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

Italian Catholic The Italian Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Italy, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome, under the Conference of Italian Bishops. The pope serves also as Primate of Italy and Bishop of Rome. In add ...

prelate who served as secretary of the commission that worked on the reform of the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

following the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

. Both critics and proponents of the changes made to the

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

, the

Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (), Divine Office (), or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official ...

and other liturgical practices consider him to be the dominant force in these efforts. He was a member of the

Vincentians Vincentian can refer to: People *A citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *A person from Saint Vincent (island), the largest island in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines *A member of one of the orders or societies in the Vincentian Family, both ...

. Bugnini held several other posts in the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

and ended his career as papal nuncio to Iran, where he acted as an intermediary during the

Iran hostage crisis The Iran hostage crisis () began on November 4, 1979, when 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage at the Embassy of the United States in Tehran, with 52 of them being held until January 20, 1981. Th ...

of 1979 to 1981.

Early life and ordination

Annibale Bugnini was born in

Civitella del Lago 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 , an artificial lake on the course of the river Tiber. The inhabitants during the winter are abou ...

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

.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 ''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 editor of ''Ephemerides Liturgicæ'', a scholarly journal founded in 1887 and dedicated to the study of the Catholic

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

. 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, is a pontifical university that was under the authority of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The university's mission is to ...

). He later became a professor at the

Pontifical Lateran University The Pontifical Lateran University (; ), also known as Lateranum, is a pontifical university based in Rome. The university also hosts the central session of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. The university ...

Curial career

On 28 May 1948,

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

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

Easter Vigil The Easter Vigil, also known as the Paschal Vigil, the Great Vigil of Easter, or Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter, is a Christian liturgy, liturgy held in Christian worship#Sacramental tradition, traditional Christian ...

in 1951 and revised ceremonies for the rest of

Holy Week Holy Week () commemorates the seven days leading up to Easter. It begins with the commemoration of Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednes ...

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

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

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

vespers Vespers /ˈvɛspərz/ () is a Christian liturgy, liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic liturgy, Eastern Catholic liturgical rites), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental O ...

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 Office. ...

, which led to new editions of the

Roman Breviary The Roman Breviary (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical Catholic prayer, prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notat ...

in 1961 and of the

Roman Missal The Roman Missal () is the book which contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Roman Rite, the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church. There have been several editions. History Before the Council of Trent (1570) ...

in 1962. On 25 January 1959,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII (born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death on 3 June 1963. He is the most recent pope to take ...

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 ''Sacrosanctum Concilium'', the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, is one of the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council. It was approved by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,147 to 4 and promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 4 December 1963. T ...

'' (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 emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses. For twenty years he served as Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations, in ch ...

, "his liturgical ideas were seen as too progressive." In his posthumously published memoirs, Second Vatican Council consultant

Louis Bouyer Louis Bouyer (17 February 1913 – 22 October 2004) was a French Catholic priest and former Lutheran minister who was received into the Catholic Church in 1939. During his religious career he was an influential theological thinker, especially ...

called Bugnini "a man as bereft of culture as he was of basic honesty." The council and

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul 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 State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

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 The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments () is the dicastery (from , from δικαστής, 'judge, juror') of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Church as distin ...

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 was divided into two separate congregations by Pope Paul VI on 8 May 1969. The Congregation was cha ...

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 (, ; ; ) is an Title of honor, honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy. It came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Originally used as a title bestowed by popular/clerical acclaim for a small number of the most di ...

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

. He met with Khomeini to deliver

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

'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.

Freemasonry allegation

The oft-repeated allegation of Bugnini being a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

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 1975 that he had "seen (or placed) on the pope's desk" a "dossier" containing evidence of Bugnini's Freemason connection. Bugnini was defended from such allegations by ''

L'Osservatore Romano ''L'Osservatore Romano'' is the daily newspaper of Vatican City which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication, a role ...

'' in 1976, but the allegation was renewed in 1978 by journalist

Carmine Pecorelli Carmine "Mino" Pecorelli (; 14 September 1928 – 20 March 1979) was an Italian journalist, shot dead in Rome a year after former prime minister Aldo Moro's 1978 kidnapping and subsequent killing. He was described as a "maverick journalist w ...

on the ''Osservatore Politico'' magazine, claiming that Bugnini had been initiated to Freemasonry on 23 April 1963, code number 1365/75. In ''The Reform of the Liturgy 1948-1975'', Bugnini staunchly denied such allegations, dismissing them as nothing more than slander. The accusation was renewed in 1992 by the

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ...

magazine ''Chiesa Viva'' and in 1999 by an anonymous pamphlet.

Bibliography

* ''La Chiesa in Iran (The Church in Iran)'', 1981 * ''La Riforma Liturgica 1948-1975 (The Reform of the Liturgy, 1948-1975)'', 1983 * ''Liturgiae cultor et amator, servì la Chiesa: Memorie autobiografiche'', 2012 (Postumous)

References

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