When they called a Spade A Mohammedan!

Meant to post this a few days ago. Readers of my blog know that I've taken to attending the EF form of the Mass on weekdays. It is a) quick b) Latin is fun c) close to work. Over the years, I've aquired a number of handmissals because a) I like history, and seeing how such things as the church calendar changed b) I like Missals c) they often contain lots of bits of interesting information.

Sometimes, it's fun to see how much less PC we were years ago.

Two of the Missals I have are "The New Marian Missal", published mid-1950s, and the 1962 Latin Missal which was recently published by Baronius press that relied heavily on the aforementioned Missal. I also just recently acquired a quite nice leatherbound "New..St. Joseph's Daily Missal and Hymnal" published in 1967, when the Mass was more a less fairly similar to the Mass of 62, with the big change being English, rather than Latin. In other words, most of the prayers were there just as before, save the Judica Me. [The offertory and the canon of which, they SHOULD have kept without "alternate prayer, IMO!]

But here's the fun thing: A lot of these missals have helpful tidbits of information. So before the Mass given they will tell you background information about a Saint re: his feast day, etc. Here is the '62 and '50s Missal introduction to July 31st - the feast day of Ignacious Loyola:

"Ignatius, courtier and knight, was wounded at the siege of Pampeluna ['62 say "Pampelona".] During his long convalesence, the reading of the lives of the saints, revealed to him that the church militant needed an army of glorius in her fight with the forces of Satan: pagan, Mohammedans, Protestants, Jansenists, etc. He founded the Society of Jesus and as first General of the new spiritual chivalry he moved to the attack under the motto: "Ad majorem Dei Gloriam.: - "To the greater glory of God." He died with the Holy Name of Jesus on his lips, A.D. 1556."

How much tamer the '67 St. Joseph's missal is. For the same date:

"St. Ignatius, born in 1491 at the regal castle of Loyola, Spain, became a famous courtier and knight in the court of Ferdinand V. Woulded in the siege of Pampeluna, he retired to Manresa to lead a life of prayer and contemplation. After being ordained a priest, he founded the Society of Jesus to fight the forces of Satan."

H'mmmm....

Also, I find out little historical bits re: the calendar changes. One of the missals I have is from the 1920s. I've been puzzled now, for some time, why the 1920s 99.99% all latin Missal did not have a Mass for "The Immaculate Heart of Mary" which is frequently said at St. Anne's. While the new Baronius press Missal I have is quite good for giving ALL the Latin, I'd dearly love to strangle the editors for having Masses that are "too flippy"(that and too many "instructions and explainations in the Mass text -- put those in a separate section, dummies.) "Too flippy means I have to mark just the propers in more than 3 places. Dudes! I don't have enough ribbons for that, and that much flipping is a pain...so, being familiar enough with the Ordinary of the Mass now -- a lot of times I will use just this old 20s missal -- if I've had time to go over the propers before hand so I don't have to do all the flipping. (And the extra commems. are right in there too!) It works quite well as this little hand missal will at most (save the preface) have but two places I have to mark for the propers. THEY seemed to have a clue that some things can be too darn "flippy." But the frustration was in not having that one Immaculate Heart of Mary Mass. Couldn't for the life of me figure out why....UNTIL only this past Saturday.

It had long been staring me in the face that the 20s missal, in the few English pages referred to the "New" Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It had been around since the 1800s, but had only been made "Universal" to the Church not all that long before. That Mass was celebrated as the Octave day to Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi was always on a Thursday, and this Sacred Heart Mass for Jesus was celebrated 8 days later, i.e. the 2nd Friday after Corpus Christi. The Amazing Fr. G. of St. Anne's parish, San Diego, has always announced this Mass -- just before the Mass is said on a Saturday Mass for the BVM. Not, without a little internal groaning, because everyone who attends the Saturday Mass knows it's a "flippy Mass" and scrambles. I'd wondered why this Mass was for "Aug. 22." And suddenly a lightbulb went on. Instead of pouting that there was no complete Mass in the '20s Missal, it occurred to me to look and see what it said for August 22. Sure enough: it didn't have a Mass per se, BUT ding-ding-ding-we-have-a-winner. What it said was "die 22 Augusti - In Octava (Hey!!!!) Assumptionis B. Marie Vir. etc.(and then it had some commems." SOOOOOOOO.... This "new Mass" was in response to Our Lady of Fatima requesting a Mass to her Sacred Heart. And in the early 20s the visionaries were still being examined, etc. So this Mass was something that came about as a universal Votive Mass much later!

I still want to ring the necks of the Baronius press people though. Dudes, if you gotta go to more than 3 places, have the propers for the Mass (save preface) in two places, at most. ESPECIALLY if it's a Mass said frequently, like this one is. You can afford a tissue paper thin page or two extra!