Also, for the record, despite the implications and claims of the average ‘peasant’ until the "reformation’ being totally clueless over the Latin. . .as if said peasant was totally illiterate and thus stupid:
The world of that day was a lot more cosmopolitan than one might imagine. Even in the tiny ‘inland towns’, traders came, themselves having traveled to --and made themselves understood–in many different languages.
If you lived in say England, you were very likely to have frequent contact with the Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish, not to mention the French. So ‘Piers Plowman’ (in addition to having just recently achieved "English’ as a language, since from the Conquest of 1066 the ‘ruling class’ SPOKE FRENCH and the ‘ruled’ polyglots of "Saxon’, Cornish, Breton, Welsh, Gaelic, not to mention quite distinct ‘dialects’) might not have been able to READ ‘English’ or other languages but he could ‘get by’ with probably at LEAST 3-4 other languages in which he would be ‘conversantly fluent’ --enough to make himself understood and to understand others.
Same for Jacques the vintner over in Burgandy, or Pietro the miller in Italy, or Hans and Fritz over in Hamburg in the Hanseatic League. . .
And ALL of them would have enough Latin to say their Pater Noster, their Aves, to make the Mass responses, and to be familiar with terms that still exist today such as carpe diem, habeus corpus, etc.
It is only a certain segment of modern Americans who seem to be strangely ‘stuck’ on the idea that Americans (or indeed any modern people) can ONLY UNDERSTAND ONE LANGUAGE and should never, repeat NEVER, have to be ‘exposed’ to any other.
Latin, of course, in their mind is ‘dead’ and of no use.
But gee, unless you live in some area (Texas, Arizona, CA for example) where there are a lot of people speaking a different language (Spanish), or Vermont’s north (near those ‘French speaking’ Canadians), the idea seems to be that you should ONLY be speaking good old Amurrican English at Mass. (Heaven knows that’s probably why so few people have ever HEARD the Greek Kyrie, since many priests omit it in favor of options B or C --you were sent to heal the contrite Lord have mercy). But the documents of VATICAN 2 SPECIFICALLY STATED that the Mass was NEVER supposed to be made ‘all vernacular’.
The Gloria, the Credo, the Sanctus, and the Agnus Dei were all supposed to be in Latin and (Deo gratias) in most places the priests are returning to what was SPECIFICALLY MANDATED in Vatican 2). . .Latin in the appropriate places in our OF. . .
Personally, I believe that every student should have at least 2 years of Latin in high school, and 2 in college if they attend college–and that every student should also have at least 2 years of any other ‘foreign language’ likewise in high school and in college. Learning another language not only gives you an appreciation for all languages (and the people who speak them), it also helps you to be a better speaker (writer/reader) of your OWN language.
