Liturgical reform and religious orders. The reception of the Second Vatican Council in male religious orders in the German-speaking area

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In the history of liturgy of the Catholic Church with Latin rite, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) is of particular importance. The desire "to undertake with great care a general restoration of the liturgy itself" (SC 21) did influence the proceedings of the liturgical reform and the ecclesiastical life not only in the Catholic Church profoundly. Part of the reform´s process are various institutions and bodies, beginning with Roman departments, via commissions of the individual language areas, up to parties in dioceses, parishes or in particular religious orders. Whereas the drafting of new liturgical books and statutory ordinance was fundamental, the virtual renewal consisted not in the officially published liturgical books, but in a renewal of the liturgical practice of the local churches.During the past ten years, the reception of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy and of the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council was explored in the local churches of the German-speaking area. Next to the Church’s territorial structure into dioceses and parishes, which mean the “individual local congregations [of the faithful]” (LG 28), religious orders have, as a personal structure, their own reception history that was, up to now, never examined closely. The project “liturgical reform and religious orders“ tries to find out how different religious orders renewed their liturgy after the Second Vatican Council and thus, how they received the liturgy reform. The research project aims at a paradigmatic exploration, in order to describe parallels and differences between dioceses and religious orders among themselves. In addition, the inventory taking in the field of historical liturgy is a necessary tool to understand the perception of the ecclesiastical transformations in the German-Speaking area of the postwar period.The project´s organizational structure is based on three pillars, which are interconnected and mediate their scientific results mutually. The first pillar concentrates on the compilation of a electronic open-access bibliography of printed Rituals of religious orders in the German-speaking area, which still outlines a desideratum. The second pillar takes two in the history of the church and religious orders particularly outstanding and influential congregations into focus: Benedictines and Franciscans. A third pillar finally, is dedicated to the coordination of scientific research of the project´s researchers, who each work on case studies from the point of view of several religious orders about the reception of the liturgical reform. They thereby, extend the „picture“ noticeably. As a result, they provide the opportunity for a comparative synopsis.