Vatican orders suppression of the Latin Mass at California diocese’s cathedral

[Stone]

Vatican orders suppression of the Latin Mass at California diocese’s cathedral
The letter directing the cessation of the Latin Mass at the Cathedral of St. Eugene in Santa Rosa, California, was handed down by the Secretary of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.



Cathedral of St. Eugene in Santa Rosa, California
Screenshot

Oct 23, 2024
SANTA ROSA, California (LifeSiteNews [emphasis mine]) — The Vatican suppressed the Traditional Latin Mass at the cathedral in Santa Rosa, California, leaving parishioners to seek a new location for the Mass of the Ages.

Bishop Robert Vasa of the Diocese of Santa Rosa confirmed Wednesday to LifeSiteNews that the Vatican directed that the TLM be discontinued at the Cathedral of St. Eugene. According to Bishop Vasa, permission has been granted to relocate the Latin Mass, but details regarding when and where this will take place have yet to be determined.

A source who read the letter directing the cancellation of the cathedral’s TLM told LifeSiteNews that it was signed by Archbishop Vittorio Viola, the Secretary of Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments. The letter cited St. Ignatius of Antioch and Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, according to the source.

The decision was announced to parishioners on Sunday, October 13, without a definite date for the cathedral’s last TLM. However, parishioner George Zieminski told LifeSiteNews that the Latin Mass is expected to end there within the next two months or so.

“This news was met with great sorrow, but not unexpected,” said Zieminski, who added that there are no similar locations nearby for the Latin Mass. Santa Rosa is located about an hour north of San Francisco.

He noted that the cathedral was “renovated about 10 years ago to make it a much more beautiful place to worship our God,” and asked for prayers for the cathedral parish and Bishop Vasa during this time.

Since Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, which said that bishops are not to allow Traditional Latin Masses in “parochial churches,” dozens of Latin Masses have been suppressed across the world, with some relocated and many cancelled altogether.

Liturgical scholar Dr. Peter Kwasniewski has implored priests to resist Traditionis Custodes and its accompanying Responsa ad dubia “regardless of threats or penalties,” since obedience to these documents would undermine the very mission of the holy Catholic Church.

‘The traditional Mass belongs to the most intimate part of the common good in the Church. Restricting it, pushing it into ghettos, and ultimately planning its demise can have no legitimacy. This law is not a law of the Church because, as St. Thomas (Aquinas) says, a law against the common good is no valid law,’” he said in a speech during the 2021 Catholic Identity Conference.

He quoted the solemn words of St. Pius V’s bull Quo Primum, which authorized the Traditional Mass in “perpetuity.” Quo Primum states (emphasis added):

In virtue of Our Apostolic authority, We grant and concede in perpetuity that, for the chanting or reading of the Mass in any church whatsoever, this Missal is hereafter to be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment, or censure, and may freely and lawfully be used. Nor are superiors, administrators, canons, chaplains, and other secular priests, or religious, of whatever title designated, obliged to celebrate the Mass otherwise than as enjoined by Us. We likewise declare and ordain … that this present document cannot be revoked or modified, but remains always valid and retains its full force … Would anyone, however, presume to commit such an act (i.e., altering Quo Primum), he should know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.

Kwasniewski pointed out that Quo Primum “is not ‘just a disciplinary document’ that can be readily set aside or contradicted by his successors. It is a document de rebus fidei et morum, concerning matters of faith and morals, and therefore not susceptible to being set aside by a later pontiff.”