This is a good article found on the Rorate Caeli blog. It begins with the following:
St. Teresa of Avila once indicated she would willingly die a martyr for the least liturgical rubric of Holy Church.
How far we've come! I'm not surprised to hear the good Doctor of the Church say that, for this illustrious lady also once said:
It was that vision [of Hell] that filled me with the very great distress which I feel at the sight of so many lost souls—especially of the Lutherans—for they were once members of the Church by baptism—and also gave me the most vehement desires for the salvation of souls; for certainly I believe that, to save even one from those overwhelming torments, I would most willingly endure many deaths.
Nowadays, Lutherans and Catholics swap pulpits, and few would consider driving an extra mile to avoid liturgical abuses. But St. Teresa would rather die to save us from this.
Back the the article. The author, Bonetus, looks at changes to the Rite of Baptism, made in 1959 by the future destroyer of the Roman Rite, Annibale Bugnini.
In the [traditional] Roman Ritual, Holy Church had placed the following words on the lips of the priest, to be addressed to the one about to be baptized: If the catechumen had been a pagan, he was told “Horresce idola, respue simulacra” (“Abhor idols, reject images”); if “from the Hebrews,” “Horresce Iudaicam perfidiam, respue Hebraicam superstitionem” (“Abhor Jewish infidelity, reject Hebrew superstition”); if “from the Mohammedans,” “Horresce Mahumeticam perfidiam, respue pravam sectam infidelitatis” (“Abhor Mohammedan infidelity, reject that evil sect of infidelity”); and if “from heretics” among whom baptism was invalid (otherwise the convert would not be receiving baptism), “Horresce haereticam pravitatem, respue nefarias sectas impiorum N.” (“Abhor heretical depravity, reject the evil sects of the impious N.”).
Bugnini's reason for modifying these, citing Pius XII's earlier change of the Good Friday prayer for the Jews, was that these statements, while "perfectly exact" in their original meaning, had become "offensive to the ears." Had that destroyer lived, he would have changed the Rosary, and probably the Bible, too. Enjoy the article.
St. Teresa, pray for us!
Don't you just love articles like this-- ones which put out the (?offensive to the ears?) TRUTH in black and white for all to see?!? The pacificism of the so-called 'teachers' and 'professors' of the day both religious and secular had dumbed down the TRUTH so even Catholics do not recognize it when falling all over it!
Cyprian, I guess that it must be said,then, that the destroyer, Bugnini, left the changing of the Rosary and the new way in which the Bible is to be understood to JPII and BenXVI, respectively.
Ha! Bugnini was just ahead of his time. Maybe canonization would be right? Rome could make him the first Lodge member in Heaven.
So, is this to agree that one would be considered a "destroyer" who dared to change the Rosary, the mass, the way of understanding Sacred Scripture, etc.? St. Pope Pius X warned that there was nothing to which the Modernists/Progressivists would not put their impious hands. We are forewarned.
I think Bugnini wanted to do more than just add 5 decades. The latter change, by pope John Paul II, was bad enough, but doesn't merit the description of destruction.