The Mass at St. Mary Major

ZENIT reports on Cardinal Castrillon's celebration of the old form of Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Here's the musical program: the plainchant was to be sung by the Benedictine monks of San Anselmo Abbey in Rome, and the polyphony by the Schola Sainte-Cécile from Paris.

"The old Roman rite preserves its right of citizenship in the Church and cannot be considered extinguished," Cardinal Castrillón said Saturday during the sermon, the only part of the Mass not in Latin....

What "unites the variety of rites is the same faith in the eucharistic mystery," the cardinal said. The St. Pius V rite was used before the liturgical reform introduced by the Second Vatican Council.

The celebrant read a message from Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State, transmitting the Pope's blessing to those present.

The solemn celebration was attended by five cardinals: Bernard Law, archbishop emeritus of Boston; and William Baum, major penitentiary emeritus; Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments; Alfons Maria Stickler, archivist and librarian emeritus of the Holy Roman Church; and Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra, archbishop emeritus of Antananarivo, Madagascar.

Also present was Archbishop Julián Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts.

Cardinal Law's interest in the rite is curious to those of us who assist at the old Mass in Boston, as he never attended that service in twelve years.