Author: Peter Kwasniewski, PhD

The Removal of Tabernacles and the Desacrificialization of the Mass
Photo: Saint-François de Molitor, Paris, France. Why was the tabernacle removed from the high altar or kept away from the center of so many churches during the past fifty years? There are many reasons one could give for this decentering …

The Annunciation and the Subtle Use of Gospels in the Old Roman Rite
Painting: Maurice Denis, “Le mystère catholique,” (1889) After a number of years experiencing the annual cycle of readings in the traditional Latin Mass, I grew aware of the manner in which it approaches Gospels in general, which is freer and …

Christian Militancy in the Prayer of the Church
The following talk was given at a Call to Holiness event at Assumption Grotto in Detroit on Sunday, March 6, 2022. Please note that the sound quality in the video improves at the 2’15” mark, at which time the lapel …

The Sacrificial Nature of the Mass in the Usus Antiquior
The claim is often made that the traditional Roman Rite brings out more clearly than the Novus Ordo does that the Mass is a true and proper sacrifice—the unbloody re-presentation of the bloody sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. As …

Should We “Despise Earthly Goods and Love Heavenly Ones”? A Liturgical Lesson for Lent
With a majority of German bishops now on record as voting for official permission for contraception and the legitimization of sodomy, it seems time to reexamine the irreconcilable contrast between two views of reality. The Church in her traditional Roman …

Ordained, Assistants, and Faithful: On Hierarchical Participation in Three Spheres
Owing to its density and complexity, the traditional Roman liturgy—and the same, of course, would be true of any traditional liturgy—gives rise to multiple “hierarchies” of participation, which I will call here “ecclesiastical, sanctuarial, and congregational.” What I have noticed …

“All That Matters at Mass is Jesus”: Responding to Liturgical Heresy
How often have we heard it on social media? “As long as Jesus is present, nothing else really matters in the Mass, does it? We all have our preferences, but let’s stop fighting about things that are infinitely less important …

Does Pius VI’s ‘Auctorem Fidei’ Support Paul VI’s Novus Ordo?
Some people maintain that the Church cannot promulgate defective, useless, or harmful rites, citing Pope Pius VI’s Auctorem Fidei n. 78 and Pope Gregory XVI’s regional letter Quo Graviora n. 10. Those who wield these texts do not realize the …

Priests Who Want Holy Water Must Use the ‘Rituale’—Despite Episcopal Prohibition
As is well known by now, the Responsa ad Dubia from the Congregation for Divine Worship, published on December 18, 2021, try to make the continued use of the Rituale Romanum contingent on episcopal permission. This is but one of many falsehoods contained in …
On Human Barrel Organs
The following analogy was first shared with me in an email in Portuguese by a reader, who kindly gave me permission to develop it into an article. He joins many others who have sent me a seed that has germinated …
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