The Liturgical Movement was a 19th-century and 20th-century movement of scholarship for the reform of
worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition ...
. It began in the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and spread to many other
Christian church
In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a synonym fo ...
es including the
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...
,
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
and some other
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
churches.
History
Background to the Mass of the Roman Rite
Developments in Belgium and Germany
At almost the same time, in Germany Abbot
Ildefons Herwegen
Ildefonsus or Ildephonsus (rarely ''Ildephoses'' or ''Ildefonse''; Spanish: San Ildefonso; c. 8 December 607 – 23 January 667) was a scholar and theologian who served as the metropolitan Bishop of Toledo for the last decade of his life. His ...
of
Maria Laach
Maria Laach Abbey (in German: ''Abtei Maria Laach'', in Latin: ''Abbatia Maria Lacensis'' or ''Abbatia Maria ad Lacum'') is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See (Lake Laach), near Andernach, in the Eifel ...
convened a liturgical conference in Holy Week 1914 for lay people. Herwegen thereafter promoted research which resulted in a series of publications for clergy and lay people during and after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. One of the foremost German scholars was
Odo Casel
The Liturgical Movement was a 19th-century and 20th-century movement of scholarship for the reform of worship. It began in the Catholic Church and spread to many other Christian churches including the Anglican Communion, Lutheran and some other Pro ...
. Having begun by studying the Middle Ages, Casel looked at the origins of Christian liturgy in pagan cultic acts, understanding liturgy as a profound universal human act as well as a religious one. In his ''Ecclesia Orans'' (''The Praying Church'') (1918), Casel studied and interpreted the pagan mysteries of ancient Greece and Rome, discussing similarities and differences between them and the Christian mysteries. His conclusions were studied in various places, notably at
Klosterneuburg
Klosterneuburg (; frequently abbreviated as Kloburg by locals) is a town in Tulln District in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It has a population of about 27,500. The Klosterneuburg Monastery, which was established in 1114 and soon after give ...
in Austria, where the Augustinian canon
Pius Parsch Pius Parsch, born John Bruno Parsch (May 18, 1884 – March 11, 1954) was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.
Parsch was born in Neustift near Olmutz, Moravia, in what is now the Czech Republic. He was given the name ''Pius'' when he entered the ...
applied the principles in his church of St. Gertrude, which he took over in 1919. With laymen he worked out the relevance of the Bible to liturgy. Similar experiments were to take place in Leipzig during the Second World War.
Second Vatican Council
Effect on church architecture
The Liturgical movement was influential in church design in France, Belgium Germany, Switzerland and the UK - where it was introduced in the 1950s. The New Churches Research Group was founded in 1957 in the UK to promote "a modern idiom appropriate to the ideas of the Liturgical Movement". The NCRG was a group of Catholic and Anglican church architects and craftspeople who promoted liturgical reform of churches though publications such as ''
The Tablet
''The Tablet'' is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017.
History
''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by a Quaker convert ...
'' and ''
Architects' Journal
''Architects' Journal'' is an architectural magazine published in London by Metropolis International.
History
The first edition was produced in 1895. Originally named ''The Builder's Journal and Architectural Record'', from 1906 to 1910 it was kn ...
''. The group was co-founded by
Peter Hammond,
Robert Maguire
Robert A. Maguire (August 3, 1921 – February 26, 2005), or R. A. Maguire, was a twentieth-century American illustrator and fine artist. Known primarily for his crime noir paperback cover art, he produced artwork for over 1,200 covers from 1950 ...
and Keith Murray (an ecclesiastical designer), and included architects Peter Gilbey, John Newton (Burles, Newton & Partners),
Patrick Nuttgens
Patrick John Nuttgens CBE (2 March 1930 – 15 March 2004) was an influential English architect and academic.
Early life
Nuttgens was born in Whiteleaf, Buckinghamshire, the fourth of five children to Kathleen Mary (''née'' Clarke) an Iri ...
,
George Pace
George Gaze Pace, (31 December 1915 – 23 August 1975) was an English architect who specialised in ecclesiastical works.
He was trained in London, and served in the army, before being appointed as surveyor to a number of cathedrals. Mo ...
,
Patrick Reyntiens
Nicholas Patrick Reyntiens OBE (; 11 December 1925 – 25 October 2021) was a British stained-glass artist, described as "the leading practitioner of stained glass in this country."
