Latin and You. Wherein Fr. Z Rants

[SeraficLeo]

At that time Latin was not the official language of the Church

To be fair, Latin has never been made or declared “the official language of the Church.” There were plenty of languages in use in the Church’s liturgy (like Greek), though for a very long time and to a degree still today there was a tendency of Churches to cultivate a kind of sacred tongue for sacred worship. I think many Eastern rights that use Greek use a very nuanced form of it in their liturgy, for example. In English you can still see this sometimes when archaic words or phrases are used or retained (e.g. retaining “thou” or “thy” in formal prayers, or using a term like Lord of Hosts) and, in another way, when original words from other languages might be borrowed, used and preserved (like “Amen” or “Kyrie eleison”). It helps provide a sense of solemnity and can also help people develop a sense of roots, connected-ness or heritage.

Because of the huge impact that Latin and ecclesiastical Latin had in the development and formation of so many European and Romance languages, studying Latin can be doubly beneficial or advantageous. But this is not true for everybody and certainly isn’t necessary.

 

[prayinglatin]

and conclude that Latin was the original language of the Roman liturgy . . .

This is a conclusion made by many a wiser scholar. Also what was the language, vernacular of ancient Rome? Was it not Latin? Thus, if the ancient liturgy was solely in Greek, that would mean that originally the Church prayed in a sacred liturgical language, Greek, and then changed it to the sacred liturgical language of Latin. Either way, the undeniable reality with which all agree is that Latin was unquestionably the only sacred language for the Latin Rite Church - aka the Church in the west - aka the Roman Catholic Church - for a minimum of 17 centuries. If that fact alone has no significance to someone, then I’d say they have a bias visible from the moon.

Something for all of us to remember repeated by many: * “Hatred for the Latin language is inborn in the heart of all the enemies of Rome.” (Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Institutions (Vol. 1, ch. IV, 1840).)

 

[prayinglatin]

To be fair, Latin has never been made or declared “the official language of the Church.”

Idk man… The Church has referred to herself as the “Latin Rite Church” for quite some time now…

Plus there’s this:
Pope Benedict XVI, Apostolic Letter “Motu Proprio” Latina Lingua , 2012.
“The Latin language has always been held in very high esteem by the Catholic Church and by the Roman Pontiffs. They have assiduously encouraged the knowledge and dissemination of Latin, +adopting it as the Church’s language+, capable of passing on the Gospel message throughout the world. This is authoritatively stated by the Apostolic Constitution Veterum Sapientia of my Predecessor, Blessed John XXIII.”

And this:
Pope St Pius X, Tra Le Sollecitudini, 1903
“ The language proper to the Roman Church is Latin .”

And more, but you get the idea…

Latin is the official sacred prayer language for the vast majority of all Catholics. We are Roman Latin Rite Catholics. Let’s not be ashamed to fully embrace our heritage and patrimony!

It helps provide a sense of solemnity and can also help people develop a sense of roots, connected-ness or heritage.

Amen. Great point.

 

[Le_Cracquere]

I’ll say this much: for at least a millennium and a half, Latin has been the lingua franca of Western civilization (including Western Christendom). Not to know Latin is, in a very important sense, to be less than fully literate in any sense that really matters. If you’re really interested in being a full heir of Western civilization, then run to the bookstore (or Amazon) and grab yourself a Latin 101 textbook.

 

[PetraG]

If we are going to call ourselves Roman Catholics, Catholics of the Latin Church, then we need Latin.

The chorus of clerical lament rises now around my toes, moving upward, ever upward in a swirl of complaints and excuses. “It’s toooo haaard… I have too much to dooooo… People aren’t asking fooooor it…. I’m too ooooold to change… I’d don’t liiiiike it….”

B as in B. S as in S.

This is important. If you are without Latin, you are someone else’s puppet when it comes to all the Church’s liturgical texts and the Church’s law and the Church’s doctrine. For your Cult, Code and Creed, you are enslaved to translations, which do not provide the riches of the original content.

This is particularly important in the realm of our sacred liturgical worship. Change how we pray and we change what we believe, and, hence, how we live.

His lecturing of parish priests about their time constraints and the interest their parishioners have in their pastors’ mastery of Latin would be a bit more believable if he were too busy running a parish to keep up his blog.

 

[twf]

Here’s my issue. I actually can accept that Latin may, due to its sanctification over the centuries as a language of prayer, be especially effective in exorcisms… but I struggle sometimes with the “opinions of exorcists” as some sort of quasi-magisterium. I hate to bring up the subject… but every time we have a Harry Potter thread we have posters reference a certain exorcist’s claims that spells in the books literally burned down a woman’s house, despite the fact that credible sources show that a mentally ill woman took actions that led to a very natural electrical fire…

 

[OraLabora]

If so, may I ask what is your opinion on the accounts of the exorcists provided?

@twf said it better than I could:

but I struggle sometimes with the “opinions of exorcists” as some sort of quasi-magisterium.

And could you perhaps respond to my earlier question regarding at least us agreeing on the possibility that a language could be consecrated as something sacred and thereby have additional merit and power attached and given to it by God?

