Expert: Fr. Michael - 4/7/2011

Question
Hello Father, I have a few questions about the purpose of latin in the Roman Catholic Mass. I know that for several centuries latin was the vernacular language of much of the western church, but why was the use of latin in the mass continued long after latin ceased to be the lingua franca of the vast majority of western Christians. Unless I am mistaken latin was the language of the mass until 1962 which means that for over a thousand years most of the world's catholics could not fully understand their sacred ritual. Why did the RCC cling so stubbornly to an extinct language for so long? and why did it decide to change at Vatican II in 1962?
Thank you.

Answer
Latin is still, and ever will be, the language of the true Mass.  The idea that sacred services should be in a vernacular tongue is essentially foreign to religion -- any religion.  Latin was not used because it was a vernacular, but because it is one of three Sacred Languages, specifically named in Scripture.  The Jews use Hebrew, which was not their vernacular in Biblical times.  The Eastern Church uses Greek, modeled on classical Greek, which was about five centuries past by Biblical times.

Except for the Newchurch of the New Order and the Protestants, no other major religion uses a vernacular language for its sacred services.  Vernaculars are, as the word implies, used for non-sacred functions.  The Hindus use Sanskrit, a classical language roughly contemporaneous with classical Latin and Greek.  The Buddhists use classical Chinese of the roughly the period of Confucius.  The Mohammedans use classical Arabic of the time of Mohammed.

So, you will have to ask the Jews, Eastern Orthodox, Hindus, Buddhists, and Mohammedans why they "cling so stubbornly," to use your words, to their sacred languages.  And why do you think vernacular words denote a true understanding?  Is the Newchurch of the New Order more Christian because it has constructed a new service in English or Spanish or Swahili or some other vernacular patois?  Do you not understand "Madama Butterfly" in spite of your not knowing each and every word of the Italian text?  No, you are well aware of the plot, the characters, the drama, the theatre, and the music -- all of which give you a deeper understanding because of their mystery.  And, after all, religion is mystery.

Curious that you should mention the year 1962.  That was certainly not a year in which any language changed occurred in the Roman Catholic Church.  Quite the contrary.  That was the year in which Pope John XXIII issued a solemn papal bull, "Veterum Sapientia," which confirmed that, as it had been in the past, Latin it must ever continue to be the language of the Mass and the Roman Catholic Church.  He specifically rejected the use of a vernacular language and confirmed Sacred Tradition and the dogmatic Council of Trent that anyone who called for the use of any other language in the Mass than the traditional Latin is condemned.

These facts might be quite a surprise to you because of all the attempted propaganda by Modernists and by a modern press ignorant of religion except for its "politics."  It is all a smokescreen, however.  The facts are there, and irrefutable, if you simply take the trouble to check them out.