Update: The Latin Mass in America Today A Candid Interview with Byron Smith
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e’s the secretary of Una Voce America, which today sup ports the training of diocesan priests in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, otherwise known as the Latin Mass. In the this wide-ranging, exclusive REGINA Magazine interview, Byron Smith tells the astounding story of the many people -- some famous, some obscure -- who have labored long and hard for more than fifty years to bring this Mass to Catholics in North America. Q. Where were the earliest Latin Masses after Vatican II, in America? Perhaps the best-known of the surviving authorized Masses on this continent was in Ottawa, Canada, which eventually became the St Clement’s Latin Community. It became an inspiration to those holding similar aspirations in the States.
Q. What is the background on Una Voce America? Una Voce in the United States was founded in September 1967. Its first Chairman was eminent philosopher, anti-Nazi and religious writer, Dietrich von Hildebrand. He led the association until his death in 1977, hosting several national meetings in Manhattan, near his academic home at Fordham University. Before coming to the United States, Dr. von Hildebrand had written Liturgy and Personality (Salzburg, 1933) that had focused on the healing power of formal prayer as exemplified in the ancient Latin Mass. During his chairmanship, he wrote several books that concerned both the liturgy and the changes in the Church after Vatican II: • Trojan Horse in the City of God (1967) • The Devastated Vineyard (1973) • Jaws of Death: Gate of Heaven (1976)
PILGRIMAGE AT CHARTRES: Traditional Catholics in France have become a role model for other countries, including the United States and Canada.
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