Speed Latin

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opus101

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I would like to increase my attendance at a local traditional Latin Mass sponsored by my diocese, but have come across the following problem.

Every time I have attended throughout the past few years ( a few times per year) I’ve gotten completely lost during the Mass - not so much because I don’t know what’s going on, but becauset a few loud “parishioners” do all of the responses in Speed Latin.

The priest is great, his Latin is very understandable and well paced…but the responders seem to be in a race to see who can speak the fastest Latin. They are not just fast - they are amazingly speederific. No sooner do I say the first word of the response and they are already on the last! The responses sound like “first syllable of response followed by a lightening fast blur followed by last syllable of last word”.

I’ve never heard this type of turbo Latin, not on any televised Mass in Latin, or in any recording whatsoever.

What is going on here? I don’t even have time to think! I get so flustered and mixed up I just give up responding entirely.

Is this a normal experience?
 
No, not normal in my experience. Perhaps you can ask the priest to speak about it in his homily. This seems rather rude if done on purpose.
 
opus101 said:
I would like to increase my attendance at a local traditional Latin Mass sponsored by my diocese, but have come across the following problem.

Every time I have attended throughout the past few years ( a few times per year) I’ve gotten completely lost during the Mass - not so much because I don’t know what’s going on, but becauset a few loud “parishioners” do all of the responses in Speed Latin.

The priest is great, his Latin is very understandable and well paced…but the responders seem to be in a race to see who can speak the fastest Latin. They are not just fast - they are amazingly speederific. No sooner do I say the first word of the response and they are already on the last! The responses sound like “first syllable of response followed by a lightening fast blur followed by last syllable of last word”.

I’ve never heard this type of turbo Latin, not on any televised Mass in Latin, or in any recording whatsoever.

What is going on here? I don’t even have time to think! I get so flustered and mixed up I just give up responding entirely.

Is this a normal experience?
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I’ve never seen this, and it seems quite uncalled for. The responses by the faithful should be said at the same speed or near the same speed that the priest says them. You should speak to the priest about it.
 
One doesn’t need to respond in the EF.

Are you talking about the servers?
 
I have never seen this.

Where I am, the congregation rarely respond, and the choir and servers respond with the same speed of the celebrant (the altar boys are actually taught that).
 
superamazingman said:
I have never seen this.

Where I am, the congregation rarely respond, and the choir and servers respond with the same speed of the celebrant (the altar boys are actually taught that).
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thank you for saying this…i went to my first EF Mass today, and no one responded to anything…it was just the servers. when, if ever do the people respond to anything?
 
At low mass, the faithful have the option to respond for a few things, such as the Kyrie, or the response to the Epistle (“Deo Gratias”) or Gospel (“Laus tibi Christe”), as well as a few other things that do not come to mind.

At high mass, the faithful have the option to reply to a few things as well, such as “Amen” to " Per omnia saecula saeculorum", etc.

My guess is that the OP means the servers.
 
ISTM that there are two Masses in Latin, one is the EF, the other the OF but in Latin, which would have more responses.

I agree about talking to the priest. He may not be aware of the intimidatitng effect the latin racers have.
 
The last time I went it did seem to be the server who was doing this. All of the other times it was a few people in the congregation, who, unfortunately were seated near me.
I was unaware that we were not supposed to be responding. I was trying to follow the red booklet.
 
Could it be this response?

Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea

It seemed awfully fast to me when I began assisting at the E.F. After awhile I discovered that I had been getting off track: I was saying “interes” rather than “intres” and that extra syllable was not working at all.😛 Once behind by a syllable, I could never catch back up. By the third repetition, I was pretty far behind.😃
Now that I have that fixed, the response seems much better paced, but I’m still not ready to do it without reading the words while responding. Still, the Mass is well worth a bit of extra effort as I work on my Latin.
i hope you will be patient with yourself O.P. I’m sure you will feel more comfortable in time and the Mass is so wonderful! There are some youtube videos on how to say the responses that might be helpful but I do not have enough background to tell you which are best.
Other posters to this thread will be able to help you there.👍
May God bless you. Amen.
 
Could it be this response?

Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea

It seemed awfully fast to me when I began assisting at the E.F. After awhile I discovered that I had been getting off track: I was saying “interes” rather than “intres” and that extra syllable was not working at all.😛
Once behind by a syllable, I could never catch back up. By the third repetition, I was pretty far behind.😃
Now that I have that fixed, the response seems much better paced. I do still need to read the words while responding.
i hope you will be patient with yourself O.P. I’m sure you will feel more comfortable in time and the Mass is so wonderful! There are some youtube videos on how to say the responses that might be helpful but I do not have enough background in Latin to tell you which are best.
Other posters to this thread will be able to help you there.👍
May God bless you. Amen.
 
jeannetherese said:
Could it be this response?

Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea

It seemed awfully fast to me when I began assisting at the E.F. After awhile I discovered that I had been getting off track: I was saying “interes” rather than “intres” and that extra syllable was not working at all.😛
Once behind by a syllable, I could never catch back up. By the third repetition, I was pretty far behind.😃
Now that I have that fixed, the response seems much better paced. I do still need to read the words while responding.
i hope you will be patient with yourself O.P. I’m sure you will feel more comfortable in time and the Mass is so wonderful! There are some youtube videos on how to say the responses that might be helpful but I do not have enough background in Latin to tell you which are best.
Other posters to this thread will be able to help you there.👍
May God bless you. Amen.
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thanks, i have been watching a few EF videos on youtube. helpful. as far as the latin goes, i am solid. my parents made me take it in high school, and i am pretty good with foreign languages. i am not the op, but nevertheless…lol
 
It was my experience that the responses by the faithful were crazy fast at first but now after 1 year attending, I speak the responses just as fast.
 
jeannetherese said:
Could it be this response?

Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea

It seemed awfully fast to me when I began assisting at the E.F. After awhile I discovered that I had been getting off track: I was saying “interes” rather than “intres” and that extra syllable was not working at all.😛
Once behind by a syllable, I could never catch back up. By the third repetition, I was pretty far behind.😃
Now that I have that fixed, the response seems much better paced. I do still need to read the words while responding.
i hope you will be patient with yourself O.P. I’m sure you will feel more comfortable in time and the Mass is so wonderful! There are some youtube videos on how to say the responses that might be helpful but I do not have enough background in Latin to tell you which are best.
Other posters to this thread will be able to help you there.👍
May God bless you. Amen.
Click to expand...
Ah! Thank you for clearing my mind. 😃 That was the response I wanted to mention but couldn’t remember. :rolleyes:
 
It’s kind of hard to rush the responses at High or Solemn Mass, that just sounds bad. The only thing that sounds worse than that is when the people are too afraid to respond and so the sung responses are made by only one or two people; it sounds just terrible.

At Low Mass it is possible, but again, it just sounds bad. I prefer a Low Mass where the responses are at a sensible speed so that, if a congregant wants to respond in a moderate voice, he can, and if he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t. I am not a fan of a “You must/must not” respond Low Mass atmosphere.

I think there is a certain universal expectation to respond at High/Solemn Mass, and while there isn’t at Low Mass, you certainly may make responses. A crowded church with hundreds of people singing the responses powerfully at a Solemn Mass is just sublime, especially the Preface Dialogue in the More Solemn Tone, which of course is hardly ever used…
 
YoungTradCath said:
At Low Mass it is possible, but again, it just sounds bad. I prefer a Low Mass where the responses are at a sensible speed so that, if a congregant wants to respond in a moderate voice, he can, and if he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t. I am not a fan of a “You must/must not” respond Low Mass atmosphere.
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+1
 
I have never heard speed Latin…but I did go to Vespers with a Coptic Orthodox friend once and the Deacon was speaking so fast I couldn’t tell if he was speaking in Coptic, Arabic, or English…and neither could my friend 😦
 
I cannot remember the term used for places in which the responses are made by the faithful, but apparently it is not horribly uncommon. However this generally leads to confusion as the OP suggests.

I admit, sometimes I do the ‘speed Latin’ (being a server of ten years), yet that is only to match the pace of the priest. It is rude, and indeed just wrong, to go faster than the priest’s pace.

I would definitely ask the priest about the issue; perhaps it annoys him too and maybe your asking will make him remember enough to mention it.
 
Eafurth said:
I cannot remember the term used for places in which the responses are made by the faithful, but apparently it is not horribly uncommon. However this generally leads to confusion as the OP suggests.

I admit, sometimes I do the ‘speed Latin’ (being a server of ten years), yet that is only to match the pace of the priest. It is rude, and indeed just wrong, to go faster than the priest’s pace.

I would definitely ask the priest about the issue; perhaps it annoys him too and maybe your asking will make him remember enough to mention it.
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Yes; I always try to say prayers at the same speed as the priest.
 
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