Odo Casel: Great Architect of the Novus Ordo Missae.
The Truth is Even Stranger Than You Thought...
We will start with the First of the Great Reformers. In his 1911 apostolic constitution, Divino Afflatu, Pope Pius X established a "new (and controversial) psalter" for use in the Divine Office for the entire Church. In this same 1911 letter, he wrote, “As the arrangement of the psaltery has a certain intimate connection with all the divine office and the liturgy, it will be clear to everybody that by what we have here decreed we have taken the first step to the emendation of the Roman breviary and the missal, but for this we shall appoint shortly a special council or commission.” In 1913, two years later, the Holy Father gave an update on the work, saying that the intervening years had been occupied with other more pressing tasks that hadn’t allowed him to move forward on liturgical reform. Thus, “in the judgment of wise and learned persons, all this would require considerable work and time. For this reason, many years will have to pass before this type of liturgical edifice, composed with intelligent care for the spouse of Christ to express her piety and faith, can appear purified of the squalidness brought by time, newly resplendent with dignity and fitting order.”
The First Question this Wolf would like to ask our Saint is, how can the liturgy and Eternal Worship of Holy Mother Church be affected by "the squalidness brought by time"? Has Beethovan's Fifth Symphony, or Handal's Water Music, been affected by "the squalidness of Time"? Or what about the great paintings of the masters. As for the Liturgy, have any of the Psalms lost their power over the centuries, or the Sacraments their efficacy? The Mass, of course, is an Eternal Sacrifice, offered by the Eternal High Priest. The Liturgy brings this momentous event to all times and all places. The Mass is all about Our Lord Jesus Christ expiating sins. It is not about the participation of clerics or lay people. It is not about the splendor of the ceremonies. What is present can only be perceived by a Spirit that has cleansed itself of the dross of materialism, carnal pleasures, and worldly endeavors, by prayer, penance, longsuffering, and resignation to the Sovereign Will of God.
Not so for Odo Casel. His theory about the Death of Christ was that it initiated the "mystery of the Divine Presence" at Mass. Of course, there is really no mystery there, except the Mystery Of Faith, which is that Our Lord is actually present Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity on the altar. Or, to paraphrase St Thomas Aquinas who wrote the great Hymn Lauda Zion, when Our Lord walked the earth His Divinity was hidden, but upon the Altar both Humanity and Divinity are hidden from the natural eye. Rather, Odo Casel is going to meld Christian Worship and the Ancient Pagan Mystery religions and open the Key to the Bottomless Pit and unleash every Liturgical Devil from Hell.
Which is what we have clearly seen since His Masterpiece was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
Meanwhile, the death of Odo Casel was most strange:
"The circumstances of the death of Odo Casel could not have been more fitting or remarkable. Casel, who had sought to give back to the church a belief that Christ in the paschal mystery was present in every liturgy, died as he proclaimed that resurrection. He had just intoned the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil liturgy at the convent at Herstelle. One commentator remarked that if such an event were recorded in medieval hagiography of a saint, moderns would disregard it as pious fantasy. It was not."
What this Wolf suspects is that an Angry God was calling Odo to account. The Church has never viewed absolutely sudden death, with no time to prepare a confession or receive the Last Sacraments, well.
We can only hope things ended well for Dr Casel.