March 2026
The Substance of the New Sacraments
Abbé Barthe is well known to readers of Paix Liturgique. For many years, he has contributed with freedom of tone and manifest erudition to the defence of the traditional ecosystem. Through his articles, the site he directs, Res Novae – Roman Perspectives, as well as through his works, the Abbé Barthe has acquired over the years an authority which, if not shared by all, leads at the very least to constant commentary on his publications.
We could cite the series of offered in recent years by L'Homme Nouveau in its Hora Decima collection of reflections on current religious subjects. Among others, The Mass Right Side Up, a New Liturgical Movement (2010), The temptation to rally, being Catholic in democracy (2022), The Church tomorrow, for a real reform (2024) and very recently, in the same format, the reissue of Pius XI's encyclical Quas primas accompanied by an introduction. In 2018, in the wake of his numerous liturgical studies, Abbé Barthe also published with Via Romana a master work, The Mass of Vatican II: a historical record, which places the liturgical reform in its context, presenting facts to show how the new Roman missal was not recast but composed under the pontificate of Paul VI, and has no precedent.
Very recently, Contretemps editions (publishing house of Renaissance Catholique) have just published his latest book, The Seven Sacraments, from yesterday to today – a brief critical examination of the new rituals reformed following Paul VI's Missal.
A welcome study amid deprivation of traditional sacraments
Accessible, both in terms of its price (10€) and length (98 pages), Abbé Barthe's study gets straight to the point, being limited to comparing the texts of the old and new rituals of the seven sacraments. If the sacrament of the Mass has nourished a prolix bibliography since the liturgical reform (we think particularly of The New Mass by Louis Salleron or the famous Brief Critical Examination of the New Ordo Missae by Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci), this is the first time that the reform of the ritual of the seven sacraments is analysed synthetically in a single study.
It must be said that the severe liturgical blow delivered by the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes under the pontificate of Pope Francis (and not truly loosened by Leo XIV) has significantly undermined the freedom of the faithful not only to attend the traditional Mass, but also to benefit from the six other sacraments according to the ancient ritual. In this context of persecution and contempt for the faithful wishing to live their faith according to the ancient liturgical books, Abbé Barthe's study does them justice since, undoubtedly, his main message is: love always takes everything, it cannot choose.
In this spirit, when baptised people are recognised as having the possibility of experiencing the Mass in its traditional form (even if this possibility is notably thwarted in the current context), there is a serious inconsistency in that this possibility, through trickle-down, is not granted to the other sacraments. Why? Quite simply because the Mass, according to the traditional teaching of the Church (supported in this by the recognised and esteemed theological contribution of Saint Thomas Aquinas), is considered the holy and most august sacrament. Thus, the six other sacraments are seen as satellites of the Eucharist and directly oriented to it.
According to this logic, the reformers of the Mass continued their work on the six other sacraments, taking into account precisely the principles which had prevailed in the creation of the new Mass.
The good faith and common sense of the Tridentine ritual
For the faithful attached to the ancient liturgy there is obvious consistency in wanting to make one's soul breathe not only in the traditional Mass but also in the Tridentine spirit of the ancient ritual of the other sacraments. Beyond the porosity that exists today, especially among young people, between modern and traditional liturgical universes, make no mistake: many "returnees" to religious practice or converts possess the instinct of good faith and common sense. Both make them say, without being "instrumentalised" by the traditional clergy or traditional associations, that it is in old pots that the best jams are made. They have nothing in themselves against the Paul VI universe, but their choice is made.Their rediscovered love of the good Lord makes them take everything, not only the Tridentine Mass but also the other sacraments and everything that goes with them.
Moreover, what is striking when reading the different chapters of Abbé Barthe's book is the latent mental disparity that underlies the ritual changes (sacramental words, ceremonies, etc.).
Thus, the modification of baptism gives satisfaction to moderns, hampered by "hard" dogmas such as hell, purgatory, and especially original sin. The result is a less solemn tone and above all a real evasion of the battle against the demon. On this register, the comparison between the two rituals does not allow any contradiction, supported in particular by the quotation of a question from Pope Paul VI himself which leaves one wondering. Following the publication of the new Ordo baptismi parvulorum, the Pope had affirmed: "Perhaps we were wrong to eliminate exorcisms."
Reformed confirmation resembles more of a joyful celebration than a sober and serious dubbing signifying the supernatural entry of the confirmed into adulthood. From the point of view of liturgical style, the reformed confirmation ceremony "formally innovates from start to finish, as if in principle," explains Abbé Barthe. The multiplicity of options in the new confirmation is striking.
For the sacrament of penance, which has become that of reconciliation, the author recalls how, before the collapse of the practice of confession, office hours in the confessional occupied considerable time in the ministry of priests. In addition to the bending of the formulas, we discover with a certain amazement that, in the new ritual, the concluding prayer of absolution in the traditional rite has been purely and simply suppressed in the new. Gone is the penitential formula: “May the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, whatever good thou shalt have done or evil endured, be for thee unto the remission of thy sins, the increase of grace, and the reward of everlasting life. Amen.”
Extreme unction, which becomes the sacrament of the sick, has undergone radical grooming. So much so that in his university study targetting the transformations of the Catholic ritual of the dying, Guillaume Cuchet notes: "The de-dramatisation of Christian death and the silence on the final ends are the Catholic version of this new taboo, the Church having broken with its old discourse on death."
As for the sacrament of orders, we discover that the reformers imposed on the ancient ritual a certain watering down of the formulas. For example, that of the porrection (presentation) to the new priest of a chalice containing wine mixed with water and a paten bearing a host. The words of the traditional ritual are explicit: "Receive the power to offer a sacrifice to God and to celebrate Masses for the living and for the deceased." In the modern ritual they become: "Accept from the holy people of God the gifts to be offered to Him. Know what you are doing, and imitate the mystery you celebrate."
For marriage, the consents exchanged by spouses seems clumsily worded, being too concerned with adapting to people. The reformers sought to compose a less sober but more sentimental exchange.
This quick overview, which deserves elaboration by reading Abbé Barthe's work, plunges the reader into an abyss of perplexity. How can we deprive the faithful of the treasures of the Church's tradition?
A clear call for a real liturgical debate
In his erudite preface, Mgr Schneider quotes extensively extracts from the memoirs of Dom Boniface Luykx (1915-2004). This bi-ritualist Belgian monk was an influential member of the pre-conciliar liturgical movement, a world-renowned scholar, collaborator in the preparatory phase of Vatican II, expert during the four sessions of the Council and member of the Vatican commission which developed the new rites of sacraments. His diagnosis has the merit of being clear:
"The new liturgy is often so reduced to the state of a skeleton that it loses not only its ritual value, but also its attraction to the faith of ministers and the faithful. Such an impoverished liturgy fits perfectly into a secular context, but is not a continuation of the Christian tradition. "
Of course, some may regret throughout the pages the repeated use of adjectives that they consider defamatory: "impoverished ceremony", "indigent formula", "weak rite", "the clear is replaced by the elusive, the true by the blurred." After the emotional contradiction of those who use the new rituals and who may feel hurt, it is to be hoped that these pages of analysis, above all, will be an opportunity for them to reflect in depth. Because that’s what it’s about. The aim of Abbé Barthe's brief critical examination is obviously not to attack people living in the universe of the new ritual but to open them up to liturgical questioning.
This comparative study of new and old sacramental rituals is also an opportunity to assert the rights of Church's poor who are too often prevented from accessing the richness of the old ritual, specifically for baptisms, confirmations and marriages—a wealth that has brought happiness to the faith of many generations and which has no reason to be hidden away.