THE ROLE OF
LATIN IN THE CHURCH
Many
people have the erroneous belief that the Second Vatican Council brought to an
end the role of Latin in the Church. This is far from being the case. In Section 36 of the Constitution on the
Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum concilium)
issued by the Second Vatican Council there is the affiirmation
Athe use of the Latin language is to be preserved in
the Latin rite@. Section 54 of
this Constitution has the statement: Asteps should be taken so that the faithful may be able
to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass
which pertain to them.” Section 116
declares: “The Church acknowledges Gregorian Chant as
proper to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be
given pride of place in liturgical services.”
Section 117 continues, with a reference to Pope Pius X: “The typical
edition of the books of Gregorian chant is to be completed, and a more critical
edition is to be prepared of those books published since the restoration by
Saint Pius X.” Thus Vatican II did not
outlaw Latin, but rather declared that its use must be preserved in the
liturgy. It is unfortunate that so few
of the faithful are aware of this heritage from the Council. It is interesting to note that Sacrosanctum concilium was
the first document proclaimed at the Council, and it is one of four (out of 16)
documents to have the status of a Constitution.
The Council also promulgated the Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church (Lumen gentium), the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine
Revelation (Verbum Dei) and the Pastoral Constitution on
the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et spes). The other
twelve Proclamations were designated as either Decrees (9), or merely
Declarations (3).
The
new rite of the Mass in the vernacular that we now attend regularly, called the
Novus Ordo Mass, is
printed in Latin as an appendix of the Sacramentary ,
the large book on the altar at Mass that contains the prayers said by the
priest. This appendix contains all four
of the main Eucharistic Prayers in Latin, as explained at the links
Validity and MassDev.
No special permission is needed for a priest to celebrate the Novus Ordo Mass in
Latin, just as no permission is needed to celebrate Mass in Spanish, French,
German, or any other language. The
requirement for an indult (permission) from the local bishop applies to saying
the Traditional Latin