Despite reading very little throughout the summer, I managed to finish Alcuin Reid’s Organic Development of the Liturgy, where he considers the history and principles of changes in the liturgy over the course of the millenia, eventually focusing on the Liturgical Movement in the decades leading up to the Second Vatican Council. (He wisely does not go beyond the year 1962.)
One of the more important concepts considered in the book is the objectivity of the liturgy, and consequently the “authenticity” of developments or changes to this objective liturgical tradition. Continue reading
Between our train and our bus on the way to Norcia, we stopped for a coffee in Spoleto. The bartender was from Mexico and she thought we were German (I think because Americans typically only speak English), but she then asked where we were going. She was surprised when we said Norcia—since the earthquakes there have not been so many visitors. We received similar reactions from police who stopped to check our identification and from the bus driver who picked us up. As we neared the town, we could see buildings with pieces falling off and there was much less activity than I remembered from previous visits. The town itself was surrounded by scaffolding and the walls were damaged in many places, but looking through gates, one could see someone sitting at a café or a few firemen walking around another spot. After we got off, a monk in a car brought us up the hill to worksite where the Benedictines are constructing their new home: San Benedetto in monte. 
vogliodio 