Personal life
Reyntiens was born in December 1925 at 68 Ca ...
(stained glass artist),
Austin Winkley
Austin S. Winkley (born 1934) is a British architect who specialises in church architecture and is a member of the Liturgical Movement of UK ecclesiastical architects.
Early life
Winkley was born in 1934 to a family of Lancashire cotton workers ...
, Lance Wright, as well as Catholic priest and theologian
Charles Davis.
The Second Vatican Council saw the acceptance of many of the movement's ideas, resulting in a radical rethinking of design, expressing 'noble simplicity rather than sumptuous display'. The turning points were the publication of Peter Hammond's ''Liturgy and Architecture'', a critique of modern English church design, and the publication of
Frederick Gibberd
Sir Frederick Ernest Gibberd (7 January 1908 – 9 January 1984) was an English architect, town planner and landscape designer. He is particularly known for his work in Harlow, Essex, and for the BISF house, a design for a prefabricated council ...
’s design for the completion of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.
Reordering of churches
An example of reordering is St Joseph's church in
Retford
Retford (), also known as East Retford, is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England, and one of the oldest English market towns having been granted its first charter in 1105. It lies on the River Idle and the Chesterfie ...
, which was designed by
Ernest Bower Norris
Ernest Bower Norris, was a prolific architect practising mostly in the north-west of England. His style fused modern, traditional and international influences, although in his ecclesiastical work he often favoured neo-byzantine or romanesque. A ...
in modern Romanesque design, incorporating
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
elements. It opened in 1959 and in 1968 was re-ordered by
Gerard Goalen
Gerard Thomas Goalen (16 December 1918 – 2 January 1999) was a British architect who specialised in church architecture and was influenced by continental models and the Liturgical Movement. He was one of the most important architects of the C ...
to comply with the recommendations of Vatican II. During the re-order, Goalen commissioned a large Christus Resurrexit for the sanctuary wall by
Steven Sykes.
Building of new churches
The Catholic church became a major patron of modern architecture and art during the 1950s and 60s in the UK. A group of modernist architects including
Gillespie, Kidd & Coia
Gillespie, Kidd & Coia was a Scottish architectural firm famous for their application of modernism in churches and universities, as well as at St Peter's Seminary in Cardross. Though founded in 1927, they are best known for their work in the ...
,
Gerard Goalen
Gerard Thomas Goalen (16 December 1918 – 2 January 1999) was a British architect who specialised in church architecture and was influenced by continental models and the Liturgical Movement. He was one of the most important architects of the C ...
,
Francis Pollen
Francis Anthony Baring Pollen, FRIBA (7 December 1926 – 4 November 1987) was an English architect who designed, amongst other significant buildings, Worth Abbey in West Sussex.
He was born in London on 7 December 1926 and educated at Down ...
,
Desmond Williams and
Austin Winkley
Austin S. Winkley (born 1934) is a British architect who specialises in church architecture and is a member of the Liturgical Movement of UK ecclesiastical architects.
Early life
Winkley was born in 1934 to a family of Lancashire cotton workers ...
utilised contemporary design and construction methods to deliver the ‘noble simplicity’ instructed by Vatican I, literally to express the values of the Liturgical Movement in buildings. Desmond Williams noted that his St Mary Dunstable church was "circular, with the object being to bring as many of the congregation near the altar, and proved very popular in attracting worshippers." Maguire & Murray's
St Paul's, Bow Common
St Paul's Bow Common is a 20th-century church in Bow Common, London, England. It is an Anglican church in the Diocese of London. The church is at the junction of Burdett Road and St Paul's Way in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It replaced a ...
(1960) has not only been awarded Grade II* listed status but was also voted best twentieth century church in the UK by the judges of the UK’s Best Modern Churches competition (2013).
Architects in this movement also collaborated with notable ceramic and glass artists such as
Dom Charles Norris
Dom Charles Norris OSB (1909-2004) was an influential artist who created works in stained glass and dalle de verre for Roman Catholic churches in the UK. He is thought to be the most prolific artist working in dalle de verre in the UK in the 20th ...
,
Patrick Reyntiens
Nicholas Patrick Reyntiens OBE (; 11 December 1925 – 25 October 2021) was a British stained-glass artist, described as "the leading practitioner of stained glass in this country."
Personal life
Reyntiens was born in December 1925 at 68 Ca ...
and
Steven Sykes.
