The Bugnini-Liturgy and the Reform of the Reform - MusicaSacra

2. The Holy Week
In the previous chapter I put forward some principles which I summarize
now as follows: 1. The expert in liturgy is entitled to criticize the liturgical
"reforms" if, in practice, he observes obediently the regulations in force
of the Church, including those rules which he cannot accept in his capacity
as an expert. 2. We have to reject the attitude which ranks the criticism of
the reforms as the manifestation of conservativism since it may be simply
the criticism of certain single components of the reform. 3. The Liturgy
has its own inner laws beyond the purely theological and juridical speculation.
The various individual solutions must be measured against these liturgical
laws, too. 4. The laws can only be established by studying the liturgical
traditions and not by applying a speculative method. By liturgical tradition
I mean the sum of the whole past of a given liturgy (in our case of the Roman
rite), not only the customs of the last 100 years. 5. The Bugnini liturgy
is contrary to this tradition in many respects, not only to the Tridentine rite
but to the whole of the Roman liturgy. The Bugnini liturgy is an arbitrary
patchwork which does not meet the requirements of the Liturgical Constitution
of the Second Vatican Council according to which all accidental innovations
must spring organically from tradition and yield genuine spiritual
benefit. 6. In this series the question of the language of the liturgy will not
be discussed since it touches upon the problem of the transmission of the
liturgical contents, and not upon its essence. 7. Similarly, the theological,
spiritual, pastoral and psychological implications of the liturgical reforms
will be disregarded.
1.
In the preamble let me raise a more general question, the relationship of
the Bugnini liturgy to the liturgy of the Roman rite and to the Tridentine rite.
The reform made sporadic references to the ancient Roman liturgy, its
starting point was, however, the Tridentine rite. It was the Tridentine liturgy
that the reform corrected and modified, combined with other elements
(in most cases with its own innovations), or simply rejected as an unacceptable
pattern, and replaced by new inventions. The innovations were pre-
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