To be honest I was not Catholic back then! I was only 11 or 12 when Pope John XXIII called the Vatican II together. I didn’t know anything about Vatican II, but I remember Pope John XXIII. He was the jolly Pope to me. Like Santa Claus. I agree the Latin Mass is beautiful. There is something to be said for Mass in the vernacular also.
What?
Jim Caviezel too.
I recall reading about an NPR interview with late night host Jimmy Fallon when the topic was brought up.
I’m glad that you mentioned and provided a link to Veterum Sapientia. It’s an obscure encyclical, I think, and not many Catholics have heard of it. I only heard (or read, rather) about it recently in a book called Iota Unum. The encyclical was written, I believe, just after the synod that preceded the Vatican ll Council, and it explains the need for priests to be formed in the Latin language.
Actually VS was an Apostolic Constitution, the highest level of decree that can be issued by a Pope. Theoretically, it had as much legal force as Missale Romanum (1970), for example, which promulgated the newer Mass. Unfortunately, VS was only translated into English and Spanish later (when it was too late), and even though it was ceremoniously celebrated, it was, as you say, quickly obscured by groups such as the ICEL, who were ready to jump in and translate the Mass, procure the copyrights, and collect royalties on them. These groups completely ignored Veterum Sapientia and Vatican II’s command to preserve Latin in the liturgy.
A couple of links that I stumbled upon that might help:THANK YOU!
I’ll start doing what I can over here in Michigan
It does and it doesn’t surprise me. Maybe as an actor the more theatrical (I mean this in the best possible way) style and pomp of the Latin mass intrigues him. I’m also sure the spirituality does. I haven’t been to a latin mass myself (only watched videos, I currently live in a diocese without it and even if there was it would be too far for me to attend but having seen it I do think that it certainly does appeal to the senses.) IMHO a well done Novus Ordo can be uplifting. I wish parishes would use better music and such to give people a sense of wonder and power. Im sorry but CCM and drums and kumbayah type music isn’t exactly doing it for most people.
I see Hebrew as a sacred language and maybe Arabic, but if Latin is sacred is it only because it was the language of the Church for so many years?
If Hebrew is sacred isn’t that because it was the language of the Jews for so many years? I suppose in and of itself Latin is not sacred but for me it conjures up a sense of continuity with the past and separation from the everyday, i.e. a raising of the heart and mind to God.
I don’t think it was a drastic switch. Latin, as codified by Cicero et al, had been the administrative language of the Roman Empire. Greek was probably spoken more but the west was gradually adapting into Vulgar Latin, from which the Romance languages came from. The Church Christianized the Latin language, changing the meanings of words like “oratio” to prayer, for example, and decided to preserve its documents, theology, doctrine, scripture, liturgy, prayers, music, etc. in this immutable and timeless language. Up until Vatican II this actually had worked well.
True dat! It is also practical to use a language which is not “living” because the words become set in stone and the writing becomes “timeless”. Living languages are always changing, some English words have changed in meaning substantially in just the last hundred years. The words “gay” and “queer” are obvious examples but even a word like “enthusiasm”. “Enthusiasm” used to normally have a negative connotation, now it is almost always considered something positive.
I have the experience of being on the organizing committee for a meeting that occurs in Rome every 4 years. Previously the liturgy for the meetings (LOTH and Mass) was celebrated in a different major language every day (including Latin on one day) for the 1 week event. We had complaints that we should make the liturgy in Latin all the time because it was a common language everyone more or less understood liturgically, and that the Latin day was the only day everyone could take an active part in the liturgy. So at the last meeting that’s what we did.
It’s like Msgr Gallagher, the Pope’s Latinist says, “Latin is no one’s language and it’s everyone’s language.”We ended up with just as many complaints that the liturgy should have been in different main languages every day because they found Latin too difficult to follow. Go figure
Yeah I’ve had similar experiences with the whole rotate the language thing and I hate it.I have the experience of being on the organizing committee for a meeting that occurs in Rome every 4 years. Previously the liturgy for the meetings (LOTH and Mass) was celebrated in a different major language every day (including Latin on one day) for the 1 week event. We had complaints that we should make the liturgy in Latin all the time because it was a common language everyone more or less understood liturgically, and that the Latin day was the only day everyone could take an active part in the liturgy. So at the last meeting that’s what we did.
We ended up with just as many complaints that the liturgy should have been in different main languages every day because they found Latin too difficult to follow. Go figure
My take is that you can please some of the people some of the time, and all of the people none of the time and that it’s especially easy to displease everyone all the time. It’s just human nature, and it all boils down to a question of personal preference, especially now that in the Church we actually do have a choice.
I myself prefer Latin for international events like this; and even in the local liturgy. Fortunately Latin is alive and well especially in the Ordinary Form near where I live. Less so in the Extraordinary Form, where the only examples available within a reasonable drive are SSPX, and I refuse to attend Mass there.