Status of Modernist churches
Some of the churches built during this period are now being listed by Historic England in recognition of their outstanding
modernist architecture
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...
and art. These include Goalen's Our Lady of Fatima, Harlow (Grade II listed, 1958), St Mary Dunstable (Grade II listed, 1964), Winkley's
Church of St Margaret of Scotland, Twickenham
The Church of St Margaret of Scotland, also known as St Margarets Catholic Church, is a Roman Catholic church on St Margaret's Road in St Margarets, Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The parish was created in 1936. The ...
(Grade II listed, 1969).
Criticism
The architecture of these churches was criticized by the architect
Robert Maguire
Robert A. Maguire (August 3, 1921 – February 26, 2005), or R. A. Maguire, was a twentieth-century American illustrator and fine artist. Known primarily for his crime noir paperback cover art, he produced artwork for over 1,200 covers from 1950 ...
, he stated: "Gerard Goalen's 'T'-shaped church of Our Lady of Fatima at Harlow, resplendent with its Buckfast Abbey glass. My only serious criticism of this – and it is serious – is that God's Holy People are divided,
like All Gaul, into three parts."
Return to traditional layouts
In the US, there has been a return to more traditional Catholic church layouts as a result of Pope Benedict re-emphasising clerical distinctions. This has included revisiting pre-Liturgical Movement architecture in new construction and the renovation of modernist churches along traditionalist lines. The traditional cruciform plan—which was largely absent from liturgical designs since Vatican II because of its fracturing effect on the assembly—has been incorporated into recent church buildings.
Churches of the Lutheran tradition
The
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...
, the largest
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
body in the United States, has also revived a greater appreciation of the liturgy and its ancient origins. Its clergy and congregations have adopted many traditional liturgical symbols, such as the sign of the cross, incense, and the full chasuble, which have become more common than in years past. While some freedom in style is exercised by individual congregations, the overall style of the aspects of liturgical worship – including vestments, altar adornments, and a general return of many formal practices – has become closer to the styles of the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions.
Anglican Communion
By the 20th century, the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
had made quite radical ceremonial and ritual changes, most of them incorporating revival of medieval Christian practice.
The
English Missal
''The English Missal'' is a translation of the Roman Missal used by some Anglo-Catholic parish churches. After its publication by W. Knott & Son Limited in 1912, ''The English Missal'' was rapidly endorsed by the growing Ritualist movement of Ang ...
, published first in 1912, was a conflation of the Eucharistic rite in the 1662 prayer book and the Latin prayers of the Roman Missal, including the rubrics indicating the posture and manual acts. It was a recognition of practices which had been widespread for many years. The changes were the subject of controversy, opposition, hostility, and legal action.
The revision effort that produced the failed
1928 proposed prayer book was based on medieval models, owing little to the researches or practices of continental scholars.
[Gray, Donald, ''Earth and Altar'', (Canterbury Press 1986); p. 196] In the United States,
William Palmer Ladd
William Palmer Ladd (1870–1941) was an American Episcopal priest, liturgical scholar, and seminary dean.
Biography
Ladd was born on May 13, 1870, in Lancaster, New Hampshire. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in 189 ...
, who had visited a number of the European centers of Catholic scholarship and reform, introduced many of the ideas of the movement at the
Berkeley Divinity School
Berkeley Divinity School, founded in 1854, is a seminary of The Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with Andover Newton Theological School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Berkeley is one of the three "Partners on the Quad," ...
in New Haven. Ladd wrote a series of magazine columns (published as a book after his death titled ''Prayer Book Interleaves'') that introduced much of the newer agenda to the Episcopal Church. While this American version of the movement had broad church roots, in England it was a new generation of scholars and pastors associated with the Catholic revival who led the next phase of discussion. With the publication in 1935 of
Gabriel Hebert
Arthur Gabriel Hebert (1886–1963) was an English monk of Kelham, Nottinghamshire (more strictly a member of the Society of the Sacred Mission), and a proponent within Anglicanism of the ideas of the Liturgical Movement. As such he was in famili ...
's ''Liturgy and Society,'' a debate in England began about the relationship between worship and the world as well as about the importance of eucharistic celebration and participation. Hebert, a
Kelham Father, interpreted the liturgy on wider social principles, rejecting, for example the idea of the eucharistic fast as being impractical. Its members wished for more frequent communion, not merely attendance at Mass; they wanted to relate the eucharist to the world of ordinary life. Through its influence, the
offertory
The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar.
