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Views from the Choir Loft

“I confess that I was a liturgical nut” says Bishop consecrated by Pope Paul VI

Jeff Ostrowski · April 6, 2016

590 Bishop Gracida Interview 2015 ARLIER TODAY, my friend emailed me a fascinating YouTube interview with Bishop Emeritus René H. Gracida, who fought the Nazis in Germany as a young man and later became a close friend of Pope Saint John Paul II. The interview was conducted by Michael Voris, and you might want to skip to the 1:30 marker, where Bishop Gracida starts talking:

    * *  YouTube • Bp. Gracida Interview (2015)

His Excellency, currently 92 years old, does not mince words about post-conciliar chaos:

“It was the virus of the false spirit of Vatican II.  I was one of them; I was very enthusiastic about some of the reforms of Vatican II. But a little later I came to realize how I had been hoodwinked, and how I had been misled by the progressives.”

When asked about the most concerning areas in the Church today, Bishop Gracida says:

“I have no doubt that the area of the Church’s life that needs the greatest attention is the liturgy. The liturgy is not only worship of God; it is the way we are formed in our faith. So all that has happened in the liturgy since the Second Vatican II that is bad is malforming Catholics even today. So the Novus Ordo—although I have celebrated it, and have appreciated its value at times—I never celebrate it now. All my Masses are in the Traditional Rite because it is the most spiritual, the most reverential, the most clear proclamation of what we believe!”

Then Bishop Gracida explains precisely what he means, ending with a warning:

“When we ruin the liturgy, we remove that which protects the faithful.”

Later on, Bishop Gracida speaks of the “modified” Traditional Rite, by which he means the 1965 Missal. (You can download the 1965 Missal, in Latin & English, as a PDF file.)

AT ONE POINT during the interview, Bishop Gracida is asked when he came to these realizations (see above). His Excellency says:

“I confess that I was a liturgical nut.”

Then he elucidates upon this statement…evening naming names!  It seems that people who pay a monthly fee to Michael Voris can watch the full 3-hour interview. I am not a subscriber, but perhaps one of our readers could give us the “highlights” using the CCW Facebook comments section.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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Jeff Ostrowski

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The Humanists abominated the rhythmical poetry of the Middle Ages from an exaggerated enthusiasm for ancient classical forms and meters. Hymnody then received its death blow as, on the revision of the Breviary under Pope Urban VIII, the medieval rhythmical hymns were forced into more classical forms by means of so-called corrections.”

— ‘Father Clemens Blume, S.J.’

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