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.Finally, the restored and codifiedRoman Missal was ready for promulgation two years after that of theBreviary, which was published in the summer of 1568.This Missal (MissaleRomanum ex decreto ss.Concilii Tridentini restitutum, Pii V.Pont.Max.iussueditum) was promulgated by a Bull of the l4th July 1570.Restoration and codification of the Roman RiteThe Commission s cardinal ideal was a return to the ancient liturgy of the cityof Rome, but the prelates did not intend to make an archæologicalreconstruction of the Gregorian Sacramentary, with which they were familiar,or an earlier rite.Already in 1563, when the correction of the Missal was beingdiscussed at the Council, a Vatican manuscript of the Gregorian Sacramentarywas sent from Rome to Trent.The fact that the Commission investigated theancient sources is attested from this extract from the Bull Quo primum: We resolved accordingly to delegate this task to a select commission ofscholars; and they, having at every stage of their work and with the utmostcare collated the ancient codices in Our Vatican Library and reliable (originalor amended) codices from elsewhere, and having also consulted the writings ofancient and approved authors who have bequeathed to us records related to thesaid sacred rites, thus restored the Missal itself to the pristine form and rite ofthe holy Fathers 328.As we know nearly nothing about the Commission s deliberations about theMass, it is reasonable to compare what is known about its work on theBreviary329.The word that most adequately describes the Commission s workis restoration, not compilation or fabrication.By this means the continuity of327Jungmann, op.cit., I, p 135.328Pius V, Bull Quo primum, quoted in: Frutaz, op.cit., 192-193.329Bäumer, op.cit., pp 175-176. 79tradition is assured in the liturgy330, Frequent declarations of Cardinal Sirletoprove this attitude that the Commission wished to create nothing new.It setout to improve the traditional rite, adapting a few details to the needs of thetimes, without substantially altering it331.Referring to one of the Vatican documents previously mentioned, theInformation for the Correction of the Missal, we observe that the Commissionlinks closely the Missal and the Breviary.It would logically follow that theprinciple governing the reform of the Breviary would apply to that of theMissal.The prelates wished to take as reference a fully developed Roman liturgicalrite, but one in which the late medieval decadence played no part.The Missalof 1570 was to restore simplicity in liturgical life, to create unity in ritual andto give clarity to the rubrics332.The achievement of the work of liturgicalcentralization would prove a bulwark against protestant influence, but at theprice of the rich pluriformity hitherto known in the West333.The work ofpurifying accretions was accomplished with remarkable energy, and themembers of the Commission were not held back from abolishing manyfeatures held to be untouchable by pious minds, for example the Marianinterpolations in the Gloria.The Commission did not seek to abolish certainrecent elements of value, for example, the new polyphonic church musicwhich was of true merit334, for it was interested more in the reality of Churchlife than in sterile speculation and archæologism.The ideal of restoring a eleventh century version of the Roman Mass with afew contemporary elements was very certainly a measure of pastoral realismand the expression of a respect of tradition.Not once during the Council ofTrent or what little we know of the Commission s deliberations is ourattention drawn towards a notion of restoring a primitive liturgy, orfabricating a new rite to replace the old.Such ideas were known only amongthe Protestant Reformers.The Commission was much less concerned withmatters such as communion under both Kinds or the use of the vernacular330Ibid, p 176: Par ce moyen seul on pourrait conserver la continuité de la tradition chrétienne dans laliturgie et montrer que, de même que la foi et l organisation de l Eglise sont toujours restées les mêmes,de même sa liturgie ne s est pas modifiée essentiellement, encore que chacun des membres de ce corpsorganique se soit developpé dans le courant des siècles a la façon de tout corps vivant.331In one of his writings (cod.Vat.6171), Sirleto protests against the expression compilarewhich figures in the Bull of promulgation of the Breviary.For the president of theCommission, the Breviary was not compilatum but corrected and reformed: Fu riformato co liBreviarii antichi quanto alle cose essentiali e importanti (cod.Vat.6171, fol.15).332Klauser, op.cit., p 127.333Ibid.334Jungmann, op.cit., I, pp 137-138. 80instead of Latin, for no mention of these subjects is found in the documents;the prelates were interested in the rite
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