National Review Sings Praises for Alumnus Author’s New Book on Mass, Liturgy

The latest book by alumnus author Dr. Peter Kwasniewski (’94) — Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness: Why the Modern Age Needs the Mass of Ages — does not get lost in the “‘policy weeds’ of liturgy and liturgical reform,” writes Gregory DiPippo in National Review. Instead, Mr. DiPippo notes, Dr. Kwasniewski’s work takes a much broader — and necessary — approach, addressing the critical question of “how, in its public worship, the Church can recover both the beauty and the sense of the sacred that are proper to the things of God.”

In answering that question, Dr. Kwasniewski not only makes an eloquent case for the Traditional Latin Mass, but also shows “how the old Mass can inform the new Mass.”  Indeed, Mr. DiPippo adds, there is “a growing trend to celebrate the new Mass … in a manner conducive to beauty and more in keeping with both tradition and the mind of Vatican II,” and “unlike many writers in the traditionalist camp, Kwasniewski does not dismiss as irrelevant this development in the celebration of the newer rite.”

A professor of theology and philosophy, an instructor of music, and the choirmaster at Wyoming Catholic College, Dr. Kwasniewski — who is also a professional composer and cantor — writes frequently on matters pertaining to the liturgy and sacred music. In Noble Beauty, Transcendent Holiness, he examines the sanctity and grandeur of the traditional Roman liturgy, which, he argues, must play an essential role if there is to be a new springtime in the Church.

“The Church’s long track record suggests that it will recover much of its lost beauty and transcendence and rediscover its true self,” writes Mr. DiPippo. “Peter Kwasniewski’s most recent contribution to that end hastens the process admirably.”

The full review is available on the National Review website.