(Yes…a tease of a title)
I had (sort of and totally unreasonably) high hopes that what used to be the most awesome element of a papal coronation (as it was called) would be restored by Pope Francis.
It’s the part in which, as the Pope is being carried in on the sedia, he stops three times, a bunch of quick burning flax is lit, burns and disappears, while Sancte Pater, sic transit gloria mundi!” is chanted.
(Translation: Holy Father, thus passes the glory of the world.)
My hopes were especially high when I read that Pope Francis was bringing in friars from La Verna for the ceremony – La Verna being the spot where Francis received the stigmata. I was under the impression that in the past, it was a Franciscan who had performed this role in the ceremony, so the possibility of a La Verna friar doing this in 2013 didn’t seem far-fetched. It would seem to fit his sense of discipleship and ministry.
Well, it was far-fetched, apparently. Of course it didn’t happen. Besides, as I learned later, it wasn’t necessarily a Franciscan who would do this, but just one of the Masters of Ceremonies.
Below is a clip from John XXIII’s coronation. You can hear the sic transit chants at about 4.20;5.20 and 6:50. You can see the moment the last two times, only hear it the first.
The whole thing is quite fascinating. (Well, the “whole thing” is a few dozen parts long on YouTube, and I’ve not watched it all, but the parts I have interest me for a number of reasons, one of them being the genial hubub of the ceremony. Watch the Kyrie clip to get a taste. No regimental stiffness. Ministers in fairly constant instructional conversation, much wandering. The strength of confidence of the Pope’s voice is striking as well.)
Yes, that part of the ceremony is rooted in the centuries when the pope was monarch of more than a few square kilometers, and perhaps needed the reminder more than they do now. But still. Even with that changing historical context, it would still be fitting. And awesome.
So now, a couple of points:
Two comments – this and this comment at Catholic Answers were in understanding where Pope Francis, as a religious, might be coming from in terms of liturgy. I was especially appreciative of this explanation of Pope Francis not preaching from the chair, which I admit, bothers me. I mean – cathedra – bishop – teaching – authority – pretty ancient and important. I don’t know if this is true – perhaps someone can confirm.
It was also important to notice that he did not use the cathedra to preach. This is also a very Jesuit custom. Jesuit bishops (the few that there are) do not use the cathedra, because it’s a royal symbol. St. Ignatius banned all forms of the regal from the Jesuit order.
Being a religious myself, I know how much it is drummed into our heads to avoid all of these things, to the point that they make us feel very uncomfortable. Think about it this way. It takes 10 years to become a solemnly professed male religious. That’s the reason that there are so few communities in solemn vows. Most make simple vows. The formation is shorter. During the 10 years, the idea of simplicity and shunning anything that makes you look like a secular priest is drummed into you to the point that you have to push yourself, when you do have to accommodate. This may take some time for him or he may never do it. We’ll just have to wait it out. The good part is that he is not being liturgically sloppy. He’s just being a religious.
(Well, we can say…not a Benedictine kind of religious, either.)
I am still not sure how this works out – what takes precedence. We’ll see.
And for Holy Thursday, such welcome news that Pope Francis has enlisted the Diocese of Rome and the San’Egidio community to bring 3000 of Rome’s poor to Mass – I am presuming at St. John Lateran, where this Mass is celebrated. Bringing it all together – the people of God praying together in and through beauty and truth.
Update:
And…A 2011 piece on Popes in Prisons – a survey of papal visits to prisons, written on the eve of Benedict XVI’s second visit to a prison as Pope. The John XXIII story is particularly interesting. Here’s a video of Benedict XVI’s 2011 visit to Rebbibia Prison (very moving) and the text of his Q & A with prisoners. It’s all rather…you know…pastoral. )
Amy, Thanks for highlighting this. It’s very interesting to see what he does through the lens of his being Jesuit and not a secular priest.
