Liturgical Revolution Series

I have just finished reading the Liturgical Revolution series by Michael Davies. It took me about 8 months of sporadic reading to get through them and I must say, this is a set of books which I will utilize as reference material for years to come for its in depth look into the changes in the Church from the protestant revolution to the post conciliar era in which we reside.

This serious is no small amount of reading. It weighs in at about 1500 pages of highly researched information Davies has compiled. The series is broken down into three themes; the English Reformation, titled Cranmer's Godly Order(CGO), the history of corruption and infiltration of the liberals during the council in Pope John's Council(PJC), and a detailed analysis and history of how the liberal attempted to turn the Roman Rite into a Protestant Communion Service in Pope Paul's New Mass(PPNM).

I couldn't put CGO down, because it read very much like a history novel and covered the details of the battles, politics, trials and tribulations of all parties involved. His enumeration of the changes to the English liturgy were revealing and served as a precursor to the changes in the Novus Ordo Missae which parallel the Communion Service of Cranmer in way that must be more than ironic.

In PJC, Davies commands extensive knowledge of the happenings of the council from first hand sources; all of his works are heavily footnoted and accurately referenced. He spotlights the underhanded deceit of the Rhine Group in gaining power and manipulating the pope and the council in ways no one thought possible. This too was an enthralling volume which pulls you into council with surprising details.

I lost my momentum when I started PPNM. Not that it didnt start well, but it may have been due to my intimidation of the size of the text; it is over 700 pages. Once I got going however, I could not wait for reading time to find out more concerning the liturgy. And that is what volume was for me mostly: an instruction on the old and new mass. Davies brakes down all of the changes and parallels them to not only to the Cranmer's Communion Service, but also to many other forms and rites of the Mass. I learned more about the Roman Rite then I expected. I think the most interesting truths gained from this book was that most of the scandalous novelties in the Novus Ordo Missae, were added after the council and were not in the original texts. Communion in the Hand, Communion under both Species and Versus Populum are few of the specific novelties referred to.

If you are interested in more complete understanding of who, what, when, where, and how the Church has changed so much and in such a short period, then I highly recommend the Liturgical Revolution Series By Michael Davies. I would also like to mention this is not a super trad/sedevacantist type work. He never mentions anything of that flavor, but simply presents his life long research with professionalism and responsibility. I hope to blog on a number of the major points heretofore especially on the three novelties mentioned previously.