Mirabile Dictu! The Pope Saves Latin

The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | 9/1/12 | Harry Mount

[marshmallow]

Thank God for the Catholic church – and I speak as an agnostic Anglican. Once again, they are helping to preserve the study of Latin in Western Europe, as they have for more than a millennium.

Pope Benedict is about to set up a new body, the Pontificia Academia Latinitatis, which will study and promote the language in schools and churches.

The role of Latin has declined in the Catholic church since Vatican II but it still remains the official language of the Vatican – and the role of the church in the survival of Latin is incalculable.

The Old Testament may have been written in Hebrew, the New in Greek, but it was in Latin that medieval priests principally read and spoke in church. It is in the translation from the Latin, too, that worshippers were used to hearing the liturgy.

Confusingly, the Latin Church used a Greek liturgy for several hundred years before adopting Latin, but it was the Latin version that stuck until Vatican II in 1962-5. Vatican II pushed the Catholic liturgy away from direct use of Latin and from translations that remained faithful to the original Latin. John Paul II reversed the trend when he signed off the 2001 directive, known as Liturgiam Authenticam, demanding translations that were closer to Latin.

In America, Australia, Scotland, England and Wales, bishops have now accepted the Vatican-backed translations. So, in America for example, the prayer before communion, which had gone "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you,” now goes “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.”

[coloradomomba]

Thank you for the post!

[BipolarBob]

"The Old Testament may have been written in Hebrew, the New in Greek, but it was in Latin that medieval priests principally read and spoke in church."

That about sums it up. I can applaud learning Hebrew or Greek. Or even Aramaic. Latin? No. Not for the everyday person.

[Bigg Red]

Latin? No. Not for the everyday person.

^^^
Latin isn’t just about the Roman Catholic Church, which some just hate to begin with. Do you realize how many words in English were borrowed from Latin? I still remember some of the English vocabulary I learned as part of my Latin class assignments over 50 years ago.

Also, there are classical texts in Latin that are part of our heritage in Western civilization.

[Bigg Red]

Thanks for posting this. Good news.

[txrefugee]

Aren’t all Anglicans agnostics now?

[A.A. Cunningham]

No. Not for the everyday person.

You're probably far too busy watching American Idol.

[Romulus]

* Not for the everyday person.*

Especially for the everyday person. No English speaking person who lacks even a friendly acquaintance with Latin will ever be truly master of his native tongue.

[BipolarBob]

"No English speaking person who lacks even a friendly acquaintance with Latin will ever be truly master of his native tongue."

Aye speek fin an spel fin wid-owt it.

[Salvation]

**Latin? No. Not for the everyday person.**

You might want to do a study of etymology. There are so many English words that come from Latin. You can start by name California cities. LOL!

[vladimir998]

Learning Latin makes more sense for the “everyday” person than Hebrew or Greek.

If you know Latin, your English vocabulary doubles.

[Romulus]

Gud 4 u.

[MayflowerMadam]

The pope saved Latin. I recall killing it in every Latin Regents exam from ‘64 through ‘66. :) Rough subject, but it turned out to be the most valuable in life.

[Petrosius]

Ah, the memories of high school:

Latin is a dead language
it is clear enough to see.
It killed off all the Romans
and now is killing me.

Vivat lingua latina!

: )