1655: “Ecclesiasticae ceremoniae aeternae non sunt”

Moderator’s note: This is part of a series of occasional posts translated from the blog Populo Congregato of Fr. Markus Tymister, faculty member at the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy at Sant’ Anselmo in Rome.

Johannes Morinus (Jean Morin), scripture scholar and theologian (+ 1659), came from a Protestant family, converted to the Catholic Church in 1617, and was active in Rome under Pope Urban VIII and later, at the behest of Cardinal Richelieu, in Paris. In 1655 his Commentary on Sacred Ordinations first appeared. At the conclusion of a short treatment of the objections in medieval theology to concelebration of Mass he wrote:

“Ecclesiastical ceremonies are not eternal. For various reasons they can be changed, or indeed become obsolete through the changes of time. In this there is no danger threatening the faith. One labors in vain and battles ghosts with a hot temper who, to avert such supposed danger, is attached to them anxiously and worriedly.” (J. Morinus, De sacris ecclesiae ordinationibus commentarius, pars III, ex. VIII, cap. 1, Antwerp (2) 1695, 130.)

Ecclesiasticae ceremoniae aeternae non sunt. Variis de causis immutari possunt, atque etiam sola temporis vicissitudine antiquari. Nullum inde fidei periculum imminet. Frustra sudat, et cum larvis acerrime luctatur, qui ut ejusmodi periculum avertat, haeret anxius et solicitus. (Morinus, De sacris ecclesiae ordinationibus commentarius, pars III, ex. VIII, cap. 1, Antverpiae)

Translated and reprinted with permission. Original: “Ecclesiasticae ceremoniae aeternae non sunt.”