Michael Davies, lecturer, debater, columnist, and author of
over 30 books and monographs on the changes in the Catholic church
since the second Vatican Council, primarily concerning the liturgy,
and is currently the president of Una Voce International.
Born in Wales, a convert to Catholicism, Davies is a graduate
of St. Mary's college in London and served in the British army
before becoming a writer. He retired from a parochial school teaching
position in 1995.
Among his works are The Liturgical Revolution, a trilogy documenting
the changes in the mass of the Roman church during and after the
second Vatican Council (1962-65); Mass Facing the People; The
Reign of Christ the King; Liturgical Shipwreck; A Short History
of the Roman Mass and The Catholic Sanctuary.
His public appearances have taken him to four continents. He
appeared as a guest of William F. Buckley on "Firing Line"
in 1980. |
little book gives a compact history
of the Roman Rite of the Mass from the Last Supper to the Traditional
Mass ("Tridentine Mass") as it is said today. Michael
Davies -- the foremost author in English of the changes in the
Catholic liturgy -- explains the origin of the Low Mass, of Sacramentaries,
of the Gallican and various other Western Rites, etc. He highlights
the reforms of Pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604) and Pope St.
Pius V (1566-1572), showing how neither "reform" produced
a "new" liturgy; rather, the liturgical texts were always
treated with reverence, and revisions were always minor. Michael
Davies points out that "the very idea of composing a new
order of Mass was and is totally alien to the whole Catholic ethos"
and that "The Catholic tradition has been to hold fast to
what has been handed down and look upon any novelty with the utmost
suspicion." Yet this unbroken Catholic tradition was breached
in 1970 when the Roman Mass was subjected to radical revision.