Thank you. I have heard before that the Catholic Church refused to allow people to read the Bible, unless they knew Latin, and I confess I never researched it. I found it hard to believe, though.
In England, Henry VIII decreed that a Bible in the English vernacular be chained to the altar of every English church so his subjects could read the scriptures in their own tongue. This was after he declared himself head of the English church and broke with Rome - due to his divorce from his first wife Katherine of Aragon. I forget the exact date, sometime circa 1530, 1540 AD. This was a first for England. I just read this fact in an Alison Weir book titled Henry VIII and His Court.
More than that...No one was allowed to own a bible other than the church (clergy)...Their Latin bibles were chained down in the churches so no one could run off with them...
Further, the Scripture was proclaimed at Mass in Latin (to the best of my knowledge) for two reasons. One, there were (are) such a multitude of languages in the Church in Europe that it was a common standard which everyone would be able to understand. There were hundreds of dialects on the Italian peninsula alone; Latin was the basis of those dialects, and was the same no matter where you were. This ensured the faithful would always be able to hear the Truth with the same comprehension they would hear in their home parish. Second, using Latin prevents things getting "lost in translation." Think of the word Apologist - many English speakers would think that means "someone who says they are sorry." Obviously, that is not the meaning. With Theological discussions, you need very fine precision - look at the basis of the phrase "not one iota of difference" for an example.
But, no, the Church would allow people to read the Scripture in their own language if it was translated correctly, but books were very, very expensive and most people couldn't read. Thus, it wasn't a common occurrence.