A documentary anthology of 16 Vatican decrees that defined — and dismantled — the traditional Catholic Mass.

From Pope Pius V's "Quo Primum" (1570), which declared the Tridentine Mass binding "in perpetuum," to Pope Benedict XVI's "Summorum Pontificum" (2007), which confirmed the Latin Mass had never been abrogated — every major liturgical document is here.

Each of the 16 documents inclues:

• Full document name in Latin and English

• Date, Pope, and document type

• Original Acta Apostolicae Sedis citation

• Historical context

• Key excerpts in Latin with English translation

• Theological and canonical analysis

• How it changed Catholic worship in practice

• How traditionalist scholars received it

Includes the Cardinal Ottaviani Intervention — the formal protest letter delivered to Paul VI in 1969 by two cardinals of the Roman Curia, warning that the new Mass represented "a striking departure from the Catholic theology of the Mass." Includes the encyclical Mediator Dei (1947), in which Pope Pius XII condemned the exact reforms that Paul VI implemented 22 years later. Includes the Oath Against Modernism (1910) and the decree that abolished it (1967).

200+ pages. Master chronological timeline. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.

The documents most Catholic parishes will never show you. Read them yourself. Form your own conclusions.