JUBILEE YEAR for the CENTENNIAL of BLESSED
ROMERO, 2016 — 2017
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The
Congregation for Divine Worship, the entity charged with handling liturgical affairs
in the Catholic Church, has granted that an “optional memorial” of Blessed
Oscar Romero may be celebrated annually in St George’s Cathedral Southwark
(London), every March 24th, on the anniversary of his martyrdom. The faculty was granted in an “indult” [Latin
text here; English translation here] a license granted by the pope authorizing an act that the
common law of the Church does not permit.
Because Romero
has been beatified but not yet canonized, veneration is only currently allowed
in El Salvador; the indult makes the London Cathedral the only place outside El
Salvador where a Romero “cult” is properly sanctioned. The rare permission was granted following a
petition by the Archbishop of Southwark, the Most Rev. Peter Smith, to have
Blessed Romero added to the liturgical diocesan calendar. The indult that was granted is limited to the
cathedral church, because it contains a shrine enclosing Romero relics
installed in 2013 [more].
The indult is
signed by Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the CDW, who made headlines last
year after calling for a return to “ad
orientem” worship in Advent 2016. It
is also signed by Archbishop Arthur Roche, the Secretary of the
Congregation—himself, an Englishman.
The Archdiocese
of Southwark announced that it will take advantage of the indult to celebrate a
Mass in honor of Blessed Romero in St George’s Cathedral at 12.30 pm on Friday
24th March 2017, presided by Bishop Patrick Lynch, auxiliary bishop of
Southwark. Bishop Lynch will be vested in a red chasuble used in the
beatification ceremony and presented to the Cathedral by the Diocese of San
Salvador; he will also use the new collect prayer for Blessed Oscar Romero.
An initiative
for U.S. bishops to request a similar indult in 2015 floundered.
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