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A New Liturgical Hermeneutic: Christian Maturation by Developmental Steps

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

James Leachman OSB
James Leachman OSB*
Affiliation:
Pontifical Liturgy Institute, Ateneo Sant'Anselmo
*
Piazza Cavalieri di Malta, 5, 00153 Roma, Italy. Email: jleachmanroma@aol.com
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Abstract

In this paper I first survey several paradigms of liturgical renewal that respond to the mandate of the Second Vatican Council and I restate a suggestion made in 2007 for a new model of liturgical study, ‘Appreciating the Liturgy’. This new model encourages a deeper appreciation of the current liturgy and is offered that the Church may better discern the way forward in the renewal of the liturgy. Then, following a brief presentation of the liturgical hermeneutic taught at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy and a practical example of analysing a prayer with this method, I conclude by showing how the ‘Appreciating the Liturgy’ model has helped to reveal a liturgical hermeneutic heretofore overlooked, that of Christian maturation by developmental steps.

The method which Daniel McCarthy and I have developed and used here can validly be applied to other liturgical sources, yet this paper's conclusions, based on the analysis of a newly-composed oration in one of the renewed texts (editiones typicae) resulting from the Second Vatican Council and the Constitution on the Liturgy, suggest that Christian maturation was a real concern of those taking part in the Council.

Keywords

LiturgicalHermeneuticMaturationDevelopmentalParticipation
Type
Original Articles
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 90 , Issue 1026 , March 2009 , pp. 219 - 231
Copyright
© The author 2009. Journal compilation © The Dominican Council/Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2009

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References

1 A suggestion first made at the Societas Liturgica Congress, “Liturgy in the Public Square,” in Palermo 2007; Studia Liturgica 38 (2008) pp. 114–33.

2 Mannion, F.M., ‘Paradigms in American Catholic Liturgical Music’, Masterworks of God: Essays in Liturgical Theory and Practice, (Hillenbrand Books, Chicago/Mundelein, IL 2004) pp. 116–143Google Scholar.

3 Paul PP. VI, Litterae apostolicae motu proprio datae, Sacram liturgiam, die 25 ianuarii 1964, in AAS 56 (1964) p. 140.

4 Mannion, F.M., ‘Agendas for Liturgical Reform’, America 175 (1996) pp. 9–16Google Scholar.

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6 Mannion, F.M., ‘The Catholicity of the Liturgy: Shaping a New Agenda’, Masterworks of God: Essays in Liturgical Theory and Practice, (Hillenbrand Books, Chicago-Mundelein IL 2004) pp. 202–235Google Scholar.

7 Ibid., pp. 206–208.

8 Ibid., pp. 208–211.

9 Ibid., pp. 213–220.

10 Ibid., pp. 203–206.

11 Ibid., pp. 211–213.

12 Note also in the weekly column by Dom Daniel P. McCarthy from 2006–2007 in The Tablet on the Sunday collects, especially the two contributions, ‘Self-transcending Gift’, The Tablet, 10 February 2007, p. 18, and ‘Giving as One and as Many’, The Tablet, 17 February 2007 p. 15.

13 Leachman, J.G. & McCarthy, D.P., ‘The Preface of the Second Scrutiny (the Fourth Sunday in Lent): The mystagogical formation of the neophytes and the assembly’, Studia Liturgica 38 (2008) pp. 114–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Leachman, J.G. & McCarthy, D.P., ‘The formation of the ecclesial person through baptismal preparation and the celebrations in the OICA: the Collects for the Scrutinies’, The Liturgical Subject: Subject, subjectivity, and the human person in contemporary liturgical discussion and critique, ed. Leachman, J.G., (Faith in Reason 7, SCM – Notre Dame, London-South Bend IN 2008) pp. 172–200Google Scholar.

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18 Ibid., p. 344, citing E. Lodi, ‘La liturgia: teologia mistagogica. Introduzione generale allo studio della liturgia’, pp. 21–226.

19 Adapted from D.P. McCarthy's commentary in The Tablet, 13 May 2006, p. 25.

20 Missale Romanum ex decreto Sacrosancti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II instauratum auctoritate Pauli PP. VI promulgatum Ioannis Pauli PP. II cura recognitum, editio typica tertia, (Typis Vaticanis, Città del Vaticano 32002) p. 410.

21 Sacramentarium Bergomense: Manoscritto del secolo IX della Biblioteca di S. Alessandro in Colonna in Bergamo n° 571, 577, ed. A. Paredi (Monumenta Bergomensia 6, Fondazione Amministrazione Provinciale, Bergamo 1962) hereafter Bergom.

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24 D.P. McCarthy, ‘Happiness without end’, The Tablet, 29th March 2008, p. 16.

25 Following René Girard, Michael Kirwan and Sebastian Moore in the English-speaking world, Anna Pallavacini in Italy, Raymund Schwager in German-speaking areas, see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymund_Schwager

26 “Eis gamon sômatikon klêtheis tautên ethaumatourgêse tên paradoxopoian, kai tois tou numphônos ou pollô mallon tên apo lausin tou sômatos autou kai tou haimatos dôrêsamenos homologêthêsetai;”: Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus, Catéchèses mystagogiques 4, 2, ed. A. Piédagnel (Sources Chrétiennes 126 bis, Cerf, Paris, 21988) p. 136. “That wonderful work He miraculously wrought, when called to an earthly marriage; and shall He not much rather be acknowledged to have bestowed the fruition of His Body and Blood on the children of the bridechamber?”: (St Cyril of Jerusalem's Lectures on the Christian Sacraments (Texts for Students 51) ed. F.L. Cross (SPCK, London 1966) p. 68. “Appeléà des noces corporelles, il accomplit ce miracle merveilleux, et quand, aux compagnons de l'époux, il donne en présent la jouissance de son corps et de son sang, ne le confesserons-nous pas bien d'avantage?”: Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus, Catéchèses mystagogiques 4, 2, ed. A. Piédagnel (Sources Chrétiennes 126 bis, Cerf, Paris, 21988) p. 137. “Ad nuptias corporales vocatus, stupendum hoc miraculum effecit: et non eum multo magis filiis thalami nuptialis corpus suum et sanguinem fruenda donasse confitebimur?” Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus, Catéchèses mystagogiques 4, 2, ed. A. Piédagnel (Sources Chrétiennes 126 bis, Cerf, Paris, 21988) pp. 136–37. Latin text: PG 33, 1100.

27 McCarthy, D.P., ‘Liturgy – Our Offering’, Monastic Liturgy Forum Newsletter 19:3 (Spring 2008) pp. 1–4Google Scholar.