ABS and The Bride were eating some delicious roasted lamb at Maggie Jones's in Kensington, England when he was introduced to and spoke with Lady Felicity Birtwhistle, the daughter of Tilly and Cecil Cripplekick, the rich couple which owns several farms in and around the Tri-Cities of Dorset; dairy farms in the lovely little villages of Puddletown, Tolpuddle, and Affpuddle and she said, The authors of the Lil' Licit Liturgy were a bunch of poofters, right?
Well, Lady Birtwhistle, maybe so, but the then Pope at the time publicly stated that the Fathers of that captious council were the holiest Catholics ever.
Following is the council press office translation of the Latin address delivered Dec. 4 (1963) by Pope Paul VI at the closing meeting of the second session of the ecumenical council.
We have now reached the end of the second session of this great ecumenical council.
You have already been long absent from your Sees, in which the sacred ministry requires your presence, your guidance and your zealous pastoral labors. Your work here has been heavy, and assiduous and protracted by reason of the ceremonies, studies and meetings of this period of the council.
And now we have just entered upon the sacred season of Advent which prepares us to celebrate worthily the memory of the blessed Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, that yearly recurring feast which never loses its solemnity and wonder and holiness. During this important and absorbing commemoration of the ineffable mystery of the Incarnate Word of God, none of us should be occupied with other thoughts, however elevated or holy they may be. None of us should be detained in any other See, however great and venerable, but each of us should celebrate the liturgical mysteries in that place where Providence has entrusted to us His church, His community and His priestly pastoral duty.
We must, therefore, interrupt for a second time the course of this great synod; we must once again bid each other farewell and go our separate ways after these happy days of momentous brotherly conference.
But we must first thank God for the blessings that He has bestowed during this session and by its means, nor can we withhold our thanks from any of those who have taken part in the session and have had some positive part in its successful functioning. We thank especially the presidency of the Council, the moderators, the secretariat and also the commissions and the periti, the representatives of press and television, those who have fitted out this basilica, and those who have offered hospitality and assistance to the Fathers of the council.
And we thank in a particular way those Fathers who have been good enough to contribute toward the great expense that the organization of this great event requires, or have with fraternal charity come to the aid of their more needy brothers, or have assisted the Church in her enormous needs and come to the help of the victims of recent disasters.
Before concluding our labors, it would be fitting to sum up and to consider together the course of the session and its results. But to do that would make this address too long, nor indeed could it be done adequately since so many aspects of this council belong to the domain of grace and the inner kingdom of the soul into which it is not always easy to enter, and since so many of the council’s results have not yet come to maturity, but are as grains of wheat cast into the furrows, awaiting their effective and fruitful development, which will be granted only in the future through new mysterious manifestations of the divine goodness.
Nevertheless, lest we seem to leave this holy council hall without gratitude for the blessings of God, from whom this council has here taken its origin, we will remind ourselves above all that some of the goals that the council set itself to achieve have already been at least partially reached.
The Church wished to grow in her consciousness and understanding of herself. See how, on the very level of her pastors and teachers, she has begun a profound meditation on that mystery from which she draws her origin and form. The meditation is not finished, but the very difficulty of concluding it reminds us of the depth and breadth of this doctrine, and stimulates each of us to strive to understand and to express the doctrine in a way which, on the one hand, cannot fail to lead our minds, and certainly those of the faithful who are attentively following our labors, to Christ Himself from whom all gifts come to us and to whom we wish to return all, “reconciling everything in Him” (Col. 1, 20).
On the other hand, our efforts cannot fail to increase both our happiness in being personally called to form part of this holy Mystical Body of Christ, and our mutual charity, the principle and law of the life of the Church.
Let us rejoice, my brothers, for when was the Church ever so aware of herself, so in love with Christ, so blessed, so united, so willing to imitate Him, so ready to fulfill His mission?