluctus est. Excita Christum, loquatur tecum. Quis est hic, quando et venti et mare obediunt ei? Quis est hic, cui obaudit mare? Ipsius est mare, et ipse fecit illud. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt. Magis imitare ventos et mare: obtempera Creatori. Sub iussione Christi mare audit, et tu surdus es? Mare audit, et ventus cessat, et tu sufflas? Quid? Dico, facio, fingo: quid est aliud nisi sufflare, et sub verbo Christi nolle cessare? Non vos vincat fluctus in perturbatione cordis vestri. Sed tamen quia homines sumus, si ventus impulerit, si affectum animae nostrae moverit, non desperemus: Christum excitemus, ut in tranquillo navigemus, et ad patriam veniamus. Conversi ad Dominum, etc.

"Tridentine Manifesto" for the liberalisation of the Classical Roman Rite (16 December 2006)

LATIN TEXT:

Homines doctos atque eruditos cunctos et universos hortari velim, ut faveant Benedicto XVI Summo Pontifici, quippe Qui lautum copiosumque cultus et humani et divini patrimonium tuendum praedicandum esse censuerit. Digna est enim Eius sententia ut prodatur memoriae, quamvis greges eorum, qui rationis lucem reformidant atque aliorum de re divina repudiant opiniones, in Pontificem acerbissime invehantur. Nuper Arturus Medina S.R.E. Cardinalis, e delectis viris Ecclesiae Dei tuendae, qui disputarunt num sacri ritus Latina lingua impune fieri possent, omnium admiratione: “Mox Summus Pontifex – nuntiavit – motu proprio concedet ut Missa Latina, iuxta Sancti Pii V missale, iterum celebretur”. Quod quidem haud leve habebit momentum non modo Ecclesiae sed civitati quoque et cultui constabiliendis. Etenimvero intellegentes laici omnium primi senserunt quid detrimenti etiam cultus humanus esset accepturus, si aboleretur liturgia Piana atque ipsa Ecclesiae lingua sacra exolesceret.

Quum vero, abhinc XL annis, contra Concilii decreta, ne vetus Ecclesiae liturgia, qua quidem Patres in Concilio ritus celebrarunt, amplius fieri liceret sancitum est, maxima doctorum pars merito hoc sunt criminati, quod Civitatis Christiane velut radix excideretur: fuisse enim liturgiam fontem et originem operum politissima arte factorum. Itaque binae litterae pro Missa Piana sunt in publicum editae, priores anno post Christum natum MCMLXVI, alterae anno MCMLXXI, quas litteras inter alios subsignarunt Georgius Aloisius Borges, Georgius de Chirico, Helena Croce, W. H. Auden, Bressonius et Dreyerus scenarum artifices, Augustus del Noce, Iulianus Green, Iacobus Maritain (vir apprime doctus et a Paulo VI quam maxime dilectus, cui Pontifex decretum eruditis destinatum tradiderat); tum Eugenius Montale, Christina Campo, Franciscus Mauriac, Salvator Quasimodo, Evelyna Waugh, Maria Zambrano, Elemirus Zolla, Gabriel Marcel, Salvator de Madariaga, Ioannes Franciscus Contini, Iacobus Devoto, Ioannes Macchia, Maximus Pallottino, Hector Paratore, Georgius Bassani, Marius Luzi, Vido Piovene, Andrea Segovia, Haroldus Acton, Agatha Christie, Graham Green, aliique quam plurimi, quibus annumerandus Vilelmus Rees-Mogg, moderator ille ephemeridis Britannicae, cui titulus “Tempus”.

Quorum plerique saeculares fuerunt, quoniam omnibus hereditate contigit prisca liturgia Latina, quae est eius praestantia in re civili et divina, haud secus ac Sacellum Xystinum, Cantus Gregoriani, aedes cathedrales, Gothorum statuaria, Basilica Petriana; quin etiam huius liturgiae patrimonium eo diligentius est hisce temporibus tuendum, quo magis Europaeorum Civitas radices velut suas excidere ac deserere periclitatur.

