Question from my protestant in-law

[Brywan]

Potestant in-law: "My pastor said this morning that that once the Catholic Church started “singing in Latin” no one in the church could understand what was going on.

ARRGGGH!!!

I shot back that I could go to any Mass in any country of the world in ANY language and understand what’s going on–because I know the rubrics of the Mass–(although this understanding wouldn’t apply, of course, to the homily or the reading of scripture in another language.)

Can someone give me a brief history of the liturgy in Latin so that I can give her a more accurate understanding of Church liturgy in Latin?

 

[1ke]

Potestant in-law: "My pastor said this morning that that once the Catholic Church started “singing in Latin” no one in the church could understand what was going on.

As opposed to when they sang in Greek?

The Liturgy was in Greek for about the first two centuries, and gradually transitioned to Latin in the West in the third century as Greek went by the wayside as the common language of the people. The liturgy in the West became Latin because people spoke Latin. It remained Greek in the East because people spoke Greek.

Can someone give me a brief history of the liturgy in Latin so that I can give her a more accurate understanding of Church liturgy in Latin?

Sure: Greek was the universal language of the liturgy from the beginning until somewhere in the mid-200s when it transitioned to Latin since Latin had become the main language by then, replacing Greek.

We are, of course, only talking about the West. In the East, the liturgy remained in Greek.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

John 19: 19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.

What Latin was for the World from 100AD-1700AD is what English is for the world today. English is the “universal language” of today.

 

[Brywan]

As opposed to when they sang in Greek?

The Liturgy was in Greek for about the first two centuries, and gradually transitioned to Latin in the West in the third century as Greek went by the wayside as the common language of the people. The liturgy in the West became Latin because people spoke Latin. It remained Greek in the East because people spoke Greek.

Sure: Greek was the universal language of the liturgy from the beginning until somewhere in the mid-200s when it transitioned to Latin since Latin had become the main language by then, replacing Greek.

We are, of course, only talking about the West. In the East, the liturgy remained in Greek.

But would Greek or Latin have been the language of the educated (the cultural elite)–while the poor and illiterate spoke the vernacular of their particular country?

 

[Nita]

Potestant in-law: "My pastor said this morning that that once the Catholic Church started “singing in Latin” no one in the church could understand what was going on.

ARRGGGH!!!

I shot back that I could go to any Mass in any country of the world in ANY language and understand what’s going on–because I know the rubrics of the Mass–(although this understanding wouldn’t apply, of course, to the homily or the reading of scripture in another language.)

Can someone give me a brief history of the liturgy in Latin so that I can give her a more accurate understanding of Church liturgy in Latin?

There were some big advantages to having the liturgy in the same language worldwide. Priests could travel to any country and when they celebrated Mass it was in Latin, a language familiar to both the priest and the congregation. I’m not sure what priests do now when they travel to a country where they do not know the language. I imagine they celebrate Mass privately and not with the local congregation present.

I had no problem with the Latin; we all had missals with the Latin on one page and the English on the next. It was very easy to follow. By the time my husband and I first travelled to foreign countries, the Latin had been replaced with the vernacular. That was when I realized how nice it would be to have the Mass in the same language everywhere.

 

[WingsOfEagles]

The parts of the Mass that were in Latin were the same every week, so I would think between that and the fact that the Latin Mass always had the English translation include to look at, the Congregation did know what was going on because they came to know the Mass specific Latin phrases.

 

[1ke]

But would Greek or Latin have been the language of the educated (the cultural elite)–while the poor and illiterate spoke the vernacular of their particular country?

Greek was the language of commerce and spoken widely from 200-300 BC onward since the entire Mediterranean was part of Alexander the Great’s empire for centuries. Latin **was **the vernacular of Rome. It came into widespread use throughout the empire in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, replacing Greek.

You are thinking like a 21st century American, the ancients had no concept of countries.

 

[DavidFilmer]

But would Greek or Latin have been the language of the educated (the cultural elite)–while the poor and illiterate spoke the vernacular of their particular country?

The vernacular of the region now known as Greece was (and still is) Greek. The vernacular of the region now known as Italy was Latin, which has transitioned to Italian, which is still very similar to Latin (and many Latin words survive intact in Italian).

Those people spoke Greek/Latin, rich and poor alike, but the poor and illiterate spoke it with a Cockney accent.

 

[EricFilmer]

Potestant in-law: "My pastor said this morning that that once the Catholic Church started “singing in Latin” no one in the church could understand what was going on.

…Can someone give me a brief history of the liturgy in Latin so that I can give her a more accurate understanding of Church liturgy in Latin?

The first official translation of the Bible into Latin was the Vulgate of St. Jerome (completed around the end of the 4th Century A.D.). According to TheFreeDictionary.com, the definition of vulgate is, “The common speech of a people; the vernacular.”

Gratia vobis et pax multiplicetur,
Fr. Eric
Diocese of Savannah

 

[bzkoss236]

Those people spoke Greek/Latin, rich and poor alike, but the poor and illiterate spoke it with a Cockney accent.

Lol