Ars celebrandi

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Ars celebrandi ( Latin ars "art" and celebrare "celebrate, festively celebrate") is a term from the Roman Catholic liturgy as the art of celebrating worship . It mainly concerns the celebration of Holy Mass . In the Ars celebrandi , the actions of the head of the worship service ( celebrant ) correspond closely with the Participatio actuosa , the active participation of the entire worship community in the liturgy.

The Ars celebrandi is characterized by a combination of beauty and liturgy ( pulchritudo et liturgia ) with the aim of promoting a feeling for the sacred . In doing so, she makes use of “the external forms that educate us to feel, for example the harmony of the rite , the liturgical vestments, the furnishings and the holy place”.

Origin of the term

The term Ars celebrandi originated in the course of the liturgical scholarly discussion about the course of liturgical renewal after the Second Vatican Council , its results, problems and successes in the 1970s. In a conversation with Klemens Richter in the spring of 1976, the German liturgical scholar Emil Joseph Lengeling coined the term "the art of standing". Lengeling pointed to his observation that the deficiencies that arose in the liturgical reform did not result from an exaggerated desire for renewal, but at least in part from adherence to individualistic and rubricistic thinking among clergy and lay people . His concern was to “emphasize something that the liturgical constitution does not speak of and the post-conciliar books hardly speak of. I mean the art of standing, especially the communication between the leader of the service and the participants ”. This art had become important because of the communication between the leader and the participants in the service as a result of the change in the direction of celebration ; Prior to that - apart from the sermon - there was no such communication, eye contact between priest and congregation was even forbidden.

From the “art of standing”, the broader term “art of celebrating” developed in the professional discourse of liturgical scholars. In 1980 Jakob Baumgartner wrote an essay entitled “De arte celebrandi”. Emil Brunner wrote in 1980: “The art of celebrating eventually is the art of coordinating the participation of the people of God.” (“The art of celebrating is ultimately the art of coordinating the participation of the people of God.”) The essence of the Ars celebrandi describes Manfred Probst : “Since the liturgy is a celebration and expression of people's faith, it is important to express this faith. In addition to a good theology, a corresponding aesthetic of the divine service must be worked out, which can keep the right measure of celebration and celebration free from excessive ceremonial formation. Our church services have to become more stylish. ” In this sense, liturgical science understands itself as“ the science of the art of celebrating a Christian church service ”.

Theological foundation

The ars celebrandi as the art of celebrating worship is a matter for the whole New Testament people of God . It therefore goes beyond a mere priestly ars praesidendi (the art of leadership ). The essence of the liturgy itself, according to the will of the Second Vatican Council, demands the full active and active participation of the Christian people who are called "'the chosen sex, the royal priesthood, the holy tribe, the property people" ( 1 Pet 2,9  EU ; cf.. 1 Peter 2.4 to 5  EU ) entitled by virtue of baptism and committed "was. “This full and active participation of the whole people is to be observed most strongly in the renewal and promotion of the sacred liturgy, since it is the first and indispensable source from which Christians should draw a truly Christian spirit.” Thus, a “clericalistic narrowing of the Liturgy and ecclesiology "avoided, the success of the liturgy does not depend on the" priest as the celebrant "; the Ars celebrandi is therefore the “art of all participants to celebrate the service”. Both basic movements belong to the liturgy: the self-revelation of God (“katabatic” or “soteriological” dimension) and the response of humans in grateful and believing devotion (“anabatic” dimension).

“The liturgical acts are not of a private nature, but celebrations of the Church, which is the“ sacrament of unity ”; for they are the holy people, united and ordered among the bishops. Hence these celebrations concern the whole mystical body of the Church , make it visible and have an effect on it; but its individual members come into contact with them in different ways, depending on the difference in class, task and active participation. "

- Second Vatican Council: Sacrosanctum concilium No. 26.

