Annibale Bugnini (14 June 1912 – 3 July 1982) was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

. Ordained in 1936 and named archbishop in 1972, he was secretary of the commission that worked on the reform of the Catholic liturgy that followed the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

. Both critics and proponents of the changes made to the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while di ...

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

and other liturgical practices before and after Vatican II consider him a dominant force in these efforts. He held several other posts in the Roman Curia and ended his career as papal nuncio to Iran, where he acted as an intermediary during the

Iran hostage crisis On November 4, 1979, 52 United States diplomats and citizens were held hostage after a group of militarized Iranian college students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over ...

of 1979 to 1981.

Early life and ordination

Annibale Bugnini was born in

Civitella del Lago right Civitella del Lago is a village in the Italian region of Umbria, administratively a ''frazione'' of the commune of Baschi. It is located just above lake Corbara, an artificial lake on the course of the river Tiber. The inhabitants during t ...

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

.Davies, Michael
How the liturgy fell apart: the enigma of Archbishop Bugnini
''AD2000'', June 1989, retrieved 30 September 2016. He completed his doctorate in sacred theology at the

Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...

''Angelicum'' in 1938 with a dissertation entitled ''De liturgia eiusque momento in Concilio Tridentino''. He spent ten years in parish work in a suburb of Rome. In 1947 Bugnini became involved in the production of the missionary publications of his order and became the first editor of ''Ephemerides Liturgicæ'', a scholarly journal dedicated to the reform of the Catholic

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

. Starting in 1949, he taught liturgical studies at the Pontifical Urban College (now the

Pontifical Urban University The Pontifical Urban University, also called the ''Urbaniana'' after its names in both Latin and Italian,; it, Pontificia Università Urbaniana. is a pontifical university under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People ...

). He later became a professor at the

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University ( it, Pontificia Università Lateranense; la, Pontificia Universitas Lateranensis), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pont ...

Curial career

On 28 May 1948,

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

appointed Bugnini secretary to the Commission for Liturgical Reform, which created a revised rite for the

Easter Vigil Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a liturgy held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this liturgy that people are ...

in 1951 and revised ceremonies for the rest of

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

in 1955. The commission also made changes in 1955 to the rubrics of the Mass and

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...

, suppressing many of the Church's octaves and a number of vigils, and abolishing the first

vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , mea ...

of most feasts. In 1960 the commission modified the

Code of Rubrics The Code of Rubrics is a three-part liturgical document promulgated in 1960 under Pope John XXIII, which in the form of a legal code indicated the liturgical and sacramental law governing the celebration of the Roman Rite Mass and Divine Offic ...

, which led to new editions of the

Roman Breviary The Roman Breviary (Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bi ...

in 1961 and of the

Roman Missal The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...

in 1962. On 25 January 1959,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...

announced his plan to convene the

. On 6 June 1960 Fr. Bugnini was named secretary of the Pontifical Preparatory Commission on the Liturgy. This body produced the first drafts of the document that, after many changes, would become the council's '' Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy'' (1963). When the council convened in October 1962, the Preparatory Commission was succeeded by the Conciliar Commission on the Sacred Liturgy, on which Bugnini was assigned the role of a ''peritus'' (expert). At the same time, Bugnini was removed from the chair of Liturgy at the Pontifical Lateran University because, in the words of

Piero Marini Piero Marini (born 13 January 1942) is a Roman Catholic archbishop who is president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. For twenty years he served as Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, in charge of the ...

, "his liturgical ideas were seen as too progressive." In his posthumously published memoirs, Second Vatican Council consultant Louis Bouyer called Bugnini "a man as bereft of culture as he was of basic honesty." The council and

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

approved the Constitution on the Liturgy on 4 December 1963. On 30 January 1964, the Pope appointed Bugnini secretary of the Council for the Implementation of the Constitution on the Liturgy. Bugnini was appointed the secretary of the

Congregation for Divine Worship it, Dicastero per il Culto Divino e la Disciplina dei Sacramenti , type = Dicastery , seal = Coat of arms Holy See.svg , seal_size = 100px , seal_caption = Coat of arms of the Holy See , logo = , p ...

by Pope Paul in May 1969. In January 1965, he had become an undersecretary in the

Congregation of Rites The Sacred Congregation of Rites was a congregation of the Roman Curia, erected on 22 January 1588 by Pope Sixtus V by '' Immensa Aeterni Dei''; it had its functions reassigned by Pope Paul VI on 8 May 1969. The Congregation was charged with th ...

responsible for causes for beatification and canonization.

Diplomatic service

On 4 January 1976, Pope Paul named Bugnini pro-nuncio to Iran. Bugnini studied the country, its history, and traditions. The results of his researches appeared in 1981 as ''La Chiesa in Iran'' (The Church in Iran). In 1979, Bugnini tried unsuccessfully to obtain, in the name of the Pope, the release of the American hostages being held at the United States embassy by followers of the

Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology The title is originally derived from Arabic word ...

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

. He met with Khomeini to deliver

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

's appeal for the release of the hostages.

Death

Bugnini died of natural causes at the Pope Pius XI Clinic in Rome on 3 July 1982. His detailed account of the work to which he devoted most of his career, ''The Reform of the Liturgy 1948-1975'', appeared posthumously. An English translation was published in 1990.

Allegation

The oft-repeated allegation of Bugnini's being a

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, was first made in print by Italian essayist Tito Casini in his book ''Nel Fumo di Satana. Verso l'ultimo scontro'' (Florence: Il carro di San Giovanni, 1976). Casini claimed that according to an anonymous source, Bugnini left a briefcase in a conference room. When someone found it and attempted to identify the owner, incriminating documents were within. English writer Michael Davies claimed that Pope Paul VI's sending of Bugnini to Iran as nuncio was due to this alleged revelation of Bugnini's Masonic affiliation, though the task of his post-Vatican II congregation had just been completed (''supra''). Davies further claimed that an unnamed, conservative cardinal had told him in the summer of 1975 that he'd "seen (or placed) on the pope's desk" a "dossier" containing evidence of Bugnini's Freemason connection.

Bibliography

* ''La Chiesa in Iran (The Church in Iran)'', 1981 * ''La Riforma Liturgica 1948-1975 (The Reform of the Liturgy, 1948-1975)'', 1983

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bugnini, Annibale 1912 births 1983 deaths People from the Province of Terni Vincentians Liturgists Pontifical Lateran University faculty 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic titular archbishops Participants in the Second Vatican Council Vincentian bishops Apostolic Nuncios to Iran Freemasonry-related controversies