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Heritage of the Church. Latin: Reclaiming Our Heritage
by Kenny Leong

Graphics by Patricia Rozario-Tan
1 | 2 | 3
“Dominus vobiscum.” 
“Et cum spiritu tuo.” 

“Gloria in excelsis Deo.” 
“Et in terra pax hominibus.”1 

THESE WORDS would be familiar to any Catholic of pre-Vatican II days. Perhaps some of us today might recognise what they mean, but we cannot deny that the number of people who cannot is astounding. In fact, can we even be sure every single Catholic can tell they are in Latin? 

The original Latin lover

For almost 2,000 years without disruption, the Roman Catholic Church has used Latin in her sacred liturgy through her prayers and music e.g. the Mass and Gregorian Chant. 

Michael Martin in his website Thesaurus Precum Latinarum tells us the following:
As Cicero once said, “it is not so much excellent to know Latin, as it is a shame not to know it.” Latin is the language of western civilization. For nearly two millennia, Latin was the tongue in which the educated communicated. It was the language of the western Church, governments, scientists, nobles, musicians, and even poets. 

To be ignorant of Latin is to be cut off from a great deal of history and civilization. Latin was the language of such ancient authors as Virgil and Caesar. It was the language of the great lights of the Church such as Ambrose and Augustine2. It was the language of Medieval Europe and greats such as Fortunatus and Aquinas3. It is the language of the tender Stabat Mater Dolorosa and the stern Dies Irae that have moved Christians for nearly a millennium. It was not only used by the Church, but it was also the language of science. Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia, the foundation of classical Physics and Mathematics is in Latin, not English, his native language. As to recent times, we see the recent encyclical of Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio, not to mention the official version of the Catechism are all in Latin. 

Indeed, to know Latin is to have access to some 2,500 years of literature. There are few languages that can make a similar claim. One major reason is that Latin literature had over a 1,000 year head start on any of today’s vernaculars. A second major reason is that Latin, unlike the vernaculars, has been a very stable language over the millennia. While new words and expressions have been added to Latin over the course of time in order to express new ideas and inventions, the language itself has not greatly altered. 

Why Latin?

Around AD 64, St. Peter, whom the Lord had made the first Pope of His Church, went to Rome and was martyred there. Rome then became the Seat of the Apostolic See, and was seen as “the plumb line to keep Christianity straight”.  

During then, Rome was seen as the centre of the world for her political power, commerce and trade amongst other things. Latin was widely spoken through the Roman Empire. So if you could speak Latin, you could communicate with a lot of people. Therefore, it is no surprise that Latin was used as a language to preach and hold liturgical services and celebrations. 

In the book Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church, author Harry Crocker III notes: “With the election of Pope Victor in 189, the Roman Church gained its first Latin-speaking, rather than Greek-speaking, bishop, marking the ascendancy of the language that would define the universal rite of the Catholic Church, with few exceptions, for nearly 1,800 years. To this day, Latin is the Catholic Church’s lingua franca for official documents.” (p. 32) 

In 1922, Pope Pius XI said about Latin, “For the Church, precisely because it embraces all nations and is destined to endure until the end of time... of its very nature requires a language which is universal, immutable, and non-vernacular.”4 His successor, Pope Pius XII wrote, “The use of the Latin language prevailing in a great part of the Church affords at once an imposing sign of unity and an effective safeguard against the corruption of true doctrine.”5  

Even Blessed Pope John XXIII, the Pope who convened Vatican II, stated:
The Catholic Church has a dignity far surpassing that of every merely human society, for it was founded by Christ the Lord. It is altogether fitting, therefore, that the language it uses should be noble, majestic and non-vernacular. 

The employment of Latin has recently been contested in many quarters, and many are asking what the mind of the Apostolic See is in this matter. We have therefore decided to ensure that the ancient and uninterrupted use of Latin be maintained, and, where necessary, restored.6  
 St Ambrose and St Augustine.

























Pope Pius XI.
Next Gone out the window?


1 Translation: “The Lord be with you. And also with you. Glory to God in the highest. And peace to His people on earth.”
2 St. Ambrose was the mentor of St. Augustine. He played an important role in his conversion.
3 AD 530-609. He was the composer of the popular Pange Lingua Gloriosi (Sing, My Tongue, the Saviour’s Glory), traditionally sung on Good Friday during the Adoration of the Cross and in the Liturgy of the Hours during Holy Week and on feasts of the Cross. There is another Pange Lingua written by St. Thomas Aquinas, AD 1225-1274, which was inspired by St. Fortunatus’ Pange Lingua.
4 Pope Pius XI, Officiorum Omnium, 1922.
5 Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 1947.
6 Pope John XXIII, Veterum Sapientia, 1962.