ILOILO CITY, Philippines -- Ilonggo Catholic faithful are experiencing Latin Mass here for the first time in decades. Around 700 parishioners of Mandurriao District here attended the Latin Mass, also known as Tridentine, on Wednesday. The mass was held in time for the Feast of the Espousal of the Virgin Mary at the Mandurriao parish church. The priests from other parishes also attended the Latin Mass, the first held on Panay Island since the 1960s after the Second Vatican Council ushered in masses in the local vernacular, according to Fr. Espiridion Celis, Mandurriao parish priest. Cita Lamprea, 81, a member of the Catholic Women's League and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, said she previously attended Latin Masses before World War II. "We understand Latin because we learned and got used to it. Celebrating it in the traditional way is inspiring for us," said Lamprea. Celis said he hoped that other parishes would also hold Latin Masses based on the directive of the Pope. Three priests, Msgr. Juanito Ma. Tuvilla (celebrant), Fr. Oscar Andrada (deacon) and Fr. Winifredo Losaria (subdeacon), celebrated the High Mass while Fr. Renato Cuadras served as the master of ceremonies, according to Celis. The priests spoke in Latin except in delivering the homily, which was in Hiligaynon. Handouts with English and Hiligaynon translation of prayers, responses and hymns were given to the parishioners. In his homily, Monsignor Tuvilla explained why the Mass was held and the history of the rites of the Catholic Church. Tuvilla said the holding of the Latin Mass did not mean returning to Latin and doing away with Masses in the vernacular. "Whatever language is used, the elements of the rites of the Catholic Church started 2,000 years ago are still there," said Tuvilla. The mass, which lasted for more than two hours, was accompanied by hymns from Gregorian plainchant from Gounod's Messe Solennette in honor of St. Cecilia, Mozart's Ave Verum and Franck's Panis Angelicus. Celis said the holding of the Latin Mass was in response to a directive of Pope Benedict XVI dated July 2007 allowing the wider use of the Tridentine as was the practice before the reforms instituted by the Second Vatican Council in 1970. The July 2007 Summorum Pontificum grants greater freedom to use the Tridentine liturgy. It replaces the Ecclesia Dei of 1988, which allowed individual bishops to establish places where mass could be said using the 1962 Roman Missal. Catholics have expressed concern over Summorum Pontificum, as they viewed it as reversal of progressive changes made during Vatican Council II, especially on bringing the liturgy closer to the faithful with the use of the vernacular. | 
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