The Once and Future Roman Rite

Returning to the Traditional Latin Liturgy After Seventy Years of Exile

De: Peter A. Kwasniewski

Narrado por: Kevin O'Brien

In his latest book, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski argues that ever since the new liturgical books following the Second Vatican Council came into force, Roman Catholic faithful have suffered the effects of a hasty and far-reaching reform permeated with nominalism, voluntarism, Protestantism, rationalism, antiquarianism, hyperpapalism, and other modern errors. Man is not master over divine liturgy, Dr. Kwasniewski emphasizes; rather, all of us are called to be stewards of the sacred, from the lowest-ranking layman to the pope himself.

Dr. Kwasnieski shows that sacred tradition is the guiding principle for all authentic Christian liturgy, which originates from Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit throughout the life of the church. His principal thesis in this work is that the prominent identifying traits of the classical Roman Rite—and indeed of all traditional rites, Eastern and Western—are absent from the Novus Ordo, estranging it from their company and making it impossible to call it “the Roman Rite”.

To respond to this crisis of rupture, Dr. Kwasniewski calls for a full return to the traditional rite, the Roman Rite in its robust, perennial richness, for which no special permission is or could ever be needed—as exposited by Pope Benedict XVI.

Fidelity to the traditional Latin liturgy is, at its root, fidelity to the Roman Church and to Christ Himself, who has lovingly inspired the growth and perfection of our religious rites for 2,000 years. This awe-inspiring gift of tradition allows us to taste, even now, the banquet of the promised land of heaven.

©2022 Peter A. Kwasniewski (P)2022 TAN Books

A Modern “Must-Read” for Catholics

This book will become one of the great monumental Catholic works in future centuries. No other work is so well-researched, well-presented, well-organized, and entirely utterly convicting and convincing. Every Catholic of every stripe should acquire this book. The narrator’s performance was also stellar.

Very thorough!

This book was a very thorough chronicle of the Traditional Latin Mass and the ill-advised implementation of the Novus ordo Mass. The author goes into great detail about the consequences of this change and what modern Catholics are missing out on.

Wonderful

This was a wonderful read. I did not agree with every point made, but the vast majority of the arguments were beautiful.
I hope that every Catholic may read this book with an open, but critical, mind.

Essential Reading for Catholics

This book is well-researched and well-written. It may have derailed the deterioration of traditional Catholic worship had it been written and received in 1970s.

Terribly-Bad Narration Ruins the Experience

This scholarly, erudite, and important work is nearly ruined in audible format by an absurdly-bad narration of Kwasniewski's book. Imagine, if you will (think Christopher Guest-style mockumentary), that a Liberace impersonator, completely devoid of talent, and filled with disillusions of artistic grandeur, is cast as the lead in a community-theater production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. When the rest of the cast gets fed up with his ceaseless drama-queening and quits, he is left to perform the production as a one-man show that is so supremely bad it's the proverbial train wreck one simply cannot look away from. The narrator's "acting" and unnecessary melodrama is so hammy, distracting, and off-putting here that one can only assume it's being done intentionally. The hysterical outbursts, strange affected voices, dripping condescension, etc., etc. all result in very damaged and largely unenjoyable final product.