Ars celebrandi in the papal teaching

Pope Benedict XVI took up the concept of the ars celebrandi in his post-synodal apostolic letter " Sacramentum caritatis on the Eucharist - source and climax of the life and mission of the Church " of February 22, 2007. The XI. The Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in October 2005 had previously stressed that any “separation” between the ars celebrandi on the part of priests and bishops on the one hand and the full, active and fruitful participation of all the faithful must be overcome ( necessitas [...] omnem evenientem seiunctionem transgrediendi inter artem celebrandi, artem videlicet recte celebrandi, et plenam, actuosam et fructuosam omnium fidelium participationem ).

Range

"The ars celebrandi must promote a feeling for the sacred and use external forms that teach this feeling, for example the harmony of the rite, the liturgical vestments, the furnishings and the holy place."

- Sacramentum caritatis No. 40.

For a proper ars celebrandi, it is important to observe all the forms of expression provided for in the liturgy for those involved - rulers and believers: word and song, gestures and silence , body movement or liturgical colors of the vestments . With the statement "The simplicity of the gestures and the sobriety of the signs placed in the intended order and at the given moment convey more and involve more than the artificiality of inappropriate additions", Pope Benedict renewed the demand of the Second Vatican Council for the "shine of noble simplicity" Rites as a principle of liturgical design.

The architecture of the church building and the church space as a place of the “gathering of the believers (ecclesia), which are the living stones of the temple (cf. 1 Petr 2,5  EU )” are just as much in the service of the Ars celebrandi as the “ Principles "altar, crucifix, tabernacle, ambo and seat as well as sacred art , because" the essence of the Christian house of God is defined by the liturgical act itself ".

Role of ordained ministers

According to Pope Benedict XVI, the right art of celebration includes “faithful obedience to the liturgical norms in their completeness”, which “has ensured the life of faith of all believers for two thousand years who are called to celebrate as people of God [... ] to experience". The ordained ministers have a special function in relation to the Ars celebrandi ; Bishops , priests and deacons should regard the celebration of worship as their primary duty. The task of the bishop is to “preserve the harmonious unity of the celebrations” in his diocese and “to ensure that the priests, the deacons and the Christian laypeople understand the real meaning of the liturgical rites and texts more and more deeply and thus to act and act fruitful celebration of the Eucharist ”. The worship service in the cathedral serves as a role model.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sacramentum caritatis No. 38.40f.
  2. ↑ Has the liturgical reform paid off? (A conversation between Klemens Richter and Emil Lengeling) in: BIBEL und LITURGIE 50 (1976), pp. 357-370, here pp. 358f .; see also: Werner Hahne: DE ARTE CELEBRANDI or From the art of celebrating worship, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1990, p. 30
  3. ↑ Jakob Baumgartner: De arte celebrandi. Notes on the priestly celebration. In: Heiliger Dienst 36 (1982), pp. 1-11.
  4. ^ Emil Brunner: The Art of Celebration and the Creativity in Liturgy. In: East Asian Pastoral Review 17 (1980), pp. 86-95, here p. 94
  5. ↑ Manfred Probst: The liturgical reform of Vatican II - a reform against piety? In: Liturgisches Jahrbuch 36 (1986), pp. 222–237, here p. 236
  6. ↑ Werner Hahne: "Where do liturgy and liturgical science stand? In: Herder-Korrespondenz 49 (1986), pp. 540-543 (conference report on the study conference of the" Working Group of Catholic Liturgy Lecturers in the German-Speaking Area ", September 22-26, 1986 in Rastatt) .
  7. ↑ Sacrosanctum concilium No. 14.
  8. ↑ Werner Hahne: DE ARTE CELEBRANDI or From the art of celebrating worship, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1990, p. 32f.
  9. ↑ Werner Hahne: Where do liturgy and liturgical science stand? in: Herder-Korrespondenz 49 (1986), pp. 540-543, here p. 542
  10. ↑ Sacramentum caritatis, No. 38.
  11. ↑ Sacramentum caritatis, No. 40.
  12. ↑ Sacrosanctum concilium, No. 34.
  13. ↑ Sacramentum caritatis, No. 41.
  14. ↑ Sacramentum caritatis, No. 38.
  15. ↑ General Introduction to the Roman Missal (3rd Edition), No. 22.
  16. ↑ Sacramentum caritatis, No. 39.