'SUPERNATURAL IS ALIVE'
Medlin, Soffi and others say there is today a growing interest in the old rite from young people disaffected with a superficial, consumerist world and looking for something sacred.
After the old rite was phased out to be replaced in some churches by sing-along hymns and guitar music, many people missed the Latin rite's sense of mystery and awe and the centuries-old Gregorian chant that went with it.
"It's because young people no longer buy the claim that the supernatural is dead. They have discovered the opposite is true, that the supernatural is alive and the existential was a mere time-bound way of looking at the world that was in its heyday in the 1960s and is now well past its 'sell by' date," Medlin said.
Those who favour the old rite Latin mass realise they will always be a minority in the church, but they are content that now there is a choice for young and old.
"We must understand that most people are happy with the new rite and it's not for us to make them feel like second-class citizens in the way that we were made to feel for so many years," Medlin said.
BURSE, MANIPLE, BIRETTA
But finding equipment remains a challenge. Some is so specific to the traditional rite it is out of production.
Both Siffi and Medlin are involved in de facto traditionalist "matchmaking", linking people who have old vestments or other paraphernalia with those seeking them.
After the changes in the 1960s and 1970s much of the material was thrown out, sold to antiquarians or stashed away in dusty cupboards of rectories or church attics.
"Gradually, these objects are being made available for use again," said Medlin.
One hard-to-find item is the "burse": a stiff, cardboard pocket between nine and twelve inches (23-30 cm) square. It must be covered in silk and of a colour to match the mass vestments.
The burse, which fell out of use after the Second Vatican Council, is effectively a pouch which holds the "corporal", a square piece of white linen cloth on which the chalice is placed during the mass.
Another piece of paraphernalia now being sought is the "maniple", a napkin-like vestment which hangs from the priest's left forearm during mass.
The black biretta, a square cap worn by the priest celebrating the old rite as he approaches the altar before mass and on leaving at the end, also fell into disuse.
If the problem is not so much the equipment as the language, the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales also publishes a "teach yourself Latin" course based on Church Latin used in the traditional rite.
"You don't need to be able to converse about the weather in Latin in order to be able to say the Latin mass," Medlin said.
