Vatican City, 27 February 2015 (VIS) –
On 7 March 1965, Blessed Paul VI, on the 25th anniversary of the
death of St. Luigi Orione, celebrated the first mass in Italian in
history in the parish of Ognissanti (All Saints), Rome. “Today we
inaugurate the new form of Liturgy in all the parishes and churches
of the world, for all the Masses followed by the people. It is a
great event, that shall be remembered as the beginning of a
flourishing spiritual life, as a new effort to participate in the
great dialogue between God and man”.
Fifty years on, to commemorate this
historic date, Pope Francis will preside at a Eucharistic celebration
next Saturday, 7 March at 6 p.m. in the same parish (Via Appia Nuova,
244). The occasion will also be celebrated by a Congress on Pastoral
Liturgy organised by the Vicariate of Rome, the Opera Don Orione and
the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Rome, to open today at the
Teatro Orione, adjacent to the All Saints parish.
The theme of the Congress is “United
in giving thanks”. The works will be presented by Rev. Flavio
Peloso, superior general of the Sons of Divine Providence (Don
Orione), who comments that the event “will facilitate an
understanding of the reasons behind yesterday's liturgical reforms
and today's commitment to liturgical fidelity”. Following greetings
from the auxiliary bishop Giuseppe Marciante, Archbishop Francesco
Pio Tamburrano, metropolitan emeritus of Foggia-Bovino, Italy, will
speak about “Tradition and renewal in paragraph 23 of the
liturgical Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium. Archbishop Piero
Marini, president of the Pontifical Committee for International
Eucharistic Congresses, will then consider the theme “The spoken
language, tool of communion in the dialogue of the liturgical
assembly”, and finally Rev. Francesco Mazzitelli, parish priest of
Ognissanti, will examine “The liturgical formation of the laity”.
The work of the Congress will be
concluded by the Benedictine Fr. Jordi Pique, president of the
Pontifical Liturgical Institute. The moderator, Fr. Giuseppe Midili,
director of the diocesan liturgical office, affirmed that “the
congress offers various points for reflection on the reasons that led
the conciliar bishops to introduce the spoken language into the
liturgy. Indeed, one of the main aims of liturgical reform was full,
active and conscious participation in the liturgy, so that the
faithful moved on from their role as mute, extraneous spectators. In
this sense, the change was historical and signified a turnaround.
Indeed, when the liturgy was celebrated in a language they did not
understand, the faithful sought more accessible forms of private
worship and prayer to recite during the Mass. With the introduction
of the spoken language, these individualistic forms slowly
disappeared from the celebratory context in favour of the centrality
of the community celebration”.