Singulariter autem accidit ut ipsi Catholici novatores, qui dialogi momentum cum mundo saeculari et nostrae aetatis hominibus, quasi vexillum, proposuerant, nihil curarent opiniones eruditorum et XL annis linguae Latinae servarent interdictum: o arbitrium non prius auditum! Mense autem Aprili anni MMV, paulo ante quam Benedictus XVI ad pontificatum eligeretur, Vido Ceronetti, scriptor idemque laicus, epistulam ad novum pontificem edidit, qua rogat ut “detrahatur triste capistrum, qua vox Latina in ritu suffocatur”. Ceterum Iosephus Ratzinger, cardinalis quum esset, apertis verbis fatens Missam Pianam contra omnia vetustatis exempla vetitam esse: “Numquam – inquit – Ecclesia post hominum memoriam ritus orthodoxos abolevit aut vetuit: hoc enim ab ipsa Ecclesiae indole alienum fuisset!”. Idem libro quodam concitate narravit quid de missali a Paulo VI modo publicato sentiret: “Quod Missalis Piani usus vetabatur – ait – percussit me et perturbavit, quandoquidem quippiam simile nullo vetustatis exemplo in liturgiae vicibus confirmabatur; contra autem callide effecerunt ut prohibitio tanquam mos usque adhuc retentus haberetur. Praeterea, vetantes missalis usum, quod inde a priscis Ecclesiae sacramentalibus saeculorum decursu coaluerat, liturgiae gradus et aetates velut interciserunt, ex quo nihil erat oriturum nisi calamitas… aedibus antiquis dirutis, novae sunt exstructae!”.

Quid inde consecutum est nisi damnum magnum? Etenim in re liturgica inita est via licentiae atque intemperantiae. Iosephus Ratzinger cardinalis: “Mihi – ait – persusum est Ecclesiae discrimen, in quo versamur, plerumque ex liturgiae dissolutione proficisci, quae interdum putatur, etsi Deus non daretur, quasi nihil referret utrum Deus sit, audiat nos, nobiscum colloquatur, necne. At si in ritibus iam non apparent fidei communio, universalis unitas Ecclesiae eiusque historiae, mysterium Christi viventis, ubinam Ecclesia iterum appareat cum sua natura spiritali?”.

Nunc vero Deo volente accidit ut cardinalis ille Ratzinger, pontifex creatus, interdictum de prisca liturgia sit aboliturus, cultus libertatem instauraturus, Ecclesiae atque hominum societati redditurus uberrimum copiosumque thesaurum. Itaque Iosephus Ratzinger certis argumentis probatur inter sapientissimos quosque horum temporum merito referri; iis autem qui illiberaliter acerbeque in Eum intra ipsa Ecclesiae moenia invehentur, quemadomodum iam praenuntiarunt Galliae episcopi, oportet ut refragetur turba cultior, quae abhinc XL annis opinionem suam de re aperuit. Quae quum ita sint, rogo homines laicos eruditosque ut coram populo assentiantur. En igitur habeatis tabulam, quam suadeo ut subsignetis:

Nos apertis verbis assentimur Benedicto XVI, quod interdictum de prisca missa, iuxta Sancti Pii missale celebranda, quae missa quasi copiosum cultus humani patrimonium tuenda est et consideranda, abolere statuerit.

Guido Ceronetti, René Girard, Antonio Socci, Vittorio Strada, Franco Zeffirelli

-------------------------------------------------------------

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

The announcement was given by Cardinal Arturo Medina Estevez, a member of the Ecclesia Dei commission which met to discuss the liberalization of the Latin Mass. The prelate said, "The publication of the Motu Proprio by the Pope which will liberalize the celebration of the Latin Mass according to the Missal of Saint Pius V is close." It is an extraordinarily important event for the Church and even for the culture and history of our civilization. Historically, lay intellectuals were actually those to realize more and better the disaster, the actual cultural destruction, represented by the "prohibition" of the liturgy of Saint Pius V and the disappearance of Latin as sacred language of the Catholic Church.

When, 40 years ago -- in contravention to the documents of the Council -- the prohibition of the ancient liturgy of the Church (that which had been celebrated even during the Council) was imposed, there was a great and meritorious protest by very important intellectuals who considered this decision as an attack on the roots of our Christian Civilization (the liturgy has always been a center and a fountain of the most sublime art). Two appeals were published in defense of the Mass of Saint Pius V, in 1966 and 1971. These are some of the names which undersigned them: Jorge Luís Borges, Giorgio De Chirico, Elena Croce, W. H. Auden, the directors Bresson and Dreyer, Augusto Del Noce, Julien Green, Jacques Maritain (who indeed was the favorite intellectual of Paul VI, the one to whom the Pope had given the letter to intellectuals at the end of the Council), Eugenio Montale, Cristina Campo, François Mauriac, Salvatore Quasimodo, Evelyn Waugh, Maria Zambrano, Elémire Zolla, Gabriel Marcel, Salvador De Madariaga, Gianfranco Contini, Giacomo Devoto, Giovanni Macchia, Massimo Pallottino, Ettore Paratore, Giorgio Bassani, Mario Luzi, Guido Piovene, Andrés Segovia, Harold Acton, Agatha Christie, Graham Greene, and many others, incuding the editor of the “Times”, William Rees-Mogg.