A collection of alms (offerings) from the c ...
was restored, though not without protracted controversy.
Influence and criticisms
Horton M. Davies, a professor at Princeton University, states that "What is fascinating about (the liturgical) movement is that it has enabled Protestant churches to recover in part the Catholic liturgical heritage, while the Catholics seem to have appropriated the Protestant valuation of preaching, of shared worship in the vernacular tongue, and the importance of laity as the people of God."
See also
Individuals
*
Louis Bouyer
Louis Bouyer, CO (17 February 1913 – 22 October 2004), was a French Catholic priest and former Lutheran minister who was received into the Catholic Church in 1939. During his religious career he was an influential theological thinker, especia ...
*
Annibale Bugnini
Annibale Bugnini (14 June 1912 – 3 July 1982) was a Catholic prelate. Ordained in 1936 and named archbishop in 1972, he was secretary of the commission that worked on the reform of the Catholic liturgy that followed the Second Vatican Counci ...
*
Charles Davis
*
Gregory Dix
George Eglinton Alston Dix (4 October 1901 – 12 May 1952), known as Gregory Dix, was a British monk and priest of Nashdom Abbey, an Anglican Benedictine community. He was a noted liturgical scholar whose work had particular influence on the r ...
*
Donald L. Garfield
*
Gerard Goalen
Gerard Thomas Goalen (16 December 1918 – 2 January 1999) was a British architect who specialised in church architecture and was influenced by continental models and the Liturgical Movement. He was one of the most important architects of the C ...
*
Romano Guardini
Romano Guardini (17 February 1885 – 1 October 1968) was a German Catholic priest, author, and academic. He was one of the most important figures in Catholic intellectual life in the 20th century.
Life and work
Guardini was born in Verona, I ...
*
Peter Hammond
*
Marion J. Hatchett
*
Gabriel Hebert
Arthur Gabriel Hebert (1886–1963) was an English monk of Kelham, Nottinghamshire (more strictly a member of the Society of the Sacred Mission), and a proponent within Anglicanism of the ideas of the Liturgical Movement. As such he was in famili ...
*
Friedrich Heiler Friedrich Heiler (January 30, 1892 – April 18, 1967) was a German theologian and historian of religion.
Heiler came from a Roman Catholic family. 1918 he became ''Privatdozent'' in University of Munich, from where he 1920 moved to theological fac ...
*
Reynold Henry Hillenbrand
Reynold Henry Hillenbrand (July 19, 1904 – May 22, 1979) was a seminal American Roman Catholic Church leader in the Liturgical Movement, Robert L. Tuzik, "The contribution of Msgr. Reynold Hillenbrand (1904–1979) to the Liturgical Movement ...
*
Josef Andreas Jungmann
Josef Andreas Jungmann (16 November 1889 – 26 January 1975) was a prominent Jesuit priest and liturgist. He was an influential advocate of the Liturgical Movement, and is known for his 2-volume history ''Mass of the Roman Rite'', which contribu ...
*
William Palmer Ladd
William Palmer Ladd (1870–1941) was an American Episcopal priest, liturgical scholar, and seminary dean.
Biography
Ladd was born on May 13, 1870, in Lancaster, New Hampshire. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in 189 ...
*
Robert Maguire
Robert A. Maguire (August 3, 1921 – February 26, 2005), or R. A. Maguire, was a twentieth-century American illustrator and fine artist. Known primarily for his crime noir paperback cover art, he produced artwork for over 1,200 covers from 1950 ...
*
Christine Mohrmann
Christine A. E. M. Mohrmann ( Groningen, 1 August 1903 – Nijmegen, 13 July 1988) was a specialist in early Christian Greek and Latin, vulgar and medieval Latin and honorary professor at Amsterdam University and at the Catholic University of Nij ...
*
Patrick Nuttgens
Patrick John Nuttgens CBE (2 March 1930 – 15 March 2004) was an influential English architect and academic.
Early life
Nuttgens was born in Whiteleaf, Buckinghamshire, the fourth of five children to Kathleen Mary (''née'' Clarke) an Iri ...
*
George Pace
George Gaze Pace, (31 December 1915 – 23 August 1975) was an English architect who specialised in ecclesiastical works.
He was trained in London, and served in the army, before being appointed as surveyor to a number of cathedrals. Mo ...
