A Tridentine Preview

Joseph de Maistre

A lot of work is presently going into a new aspect of this website, which I hope will soon debut under the name of Tridentine Archive.

The Archive, among other things, will offer the Twenty-First century certain older out-of-copyright texts, which deal not only with the Sacred Heart, but also the entire Tridentine period of the Church, of which it might be said that the Cult of the Sacred Heart was the principle devotion.

I also hope to be writing much more about this epoch of the Church and why this Archive is being created.

For now, I will simply note that the so-called “Spirit of Vatican II” served to not only bury the Tridentine Mass, but also much else, including Devotion to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts.

It is important to work to restore memory and I hope the Archive will also serve to reawaken memory of that passionate, intense and committed Catholic France of the Nineteenth Century – which said “NO” to the Revolution – a Catholic France, which called itself La Vraie France: the True France and whose symbol was the Sacred Heart …

Much more along these lines is coming. But today I thought I would just offer a little preview or snippets of what is in the works.

My Favourite of All My Videos—Article Continues Below

Tridentine Timeline—Snippets

To help orient readers of this Tridentine Archive, I thought I would give a small timeline of events relevant to understanding what may be called the epoch of the Tridentine Church.

Properly speaking, this epoch would be usually regarded as that spanning the period from 1545 the beginning of the Council of Trent (from which the word Tridentine) to Vatican II, whose aftermath was to bury so many features of the previous epoch, including, though certainly not limited to, the Tridentine Mass . . .

1545: The Council of Trent is convened, forming the Catholic Reformation.

1670s: Beginnings in Paray-le-Monial, France, of the pre-eminent Tridentine Cultus – the Devotion to the Sacred Heart. Saint Margaret Mary has visions of the Sacred Heart calling for the public devotion.

Eighteenth Century: Rise of de-Christianised, rationalist, Enlightenment philosophy exemplified by Locke, Hume, Voltaire, Kant.

1776: American Revolution.

1789 – 1815: The French Revolution and ensuing Napoleonic wars devastate Europe. In the words of Christopher Dawson: “In sheer material destruction of monasteries and churches, in confiscation of property and abrogation of privileges, the Age of the Revolution far surpassed that of the Reformation; it was in fact a second Reformation, but a frankly anti-religious one.”

In France, the Sacred Heart is taken up as the Counter-Revolutionary emblem par excellence in this period.

1815: Following Napoleon’s defeat, the period of Restoration commences – a period of both Restoration of traditional European structures and a very significant Catholic revival.

1819: Publication of Du Pape by Joseph De Maistre – leading philosopher of the Catholic Counter-Enlightenment. De Maistre calls for a Christendom oriented above all to the Pope, giving impetus to Ultramontanism.

End of Snippet. The entire Tridentine Timeline can now be found here.

Books from Roger Buck

Foreword for Monarchy by Roger Buck

Great Books from Arouca Press

Buying Books at Amazon Through These Links Gives Us a Commission. This Supports Our Apostolate. Thank You if You Can Help Us Like This!