Vatican II

Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy

Sacrosanctum Concilium

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 Outline of SC

I. Introduction (1–4)

II. General Principles for the Restoration and

Promotion of the Sacred Liturgy (5–46)
1. The Nature of the Sacred Liturgy and Its
Importance in the Church's Life (5–13)
2. The Promotion of Liturgical Instruction and
Active Participation (14–20)

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 Outline of SC
3. The Reform of the Sacred Liturgy (21–46)
a. General Norms (22–25)
b. Norms Drawn from the Hierarchic and
Communal Nature of the Liturgy (26–32)
c. Norms Based Upon the Didactic and Pastoral
Nature of the Liturgy (33–36)
d. Norms for Adapting the Liturgy to the Culture and
Traditions of Peoples (37–40)
e. Promotion of Liturgical Life in Diocese and Parish
(41–42)
f. The Promotion of Pastoral-Liturgical Action (43–46)

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 Outline of SC
III. The Most Sacred Mystery of the Eucharist
(47–58)
IV. The Other Sacraments and the
Sacramentals (59–82)
V. The Divine Office (83–101)
VI. The Liturgical Year (102–11)
VII. Sacred Music (112–21)
VIII. Sacred Art and Sacred Furnishings (122–30)
IX. Appendix: A Declaration of the Second
Ecumenical Council of the Vatican on
Revision of the Calendar
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Aims of Vatican II (SC 1)

• to impart ever-increasing vigor to the Christian

life of the faithful;
• to adapt Church institution to present-day
needs;
• to foster unity among Christians; and,
• to strengthen whatever can help to call the
whole of mankind to the household of God.

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Features of SC
• return, whenever this is possible, to the
classical shape of the Roman liturgy with its
cultural genius of simplicity, brevity,
directness, and functionality, thereby
excluding, if feasible, such later traits as those
of the Franco-Germanic period (cf. SC 21, 34,
50).
• A more theological and spiritual approach to
the liturgy in contrast with the highly rubrical
and legalistic approach to it (SC 11, 18).
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Limitations of the Constitution
• SC manifests certain uneasiness with certain
issues like language (SC 36), concelebration
(SC 57), communion under both kinds (SC 55),
music (SC 116); often there is a resort to a
compromise between the Liturgical
Movement and medieval forms; however,
post-conciliar liturgical reforms and practices
in different local Churches have overcome this
limitation.

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Limitations of the Constitution

• SC does not give sufficient emphasis on the

role of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy; however,
the new liturgical books always stress the
place and activity of the Holy Spirit in liturgical
celebration through a more explicit epiclesis.

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 Post-conciliar Reforms:
• revision of the Roman Sacramentary; rites of
sacraments, sacramentals, and blessings; liturgy of
the hours; liturgical calendar.
• Although SC allowed for compromises (use of
vernacular, communion under both kinds, music),
many of its unresolved issues were overcome
during the papacy of Paul VI (total use of the
vernacular, more Eucharistic Prayers, type of oil
for the anointing of the sick, changes in the Order
of the Mass).
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 Essential Concepts of
Sacrosanctum Concilium

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Paschal Mystery
• The paschal mystery is without a doubt the
central theological concept of the liturgical
renewal of Vatican II.
• It appears 10 times in SC (5, 6, 6, 10, 47, 61,
61, 104, 106, 109).
• The concept of the paschal mystery points to
an inner dynamism at the heart of the liturgy
itself. If we enter into the liturgy as Christ’s
passover from death to life, we participate in a
transforming event.
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Liturgy as “summit and source”
of the Church’s life (SC 10).
• The very reason for the liturgy being summit
and source is the action of Christ and the Holy
Spirit within it, sanctifying humans and
glorifying God.
• The Church must do other things (preaching,
evangelization, and conversion) in addition to
the liturgy.
• All other activities of the Church pave the way
to participation in the sacraments and the
prayer of the Church.
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• If the liturgy is the summit and source, other
matters must necessarily be ordered to it -
popular devotions (SC 13) and the sanctoral
cycle (SC 111).

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• By calling the liturgy as summit and source of
Christian life, the Constitution asserted a
strategic priority. It laid a foundation for the
claim that the liturgical formation of clergy
and liturgical catechesis of the faithful is not
optional but essential (cf. SC 15, 16, 17).

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Full, Active, and Conscious Participation

• Active participation is the principle and

criterion of the conciliar reform of the liturgy.
• SC 14: “in the reform and promotion of the
liturgy, the full and active participation by all
the people is the aim to be considered before
all else.”

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• The participation envisioned includes a
complete sharing in all the words, music,
gestures, and actions of the Mass that are
proper to the people.
• Participation: nourished by the Word of God
(SC 51), taking part in the prayer of the faithful
(SC 53), sharing of the chalice (SC 55), use of
the vernacular (SC 36, 54), bodily gestures and
silence (SC 30).

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• SC 48: “The Church, therefore, earnestly
desires that Christ’s faithful, when present at
this mystery of faith, should not be there as
strangers or silent spectators . . . they should
be drawn day by day into ever more perfect
union with God and with each other, so that
finally God may be all in all.”

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• To guarantee active participation, SC 21
directs that “both texts and rites should be so
drawn up that they express more clearly the
holy things they signify and that the Christian
people, as far as possible, are able to
understand them with ease and take part in
the rites fully, actively, and as befits a
community.”
• Clarity of rites and texts, understanding them
with ease, and full and active participation
should be the hallmark of the reform.