Merit yes. Additional power “given by God”? No.

Since we would obviously agree on objects being blessed and holy in themselves through the blessing of the priest, then do we at least agree that it is possible a language itself can be similarly blessed by God?

This would put the language on the same level as a sacramental. To the extent the language is part of our heritage, has fostered a patrimony of beautiful sacred music and has provided a sense of unity (which alas seems to have disappeared), I can accept that.

What I can’t except is that Latin, or any other sacramental for that matter, has any sort of “power” other than to act as a reminder of our faith or the sacraments, and foster a deeper prayer life that inspires us to deepen our conversion, and to enable us to cooperate with Divine Grace.

1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. “For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.”

In other words, the power is not from the sacramental, but the divine grace from the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ that are the power. They “they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it.”. They do not themselves confer grace.

Our abbot once gave us a powerful warning about sacramentals when an oblate candidate made an offhand remark about not being able to contract germs from a holy water font. He warned us not to fall into the temptation of magical thinking, and that yes, it was possible to contract germs from holy water (this was when fonts were emptied due to the H1N1 virus scare).

(cont’d)

 

[OraLabora]

(cont’d from above)

Exorcism is also another possible trap of the devil even as we attempt to exorcise him. Very few exorcisms are done today:

Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness.

There is no doubt that in earlier times, before the science of psychiatry had identified many illnesses such schizophrenia as having a physical basis, that more exorcisms were carried out in the false but sincere belief that they were cases of demonic possession. This is not the case today and for that reason the Church has set very tight boundaries around the practice of exorcisms.

 

[MagdalenaRita]

In other words, the power is not from the sacramental, but the divine grace from he Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ

I dont think anyone would disagree with that. The grace given when using Latin in our prayers would absolutely come from God.
Definitely!

Very few exorcisms are done today:

There has been reports of an absolute increase in exorcisms today from priests in good standing with the Church.

 

[OraLabora]

The grace given when using Latin in our prayers would absolutely come from God.
Definitely!

Here’s the rub, I have had what seemed to me to be grace-filled moments praying the Liturgy of the Hours both in Latin, and in French.

ISTM the grace is coming from praying, not the language.

I do feel Latin helps me in prayer, because the Latin psalmody acts somewhat like a “mantra” which shifts one’s concentration from the world, to God; this from the cadences in the Latin chant. After I chant the psalm or canticle in Latin, I read through it silently in French. I’ve tried reading the French as I chant the Latin but the effect is not the same.

Sometimes though, it doesn’t work if I’m too distracted, and sometimes praying in French only (as I do when I travel), is particularly grace-filled if I’m properly disposed to begin with. This has been the case from time to time when I’ve been able to withdraw into the cloister of my heart in a busy and noisy airport waiting area.

I do not ascribe my use of Latin to concentrate my prayers to any magical powers of Latin, but simply due to the ability of a mantra to concentrate prayer. When I do lectio divina, I don’t use a Latin mantra but a French one.

It’s not because of anything special in Latin, but a psychological effect of a mantra.

 

[CapitalistCatholic]

Is this still a thing?

 

[stpurl]

You’re accusing Cardinal Arinze of 'misdirection?" Here is the source of the part I quoted, and you can find it right on EWTN.

Latin and Vernacular: Language in the Roman Liturgy
Cardinal Francis Arinze
Prefect, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, delivered the following Keynote Address at the Gateway Liturgical Conference which was held in St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., last 11 November [2006].

Yes, it was a keynote address. However, note that at the time the Cardinal was Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (and this was less than a year prior to Pope Benedict’s Motu Proprio). Do you think that the Cardinal was attempting to ‘misdirect’ people?

 

[stpurl]

Why yes. It never stopped being part of the Roman Rite of the Latin Catholic Church. If you read the documents of Vatican 2, you’ll note that regarding liturgy, the people are expected to know and understand the Latin for the parts of the liturgy to which it is reserved for them (i.e. the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Pater Noster --the Kyrie, of course, is Greek).

 

[CapitalistCatholic]

Like, I’m talking about the thread. I thought this was over a month ago.

 

[stpurl]

LOL, oh honey we can go on with these things for years if necessary.

 

[CapitalistCatholic]

Lol, I thought it was already settled that those who like Latin go to Latin Mass and those who prefer vernacular go to the Ordinary Form. Am I missing something?

 

[twf]

Yes… people also debate over the use of Latin in the OF. Personally, my preference is to have the Kyrie in Greek, the Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei in Latin, and the rest in the vernacular.

 

[CapitalistCatholic]

I don’t see anything wrong with that. Is there some reason there can’t be a few Latin words (and one greek phrase) in the OF?

 

[twf]

There definitely can be. It is the case in many places around the world. The issue is some people want less Latin and some want more.

 

[MagdalenaRita]

grace is coming from praying, not the language.

The grace comes from God and He uses many means to give us that grace. Yes, prayer and also sacramentals.

I do feel Latin helps me in prayer, because…

Very nice. Again, it sounds like you have a very good prayer life. I hope Father Z’s article encourages others in their prayer life also.