Here’s Peter being sent…sent by others in Acts 8:14: “Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John…”
Peter was sent…sent. I know…it sounds so unpapal. Christ was sent…sent by the Father…Jn.17:18 ” As You sent me into this world…”
The monarch oriented traditions like the sedia obscured that humility of the Pope being capable of being sent…being a servant of the servants of God. No one sent Pope John Paul II anywhere…but that’s not great…that’s power.
Christ is King now but more properly after His Second coming in the full sense when Satan will have zero power. The crucifix is our central icon not a throne in this time prior to that Second coming.
Christ rode on a donkey. This Pope rode on the bus. Same thing. Don’t worry. Francis will ruffle all our feathers in other areas. This man was born to ruffle. I’d love to hear the security people discussing him.
Precedence? His vow or monarchical laden tradition? He will answer that case by case and he will not change all his colors for traditions that are partly secular in origin. (But I wouldn’t be surprised if the security people are averse to the sedia…quite a clean shot for a lone terrorist.) I said he will offend everyone on day 2 of his appearance; and he will and partly because of his vow of poverty because poverty as to liturgy inclines away from monarchical culture. And he was a chemist. They need less aesthetics in their lives than the liberal arts majors. Vow of poverty, chemist, endothermic Church as one that dies…these three argue against his prioritizing the plush in symbols.
Very helpful links Amy, thanks so much for posting.
I was good with what I saw and heard of the Inauguration Mass…
(As a convert, not a new one, eights years, but still a babe, it may be that having not been steeped in the past I am not attune to certain things. On the other hand, some things I do know about, when I see this Jesuit Pope do differently I find I like; I find I do not have a reactionary reaction. That’s neither better nor worse, that I can tell, it just is what is)
…though I am the better now being better informed via the links you provided, Amy.
I don’t want to be caught in useless comparisons (under any label) with past papacies but neither should I, we Catholics, have to dance around talking about the unique differences as a means toward better and charitable understanding. I am surprised how much, from moment one, I feel connected with this pope. I always loved (love) and respected (respect) pope-emeritus Benedict XVI, again, he was my first pope and (not but) I never quite connected personally with him in the way other did. God or bad, that’s just where it is. Pope Francis has captivated me and simultaneously challenges me.
In regard to all above, I found this commentary from two days ago, with a Jesuit priest, Fr. Gilles Mongeau and professor at Regus College, Toronto to be balanced and enlightening.
God bless you Amy.
No the Holy Thursday Mass will not be at St. John Lateran or St. Peters but at the Casal del Marmo prison for minors.
Oy…wonderful in itself this prison thing…but the media might use it badly and Father Z may have a coronary as will the papal security men. Oy. Oh…there are Jebbies rejoicing the world over until he turns to some of them in other matters. My original metaphor stands….like watching the Miami Heat as to excitement.
Then I’m not sure how the “inviting 3000 of the poor” will work. Perhaps he is saying Mass twice or perhaps not personally celebrating in St. John Lateran. There *has* to be a Holy Thursday Mass in St. John Lateran, it being the cathedral of Rome.
This link says St. Peter’s first then the prison:
http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/upiUPI-20130321-113126-6128
From what I gather, he has not “taken possession”? of St. John’s yet so the chrism Mass is that AM in St. Peter’s where I would think the 3000 poor will go and perhaps many who had tickets to the night Mass. He commented by the way that the papal apartment could fit 300 people…just sayin’…just sayin’.
I’m going to be 47 and I have never had any such illusions since the death of Paul VI. I may have pondered such a return of tradition when I (briefly) was overtaken with the delusion that Cardinal Burke or Ranjinth or miracle of miracles Bishop Athanasius Schneider had any chance of becoming pope. I was quickly cured of any such notions of a restoration of these beautiful expressions of a “hermeneutic of continuity in tradition” when I heard the holy father’s name read aloud. It was at that moment that I knew that the continuity would be with the last 40+ years and not to what existed previously. It is the past 50 years that would be commemorated and canonized and not what existed prior to that. It was at that point that I decided to simply pray an extra rosary for the holy father and remain silent.
