DON VINCENZO writes:

The current dustup between the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, an Italian Capuchin (Franciscan) religious community, and Pope Francis I entails nothing less than an attempt by the pontiff through his appointees to suppress centuries-old practices and the traditional Catholic liturgy.

An aside: the word, “cappuccino,” stems from the similarity of the coffee’s color to the dress robes of the Capuchin Order of Franciscans (often called Ordinus Minorum Cappuccinorum and written, O.F.M.): the brown cassock and white cowl.

Beginning in 1992, a group of Italian Capuchins calling themselves Immacolata di Maria, and devoted to prayers to Mary, the Mother of God, sought to exempt themselves from what they considered the baleful ongoing alterations of the liturgy, and began the practice of daily celebration of the Tridentine Mass which has been in existence, with very minor changes, since the ending of the Council of Trent in 1564. But the current pope, Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year,” has dealt with this “reprobate” (the word used to describe the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the papal commissioner’s report) Capuchin group in a way that has shocked many observers, including the well-known Italian layman, Roberto di Mattei.

An External Commissioner of Franciscans of the Immaculate – the Rev. Fidenzo Volpi  – (“Volpi” is the Italian word for foxes) – himself a Capuchin, after informing the Franciscans that his mission was approved “by special order of the Vicar of Christ” began what can only be described as a slash-and-burn policy aimed at transforming the religious community. Volpi especially appeared hell-bent (no pun intended) on reading the Riot Act to Italian Head of Franciscans of the Immaculate, Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli, for his allowing the Tridentine Mass to be said to the exclusion of the current Novus Ordo Mass, and removed Fr. Manelli immediately.

Never in my lifetime have I seen this kind of punishment meted out to any religious order:

Fr. Manelli is under what amounts to house-arrest and cannot be visited even by family. (He is seriously ill.)

IM Capuchins in the course of study will have their classes ended and transferred to a different site at a future date.

Priestly ordinations are suspended for one year.

Any future candidate for entry into the Order who does not agree with the documents issued by the Second Vatican Council, “will be immediately dismissed.”

All publications by the Order are suspended, even though they championed only a “moderate” Traditional Catholic approach to the liturgy.

In the Papal Bull, Quo Primum (1570), Pope Pius V declared:

Furthermore, by these presents and by virtue of Our Apostolic authority We give and grant in perpetuity (emphasis mine) that for the singing or reading of Mass in any church whatsoever, this Missal may be followed absolutely, without any scruple of conscience or fear of incurring any penalty, judgment or censure, and may be freely and lawfully used….

In his Summorum Pontificum (2007), Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI reiterated that inviolable right – till now.

Roberto di Mattei asked, rhetorically, why has the wrath of the Vatican fallen on this intensely devoted group when so many other (see my reports on religious sisters here and here) Catholic orders, including members of the Society of Jesus, the pope’s religious order, have openly disregarded Church teaching? A logical question whose answer I suspect di Mattei already knows.

There is one further bit of irony here that should not go unmentioned: in 1773, then Pope Clement XIV issued his Papal Bull, Dominus ac Redemptor Noster, which abolished the Jesuit Order; how it returned is a tale for another time. Nearly two and a half centuries later, the actions of the first Jesuit pope seem to be aimed, at least in part, at reversing that event.

— Comments —

Don Vincenzo writes:

Here is a coda to the above.

Francis’s “kitchen cabinet” is now comprised of those who agree with the pope’s plan for further discontinuing the practices of the Traditional liturgy and prayers.  Amongst the most noted figure removed from this advisory group is Cardinal Raymond Burke, now Head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Church’s Supreme Court, and a holdover from Benedict’s pontificate.

You may recall that it was Archbishop Burke, who as head of the St. Louis Diocese (and then later in Rome) said that communion should NOT be given to Biden, Sebelius and Pelosi. I cannot help but believe that the arrival of the oily Donald Cardinal Wuerl, head of the Archdiocese of our nation’s dysfunctional capital and no Burke ally, is indicative of the path the Pontiff will take on this issue.

Any careful reading of the entrails for predicting the future (auguries) does not show positive signs for us, of that I am sure.

Please follow and like us: