Why Do You Think Latin is Important?

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i am a philistine when it comes to any other language but I understand that Latin is our language of the church. I came in after vatican 2 and the liturgical changes so I prefer mass in the vernacular… People have told me how beautiful the latin mass is but I can’t understand why. I prefer a sung high liturgy, feel that it lifts my spirit moreso to god than if I sat through a mass that I didn’t understand. Few years ago I was in spain and attended mass there, not understanding the language but the form was the same as all catholic masses should be. it was a nice experience but i missed hearing the mass in english.
 
Just a point, In Vatican 2 , ALL priests must say The DIvine Office in Latin… I wonder if they all do. 🤷

One more thing about the TLM, a catholic can go anywhere in the world, walk into ANY catholic church and KNOW he is home, because of the UNCHANGING Mass in the same words, the same missal AND the same meaning… Oh sorry that was before Vat 2.🤷 🤷
 
Cat said:
Sorry, no. It is a dead language. It’s of interest only because it links us to the past and our history.

I agree that it is a good language to study to help study other languages.

The Wycliffe Bible Translators talk about a person’s “Heart Language,” the language that they learned from their parents and country. This “heart language” is the language that speaks best to the heart and soul.

My “heart language” is English. I simply don’t get any willies or emotional rushes or feelings of awe or connotations of reverence listening to or performing prayers in another language, any other language. If anything, the mechanics of remembering the vocab and proper pronunciation and of course, mentally translating it into English make it impossible for me to concentrate on God.

I respect other languages and the desire of others to pray, speak, sing, in another language besides English. If that is your “heart language,” wonderful.

I hope you are willing to respect all of us English-speaking hearts, too.
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Even Wycliffe, Erasmus and Luther spoke Latin fluently during their times. Perhaps it was the International language at that time.
Today, medical students still use German to study original research works, while law students use Latin to study Roman Law. Global business, we use Mandarin to gain access to the most challenging markets. I won’t mind using Latin to study God’s message in its full splendor.
 
Chancellare said:
Even Wycliffe, Erasmus and Luther spoke Latin fluently during their times. Perhaps it was the International language at that time.
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Erasmus wasn’t any sort of heretic, though he annoyed the Church authorities.

He spoke fluent Latin, as did every educated man in his day. It is only recently that this has ceased to be true.
 
laudamus_te said:
I don’t believe this is correct. The Office is now recited in the vernacular.
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Indeed.
Can. 276 §1 Clerics have a special obligation to seek holiness in their lives, because they are consecrated to God by a new title through the reception of orders, and are stewards of the mysteries of God in the service of His people.
§2 In order that they can pursue this perfection:
…
3° priests, and deacons aspiring to the priesthood, are obliged to carry out the liturgy of the hours daily, in accordance with their own approved liturgical books; permanent deacons are to recite that part of it determined by the Episcopal Conference;
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That said, in the US the ICEL translation is the currently approved English translation, but it is my understanding that the Latin *edititio typica *also meets “approved” in all places.

tee
 
I went to France last year and attended a few masses. But I don’t know French that well. Latin would’ve made the playing field level. It would’ve been a more universal language.
 
On the light side.
I will be happy to have all Masses in Latin when the sermons are also in Latin and all fund raising is asked for in Latin:D 😃 😃
 
TNT said:
Tooo late. Tooo bad
He’s no longer part of the LIVING tradition.
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Somehow this doesn’t apply to John XXIII, Paul VI, or John Paul II. It only applies to the popes from Peter to Pius XII.

It only applies to Paul VI when it comes to Humanae Vitae. It’s amazing how we have to adhere to the Novus Ordo because he promulgated it but we can ignore *Humanae Vitae. *I guess you can’t expect logic from liberals.
 
Lati is a dead language because it never change. It is dead but it doesnt mean that no one uses latin.
 
Let’s get something straight here.
Latin is **not **a dead language.

Castillan Spanish, Galician, Catalan, Portugese, Italian, French, Romanian - all are modern forms of classical Latin.

Castillan Spanish resembles the Latin of 2,000 years ago much more than the English spoken in the US today resembles the English spoken of just 600 years ago.

Yeah, sure, the Church used Greek as its primary language at the beginning and it has always been used in Constantinople. Rome switched to Latin.

For hundreds of years the Mass has been in Latin. Beautiful hymns were written in Latin. Books about the Faith were written in Latin.

Schubert’s *Ave Maria *is the most beautiful hymn IMHO and it is in Latin.

Oh, and Latin is an official language of Vatican City State.
 
What’s wrong with the Universal Church having a Universal language? Is this not important?
 
maurin said:
What’s wrong with the Universal Church having a Universal language? Is this not important?
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We have to celebrate diversity. A universal language makes it difficult to celebrate diversity.

I’ve never gotten an answer as to how to celebrate a concept, but that’s another question for another time.
 
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