The Archbishop of Birmingham in principle authorizes the Sarum Mass, the medieval use of the Roman rite

The Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, has given his in-principle approval for the celebration of the Mass according to the Use of Sarum in his archdiocese, the form of the Roman liturgy that predominated in much of England until the Protestant Reformation. In a letter dated Tuesday, October 6, the archbishop states that he is “happy to accept in principle the celebration of the Mass according to the Use of Sarum in one or more places” of the archdiocese, according to excerpts published by AdVaticanum on Thursday, October 15, and LifeSiteNews on Friday, October 16. If the celebration is ultimately authorized, it would be the first Sarum Mass celebrated by a Catholic priest in Great Britain in about twenty-five years.

The letter responds to the formal request of layman Peter Caffrey, dated September 30, after he had spoken in person with the archbishop during the Mass of the annual pilgrimage to Harvington. Caffrey made the initiative known in a Facebook group dedicated to the Use of Sarum. In his reply, Longley thanks him for presenting the request clearly and adds that the in-principle approval “should allow him to make more detailed plans.”

It is not yet permission for a specific date and place. According to AdVaticanum, the archbishop asks that each priest who is to celebrate submit a formal request, provide written permission from his superior when he has it, and obtain the written consent of the parish priest of each church. He also requests a formal application covering the two planned celebrations. No date or place has been set, and Caffrey himself has indicated that the celebration could take place in 2027 if the pending procedures are completed.

The basis invoked in the letter is a response from the now-defunct Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, cited in Caffrey’s petition, which the archbishop refers to as responsa ad dubia. According to LifeSiteNews, which dates it to 2013, that response established that the Use of Sarum was never abrogated and that it may be celebrated with the permission of the ordinary. AdVaticanum adds that such celebrations fall under the supervision and responsibility of the local bishop.

The Use of Sarum, from the Latin name for Salisbury, is not a distinct rite but a local variant of the Roman rite. Its origin is traditionally linked to St. Osmund, bishop of Salisbury from 1078, and in the Late Middle Ages it became the most influential diocesan use in England, alongside those of York, Hereford, Bangor, and Lincoln. According to LifeSiteNews, it was the predominant form of celebrating the Roman liturgy in southern England, Ireland, and Scotland until the break with Rome.

After the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in England in 1850, some Catholics and figures of the Oxford Movement advocated its recovery, but the English bishops opted for the Roman rite, partly because of the association of the Use of Sarum with Anglo-Catholicism. A proposal to introduce it at Westminster Cathedral around 1903 also failed. Modern celebrations have been exceptional: two solemn Masses in Oxford in 1996 and 1997, and a pontifical Mass in Aberdeen in 2000.

The authorization comes at a time of restrictions on the traditional liturgy in England. LifeSiteNews recalls that the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, of 2021, also limited the traditional Mass in the United Kingdom, and that Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, suppressed traditional Holy Week celebrations in 2024, invoking that document. The Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arthur Roche, an Englishman, stated on October 13 in an interview with AdVaticanum that there will be no return to Summorum Pontificum. Neither of the two media outlets that published Longley’s letter explains how the Use of Sarum fits within the framework of Traditionis custodes, and the Archdiocese of Birmingham has not issued any public statement regarding the request.

While Rome closes the door to the traditional Mass, an English archbishop opens in principle that of an even older liturgy, the one celebrated in England before the Reformation.

Read also