Apropos
From the November AD 1999
Our Lady of the Rosary
Parish Bulletin
Selections from the
Scripture, the Fathers,
Doctors, Popes, and other great spiritual writers appropriate to the Church in
our time.
Pope Pius XII
Encyclical Mediator Dei
62. Assuredly it is a wise and most laudable thing to return in spirit and affection to the sources of the sacred Liturgy. For research in this field of study, by tracing it back to its origins, contributes valuable assistance towards a more thorough and careful investigation of the significance of feast-days, and of the meaning of the texts and sacred ceremonies employed on their occasion. But it is neither wise nor laudable to reduce everything to antiquity by every possible device. Thus, to cite some instances, one would be straying from the straight path were he to wish the altar reduced to its primitive table-form; were he to want black excluded as a color for the liturgical vestments; were he to forbid the use of sacred images and statues in churches; were he to order the crucifix so designed that the Divine Redeemer's Body showed no trace of his cruel sufferings; lastly were he to disdain and reject polyphonic music or singing in parts, even where it conforms to regulations issued by the Holy See. (Emphasis supplied.)
[Good thing Pope Pius didn't offer any more things for them not to change!]
