A plea for the restoration of Baroque and theatrical elements in the liturgy

Abstract

Let me begin by making it absolutely clear that I think that the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council was overdue and, on the whole, was an excellent achievement. I am in no way in favour of a return to the liturgy of Pope Pius V, although (as a person born, resident, and intending to die in Valletta, the city which is very indebted to him for its coming into existence) I have reason to be grateful to that Pope. There are, however, some aspects of the liturgy which have been greatly impoverished by Vatican reforms, in consequence, I suspect, of the desire to eliminate from it anything that smacked of the theatrical and the baroque. The positive motivation of this antibaroque and anti-theatrical purge was the greater involvement and participation of the people. Today, thirty years afterwards, it is clear that the opposite result has come about the certain crucially important instances.