Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Knott - Ritual Notes, 10th Edition

Before I converted to the Catholic Church, I was a ardent Anglo-Catholic and a passionate traditional liturgist (huge surprise to you all, I'm sure...). I came across a copy of Ritual Notes, 10th Edition while I was still in high school and devoured every page. It is the traditional liturgist's bible, whether Catholic or Anglican, and speaks on behalf of the Oxford Movement within England during the later part of the 19th century (the same movement that Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman was a part of and became a Catholic through).

Why do I bring this up? Well, after I graduated high school, I left my copy of Ritual Notes, 10th Edition, at the parish that I attended. Becoming even more of a liturgist in college, I yearned for this book! In the last week, I have been able to obtain it again and have not placed it down! It is literally a "liturigst's drug"!!!

The Ritual Notes, 10th Edition, takes the best of the Sarum Rite (Salisbury Use, 14th c.) and the Tridentine Rite (commonly called the Traditional Latin Mass) and combines them into a traditional, Anglo-philed, liturgist's dream!

Lastly, if the UK, USA, and Australian Personal Ordinariates adopted the Sarum Rite (with the use of Latin, not just the pageantry), I'm sure that could be the substitute for the Tridentine Rite that seems to have been forbidden for public worship on Ordinariate property at least in the United States. Mgsr. Steenson has stated his reasons, however, I think the Sarum Rite is a perfect replacement! It's English; it's traditional liturgy; it's Latin, and it helped inspire the liturgy of the Oxford Movement!

**Please do not use the comment box to question Mgsr. Steenson's stance on the usage of the Tridentine Rite in the comment box. I'd suggest that you look up YouTube videos and written statements by the Ordinary himself in order to understand his point of view, no matter how much I may disagree with it. I am a member of of the Personal Ordinariate of St. Peter.**


Picture taken from an Anglo-Catholic source published in England in the first part of the 20th century depicting the "English Use" (Anglican), which can be assumed to be the Sarum Rite in English. 



1 comment:

  1. I always thought that when the illustrations were labelled as 'English Use' all that meant was that they showed the Tridentine Mass in English. I believe they were drawn by Martin Travers for the Society of Ss. Peter and Paul (A very Anglo-Papalist group), they would have been horrified to be labelled as Sarum Rite (the common belief was that they were 'proper' Anglo-Catholics and that Sarumists where just Protestants who liked dressing up!)

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