Creating,nurturing and sustaining a culture of Latin in the liturgy
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,199
    In my some 8 months at my current place (St. Luke Church in Palm Springs,FL) I am amazed at many things that go on here in terms of the lliturgy. But the piece that has amazed me the most is the constant and abiding presence of Latin. The"solemn" mass at 11 is almost completely in Latin musically ( NO liturgy). The whole parish sustains a Latin ordinary during Advent and Lent and during the Lent and Easter season the parish chants the Pater Noster. The Pastor has insisted on the 7th and 8th graders studying Latin that he teaches. I have joined him in teaching other prayers in Latin and we always sing the Marian antiphons in Latin. In addition, he prays the Canon in Latin many Sundays and of course we sing the acclamation in Latin ( mortem tuam...)

    The cumulative effects are:
    A sense of unity between the Anglo and Spanish folk when we sing in Latin.
    My Spanish kid singers feel very comfortable with the Latin.
    A sense of timelessness that my adult singers have said to me....in essence we are singing the same words for many hundreds of years.

    I have always loved Latin, but it has taken on new meaning for me. I find myself praying the rosary in Latin or singing the Pater Noster. I find myself seeing the liturgy in a much more profound way. And my congregation sings it strongly.

    The moral of this missive: do it in Latin. Also, find a priest who supports and nurtures it. The results are amazing.
  • Reval
    Posts: 187
    The question remains, how to get the message out to a large percentage of American priests....(better yet - - bishops!)
    Thanked by 1Casavant Organist