They are largely lay intellectuals because the cultural and spiritual value of the ancient Latin liturgy is a legacy of all, as is the Sistine Chapel, as is the Gregorian [chant], as the great cathedrals, Gothic sculpture, the Basilica of Saint Peter also are. Even more so today, when our entire European Civilization risks to cut off and deny its own roots.

Curiously, even "progressive Catholics", who made the dialogue with the world and with modern culture their banner, did not give any regard and fought for forty years to keep this incredible prohibition. An unprecedented arbitrariness. In April 2005, at the eve of the election of Benedict XVI, it was a lay writer, Guido Ceronetti, who writes, in La Repubblica, an open letter to the new Pope, in which he asked "that the sinister suffocating gag on the Latin voice of the Mass be removed". When he was a cardinal, Ratzinger declared that the prohibition of the Mass of Saint Pius V was unprecedented: "throughout her history, has never abolished nor forbidden orthodox liturgical forms, which would be quite alien to the very spirit of the Church". In one of his books, he retold dramatically how he had viewed the publication of the missal of Paul VI: "I was dismayed by the prohibition of the old missal, since nothing of the sort had ever happened in the entire history of the liturgy. The impression was even given that what was happening was quite normal," but, Ratzinger wrote, "the prohibition of the missal that was now decreed, a missal that had known continuous growth over the centuries, starting with the sacramentaries of the ancient Church, introduced a breach into the history of the liturgy whose consequences could only be tragic ... the old building was demolished, and another was built."

The effects were disastrous. The road to incredible abuses in the liturgy was opened. Ratzinger writes, "I am convinced that the crisis in the Church that we are experiencing today is to a large extent due to the disintegration of the liturgy, which at times has even come to be conceived of etsi Deus non daretur: in that it is a matter of indifference whether or not God exists and whether or not He speaks to us and hears us. But when the community of faith, the world-wide unity of the Church and her history, and the mystery of the living Christ are no longer visible in the liturgy, where else, then, is the Church to become visible in her spiritual essence?"

That same Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who prepares to cancel the prohibition, will find opposition even inside the Church (already pre-announced by the French bishops) and he deserves an answer from the world of culture which, forty years ago, made its voice heard. I ask intellectuals and whomever may wish to do so to sign this synthetc manifesto:

We express our praise for the decision of Benedict XVI to cancel the prohibition of the ancient Mass in Latin according to the Missal of Saint Pius V, a great legacy of our culture, which must be saved and rediscovered.

Álljon most itt az egyik legkedvesebb idézetem Szent Bernát egyháztanítótól:

Tantum lucere vanum, tantum ardere parum: ardere et lucere perfectum.

magyarul (szó szerint):

Csak ragyogni hiúság, csak lobogni kevés, lobogni és ragyogni tökéletes.

magyarul (magyarázó fordításban):

Csak okoskodni és feltűnően cselekedni kérkedő hiúság, csak buzgólkodni és lelkesedni elégtelen, törekedni és nagyvonalúan cselekedni tökéletes.

magyarul (közönségesen):

Csak brillírozni és kivagyi módon fényezni magad nagyképűség, csak loholni és erőlködni nagyon kevés, a tökéletességhez egyszerre kell iparkodni és virítani .

A forrás:

Clairvaux-i Szt. Bernát szentbeszéde Keresztelő Szt. János születésének ünnepén (június 24).

"Audite ergo, fratres, quid de Joanne loquatur, cujus solemnis hodie nativitas celebratur. Ille, inquit, erat lucerna ardens, et lucens (Joan. V, 35). 0399B Magnum testimonium, fratres mei: magnus enim est cui perhibetur, sed major est ipse qui perhibet. Ille, inquit, erat lucerna ardens, et lucens. Est enim tantum lucere vanum, tantum ardere parum: ardere et lucere perfectum." (Sermo in nativitate S. Ioannis Baptistae, PL 183:399)

THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF CHRIST: A TRUTH BEYOND THE GRASP OF REASON, A WONDER WITHOUT EXAMPLE

(Denzinger-Hünermann 533; Council of Toledo XI, 7 November 675), a new creation at the beginning of the new creation.

