Part I
The Council of Trent and the Second Vatican Council are nearly half a millennium apart, but, as Father Uwe Michael Lang points out, the liturgical focus of both highlights the importance of each.
Part II
The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century effected a profound religious transformation of European societies and has shaped the modern world in many respects. The trigger for this revolution in Western Christianity was the indulgences controversy. The papacy’s growing need for income—not least because the Renaissance popes were generous patrons of the arts—turned the devout practice of indulgences into fundraisers.
Part III
The Council of Trent’s debates on the doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass were accompanied by a discussion of concrete steps towards liturgical reform. At a general congregation of the council in July 1562, a commission was instituted to study this question. In August 1562, this commission produced a dossier on liturgical issues, the contents of which can be divided into three broad categories.
Part IV
During the Council of Trent’s third and last period from January 1562 to December 1563, there was a consensus among the council fathers that a revision of liturgical books was needed, but it was felt that the conciliar assembly would not be able to carry out this work. Hence, the task was entrusted to the pope and his curia.
Part V
After Trent, St. Pius V did not make the 1570 Missale Romanum compulsory for dioceses or religious orders that could legitimately claim a particular liturgical tradition older than 200 years. However, the desire to strengthen the visible unity and cohesion of the Catholic Church, which had already been strongly felt at Trent, led to the adoption of the Roman books even where an older tradition existed.
Part VI
The first article in this series raised the question whether the liturgical reform initiated by the Second Vatican Council could be likened to the liturgical reform that followed the Council of Trent. Now, at the series’ end, we are in a better position to compare the impact these two important ecclesial assemblies had on the liturgical life of the Catholic Church.
Father Uwe Michael Lang, a native of Nuremberg, Germany, is a priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in London. He holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford, and is a Senior Lecturer in Liturgy and Church History at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London. He is a Corresponding Member of the Neuer Schülerkreis Joseph Ratzinger / Papst Benedikt XVI, a Member of the Council of the Henry Bradshaw Society, a Board Member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, and Editor of Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal.
