Posted on 09/23/2015 2:54:03 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
As a visitor to the United States, Pope Francis faces a minor challenge: His English isn’t so great. Over the course of the trip, he’ll give 18 speeches, and only four of them will be in English; he’ll mostly use his native language, Spanish, to give homilies and addresses.
But at Wednesday’s mass in Washington, D.C., at which Francis will canonize Father Junipero Serra, he’ll add another linguistic twist. The main prayers of the service, along with the celebration of the Eucharist—the part of the service when people take communion—will be in Latin.
Latin! This is an exclamation-mark-worthy fact for a few reasons. “It’s very unusual,” said Father John O’Malley, the Georgetown University professor and author of What Happened at Vatican II. “It’s not unheard of, but it doesn’t make much sense, if you’re in an English parish, or a Spanish parish, to do it in Latin.”
[big snip]
...That’s why it’s so interesting that Francis has chosen to include Latin in his D.C. mass:... “He’s the first pope in 50 years not to have participated in the Council,” O’Malley said. “That’s good, because he’s not fighting the battles of the Council.”
The mass that will be celebrated in D.C. on Wednesday is not the pre-Vatican II mass. The service will include English, Spanish, and several other languages, according to a Vatican spokesperson, and the pope won’t be following the Tridentine liturgy....
More likely than not, the decision to use Latin in the mass is a matter of comfort: The pope isn’t very good at English and he’ll already be speaking a lot of Spanish, so the mass offers an opportunity to incorporate another language into this visit. But it’s a small reminder that no move the pope makes come without complicated history—and symbolism—attached.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
That’s apparently because you have a brain in your head. I don’t know that we learned Latin but we were exposed to it and that led some Catholics to study it in high school. I did - I studied Latin 101 from a lovely Irish-Catholic named Mr. O’Hale!
I wouldn’t consider myself fluent, but I do speak some Latin, yes.
Really? You didn't know what "Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth" meant?
Or "Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi miserere nobis"?
Fire your cathechist!
Seriously, I really don't understand why so many of our protestant brethren (and some Catholics) think one has to be Latin scholar (or be fluent) in order to understand what is happening when in the liturgy.
My grandmother’s second husband spoke many languages, and always said that learning Latin was crucial to an accomplishment like that, and to learning grammatical concepts to start; the root of all romance languages.
It’s also lovely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySAehzKVJ-k
-JT
Do I speak it? No.
Do I understand my church’s liturgy well enough to understand what is being said when in the mass? Of course.
I am able to enjoy opera in a language I don’t understand. I certainly can understand and appreciate liturgy in Latin since I know the mass. It’s not very hard.
I had to study Latin for five years. I would never say I “knew Latin”, but I could read Latin and understand it. To this day, it helps me understand the meaning of words, because I can recognize the Latin roots of the word.
“Your post is incoherent.”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
My post is perfectly coherent, incontestable, and absolutely unassailable.
That’s why it’s getting so many undies in a bundle.
>>Seriously, I really don’t understand why so many of our protestant brethren (and some Catholics) think one has to be Latin scholar (or be fluent) in order to understand what is happening when in the liturgy.<<
LOL — OK, I understood a FEW words. Sanctus, dominus, Dei/Deus and a few more.
“Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus” was way cooler than “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
“It’s not unheard of, but it doesn’t make much sense, if you’re in an English parish, or a Spanish parish, to do it in Latin.”
What if half speak only English and half only speak Spanish? Then Latin makes perfect sense.
Absolutely.
And it was an excellent basis for learning Spanish also.
I always valued taking Latin in hs.
“I was watching the mass on Fox News, seeing all the unintelligible pageantry that the humble man raised by a carpenter would have abhorred.”
Ha! You’ve never read the Book of Revelation have you? There’s plenty of pageantry to the worship in heaven - and what was in the Mass today was perfectly intelligible to those who believe in Christ.
That’s how Congress passes Law these days
“Humankind wasn’t ready.”
So humankind was ready for Jesus Christ, but not for a German monk? Your view makes no sense whatsoever.
Especially when chanted! Check out Sanctus IX (Cum Jubilo) some time - heavenly!
Here’s a little Latin for you: non sequitur.
.....And maybe, just maybe the Latin of the mass brings in a form of UNITY that is so very much is needed.
Your grandmother’s husband was absolutely correct.
Learning the romance languages is made so much easier with Latin as a basis.
My mistake was taking Latin II, which was largely translating Caesar’s description of Gaul being “divided into three parts.” Yikes, that was a little boring. But then the Italian being spoken in my home became easier to understand.
I just noticed the spot of Latin offered by the USMC, below.
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland are your idea of straightened out?
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