Apologia Lingua Sua
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    I'm writing a blurb explaining why it's important and good to include (sic) Latin in the liturgy. I was thinking that others have probably done the same, and perhaps I might be able to glean some expressions from your own prose, if anyone would care to share.

    Would anyone care to share?
  • amanda.palisteramanda.palister
    Posts: 82
    Q. Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) the use of the vernacular has become very widespread in the liturgy of the Catholic Church. Given this, why should it be important to retain a place for Latin in the liturgy of today?

    A. There are many reasons why Latin should still play an important part in the liturgy of today's Church. Vatican II itself envisaged the continued use of Latin: "The use of Latin is to be preserved in the Latin rites." (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 36) Latin has been used in the rites of the Western Church since at least the fourth century, if not earlier. It is not surprising therefore that the Novus Ordo introduced by Pope Paul VI in 1970 was composed in Latin. Vernacular translations followed, rather than preceded, the Latin original. The use of the Church's traditional language of worship has the following important benefits:
    1) It is a sacral language, associated with the single, exalted purpose of the worship of God. The use of Latin in this way should not surprise us for a sacral language is a feature of all the major world religions: classical Arabic in Islam, Sanskrit in Hinduism and, of course, Hebrew in Judaism - the language in which Our Lord would have prayed.
    2) Latin helps us overcome limitations of time and place, and helps us participate in the universal reality of the Catholic Church, linking us with the generations who have worshiped before us.
    3) The use of Latin in all countries and across the centuries is a powerful symbol of the Church's unity.
    4) The use of Latin enables also the use of the great liturgical music of the Church, particularly plainchant and polyphony. Vatican II said: "The treasury of sacred music is to be preserved and fostered with great care." (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, 114)

    from Q&A section of latinliturgy.com
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    Amanda -
    Cogent and lucid!
    You could have added the Tudor English of the Anglican Use as a sacral language.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    And Old Church Slavonic!
  • WGS
    Posts: 297
    The use of the vernacular is an option for the O.F., but in the Catholic Church, it seems that the use of Latin is required.

    Instruction of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, 1964, 59.

    "Pastors of souls shall carefully see to it that the faithful, more particularly the members of lay religious associations, also know how to say or to sing together in the Latin language those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them, especially with the use of simpler melodies."

    Has this instruction been abrogated?

    I suppose a pastor could say,"Well, I may have to make sure my parishioners can sing the Latin chants, but I'll just not give them the opportunity to use them in a Mass." Absurd? Yes.
  • mjballoumjballou
    Posts: 993
    For me, it has a great deal to do with the use of a sacred language as a way to emphasize sacred texts and actions and to create a universality that moves across time and space. There was a moment when the differences between "liturgical English" and everyday speech had that effect in the Anglican liturgy (and probably still do in Rite I). I'm not sure we could do that now with "Catholic English."
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