• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

We’re a 501(c)3 public charity established in 2006. We have no endowment, no major donors, no savings, and run no advertisements. We exist solely by the generosity of small donors.

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • Ordinary Form Feasts (Sainte-Marie)
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

Cardinal Lercaro: A Key Player In Liturgical Reform

Aurelio Porfiri · September 23, 2014

5903 Giacomo LERCARO ITHOUT A DOUBT, one of the most influential cardinals at the time of the liturgical reform was GIACOMO CARDINAL LERCARO (1891-1976), Archbishop of Bologna. As was the case with so many other protagonists of the post-conciliar “liturgical wars”—such as Bugnini, Paolo VI himself, Lefebvre—Lercaro was the recipient of an immense amount of gossip for decades, stemming from intentions both good and bad. In January of 1968, Lercaro was dismissed from the Diocese of Bologna. Some people believe his dismissal resulted from American pressure following a very polemical homily by Cardinal Lercaro against the war in Vietnam. However, recent research by the historian Eliana Versace has dismissed this interpretation. 1

Most of my readers already realize that Cardinal Lercaro was one of the most influential actors in the post-conciliar liturgical reform, leading the commission that applied conciliar directives for a reformed liturgy. This makes him revered by one faction (identified as “liturgical progressives”) and deeply despised by another (“liturgical conservatives,” not to mention the traditionalists). In 1967, a Tuscan writer named Tito Casini addressed to Cardinal Lercaro a booklet: La Tunica Stracciata (“The Trashed Tunic”), with a preface by Cardinal Antonio Bacci. This booklet, along with the works of Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, constituted the most critical voices against the liturgy’s “new directions.” It was nothing short of a vehement denunciation of Cardinal Lercaro’s labors to implement this new liturgy: efforts which Casini perceived to be a work of destruction.

This booklet made a big noise. Even Paul VI was forced to publicly defend Cardinal Lercaro and condemn the thesis contained therein. Five decades later, perhaps the reasons behind Casini’s booklet can be better understood, just as we can (perhaps) understand more clearly the reasons for Lercaro’s decisions.

5904 Cappa Lercaro 4 Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro 2 Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro

IT’S NOT EASY TO SUMMARIZE HERE these polemics and judge the intentions of Cardinal Lercaro in carrying out the liturgical reforms in one direction instead of another. If we apply here the regressive method of history (represented mainly by Marc Bloch, founder of Annales), we may notice that the present situation of the liturgy could say to us something about how the reforms were conceived, initiated, and carried out.

I am not sure Cardinal Lercaro would be happy with the present situation, were he alive today. As for me, I would be very happy to understand the reasons behind certain decisions made by important church leaders during the 1960s and 1970s and if—assuming we may to talk with these church leaders now in heaven (as we all hope) and ask these questions—they would still repeat those same decisions with the benefit of hindsight.

To see more images of Cardinal Lercaro, please click here.

Video excerpts of Cardinal Lercaro are here:



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   An interesting article by the Italian Vaticanist Sandro Magister, Montini, Siri, Lercaro. L’enigma del Cardinale Destituito (2011), mentions this episode and several possible interpretations.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro Consilium President Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Aurelio Porfiri

Renowned as composer, conductor, theorist, author, pedagogue, and organist, Aurelio Porfiri has served the Church on multiple continents at the highest levels. Born and raised in Italy, he currently serves as Director of Choral Activities and Composer in Residence for Santa Rosa de Lima School (Macao, China).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III, often denoted by its trope name: Missa Kyrie Deus sempiterne. This year, I’m traveling from Singapore to serve on the symposium faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. (See below.) This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. You may download the score, generously made available to the whole world—free of charge—by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

[Let there be:] “The Latin, the whole Latin, and nothing but the Latin.”

— Cardinal McIntyre (one of the Vatican II fathers)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.

The election of Pope Leo XIV has been exciting, and we’re filled with hope for our apostolate’s future!

But we’re under pressure to transfer our website to a “subscription model.”

We don’t want to do that. We believe our website should remain free to all.

Our president has written the following letter:

President’s Message (dated 30 May 2025)

Are you able to support us?

clock.png

Time's up