I wanted to call your attention to a very useful resource that I ran across today.
Father Zuhlsdorf is a well-known priest in social media circles, and I’ve always admired his dedication to the Latin language. He’s more comfortable with it than anyone else I’ve ever run into.
He has a regular audio podcast, and a recent episode was The Way of the Cross, written by Joseph Ratzinger in 2005. Father Z had a wonderful mixture of Latin and English, and you’ll no doubt recognize many of the Latin songs and prayers that we’ve sung ourselves – but in spoken form, rather than sung. I’d encourage you to listen to it when you have a chance. Remember, for our singing the words are primary and the music supports that – but how often do we have a chance to hear the words beautifully spoken?
I downloaded this via iTunes onto my iPod, but that web page will give you the same thing.
My favorite readings of Latin are by my choir director, Prof. John Russell, who imparts a bit of Italianate lilt... it makes the alive, vibrant and conversational. Definitely not a dead language coming from his lips, but living and beautiful.
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