When we enter a church we enter a world of silence. We leave behind the noise and concerns of the natural world to become aware of God's presence. To do this we must let go worldly thoughts and desires so as to reflect upon role God in our lives.

For over a thousand and five hundred years, the Church liturgical language was Latin. This came about due to historical circumstances such as the abandonment of Greek and the increase use of Latin in the Roman World, the Barbarian invasions with their Teutonic dialects, the use of Gregorian Chant and the desire of Charlemagne to created a liturgical and musical standard for the Holy Roman Empire.

 

 

The II Vatican Council decreed the following: "Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites. But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts of the liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended." (Sacramentum Concilium #36:1-2)

Since this decree of 1963, for the most part Latin has been abandoned in favor of the national languages. Today, however, there is a movement toward restoring some sort of balance in the liturgical used of language.

Please read the Pater Noster or click the image to hear it read.

The sound Latin is certainly different from the modern languages. Every word seems to stand out distinctly. Why? "In the ancient languages the word was merely the interruption of silence. Every word was rimmed around with silence. It was this surrounding rim of silence that gives its individual shape, and kept it separate and distinct from all other words, fenced off from them with its individuality guarded by silence" (Max Picard, The World of Silence, Eighth Day Press, Wichita, Kansas, 1948, p. 59)

Hans Jenny experimenting with the patterns sound makes on sand "noticed that when the vowels of the ancient languages of Hebrew and Sanskrit were pronounced, the sand took the shape of the written symbols for these vowels, while modern languages, on the other hand, did not generate the same results. How is this possible? Did the ancient Hebrews and Indians know this? Is there something to the concept of 'sacred language' ...." (World-misteries.com/Science Mysteries:Cymatics)

 

 

What are the advantages of using Latin in some parts of the Liturgy?

First of all, the hearing of a strange language is a reminder that the world of the sacred is different from our everyday world.

Second, we are forced to abandon, to some extent, our reliance on reason in favor of the will to worship.

Thirdly, Latin is "concise, varied and harmonious style, full of majesty and dignity" makes for singular clarity and impressiveness of expression. (Pope John XXIII, Verbum Sapientia.)

Fourth, since Latin is no longer used by the secular world, the meaning of words does not change and is very suitable for expressing the precise meaning of truths of faith.

Pope Benedict XVI realizing that even young people felt the attraction of the Latin form of the Mass is allowing a greater freedom to use the Tridentine Mass. He writes, "What earlier generations held as sacred remains sacred and great to us, too, and cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful." (Benedict XVI Letter to the Bishops on the Tridentine Mass, July 7, 2007)

6. Silence in Poetry