Praying in Latin -- NEW SITE!

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Substantial updates have been made to the why pray in Latin page and a new page on veiling and other additions. Interested in your thoughts or feedback.
 
I wish I had found your site on First Saturday. Even though I’m Ukrainian Greek Catholic, I try to make the Five First Saturdays but have a hard time concentrating on the Rosary.

One of my online buddies (maybe it was you under another avatar?) suggested that I pray the Rosary in Latin.

On the First Saturday in June I tried doing it but the thought came to me that I might not be pronouncing the words correctly. The Adoration chapel near me has a small bookcase with various meditation & prayer books, Bibles etc.

So I went and tore through almost every shelf trying to find the Ave Maria & Regina Caeli in Latin.

Finally, I found them - in the missalette!

I’m going to bookmark your site for future reference.

The saints say that the Enemy hates Latin. Obviously, he doesn’t want me to do it but he can go back to where he came from!

Crush his head, dear Mother! (Gen. 3: 15)
 
They should be the same original links just with a lot of new pages and inside links added on them.
 
Oh good. Thank you!

Also, thank you for the online Latin dictionary.

What is a good online Latin/English translator site? Google Translate is horrible.
 
Margaret_Ann said:
Oh good. Thank you!

Also, thank you for the online Latin dictionary.

What is a good online Latin/English translator site? Google Translate is horrible .
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When I used to translate long texts, I used this dictionary, which I found very helpful: William Whitaker's Words
A newer site I also posted above that I’ve found helpful recently: online-latin-dictionary .com

If you’re just praying prayers, usually the prayer books (such as the one online on prayinglatin .com) are pretty solid in their translations except for the poetic prayers usually take license in order to get them to rhyme, so translating the original Latin for them can be helpful in gaining a greater depth of understanding. The newer translations of the acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity are very far from the originals. The translation on the prayinglatin site is the literal version faithful to the Latin and far exceed the modern versions in their beauty, depth, and worship of God.
 
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For example:

Modern act of faith in English translation commonly found in most prayer books:
O my God, I firmly believe
that you are one God in three divine Persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I believe that your divine Son became man
and died for our sins and that he will come
to judge the living and the dead.
I believe these and all the truths
which the Holy Catholic Church teaches
because you have revealed them
who are eternal truth and wisdom,
who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

Traditional and literal translation of the official Latin version:
Oh Lord my God, with a firm faith I believe and confess each and every thing that the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou, my God, has revealed all these things, who is eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith, I resolve to live and to die. Amen.

Original and official Latin prayer:
Domine Deus, firma fide credo et confiteor omnia et singula quæ sancta ecclesia Catholica proponit, quia tu, Deus, ea omnia revelasti, qui es aeterna veritas et sapientia quae nec fallere nec falli potest. In hac fide vivere et mori statuo. Amen.

Notice the first prayer says you believe “all the truths” whereas the original says you believe “each and every thing that the holy Catholic Church teaches.” One can define “truth” differently, such as Pontius Pilate who said famously “quid est vertias?” (what is truth). The actual Latin prayer itself does not afford any wiggle room.

The other two acts are also noteworthy but I won’t reproduce them here at this time.
 
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I know VERY little Latin. I can only pray the Our Father and the Hail Mary in Latin. I’d like to be proficient in it. For me, it makes me feel more “unified” with those Catholics who have preceded me.

Sure, one might say that we’re unified with all Christians of all times due to our belief in Christ, etc., but I feel that just as language is a great unifier of people living today, it somehow further unifies me with the prayers and songs of the early Christians.

By the same token, I’d like to learn the Our Father in Aramaic, since it was (as I understand) the language spoken by Jesus when he taught it to the disciples.
 
Yes I understand, but Latin is also not the only language of the Church, but only the Latin Rite one or even the most original
 
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If Latin is so amazing, and so highly regarded, why is there so little information about how and where to learn it, other than a few rote learned prayers? I’d love to learn Latin. Even my FSSP priest couldn’t give me any suggestions! If you weren’t lucky enough to learn it at school it seems like a closed club 😦
 
Got to do it on your own and on-line. Really got to be self motivated. I think though that it is better than doing puzzles. It takes time and committment. These days I woul rather learn Bansuri flute.
 
There are thousands of resources for learning Latin. A good free course that I often recommend on this site in threads like this is Linney’s Latin Class (http://www.linneyslatinclass.com/). The lectures are extremely thorough, and the textbook is available as a free download found on the website. You can buy it from amazon if you prefer to hold a book in your hand though. This course focuses on classical Latin, specifically teaching you to read Caesar, but you will get a solid foundation in Latin grammar and vocabulary. William Linney also sells his own very basic, but fantastic, textbook, which is geared towards self-teaching learners. Free audio clips in both classical and ecclesiastical pronunciation are available on that website as well (http://www.gettingstartedwithlatin.com/), and you can access them without buying the book. You can use the book as a primer to the free course, but you don’t have to.

As far as specifically Ecclesiastical Latin, the best free resource is probably the tutorial for priests on how to offer the TLM available from the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius (https://sanctamissa.org/en/tutorial/ordo-missae-0.html). It won’t give you much in explicit grammar, but it will tune your ear to EL pronunciation and help you learn what is going on at the TLM, if you are not already familiar. The rest of the website is a gold mine of information on traditional spirituality and is worth reading in and of itself.

Those are probably the better free resources. I would recommend using them together, as one gives you the foundation in the language and the other shows you a classical language in action.

Textkit.com is also a great resource for free books in Latin and Greek, but there’s not much in the way of hand-holding. Beyond that, check your local library and the plethora of Catholic sites that contain audio and texts for prayers. Let me know if I can recommend anything else.
 
Try singing it. Just a suggestion. Might remember better that way.
 
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