Safeguarding the Sacred Liturgy
The Nature of the Church’s Constitution
The Lord Jesus Christ built His Church for one reason; to be the future means by which all men in all ages might be saved.
He left an operational blueprint for the Church with His chosen apostles.
The Constitution of the Church is that body of divine laws and principles that fundamentally define, prescribe, govern and protect the Church, its mission and its various functions.
The Church’s initial Constitution comprised the direct oral commands of the Lord Jesus Christ relating to His Church’s establishment, mission, authority structure, succession, priesthood, worship, sacraments and membership etc
The Lord also provided for the future development of His Church and its Constitution under the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost:
“I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak; and the things that are to come, he shall shew you.” 1
Today the Church’s Constitution comprises those original direct commands of the Lord as recorded in the gospels, as well as the divine constitutional ordinances promulgated by St Peter and his successors pursuant to the delegated authority of the Lord Jesus Christ:
“And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven”2
There are a number of critical differences between the Church’s Constitution and the Constitution of a typical worldly entity such as a club, corporation or nation.
The Church’s Constitution is comprised exclusively of divine laws and principles, reflecting the essential nature of its builder and invisible head, the second person of the Holy trinity and the Truth incarnate.
The Church’s Constitution is divine in nature and therefore it is immutable, that is unchanging and unchangeable; it permits of no contradiction, whether in or over time; It Is of perpetual application; and it is of universal application, that is it applies to all baptised persons worldwide.
The constitution of the Holy Catholic Church is not based on democratic principles whereby authority is derived from the will of its membership and each elected leader in succession may within prescribed limits make constitutional amendments back and forth as they deem fit.
No Pope may ever amend, repeal, override, contradict or ignore an existing provision of the Church’s divine Constitution.
In her divine wisdom and anticipating a potential threat to her crowning glory, Holy mother Church made specific constitutional provision to protect her Sacred Liturgy.
Divine constitutional protection of the Sacred Liturgy
The Constitution of the Church provides that (limited exceptions excluded) the Holy Catholic Mass is not to be sung or read by any formula other than that contained in the Missal promulgated by Pope Saint Pius V in 1570 AD (“the 1570 Missal”)
This critical constitutional protection was promulgated by divine ordinance issued ex-cathedra by the vicar of Christ in that capacity pursuant to the delegated authority of the Lord Jesus Christ (whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven…etc).
The relevant provisions include:
“This ordinance applies henceforth, now, and forever, throughout all the provinces of the Christian world,”3
“let Masses not be sung or read according to any other formula than that of this Missal [the 1570 Missal] published by Us”4
“We grant and concede in perpetuity that, for the chanting or reading of the Mass in any church whatsoever, this Missal [the 1570 Missal] is hereafter to be followed absolutely”5
“this present document [the constitutional document, not the 1570 Missal] cannot be revoked or modified, but remain always valid and retain its full force”6
“Therefore, no one whosoever is permitted to alter this notice of Our permission, statute, ordinance, command, precept, grant, indult, declaration, will, decree, and prohibition. Would anyone, however, presume to commit such an act, he should know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.”7
The formula prescribed in the 1570 Missal contained nothing new – it was a codification of the Holy Catholic Mass of Apostolic Tradition as it had historically developed in the Church from the first Pentecost under the direction of the Holy Ghost:
“I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth. For he shall not speak of himself; but what things soever he shall hear, he shall speak; and the things that are to come, he shall shew you.”
This critical constitutional protection was specifically recognised by each of the various successors of Pope Saint Pius V who introduced relatively minor amendments to accidental qualities of the prescribed formula in the 1570 Missal (ie the essential formula of the 1570 Missal was always left intact).
This critical constitutional protection was also implicitly acknowledged in the documents of the second Vatican Council, where it was observed in respect of the ancient and sacred liturgy:
“ In order that the Christian people may more certainly derive an abundance of graces from the sacred liturgy, holy Mother Church desires to undertake with great care a general restoration of the liturgy itself. For the liturgy is made up of immutable elements divinely instituted, and of elements subject to change.”
“Finally, there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them”
Any attempt to substantially alter the formula in the 1570 Missal or even to introduce an entirely new formula for the chanting or reading of the Mass (regardless of arguable validity), would as a direct consequence of this divine constitutional protection be ultra vires, and therefore any such new or substantially altered formula would be immediately rendered null and void.
This constitutional protection not only safeguards the integrity of the Holy Catholic Mass from potential protestant or jewish corruption, but it secures for all time the purity and true Apostolicity of the Sacred Liturgy.
Finally this protection prevents the possibility of the Holy Catholic Church ever introducing two competing forms of the Holy Mass, one original with true apostolicity and a later without.
Such a possibility would not only create disastrous division within the Church but as the Old Testament makes absolutely transparent, it would be most displeasing to God whose universal vision for worship is singular, seeking the perfection of unity with His chosen people whether from one or all nations.
- St John 16:12-13
- St Matthew 16:19
- The apostolic constitution Quo Primum 1570 AD para 3
- ibid para 3
- ibid para 7
- ibid para 7
- ibid para 9
- St John 16:12-13
- A ‘general restoration’ by definition relates exclusively to something existing and never produces something new.
- Sacrosanctum Concilium para 21
- ibid para 23