Posted on 08/19/2009 10:09:54 AM PDT by NYer
.- The Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which was recently incorporated into the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has announced the publication of two DVDs to help “priests and the community” celebrate Mass according to the extraordinary form of the Latin Rite.
The two DVDs include an entire Mass celebrated by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos—until recently the president of the Commission—at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in 2003.
The discs also feature segments explaining in detail the “gestures and rubrics, from the preparatio ad missam (preparation before Mass) to the act of thanksgiving in the sacristy.”
The video is available in four languages (Italian, English, Spanish and French) and is intended to be the “first concrete contribution of the Holy See for the implementation of the Pope’s wishes contained in Summorum Pontificum.” The Motu Propio “Summorum Pontificum,” which was released in July of 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI, granted universal permission to the faithful to celebrate the Tridentine Mass adapted by Blessed John XXIII in 1962.
The Commission has not yet announced where or how the DVDs can be purchased.
Suffice to say I’ve expressed my unsolicited opinion about the relevance of Latin in liturgy, and am not seeing any Biblical basis thereof in the responses. I’ll try to refrain from causing any further ruckus, interesting & entertaining though it may be.
Did you just write that off the top of your head? VERY good!
Sir, you are not causing a ruckus, just displaying your ignorance.
The Church made a grave mistake abandoning Latin and Vatican II was an attempt to make the Church more like the liberal mainline Protestant churches and look what happened to them.
Ignorance? I’m just wondering why Latin when there were three other perfectly good Biblical languages to choose from. So far I see some warm-fuzzy rationalizations, but none exuding a basis in Scripture. The simple fact that Paul spoke Hebrew, Aramaic and/or Greek, yet someone down the line changed the “official” language to something not of that set puzzles me as to how it can be justified by Tradition when it was put into effect as a matter of contemporary communication, yet to make the same relevant change today is somehow a heresy against Tradition (which Christ Himself spoke against).
It’s because the Catholic Church isn’t Protestant and it isn’t Sola Scriptura! Latin has been used in the liturgy in the West for most of the Church’s history.
Jesus taught His ministry in Aramaic. He instructed His disciple Peter to establish His Church. The center of the known world at the time was Rome, the official language of the universal empire was Latin. Both SS Peter and Paul wound up in the center of the known world and founded the Catholic Church whose official language was the universal lingua franca of the empire, Latin.
For two thousand years the Church promoted education, the arts, the sciences, and advanced education and universities. Latin was the basis of all advanced fields including law and medicine as well as philosophy and theology.
Is there any question my friend, that the Church has been in state of decline since Latin was abandoned or that the state of our public education has also been in a state of decline since our public schools abandoned Latin as well?
As we conservatives wander in the wildnerness, it is now time to reconnect with our roots and traditions particularly those things which worked so well for many centuries.
You are mistaken, big time. The medical and legal people use Latin all the time, specifically because it is a "precise language", words and phrases have EXACT meanings. Nobody uses it? Think again. Better yet, ask your lawyer and doctor.
BTW, I strongly suspect that is the reason Vatican II subversives hate Latin, because they couldn't mangle the words or its meaning.
Spiritually speaking, the Latin Mass for the past say, 1500 years, is responsible for producing numerous great saints and doctors of the Church. This credit should not be negated. Promotion of Latin Mass is, I'd dare say, a noble goal, and way overdue.
Exactly: the liturgy was adapted to the dominant language despite the language of Christ.
In the Roman Empire, that was Latin; to use some localized language would only serve a local culture, and to use a dead language would be pointless.
Today, it’s English; to use some localized language would serve a local culture, and to use a dead language is pointless.
Excuse me for not elaborating to the entire fullness of every nuance of every conceivable relevancy however tenuous.
Medical & legal people use Latin, but only for very narrow applications - as in fractions of sentences.
My doctor may use a few words of Latin when discussing a diagnosis, but that doesn’t mean my entire conversation with him is in Latin. Big difference.
Those of us who “hate Latin” (as you put it) do so not because we “can’t mangle the words or its meaning” (as you viciously impute), but because 99% of congregants CAN’T UNDERSTAND IT. Doesn’t matter how precise it is if the expression is opaque.
Latin is not a dead language. 70 % of our vocabulary is descended from Latin including many of the words I am using now. Western Civilization was founded on the Latin language and French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian are direct descendants.
Latin was not only the official language of the Church for centuries, but it was also taught in the public schools as well.
Think of the improvement we would see in our public education if Latin was reintroduced. There would be a renewed interest in history, Western Civilization, the classics, ancient literature (like the works of Cicero and Caesar’s Commentaries), philosophy, reason, and logic. Our Founders understood Latin and founded our Republic much on the basis of the Old Roman Republic. They even copied much of the architecture for our new capital. I see so much positive potential by reintroducing Latin into both our spiritual and public lives. Vatican II has caused so much damage. The liberals nearly ruined the Church much as they have ruined public education. I see no down side to reintroducing Latin to public education and the Church.
I strongly suspect you don't understand the Mission of the Universal Church, specifically the Latin Mass.
The Church, brings the Faith to various people in the whole world, thru their own local language (e.g. homily and catechesis), whereas the Church brings its people into the Faith and Universal Church thru its mother tongue, Latin, thru the Ordinary parts of the Mass, with translation for those needing it. This also enables everyone to Participate in Mass evreywhere in the whole world, in Latin.
btw, the most widely spoken language in the world is NOT English, it's Spanish, just in case you didn't know. I suspect you speak only one language. In general, from personal observation, Spanish speaking people don't suffer from superority complex as English speaking people do.
You are still a Catholic and can receive Communion providing that you have not remarried after a divorce or are not in the state of mortal sin. In other words, at those Masses you attend, if you go to Confession first you can go to Communion.
Another thing — many parishes have classes for returning Catholics. Ours is called “Catholic Can Come Home Again.”
But did Vatican II actually abandon the Latin Mass? I don’t think so. I think it was some unorthodox bishops who did so.
Just because I’m alive and learning about my grandparents, and just because they influenced the world to the extent that they did, doesn’t mean they’re not dead.
Latin was the language of the Roman Empire. If you look at a map of the Empire you will see that it stretched from England to mid-Europe, over to Turkey, and around the coast of the Mediterranean. As Christianity spread, it spread throughout the Empire. Everyone spoke it (only the elites learned Greek). It’s really that simple.
Vatican II promoted and encouraged Mass in the vernacular.
I don’t know whether or not it is a coincidence, but the huge problem with pedophile priests (for the most part) occurred after Vatican II.
Seems to me that the liberals really lowered the bar with respects to the standards and discipline of the Church.
Glad you love Latin and the Catholic Church, but just pointing out one thing: there is no Mass on Good Friday, anywhere.
Please think about returning to the Church. Best wishes.
“The video is available in four languages (Italian, English, Spanish and French)”
What? No Latin?
Vatican II made it possible, giving cover to the bad guys. Many key documents were written in a vague and flabby way that practically begged for (and may have been intended for) a perverse and anti-traditional interpretation.
I learned from my parents and grandparents that the pre-Vatican II Church was far superior to the post Vatican II Church.
Vatican II attempted to make the Church much like the mainline Protestant churches which are now virtually spiritual wastelands and liberal strongholds.
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