Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => The Sacred: Catholic Liturgy, Chant, Prayers => Topic started by: Florian on February 16, 2026, 10:50:41 AM
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Interesting insights by Msgr. Enrico Dante, the Master of Papal Ceremonies of St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII and Paul VI.
The issue of liturgical reform
In Cæremoniale Romanum (https://caeremonialeromanum.com/en/the-issue-of-liturgical-reform-enrico-dante/).
The Acts of the Second Vatican Council remain the main source of knowledge about this event and the subject of extensive and ongoing research. However, they are insufficient to provide a comprehensive account of the processes, attitudes, and circuмstances that accompanied the deliberations of the Council Fathers. For their proper interpretation, one must also take into account the events preceding the Council, as well as the attempts made to implement its decisions. It is also reasonable to analyze the statements and actions of individual persons, as well as the publication of their diaries, memoirs, or notes. From this perspective, we provide a preliminary description of the participation in the 20th-century liturgical reforms of Cardinal Enrico Dante, long-time Master of Papal Ceremonies and Father of the Second Vatican Council.
As a member of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, Dante actively participated in the preparatory commissions for the Council and in the council’s liturgy commissions. He was also involved in drafting the conciliar constitution De Sacra Liturgia. Later, as well as during the Council, he played an important role in introducing reforms – his signature appears under many decrees in the liturgical books as secretary of the Vatican liturgical dicastery.
Enrico Dante, who was associated for decades with the “liturgical” dicasteries of the Holy See (the aforementioned Sacred Congregation of Rites, but also the Sacred Congregation of Ceremonies and the College of Papal Masters of Ceremonies), as a priest, later bishop, and finally cardinal, was at the very center of events related to liturgical reforms between 1948 and 1975. These reforms gained the most momentum under the auspices of the Second Vatican Council, hence attention should be focused on the years from 1963 until the death of Cardinal Enrico Dante. Was Cardinal Enrico Dante an enemy of liturgical reform en bloc? According to statements by the Papal Master of Ceremonies, his beliefs should be classified as conservative and moderate, aimed primarily at reviving the faith of the faithful participating in the liturgy. After the publication of the conciliar constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium on the sacred liturgy, Mons. Dante became known more as a defender of the Church’s liturgical traditions and customs and the identity of the Roman liturgy than as a protagonist of far-reaching reformist tendencies. However, it cannot be said that, as a faithful son of the Church, he rejected liturgical reform a priori and per principium.
Continue reading here (https://caeremonialeromanum.com/en/the-issue-of-liturgical-reform-enrico-dante/).