[OLD REGGIE]

I can understand the need for a Latin translation, especially when much of the Hierarchy and Priests spoke Latin. It is true that very few of the laity read the Bible no matter what language. They didn't have the $$$$$'s. (Which leads to my belief the Gutenberg Press was more responsible for the Reformation than Luther). My question is, when did Latin become a "dead" language?

[malakhi]

My question is, when did Latin become a "dead" language?

My college Latin professor used to say "Latin isn't dead; its just mispronounced". It was a gradual process of several centuries that Latin evolved into the Romance languages. Really up until the time of Dante, the Romance tongues were considered corrupted Latin. It took Dante to prove that Italian could be a literary language in its own right.

400 years later, we can still read Shakespeare without too much difficulty. I expect it was like this with Latin as well.