Latin language and the Catholic church
Latin the universal language
I am getting married in Poland and I am an American citizen. The the Polish courts are very slow and difficult, the Catholic church is very easy to work with. On thing that would be nice if I could get all my original Church documents in Latin, so there would be no need to translate birth, confirmation etc certificates from English to Polish. In the past it was all Latin and no matter where you live your documents are valid in Latin. Just a trivial rant or a pipe dream but it was kind of cool when all was Latin and universal.
5 responses to Latin as the official language of the Catholic church
Were it only so! It’s sad that even many priests and bishops are not conversant with Latin anymore. Here we have more than 2000 years of language and culture and few are doing anything to preserve it in a living form. My opinion is that all priests and bishops be required to know enough Latin to celebrate Mass in it, and that they do so at least once a month. It would also be nice if all official documents and meetings such as synods, etc, be in Latin (with simultaneous translation for those needing it). Lat’s not lose our precious Latin heritage!
If you want to build up your vocabulary and you are a visual learner, then there is an ever growing resource of visual learning aids on Schola.
You need to sign in, and visit the photographiae section.
Here you will find over 2 800 photographs of objects, with the latin word for the object written on it.
Some also have basic phrases, introducing related verbs. Everyday objects are included as well, such as furniture, crockery and cutlery, transport, boats, etc.
There are also images related to learning greetings and salutations.
This resource is constantly expanding, and anyone serious about learning Latin will find it useful
All of the resources are free of charge
The Latinum podcast now has over 50 lessons online, each lesson is composed of several episodes comprising:
a. grammar
b. English-Latin conversational dialogue (question and answer)
c. Repetition of the same short dialogues in Latin only, first with
pauses, then again more quickly.
There are already thousands of regular users of the lessons, located all over the world. The clickable map on Latinum’s home page gives an insight into where in the world people are studying and listening to Latin.
If you cannot attend an actual Latin class, (and even if you can) then Latinum’s lessons, and extensive vocabulary learning resources, classical text readings, etc, will be an invaluable resource.
Many established Latin programmes, including schools and universities, are also now directing their students to it.
With over 1,300,000 lessons downloaded to date, this is the largest single Latin programme available.
Latin as a living language can be seen in action on Schola, schola.ning.com
There is even a text chatroom on Schola, where most nights members can be found typing to one another (texting as it is called nowadays) in Latin.
I would appreciate if Latin is taken as the official language of the catholic church where i belong.we should be unique and different.
Our grand parents knew many phrases in Latin and would respond in mass, I do not see that any more.
I would also like to learn more of Latin.
Latin is beautiful, and I am catholic too and sometimes go to Latin mass. I live in Poland and they have it where I live in Krakow. Latin symbolizes the unity of people around the world when the mass is said in Latin. However, Christ spoke in vernacular, and this is why we use native languages instead of Latin. But for a long time to come I think in many cities you will be able to hear Latin if you want to on Sunday.
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