I have never been a great supporter of movies about the life of our Lord, mostly because they are made with very little regard to historical accuracy and dogmatic truthfulness. A new such enterprise is "The Nativity Story" due in the theatres from the 1st of December this year. Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to watch the trailer. It was more than enough for me to be scandalised as a Catholic who believes in the perpetual virginity of our Lady before, during, and after childbirth (ante partum, in partu, post partum). This is a de fide definita dogmatic truth of the Catholic faith, which may not be questioned without temerity or rejected without falling into formal heresy.

This film, as also others, such as Zeffirelli's (unduly) celebrated "Jesus of Nazareth," portrays the sacred moment of Christ's birth by showing Our Lady covered with drops of sweat, screaming in pain as she delivers the Christ-child. This is a terrible insult not only to the Holy Virgin but also the blessed Fruit of her virginal womb; an insult grievous enough for any Catholic to recoil in horror and refuse to pay a single penny to see this ordeal.

We live in difficult times, and so one may not suppose without a gross amount of naiveté that such truths of the Catholic faith as the perpetual virginity of our Lady are perfectly clear in the minds of even churchgoing, committed Catholics. Hence I now endeavour to give a short explanation of the doctrine at hand, risking a bit of sketchiness in the result.

The gist of it is that our Lady was ever-Virgin, before, DURING, and after giving birth to Christ. The Lateran Council of 649 gave the following summary: "If anyone does not, according to the Holy Fathers, confess truly and properly that the holy and ever virgin and immaculate Mary is really and truly the Mother of God, inasmuch as she, in the fullness of time, and without human seed, conceived by the Holy Spirit, God the Word Himself, who before all time was born of God the Father, and without loss of integrity brought Him forth, and after His birth preserved her virginity inviolate, let him be condemned." (DH 503)

For further reference I include here a good number of Magisterial evidence. This is not for the faint-hearted, so you may skip this summary without losing comprehension.

ante partum, DH (91)185; (113)252;, novo ordine ... nova autem nativitate [(282)533]; (201)401, semper virgo; (202)401, veraciter autem ideo, ne in phantasmate aut aliquo modo non veram sumsisse carnem credatur ex virgine [(344)681]; (214)422, semper virgo, Dei Verbi duas esse nativitates, unam quidem ante saecula ex patre sine tempore incorporaliter, alteram vero in ultimis diebus; (255)502, semper virgo

in partu, “Conceptus quippe est de Spiritu Sancto intra uterum virginis matris, quae illum ita salva virginitate edidit, quemadmodum salva virginitate concepit...” Leo the Great “Quam laudabiliter”, 21 July 447; DH 291. (144)294 “nativitas est mirabilis”; Pope Hormisdas, Ep. “Inter ea quae”, DH 368; DH (993)1880

post partum DH (734)1400

Inseparable from the concept of Mary's ever inviolate virginity and the entirely miraculous nature of Christ's nativity is the fact that she did not experience the pangs of child-birth. Being the immaculate, all-holy daughter of God, she was exempt from this punishment of the first Eve. The painlessness of Christ's birth is first emphasised by Gregory of Nyssa: “Her pregnancy was without coition, her childbed undefiled, her travail free from pain... his birth alone was without labour, just as His formation was without union.” (In Cantica canticorum, serm. 13; PG 44:1053; also In Christi resurrectionem, orat. 1; PG 46:604) It is also emphasised by St. Ephraem (Explanatio Evangelii concordantis 2, 6), and Damascene: “for as pleasure did not precede it, pain did not follow it.” (De fide orthodoxa, lib. 4, cap. 14)

Needless to say that this venerable doctrine was upheld universally, both in the Christian East and West, until the Reformation. Then slowly but surely its denial reared its ugly head even among so-called Catholic thinkers. Albert Mitterer argued that according to modern natural scientific knowledge, the purely physical side of virginity consists in the non-fulfilment of the sex act (sex-act virginity) and in the non-contact of the female egg by the male seed (seed-act virginity). Thus, the two traits given in tradition (absence of pains of childbirth and preservation of the hymen) do not belong to the essence of virginity and their lack implies a diminution of motherhood. Cf. Albert Mitterer, “Dogma und Biologie der heiligen Familie,” Vienna, 1952, pp. 98-130 and “Marias wahre Jungfraülichkeit und Mutterschaft in der Geburt” in Theologische-praktische Quartalschrift 108 (1960), pp. 188-93. Mitterer was followed by C. E. L. Henry, “A Doctor Considers the Birth of Jesus,” in Homiletic & Pastoral Review 54 (1953, pp. 219-233).

