"As I was taking in the sheer beauty of the mass while setting
during the Offertorium, my mind wandered to another mass which I attended a week and a half earlier, the High Mass (O.F. – TLM is still “banned” in Malta) offered at the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta, Malta. That choir and organist were likewise spectacular. Yet the O.F. mass, even though it was partially in Latin was very disappointing. There were only about three of us who actually knelt during the Canon. How very sad. And excuse the digression.
during the Offertorium, my mind wandered to another mass which I attended a week and a half earlier, the High Mass (O.F. – TLM is still “banned” in Malta) offered at the Co-Cathedral of St. John in Valletta, Malta. That choir and organist were likewise spectacular. Yet the O.F. mass, even though it was partially in Latin was very disappointing. There were only about three of us who actually knelt during the Canon. How very sad. And excuse the digression.
The sadness was caused by the thought of how much has been lost through the senseless submission to the new springtime of that “spirit of Vatican II”. Yet the joy presented itself in the cognizance of the OBJECTIVE REALITY of the situation, a REALITY that as of this writing, a Catholic like yours truly can find himself in a two different venues, several thousand miles apart, and yet encounter the timeless phenomenon which is the Catholic mass (regardless of whether it is a proper mass or the OF) and offered in a proper Catholic musical setting.
Summa summarum, it would appear as if the worst just might be behind us.
Or, to use an old advertisement jingle from the 1960’s,…
we’ve come a long way baby!
And finally before I go to the re-post, please keep the Church in Malta in your prayers. The Maltese N.O. church is dying, but the hierarchy there continues to exist in a state of denial. Only with our prayers and fasting can we help turn that situation around. With the help of our prayers, I have no doubt that the Holy Spirit will restore all things in Christ on Malta.
St. Michael Archangel, ora pro nobis!
Archbishop Lefebvre, ora pro nobis!
In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum"
Below are some of the comments that were posted under the original article:
Is the TLM really banned in Malta? Is that even possible after Summorum Pontificum?
S. Armaticus said:
Dear TS:
As you see, the word “banned” is in quotation marks.
There is a huge problem in Malta because the hierarchy refuses to allow the TLM to be offered on a regular basis, even though Summorum Pontificum is THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH.
For more information on this matter, please follow Una Voce’s Malta site Pro Tridentina at the following link: http://pro-tridentina-malta.blogspot.com.mt/p/avvizi-dwar-quddies-tridentin.html.
If you go to the link, you will notice that there are no TLM’s scheduled. Supposedly a TLM was offered last year on the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at St. Theresa Church in Cospicua. But I have not been able to confirm whether this is in fact the case. The last sighting of a TLM on the Pro Tridentina website was also on the same feast day, in 2011. But that TLM was canceled at the last minute.
There are credible reports that TLM’s have been offered on Malta since SP. Yet these are mostly a well kept secret.
So the long and short of the matter is that the TLM is “banned” on Malta.
B/t/w thanks for your question.
S.A.
