Alfons Cardinal Stickler, Peritus during Vatican II

LFONS MARIA Cardinal Stickler (†2007) was one of the outstanding princes of the Church. If you click to expand the image, you will see Fr. Josef Bisig, FSSP (unless I’m mistaken) acting as Subdeacon during a Mass offered by the Cardinal, a man of tiny stature but great holiness.

Here’s a direct quote from Stickler:

AS THE SUBJECT OF THE LANGUAGE of worship was discussed in the Council hall over the course of several days, I followed the process with great attention, as well as later the various wordings of the Liturgy Constitution until the final vote. I still remember very well how after several radical proposals a Sicilian bishop rose and implored the fathers to allow caution and reason to reign on this point, because otherwise there would be the danger that the entire Mass might be held in the language of the people — whereupon the entire hall burst into uproarious laughter.

I could therefore never understand how Archbishop Bugnini could write, regarding the radical and complete transition from the prescribed Latin to the exclusively vulgar language of worship, that the Council had practically said that the vernacular in the entire Mass was a pastoral necessity [Cardinal Stickler is quoting pp. 108-121 of the original Italian edition of Bugnini’s book].

To the contrary, I can attest to the fact that regarding the wording of the Council Constitution on this question, in the general part (art. 36) as well as in the special regulations for the Sacrifice of the Mass (art. 54) the Council fathers maintained a practically unanimous agreement — above all in the final vote: 2152 votes in favor and only four against.

ON 20 MAY 1995, Stickler stated that in 1986 a commission of nine cardinals (Stickler, Ratzinger, Mayer, Oddi, Casaroli, Gantin, Innocenti, Palazzini, and Tomko) appointed by Pope John Paul II unanimously gave a negative answer to the question “Did Pope Paul VI or any other competent authority legally forbid the widespread celebration of the Tridentine Mass in the present day?” and to the question “Can any bishop forbid any priest in good standing from celebrating the Tridentine Mass?” He said that eight of the nine were in favour of drawing up a general permission declaring that everyone could choose the old form of the Mass as well as the new.

By the way, they say the Cardinal was a real stickler for the Mass rubrics …