*
Francis Pollen
Francis Anthony Baring Pollen, FRIBA (7 December 1926 – 4 November 1987) was an English architect who designed, amongst other significant buildings, Worth Abbey in West Sussex.
He was born in London on 7 December 1926 and educated at Down ...
*
H. A. Reinhold Hans Ansgar Reinhold (1897–1968) was a Roman Catholic priest born in Hamburg, Germany. Reinhold took part in the Roman Catholic resistance to the Nazi regime until taking refuge in the United States. He was a prominent liturgical reformer whose w ...
*
Patrick Reyntiens
Nicholas Patrick Reyntiens OBE (; 11 December 1925 – 25 October 2021) was a British stained-glass artist, described as "the leading practitioner of stained glass in this country."
Personal life
Reyntiens was born in December 1925 at 68 Ca ...
*
Clarence Rufus J. Rivers
*
Gunnar Rosendal
*
Hermann Sasse
Hermann Otto Erich Sasse (17 July 1895 – 9 August 1976) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and author. He was considered one of the foremost confessional Lutheran theologians of the 20th century.
Sasses was born on 17 July 1895 in Son ...
*
Alexander Schmemann
Alexander Dmitrievich Schmemann (russian: Алекса́ндр Дми́триевич Шме́ман, ''Aleksandr Dmitrievich Šmeman''; 13 September 1921 – 13 December 1983) was an influential Orthodox priest, theologian, and author who had mos ...
*
Max Thurian
Brother Max Thurian (16 August 1921 in Geneva, Switzerland – 15 August 1996 in Geneva, Switzerland) was the subprior of the Taizé community, an ecumenical monastic community in France. He was the subprior at Taizé from the time of its in ...
*
Desmond Williams
*
Austin Winkley
Austin S. Winkley (born 1934) is a British architect who specialises in church architecture and is a member of the Liturgical Movement of UK ecclesiastical architects.
Early life
Winkley was born in 1934 to a family of Lancashire cotton workers ...
Concepts and movements
* ''
Lex orandi, lex credendi
''Lex orandi, lex credendi'' (Latin: "the law of what is prayed sthe law of what is believed"), sometimes expanded as ''Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi'' (Latin: "the law of what is prayed swhat is believed sthe law of what is lived"), is ...
''
* ''
Sacrosanctum Concilium
''Sacrosanctum Concilium'', the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, is one of the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council. It was approved by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,147 to 4 and promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 4 December 1963. ...
''
*
Berneuchen Movement Berneuchen Movement (german: Berneuchener Bewegung) is part of the Lutheran Liturgical movement in Germany. It originates from German Youth Movement.
The movement was born in 1920s, after the radical changes caused by World War I. The founders felt ...
*
Kirchliche Arbeit Alpirsbach Kirchliche Arbeit Alpirsbach is one of the organisations of the protestant Liturgical Movement in Germany and was previously called ''Alpirsbach Circle''. Its center is Alpirsbach Abbey located near Freudenstadt in the Black Forest. Kirchliche Arbei ...
*
Evangelical Catholic
*
Convergence Movement
The Convergence Movement, also known as the Ancient-Future Faith movement, is a Protestant Christian movement that began during the Fourth Great Awakening (1960–1980) in the United States.
Largely a result of the ecumenical movement and its fo ...
*
Crypto-Protestantism
Crypto-Protestantism is a historical phenomenon that first arose on the territory of the Habsburg Empire but also elsewhere in Europe and Latin America, at a time when Catholic rulers tried, after the Protestant Reformation, to reestablish Catho ...
References
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* Adams, William Seth. ''Moving the Furniture: Liturgical Theory, Practice, and Environment''. New York: Church Publishing, 1999. vii, 172 p. ''N.B''.: The author writes from an Anglican (Protestant Episcopal Church) standpoint.
* Buchanan, Colin O., ed. ''Modern Anglican Liturgies, 1958-1968''. London: Oxford University Press, 1968. xix, 388 p., ill. with 3 tables (2 of them on fold. charts). ''N.B''.: Includes various internationally selected liturgies with comments about them by the various contributors.
* Marshall, Michael. ''Renewal in Worship''. Rev. American ed. Wilton, Conn.: Morehouse-Barlow Co., 1985. xi, 142 p.
{{Authority control
Liturgists
Catholic liturgy
19th-century Catholicism
20th-century Catholicism
Anglicanism
Protestant worship and liturgy
19th-century Lutheranism
Architects of the Liturgical Movement