Below is a link to video of Benedict at the Rebibbia prison. As I recall, it was an extraordinary visit because the prisoners asked him really amazing questions and Benedict was profoundly moved by their suffering, but also by their wisdom.
He gave an answer about why it is important to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation in addition to privately asking for the Lord’s forgiveness:
“of course, if you fall down on your knees (in your own room) and with true love of God, ask him to pardon you, he will…but, sin is not just a ‘personal’ thing, something individual between me and God. Sin always has a social dimension…it requires a sacrament, which is a great gift in which I can… liberate myself and can receive forgiveness in the sense of a full readmission to the community of the living Church, the Body of Christ.”
But perhaps his most striking comment came when a prisoner expressed great suffering in the fact that people spoke of him a “ferocious” manner. Benedict said that it was true and painful, but that there was no doubt that there were others who knew him and loved him and spoke well of him. In a matter-of fact way, Benedict said he really understood the man’s suffering because people often speak ferociously of the pope too…but that we must forge ahead, knowing that the Lord will help us and be close to us.
Ann,
Wonderful and touching even without understanding the language.
Amy, Ann, Stacy, etc.
I am now understanding your point vis a vis the media’s false comparison.
Today in the Washington Post, Benedict is comparatively pictured as a gourmand… “feasting” by having saffron with his shrimp on pasta with a vegetable ( you’d need an ounce of saffron to taste it even…I have a vial from Spain and paid too much since it is phantom in most recipes…ie you can’t feast on it if you tried hard to).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/pope-francis-simple-tastes-extend-to-the-menu/2013/03/21/3e70ad30-9266-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html
Thanks, Amy, the singing is so beautiful and reverent and makes me wish I had been there!
Whenever we invite the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the world, we can expect disturbances, sometimes tumultuous. I so admire the teachings and writings of Pope Benedict, and I am moved by his example of quiet dignity. I am excited by the exuberance of Pope Francis and look forward to knowing him better.
I am grateful to John Paul, Benedict and Francis for their ministry to prisoners. Prisons are the most dangerous neighborhoods in the US. I am embarrassed that I often forget to pray for the incarcerated .I wish our parishes would be more conscious in reminding us of our duty to ransom the captive.
I, too, wished for sic transit gloria mundis…
It is actually the engraving on my ipod.
Martial, I liked this from the link Amy provided “the average traditionalist does not know or has forgotten that religious schools have traditions that are very much a part of Church life.” we must beware our own temptations to a private tyranny of relativism ‘of recent memory’
The big picture in the mystical body of Christ is VERY broad and deep – più vasto than we could ever conceive of, indeed archeology and study of historical texts with techniques sympathetic to the cultures that created them reveal membership in places and times so distant we dismiss them as ‘legends’ (see St. Thomas in India and the Malankara and Malabar Syriacs) or the two-century fidelity of the Kakure Kirishitans of Japan that Pope Francis has referred to in his episcopal catecheses on trusting the laity with the transmission of the faith. This isn’t modern innovation this is an historical reality, a priceless gift of the Holy Spirit, an archeopoieta, not made by human hands nor even imagined feasible by conventional human means (NIH syndrome, Roman Curia edition) until the facts on the ground could no longer be controverted. The anaphora of Addai and Mara remains controversial, but the very fact that churchmen are openly studying the spirituality of the liturgy for what it actually is, a Catholic liturgy that perserved and was passed down through millenia of Muslim subjection is miraculous, there’s no other word for it – check out what the plucky Irish did with their independence
“No Béarla follows native Irish language speaker, Manchán Magan around Ireland where he attempts to use the nation’s official first language to get by, without any English.” (hint, not very well! Spanish? yes German? yes Gaelic? not so much )