Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

The Latin Revival

I was bemused to discover that the Pope did something I agree with: he advocates the revival of Latin.  (Link courtesy of my partner Doug.)  For centuries, Latin was an auxiliary language of the Church, scholars, and widely traveled people.  That was incredibly useful and I'm disappointed that people ditched it.  It's a great language, with a lot of history and literature to its credit, and any  widespread auxiliary language is really convenient.

In general, I think the guy is a dick, and we disagree on almost everything.  But in this our paths run together, and I'm an oldschool activist capable of swapping out allies on different issues.
Tags: linguistics, news, spirituality
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  • 24 comments
technoshaman

technoshaman

November 16 2012, 01:01:16 UTC 8 years ago

I'm ok with missa in latinam, but *as an option*... part of why Luther advocated for the vernacular Mass was so that the people could understand for themselves what was being said. Latin is great as a part of higher education; I'm quite grateful for the two years I spent studying it, and had I the option, I would've taken more... but so much of Catholicism is based in communities where high school is a luxury at best.

Josef is *dangerous*. Karol I could respect, even if I didn't agree with him on about half his stuff, but putting the Inquisition in charge of the Church? Doubleplusungood.

I'd love to see Latin make a renaissance... if it's used for *education*, not *obfuscation*.
ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

November 16 2012, 02:06:13 UTC 8 years ago

>> I'm ok with missa in latinam, but *as an option*... <<

As a freedom advocate, I agree with Latin mass as an option.

As a priestess, I'm totally behind the idea of a hierarchical, formulaic religion having one single language so that people could go absolutely anywhere in the world and walk into any one of their churches and get the same services they know from home. It builds the power and the comfort. There are sound technical reasons for that technique.

As a linguist, I point out that the way you make sure everyone can understand the liturgy is to teach everyone the Church language so they are all fluent. Then you also have an auxiliary language so all your followers can communicate with you even if they speak different vernacular languages.

>> part of why Luther advocated for the vernacular Mass was so that the people could understand for themselves what was being said.<<

See above.

>> Latin is great as a part of higher education; I'm quite grateful for the two years I spent studying it, and had I the option, I would've taken more... but so much of Catholicism is based in communities where high school is a luxury at best. <<

Yeah, I had a real hard time deciding between Latin and Russian once I had those options.

If you're serious about teaching a language, though, it doesn't require high school. You could do it at Sunday school, or sheesh, tack on a language lesson after the liturgy. People have done it.

>>Josef is *dangerous*. Karol I could respect, even if I didn't agree with him on about half his stuff, but putting the Inquisition in charge of the Church? Doubleplusungood. <<

Yyyyeah. He's really, really clocking himself with the language move even for people who hadn't already recognized him.

>>I'd love to see Latin make a renaissance... if it's used for *education*, not *obfuscation*.<<

Agreed.