NYONE WHO’S EVER played the “telephone game” knows how things can get distorted when they are mimicked. This happens far too frequently when it comes to the sacred liturgy. Folks hear somebody passionately pontificating, but when they attempt to repeat the message it gets garbled. For instance, a number of years ago somebody began claiming that the Gregorian propers for the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker were “ugly” whereas the the Gregorian propers for The Patronage of Saint Joseph had been beautiful. Such an assertion is completely indefensible (as this article shows) because many of the Worker propers were adopted from the Patronage. It would be lunacy to pretend they’re “beautiful” when sung for the Patronage but “ugly” when sung for the Worker.
Father Christopher Phillips • My volunteer choir recently sang a Hymn to Saint Joseph by Father Christopher Phillips, who was instrumental in founding the ANGLICAN ORDINARIATE.
Saint Joseph The Artisan • The diaries1 of Cardinal Antonelli reveal that on 7 October 1955, the Commissio Piana—meeting in the apartments of the Gaetano Cardinal Cicognani (Prefect of the Congregation of Rites)—began examining drafts of the Mass and Office for the new feast they were creating: Saint Joseph “Artigiano” (Saint Joseph the Artisan). On 17 January 1956, they continued their examination. According to Antonelli’s diary: “Two new hymns, composed by Fr. Evaristo d’Anversa of Tivoli, were proposed and accepted for Matins and Lauds.” On 6 April 1956, they continued their examination. Antonelli’s diary says: “Some texts giving too much emphasis to manual labor were revised, modified, or replaced.”
Cardinal Antonelli (1 of 4) • Those familiar with the post-conciliar writings of MONSIGNOR ROBERT SKERIS and his colleague, MONSIGNOR JOHANNES OVERATH, perhaps noticed that many sacred music authors who came later frequently ransacked their footnotes (without giving them credit). In the 1980s, Monsignor Skeris made reference to “the Franciscan Ferdinando Antonelli.” Remember: Antonelli was made a cardinal but never a bishop.
Cardinal Antonelli (2 of 4) • Much could be said about Antonelli (1896-1993), who late in life—on 5 March 1973—was made a cardinal. At this moment, a few brief comments are in order. On 5 June 1960, in preparation for the Second Vatican Council, a “liturgical preparatory commission” (De sacra liturgia) was created. GAETANO CARDINAL CICOGNANI (Prefect of the Congregation of Rites) was named its president and Annibale Bugnini its secretary. As secretary, Bugnini had great power because Cardinal Cicognani—who would die on 5 February 1962—was not present at every meeting.
Cardinal Antonelli (3 of 4) • When Vatican II began, the Spanish CARDINAL LARRAONA was appointed president of the Conciliar Commission on the Liturgy but Bugnini was rejected. That’s because, on 4 October 1962—a date chosen specifically to honor him, since it was the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi—Cardinal Larraona appointed FERDINANDO CARDINAL ANTONELLI as “Secretary General of the Conciliar Commission on the Sacred Liturgy.” Father Antonelli had also played a key role on the Commission Piana, a secret liturgical committee established by Pope Pius XII on 28 May 1948, run by CLEMENTE CARDINAL MICARA. On 15 October 1962, Father Frederick R. McManus (one of the most radical liturgical “progressives”) wrote a letter to Father Godfrey Diekmann claiming the Bugnini’s “fall from grace is due to Larraona and Antonelli.” But on 1 November 1962, McManus wrote a letter to Thomas Merton claiming that “very likely it was [Cardinal Ottaviani’s] influence that removed Bugnini.”
Cardinal Antonelli (4 of 4) • Like John Henry Newman, Antonelli was priest. He was never consecrated a bishop. Perhaps the key figure of the liturgical reform—and certainly the preëminent witness of SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM—Cardinal Antonelli admitted privately the liturgical reform was a disaster. For instance, Cardinal Antonelli wrote as follows:
“In the Consilium, there are few Bishops with a specifically liturgical expertise, and very few are really theologians. The most acute deficiency in the Consilium is the lack of theologians. In fact, it could be said that they had been excluded altogether, which is something dangerous. In the liturgy, every word and every gesture expresses an idea which is always a theological idea.”
God-willing, I will have much more to say about Cardinal Antonelli as time goes on.
1 In 2009, Monsignor Nicola Giampietro published The Development of the Liturgical Reform As Seen by Cardinal Ferdinando Antonelli from 1948 to 1970 based upon his private diaries. This article includes citations from that indispensable book.
