Liturgical archeologism
With liturgical archaeologism , Pope Pius XII. in his encyclical Mediator Dei in November 1947, one of the errors regarding the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church .
The term means that in the rites of worship “only the pure origin [to] apply at the beginning” and that later further developments are measured exclusively against it. Cardinal Walter Kasper quotes Pope John XXIII. : "The liturgy is not a museum, but like a village fountain from which fresh water gushes."
Pope Pius XII unilaterally rejected backward-looking standards and expressly affirmed the importance of continuous renewal of the liturgy in the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit :
“Certainly the ancient liturgy is undoubtedly venerable. But an old custom is not simply because it radiates antiquity to be regarded as more suitable and better in itself or for later times and new circumstances. The more recent liturgical rites, too, are worthy of reverent observation because they arose under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who is always with the Church until the end of time; and they too are equal values with the help of which the glorious bride of Christ spurs people on to holiness and leads them to perfection.
To return with spirit and heart to the sources of the sacred liturgy is certainly wise and very praiseworthy, since the study of this branch of knowledge, by going back to its beginnings, contributes not a little to deeper and more accurately the meaning of the festivals and the meaning of the sacred texts and ceremonies used to explore; on the other hand it is neither wise nor praiseworthy to trace everything back to antiquity at any cost.
The work of historians as a whole is praised in the encyclical. The Pope writes:
“The blessed fruits of this diligent effort [sc. Competition in the field of liturgical studies] could be observed in the field of theological sciences, where the liturgical rites of the Western and Eastern Churches were explored and grasped more exhaustively and deeply, as well as in the spiritual and private lives of many Christians. "
Research into the history of liturgy since the 17th century has played an important role in the Church, which the liturgical scholar Aimé-Georges Martimort (1911–2000) characterizes as follows:
“It helped the clergy and the faithful to rediscover the value and richness of the liturgy, its meaning in the tradition of the Church, the true meaning of rites and prayers, the distinction between the essential and the inessential and the unity and diversity of the church's inheritance. [...] The origin of the rites explains their true meaning, helps to determine their greater or lesser importance and teaches either to appreciate their timelessness or to recognize their dependence on cultural factors. "
What is important, according to Martimort, is that "research into the external and visible course of the rites" is not enough: "The historian must also try to discover the inner attitude with which the rites were lived by the clergy and the faithful."
In contrast to the term liturgical archeologism , there is the ideal of the “ venerable norm of the fathers ” ( pristina sanctorum patrum norma ) as a measure of the traditional conformity of the liturgical action of the church, which was formulated by Pope Pius V in 1570 and by the Second Vatican Council in his liturgical constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium (No. 50) was recorded.
Remarks
- ^ Cardinal Karl Lehmann : Guest lecture at the University of Würzburg on December 4, 2010, [1] , Section VI.
- ↑ Vatican Radio, October 13, 2013
- ↑ Aimé-Georges Martimort (Ed.): Handbuch der Liturgiewwissenschaft I. Herder Verlag, Freiburg-Basel-Wien 1963, p. 12f.