During the week of May 9-13, I had the great privilege to attend an Extraordinary Form workshop offered by the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius. I had had a great desire to be trained in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass for some time. By a wonderful chance of scheduling, I was able to spend two weeks at the University of St. Mary of the Lake (also known as Mundelein Seminary) for a seminary classmate reunion retreat followed by the Extraordinary Form workshop across campus at the Cardinal Stritch Retreat House.
The workshop began at about Noon on Monday and went for about 96 hours of intense training and practice on the Extraordinary Form. When we weren’t training and practicing (and eating – the retreat house food was excellent!), we were also discussing how to celebrate the Sacraments of Matrimony, Baptism, and Extreme Unction according to the books in effect in 1962, as stipulated by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum and reinforced by the recently released Instruction Universae Ecclesiae. By a wonderful coincidence, Universae Ecclesiae happened to be promulgated on Friday morning of the workshop, and we spent about an hour discussing the Instruction.
Upon arrival, we were given a stack of materials which included the textbook for the week “Mastering the Rubrics of the 1962 Missal”, a stack of information on the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and Sacraments, and an envelope full of material from the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei. If you’ve been to an Extraordinary Form Mass and seen the softcover red booklets with the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin and English, you’re familiar with this Coalition. The Canons Regular also provided a selection of material from their bookstore for purchase, much of which was written or republished under their Biretta Press imprint.
A very beneficial part of the workshop was daily opportunities to attend Extraordinary Form Masses in choir, both Missa Lecta (Low Mass) and Missa Cantata (High Mass). The priests who sat in choir were placed along the side of the altar so that we could watch closely how the celebrant celebrated the Mass. I learned almost as much watching an experienced priest celebrate Mass as I did practicing on my own.
The members of the Canons Regular who trained us were very patient with us, especially when we would make silly mistakes (always a part of learning something new). My group of 3 had a seminarian brother of the Canons Regular to teach us. We went through the Mass small sections at a time with the brother demonstrating first, and then we would practice one at a time. He’d provide corrections, we’d repeat until we got it right, and so on. By Wednesday evening, we’d gone through the entire Low Mass in the individual sections. All day Thursday and Friday morning were spent putting it all together.
By the end of the week, I was so confident in my ability to celebrate the Extraordinary Form that I celebrated my first Extraordinary Form Mass at 7:00 AM Friday morning. Admittedly, that’s probably a bit rare, and maybe even a bit overconfident on my part. That first celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass wasn’t perfect, but it was valid and licit. I went from a familiarity with the Mass that most of the laity have to able to celebrate in the course of a week.
For any priests who might be interested in attending this workshop in the future, I would say, “Do it!” It was worth the time, travel and money, and I highly recommend working with the Canons Regular to learn the Extraordinary Form. I would advise those priests interested to begin developing familiarity with the Extraordinary Form both through attending the Mass (if possible in your area) and through the Sancta Missa website and DVDs or the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter DVDs. It also helps to work on your Latin pronunciation by praying the Breviary in Latin, if not offering the Ordinary Form in Latin on occasion. I’ve been able to do all that I’ve advised throughout my 3 years as a priest, and easily contributed to my ability to pick up the Extraordinary Form of the Mass as quickly as I did.
It truly was an excellent opportunity, and now I need to go “practice” by celebrating a private Extraordinary Form Mass.
