Everything You Knew is Wrong

Zach at The Road to Reform posted a link to a short clip from a video sent from SSPX (”Letter to our brother priests”) to all of the priests in France, showing how to conduct a Tridentine Mass “on the eve of the liberalization of the Latin Mass by Pope Benedict XVI,” if I’m recalling the titles correctly. It’s interesting to note that nothing in the notes on Google about the film mentioned who produced it.

France is a strange case. If what the video claims is true, 20% of priests in France preside solely over Latin Masses. I don’t doubt this…only because of the large traditionalist population in France, and the relatively small number of French people who celebrate…well, regular modern Catholicism.

It feels strange that the priest in this video can’t be any older than I am. The music in the beginning sounds incongruously like something out of the new Battlestar Galactica series.

I’ve done a rough translation of the titles and voiceover in this video, which I hope will be helpful for Tridentine Mass fans who don’t speak French.

The Mass of ages:

Frequently banned
Never forbidden

One priest out of five ordained today in France celebrates exclusively the traditional rite of the Mass.

Numerous priests express the desire to discover the traditional Mass, and to celebrate it.

65% of French Catholics support wider use of the traditional Mass.

At a time when Pope Benedict XVI is on the verge of allowing wider use of the Tridentine rite of the Mass, the Society of St. Pius X proposes this high quality educational tool which will allow all priests to discover this rite.

CELEBRATE THE MASS OF AGES

Voiceover: He unfolds the altar cloth. The altar cloth is placed two fingers’ width from the edge of the altar. Several times during the duration fo the mass, the priest must place his joined hands on the alter, like this. His hands must not touch the altar cloth. At the words “A reading from the Gospel,” he places is left hand on the edge of the missal, and makes with his right thumb a sign of the cross over the spot on the page where the Gospel starts. Then, with his left hand on his chest, he makes the sign of the cross on himself with his right thumb, first on the forehead, then on the lips, and then on the chest. Then, he joins his hands together.

He takes the paten, and holding it in both hands at chest height, he raises his eyes for one moment to the alter crucifix. With his eyes focused on the host, he begins the prayer of consecration. To set down the host, the priest proceeds as follows. He lowers the paten, tracing with it a sign of the cross on the altar. He sets the host down on the altar cloth, taking the paten with his right hand and slides it halfway under the corporale.

He recites the [unclear] in a deep bow, joined hands placed on the altear. Then he bends down to the altar, stands back up, and then traces a sign of the cross on the host and over teh chalice. He then makes the sign over himself before joining his hands again.

This film is a production from the “Letter to our brother priests.” a means of connection between the Society of St. Pius X and the priests of France.