Pius Parsch, born John Bruno Parsch (May 18, 1884 – March 11, 1954) was a priest of the

Roman Catholic Church 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 ...

. Parsch was born in Neustift near

Olmutz Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on th ...

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

, in what is now the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. He was given the name ''Pius'' when he entered the community of

Canons Regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...

in Klosterneuburg Abbey. He was a leading figure in the

Liturgical Movement The Liturgical Movement was a 19th-century and 20th-century movement of scholarship for the reform of worship. It began in the Catholic Church and spread to many other Christian churches including the Anglican Communion, Lutheran and some other Pro ...

, publishing the results of recent liturgical scholarship in popularly accessible books in German. Some of these were translated into English, including ''The Liturgy of the Mass'' (Herder, 1940), ''The Breviary Explained'' (id., 1952), and ''The Church's Year of Grace'' (Liturgical Press, 1953). Parsch promoted the "volksliturgischen" or "People's Mass". This early practice of the liturgical renewal was notable for celebration at a free standing altar with the priest facing the people (which he instituted at St. Gertrud Kirche), gothic vestments and an emphasis on the liturgical seasons rather than the

calendar of the saints The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

. These features were all permitted but uncommon prior to Vatican Council II. Parsch died on in

Klosterneuburg Klosterneuburg (; frequently abbreviated as Kloburg by locals) is a town in Tulln District in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It has a population of about 27,500. The Klosterneuburg Monastery, which was established in 1114 and soon after gi ...

, aged 69.

References

Sources

Autobiographical chapter
in The Book of Catholic Authors. {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsch, Pius Roman Catholic writers 1884 births 1954 deaths