The same view seems to be advanced even by the “Venerable” Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 205; and Jean Galot, S.J. openly argued for Mary’s painful delivery and the rupture of her hymen. Cf. Maria, la donna nell’opera di salvezza (Roma : Universit? Gregoriana Editrice, 1984), p. 159. As I have already pointed out, this theory has no precedence in Catholic tradition, except for Jerome’s hesitation about Our Lady’s in partu virginity (De virginitate perpetua; PL 23:202), for which he was duly criticised even in his lifetime. It must be remembered that Jerome’s contemporaries (e.g. Augustine) were unconditionally in favour of the doctrine, and Jerome himself seemed to waver, as may be seen from Homilia in Joannem 1,1-14 (CCL 78:521), where he likened the virgin birth to the resurrected Lord’s passing through locked doors.

This non-physical interpretation of virginity at the moment of birth, however, can hardly be reconciled with the language of the Fathers. The Greek word aphthoros (Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. Catech. 23; PG 45:61B; Damascene, De fide orthodoxa 1,2; PG 94:792D), means untouched, unharmed, or inviolate, and as such, it is clearly suggestive of a physical kind of integrity; a concept the relevant Latin texts denote as incorruptibilitas and integritas.

Karl Rahner considers the physical integrity of the Virgin’s hymen in giving birth to her Son an idea “too mythical for modern believers.” Interestingly, he upholds the painlessness of Christ’s human nativity on the peculiar basis of the Virgin’s special psychological state and integrated experience of physical pain, but in the end it seems nothing more than his strange rendition and re-interpretation of the in partu virginity. (‘Virginitas in partu’ in Theological Investigations vol. 4 (trans. by Kevin Smyth, 1966), pp 134-162; and ‘Human aspects of the birth of Christ’ in Theological Investigations vol. 13 (trans. by David Bourke, 1975), pp. 189-194)

Very possibly, in response to the theories of people like A. Mitterer, the Holy Office in July 1960 drew up a decree but did not publish it officially. It was sent to a certain number of bishops and religious superiors as a monitum (and ignored by the Jesuit Galot and Rahner). Several journals did publish it, however, e.g. in Italian in Ephemerides Mariologicae 11, 1961, p. 138 and Marianum 23, 1961, p. 336, in French in La Vie des Comunautés Religieuses (Montreal) 18, 1960, no. 8. Laurentin, in “A Short Treatise on the Virgin Mary.” (Washington, N.J.: AMI Press, 1991) translated the decree to English on pp. 318-329:

“This supreme Congregation has often observed recently, and with deep concern, that theological works are being published in which the delicate question of Mary’s virginity in partu is treated with a deplorable crudeness of expression and, what is more serious, in flagrant contradiction to the doctrinal tradition of the Church and to the sense of respect the faithful have. Consequently, in its plenary session of Wednesday, the twentieth of this month [July 1960], it seemed necessary to the eminent Fathers of the Holy Office, by reason of their serious responsibility to watch over the sacred deposit of Catholic doctrine, to see to it that for the future the publication of such dissertations on this problem be prohibited.”

John Paul II in a General Audience of Jan 28, 1987 (no. 1) cited this text: “Mary was, therefore, a virgin before the birth of Jesus, and she remained a virgin in giving birth, and after the birth. This is the truth presented by the New Testament texts, and which was expressed both by the Fifth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 553, which speaks of Mary as ‘ever virgin’, and also by the Lateran Council in 649, which teaches that ‘the mother of God...Mary...conceived [her Son] through the power of the Holy Spirit without human intervention, and in giving birth to him, her virginity remained uncorrupted, and even after the birth her virginity remained intact’.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church 510: Mary “remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at her breast, always a virgin” (St. Augustine, Serm. 186, 1: PL 38, 999): with her whole being she is “the handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:38).

One may make a feeble attempt to defend the makers of the film “The Nativity Story” by saying that the majority of them are Protestant. But what kind of an excuse – ask I – is that for blasphemy? It is well for us to be reminded that not even Luther dared to deny Mary’s perpetual virginity: “Christ, we believe, came forth from a womb left perfectly intact” (WA 6:510), and “It is an article of faith that Mary is Mother of the Lord and still a virgin.” (WA 11:319-320)