Understanding the Sacrifice of the Mass: Development Witnessed Particularly in the Ten-Year Period Following the Mediator Dei of Pope Pius XII, 1948-1958

Even the least well-informed Catholic of our day is aware that over the past several years greater crowds have been thronging to the Communion rail. Even the moderately well-informed are aware that this Eucharistic renewal has received its impetus from a mighty educational endeavor. Catholic sacramental life flourishes in proportion to the vigor of the educational system that makes known its riches. The wondrous sacramental renewal of our day is the flowering of a great educational force set in motion by the Vicars of Christ one after another, corroborated by the scholarly findings and publications of professional theologians, historians, and liturgists, and communicated to the people of God in pulpits and class­rooms the world over. Christian education has fostered this sacramental renewal. Concurrently there develops a sacrificial renewal, an appreciation of the Mass as sacrifice. Like the sacramental renewal, an appreciation sacrificial rejuvenation of the Spouse of Christ is proportionate to the vigor of the Church’s teaching of the riches of the sacrifice. It is particular!,/ very recent years that this aspect of Catholic education has flourished. Its impetus has stemmed from successive pastoral pronouncements of Pius XII, notably his Encyclical Letter of November 20, 1947 Mediator Dei said indeed to be the lengthiest encyclical written up to that time cu..-c deservedly called the Magna Charta of liturgy. Corroborating the pastoral guidance of the Holy See have been the painstaking research and scholarly publications of professional theologians, historians, and liturgists. The teaching of the Holy See and of these scholars is being presented to Christ\u27s flock by those who speak in the pulpits and classrooms of Christendom. This sacramental and sacrificial renewal of our day will flourish in the future insofar as it is rooted in the training of our people. The obligation is incumbent upon Catholic teachers at every level of instruction to assimilate today\u27s advances in Eucharistic scholarship so that they feed the flock entrusted to them with solid doctrine. It is the purpose of this dissertation submitted to the Department of Education of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of the Catholic University of America to crystallize what professional theologians, historians, and liturgists have taught on the Mass particularly during the ten-year period following the Mediator Dei of Pope Pius XII, The writer feels that his project, while theological and liturgical in content, is of importance to education: it is, on the one hand, an historical survey encompassing a particular phenomenon in the history of education; it is likewise of value to the various strata oi educational practice—elementary, secondary, and advanced—for it provides content-material to be applied to each level