Reason 35

35. Because the traditional Mass has forged many saints. “Innumerable saints have been fed abundantly with the proper piety towards God by it . . .” (Pope Paul VI, Const. Apost. Missale Romanum).


It is interesting to note that this quote from Paul VI is from his Apostolic Constitution promoting the new Roman Missal. It is speaking about the traditional Mass while promoting the revised liturgy.

I would agree wholeheartedly that the traditional Mass is an excellent source of saints, but this in no way invalidates the revised liturgy. In the first place, the traditional Mass has been around, in its present form, for 400 years, with something rather close for at least a 1,000 years before that. The revised Mass has been around for 40 which is, generally speaking, no where near enough time to get canonization (it usually takes a hundred years at minimum, witness St. Damien of Molokai).

Furthermore, the eastern Liturgies of the Church have also forged innumerable saints, such as Sts. Cyril and Methodius, St. John Chrystostom, and St. Anthony the Great. This fact then does not mean we should only celebrate the eastern Liturgies, but that they are good and worthy of reverence.

In the end, this reason is a very strong argument for the perpetuation of the traditional Mass. As such a grand source of spiritual nourishment the traditional Mass should be reverenced and embraced. It is not inherently better (though it may be) but it is inherently good and worthy of our attention. Most Catholics would do good to notice that and keep in mind what food it was that sustained St. Damien, St. Pio, and St. Faustina.