Essential reading

Carlos Antonio Palad, a contributor to Rorate Caeli, has arranged for a translation from the Italian of an article by Fr. Stefano Carusi IBP examining the work of the Pian Commission's reform of Holy Week in 1956. The original article appeared on the Disputationes Theologicae blog.

The article is titled "THE REFORM OF HOLY WEEK IN THE YEARS 1951-1956 FROM LITURGY TO THEOLOGY BY WAY OF THE STATEMENTS OF CERTAIN LEADING THINKERS (ANNIBALE BUGNINI, CARLO BRAGA, FERDINANDO ANTONELLI)" and is an interesting study. The radical and revolutionary nature of Pius XII's Holy Week reforms, whilst appreciated by paleo-Traditionalists such as Evelyn Waugh and by the 'modernists', is of course glossed over by many as 'organic' development. To counter such a false understanding the article is essential reading.

Fr. Carusi quotes Fr. Carlo Braga, one of those intimately involved with the reforms both before and after the Council and a close associate of Mgr. Bugnini, describing the new rite of Holy Saturday as "the head of the battering-ram which pierced the fortress of our hitherto static liturgy."

N.B. The article is lengthy and hard to read in 'blog post' format - I copied it into Word which makes for easier reading.