On July 28, Bishop Edward Malesic issued a decree making the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Cleveland, a diocesan shrine dedicated to the traditional Latin Mass and where the other sacraments can also be administered. Bishop Malesic said the church will be used “for worship according to the 1962 Missale Romanum and other liturgical texts in use at that time.”
Unable to make the church a Tridentine parish, which is prohibited by Pope Francis’s motu proprio, the bishop nevertheless has granted the shrine the privilege of celebrating the sacraments and other acts of divine worship specific to parish churches: baptism, confirmation, marriage, and funerals.
The decree also provides for St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church, the seat of the oldest Hungarian Christian community in the United States, to promote “the Christian heritage of the Hungarian people.”
Pope Francis’s motu proprio Traditionis custodes asks bishops not to grant permission for the celebration of the traditional Mass in “parish churches” or to establish new personal parishes where this Mass is celebrated, which is not the case for this shrine.
Currently, in the Diocese of Cleveland, there are about a dozen places where the Tridentine Mass is celebrated. The decree erecting St. Elisabeth of Hungary as a shrine will enter into force on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is the date of the death of St. Stephen, King of Hungary in 1038.
The decree, “Regarding the Establishment of the Shrine of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary,” establishes the shrine as a diocesan shrine for “the promotion of the Christian heritage of the Hungarian people as well as for divine worship according to the liturgical books in use prior to the reform of 1970 (that is, the 1962 Missale Romanum and the other liturgical texts in use at that time).”
It adds, “the Shrine cannot currently be established as a parish (can.516, §1, CIC; cf. Traditionis custodes art. 3, §2). Nevertheless, taking into account its special purpose…, it is to be considered in the Diocese of Cleveland as equivalent to a parish. . . . Accordingly, the diocesan curia and diocesan parishes are to treat the Shrine as analogous to a parish, insofar as possible.”
The shrine has the privilege of celebrating the sacraments and other acts of divine worship specific to parish churches, such as baptism, confirmation, marriage, and funerals. The ministers of the shrine must however take care to celebrate them validly and licitly according to the rules of law.
Finally, the shrine has the privilege of keeping its own registers of baptism, confirmation, first communion, marriage and death. This will be without prejudice to the rights of the territorial parish and St. Emeric’s Parish (which, as a personal parish, may perform the sacraments for Hungarian nationals throughout the Diocese of Cleveland and in particular at St. Elizabeth of Hungary).
However, contrary to what has been reported in various places, the shrine will not be dedicated “exclusively” to the traditional Mass, which, according to the Church of St. Elisabeth of Hungary website, will only be celebrated on Saturday (except for the first Saturday). The concession therefore remains limited. The fact remains that the authorization to celebrate the other sacraments is contrary to the clarifications given by Cardinal Arthur Roche in response to questions on the motu proprio, which may cause the fastidious overseer of the “guardians of tradition” to react.
Edward Malesic, Bishop of Cleveland, Ohio (USA), has established a diocesan sanctuary dedicated to the traditional Latin Mass, which complies with the requirements of the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, for the preservation of the Tridentine Mass in his diocese.