BY DANIEL RUTILLIO

Pope Francis’ recent motu proprio, Traditio Custodes, has been interpreted in different ways with regards to its effects on the role of Tradition within Roman Catholic liturgical expression. As a saintly sage and artist versed in philology, J.R.R. Tolkien was hurt by the reform of the liturgy in English parochial expression after the second Vatican Council, famously continuing to respond, in his parish, in Latin to the embarrassment of his grandson Simon:

“I vividly remember going to church with him in Bournemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My Grandfather obviously didn’t agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but My Grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right. He inherited his religion from his mother, who was ostracised by her family following her conversion and then died in poverty when My Grandfather was just 12.”

Tolkien’s perception of the seminal importance of Tradition as captured by language, was perhaps awoken by his continued sense that many aspects of modernity were robbing from the public life of the individual, any sense of transcendence. Tolkien felt this transcendence was paradoxically rooted in communion with the past and Tradition; which enabled the individual to imagine wise new horizons for the future. (As arguably was the project of the Inklings and the opus of The Lord of the Rings and Middle-earth itself.) 

Erosion of hope and joy under two world wars, in Tolkien’s lifetime and on the threshold of modernity, certainly was a crucible through which Tolkien’s distinct imaginative and theological vision emerged as a wise catharsis. Within this project, the Tradition held within the Latin language remained a positive force for communicating meaning, as for example in his letter to his son Christopher he writes:

“If you don’t do so already, make a habit of the ‘praises’. I use them much (in Latin): the Gloria Patri, the Gloria in Excelsis, the Laudate Dominum; the Laudate Pueri Dominum (of which I am specially fond), and one of the Sunday psalms; and the Magnificat; and also the Litany of Loretto (with the prayer Sub tuum praesidium). If you have these by heart you never need words of joy. It is also a good and admirable thing to know by heart the Canon of the Mass, for you can say this in your heart if ever hard circumstances keep you from hearing Mass…”

Joy as a fruit of the Holy Spirit emerges out of even the darkest situations and for Tolkien could be found within Latinate expression. Those committed to the Reform of the Roman Rite in accordance with the dictates of Sacrosanctum Concilium will find sagacity in Tolkien’s Latinate roots and impulse, remembering that this was the oasis of permanence (in a context of cultural upheaval and chaos) from within which his imagination became free to find new horizons of Hope… and Amazon’s new Rings of Power series is paying billions of dollars just to hold a small nugget of that vision and use it to their own ends; it is deeply attractive even though it is rooted!

Wherever you stand on the abrogation of the 1962 Latin Mass and the role of Latin within the reforming of Novus Ordo in the Spirit of the Council (which Pope Francis has expressed is now the unique expression of the Roman Rite), Tolkien’s intuitions perhaps hold an important insight into how Tradition is continually at the zenith of that which gives life to the world and also joy. I hope that this same Spirit continues to sustain those attached to the Latin Mass to find an authentic path of communion and dialogue with their own Bishops and the Pope, and that this encounter brings forth joy, a joy that does not Hope in vain and knows that with God all things are possible. I hope Tolkien’s Spirit might also encourage us to reflect on how the Roman Rite might have a healthy infusion of Traditional expression which brings forth wonder and the gifts of the Spirit. As Tolkien speaks of the Church, it is:

“the temple of the Spirit dying but living, corrupt but holy, self-reforming and re-arising… that Church of which the Pope is the acknowledged head on earth has as chief claim that it is the one that has (and still does) ever defended the Blessed Sacrament, and given it most honour, and put (as Christ plainly intended) in the prime place.

‘Feed my sheep’ was His last charge to St. Peter; and since His words are always first to be understood literally, I suppose them to refer primarily to the Bread of Life.”

May we pray for those guarding our Tradition, that the motu proprio of Pope Francis brings forth fruits of unexpected joy and communion as a deeper understanding of the defence of the Blessed sacrament emerges for the feeding of Christ’s flock. Unexpected joy is the work of the Spirit, and Tolkien has shown the power of understanding the living waters that flow from being adequately rooted, in a time of impermanence, erosion and transience… May those living waters declare to our hearts a wise vision for the future, for in the Roman Rite is contained our joy and hope as Catholics, and the Old Rite itself nourished Tolkien’s wisdom… therein may the Wisdom that was in Tolkien lead us to joy and hope as we work for the impossible! In Latin we might phrase such sentiments as:

“​Cum eo eram cuncta componens ludens coram eo omni tempore.”​

“I was by his side, like a master craftsman, ever at play in his presence.”