The Traditional Mass: History, Form and Theology of the Classical Roman Rite

The Traditional Mass: History, Form and Theology of the Classical Roman Rite 

By Michael Fiedrowicz.

Translated by Rose Pfeiffer

Angelico Press, Brooklyn, NY, 2020

A wonderful addition to any Roman Catholic’s library is the new translation of Fr. Michael Fiedrowicz’s The Traditional Mass. For the moment, it is the definitive handbook on the Traditional liturgy: what it is, how it arose, what it means and how to celebrate it. Perhaps most astonishing is that the author is a professor at the Theologische Fakultät (School of Theology) in Trier, Germany. He has published extensively in the field of patristics.

The first thing we note with pleasure is that the author is committed to the Traditional Mass. He writes as a passionate supporter, not a distanced observer, let alone an adversary. And he views the Mass as a whole: the texts, the music, the ceremonies, the readings all taken together. It is quite a contrast to most pre-conciliar authors (even Adrian Fortescue) who seemed to reduce the Mass to a jumble of rules and texts arising from historical accidents. Fiedrowicz does not hesitate to draw on the riches of the symbolic and allegorical interpretations (especially of the medieval liturgists) to demonstrate the unity and meaningfulness of the Mass. And of course he devotes many pages to the theology of this Mass.

Equally surprising – but so very welcome – is that Fiedrowicz approaches the Traditional Mass as a living rite of the Church (which, after Summorum Pontificum, it fully is – at least on paper). The author in fact draws heavily on the experience of the post – Vatican II, post-Novus Ordo era. It is heartening to see prominently among these sources the works of Martin Mosebach, who has so often appeared in this blog. Or those of Michael Davies, who fought for the Traditional Mass for so many years. Like Mosebach, these authorities are often not “official” liturgists at all. Certainly that is no detriment if the author’s purpose is not to win plaudits in academia but to describe and even advocate a cause very much alive. For Traditionalism has had to develop largely outside the domain of the Catholic academic establishment. 

Yet there is another reason Fiedrowicz cites the witness of artists: Mosebach today; Huysmans, Gertrude von Le Fort, Ida Görres and especially Claudel in years gone by: “ People of aesthetic sensibility, much scorned and suspect, are the recipients of a terrible gift: they can infallibly discern the inner truth of what they see, of some process, of an idea, on the basis of its external form.”1) Fiedrowicz discusses in his book the necessary link between the sacred and the beautiful

Fiedrowicz systematically outlines the case for the Traditional Mass, covering virtually every issue and objection a Catholic Traditionalist needs to consider and address. Most importantly, he shows that the Traditional Mass is in direct continuity from its earliest manifestations in the Fourth Century (and before) to its formalization at the Council of Trent. Fiedrowicz then illustrates “organic development” by looking at those additions that were made and how they proceed from the basic structure of the liturgy. He makes the case for Latin, as a “Sacred language,” the Traditional liturgical seasons and for celebration ad orientem. He explains the meaning behind the orations and the cycle of readings. There is even a lengthy discussion of all the various names for the Traditional Mass: the “classical rite,” the “Tridentine rite,” etc.! And in a very sensible and very un-German manner he sees this terminological issue as having secondary importance. Do I need to state that our author’s conclusions on the liturgy accord with what the advocates of Catholic Tradition have been writing over the last 50 years? The Catholic Mass, however, clearly summarizes all these positions is in one volume; in that respect it is a unique compendium.

Let me end this review with an observation I also made concerning the first English-language edition of Martin Mosebach’s Heresy of Formlessness. After considering the facts and conclusions so ably and compellingly presented by Fiedrowicz, is the Traditional Mass not a prerequisite for any real Catholic recovery? Do not the arguments Fiedrowicz presents inevitably lead to the conclusion that the Traditional rite should be made a rule one more for the entire Western Church? That it should no longer remain an option reserved for some kind of elite or subculture but become once more a common treasure accessible to all? So I would conclude! In the meantime, before that happy event occurs, I would highly recommend this book as the best systematic treatment of the Traditional Mass available today.

1. Fiedrowicz, The Traditional Mass at 214, n. 60 quoting Mosebach, The Heresy of Formlessness.