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• The Constitution on the Liturgy devotes Article
36 to the provisions on the language to be
used in the liturgy.
• SC 36, 1: Particular law remaining in force, the
use of the Latin language is to be preserved in
the Latin rites.

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• SC 36, 2: But since the use of the mother
tongue, whether in the Mass, the
administration of the sacraments, or other
parts of the liturgy, frequently may be of great
advantage to the people, the limits of its
employment may be extended. This will apply
in the first place to the readings and
directives, and to some of the prayers and
chants, according to the regulations on this
matter to be laid down separately in
subsequent chapters.
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• SC 36, 3: These norms being observed, it is for
the competent territorial ecclesiastical
authority mentioned in Article 22, section 2, to
decide whether, and to what extent, the
vernacular language is to be used; their
decrees are to be approved, that is,
confirmed, by the Apostolic See. And,
whenever it seems to be called for, this
authority is to consult with bishops of
neighboring regions which have the same
language.
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• SC 36, 4: Translations from Latin text into the
mother language intended for use in the
liturgy must be approved by the competent
territorial authority mentioned above.

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• SC 22-25 enumerate the general norms for the reform of
the liturgy:
1. SC 22: The reform is based on the authority of the
Church;
2. SC 23: It is to be undertaken in conformity with
sound tradition but open to legitimate progress;
3. SC 24: It is to be imbued with sacred scripture; and,
4. SC 25: It is to be accomplished efficiently, with all
relevant expertise, both practical and pastoral.

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Sound Tradition

• In the liturgy, certain traditions are not sound

and beneficial.
• SC 62: “With the passage of time certain
features have crept into the rites of the
sacraments and sacramentals that have made
their nature and purpose less clear to the
people of today; hence some changes have
become necessary as adaptations to the needs
of our own times.”

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Legitimate Progress

• The grow organically from forms already

existing.

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• Active participation also includes the inner or
subjective dimension of participation that is
spiritual, moral, and intellectual.
• SC 11, 90: “Their minds should be attuned to their
voices.”
• There should be a healthy balance between
external action and internal disposition.
• Active participation should direct the worshipers
toward the awesome mystery they celebrate.
• Contemplative prayer should not do away with
active participation.

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• Certain styles of active participation have at times
given such prominence to external action that
silence and contemplative prayer seem neglected.
• There is mistaken notion that action and
contemplation are mutually exclusive.
• There should be a healthy balance. Active
participation must always be with deep sense of
reverence and awe in the presence of the sacred
mystery.

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Ecclesiology

• Participation in the liturgy is the “right and

duty” of the faithful by virtue of their baptism
(SC 14).
• The priesthood of the baptized, although
different in nature from the ministerial
priesthood, is respected (SC 48, 53).

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• Active participation by the assembly or by lay
ministers is not a concession given by the
hierarchy to the laity. It is rooted in the
sacrament of baptism.

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• The liturgy is a communal action, an action of
the Church as a whole, and not a private or
individual function.

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The Treasure of Sacred Scriptures

• The Constitution gives importance to Sacred

Scriptures (cf. SC, 24, 35, 51).
• Every liturgical celebration must include the
proclamation of God’s word. No other
reading, however noble and venerable, may
replace the Word of God in the liturgy.

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The Treasure of Sacred Scriptures

• SC 24: “Sacred Scripture is of the greatest

importance in the celebration of the liturgy.
For it is from Scripture that the readings are
given and explained in the homily, and the
psalms are sung; the prayers, collects, and
liturgical songs are scriptural in their
inspiration; it is from the Scriptures that
actions and signs derive their meaning.”

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Re-empowerment of Local Ordinaries

• Vatican II re-empowered the conferences of

bishops and local ordinaries in matters
pertaining to the dioceses.
• As a premise to the re-empowerment, SC 22, 3
lays down the norm that apart from the Holy
See and the bishop “no other person, not even
a priest, may add, remove, or change anything
in the liturgy on his own authority.”

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• SC 22, 1: “Regulation of the sacred liturgy
depends solely on the authority of the Church,
that is, on the Apostolic See, and, as laws may
determine, on the bishop.”
• The inclusion of the local ordinary in the
regulation of the liturgy is one of the novel
features of SC.

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Inculturation

• SC 37 to 40 voice the commitment to

inculturation and the adaptation of the liturgy
to the genius of diverse people throughout the
world.
• The council opted for “substantial unity”
rather than “formal unity” or “uniformity” in
how the Church worships.

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Inculturation

• Inculturation is the process whereby the

worship of a local church is so inserted in a
given culture, that its texts, rites, and symbols,
absorb the thought, language, ritual, symbolic
and artistic patterns of that culture.
• It means that worship and culture share the
same pattern of thought, language, rites,
symbols, and art form.

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Inculturation

•A+B=C
• The formula points to a qualitative change in
both A and B, as a result of their interaction
and mutual assimilation.
• A is transformed into C, and so is B.
• However, A does not become B nor does B
become A. Both keep their identity.

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Inculturation

• Loyalty to the Constitution on the Liturgy

oblige us to pursue the inculturation of
liturgical rites, texts, symbols, and music.
• Inculturation is an effective tool for active and
conscious participation.

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Inculturation

• The Church, after the example of Christ, has the

duty to incarnate itself in the culture of its
people.
• Our local culture possesses beauty, dignity, and
nobility worth of divine worship.
• We ought to revere our ancient Christian
traditions, but that does not mean that we
should live in the past and ignore the present
reality of the Church in the modern world.
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