Comments on: How many of my fellow Catholics have known priests who can speak fluent Latin?

By: Grendel

Grendel — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

I’ve only known a few,if you’re talking conversational Latin – where they can actually just sit and converse. And they were quite old,plus they were German and very traditional. Members of a small German monastic order called the Divine Word Society. I would be very enthusiastic about developing Latin as a global language for Catholics. Jews have done it with Hebrew. It is the first step to creating a real Catholic culture. I don’t know if they use it in conclaves.

By: Coool

Coool — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

A better question is how many catholics understand Latin?

The recently the pope came out and said he would like see more of the old traditional Latin masses. every better go get a Latin dictionary.

BTW, I didn’t know Christ spoke Latin.

By: tom c

tom c — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

enough wine they can speak slure perfect

By: Skip-Jack

Skip-Jack — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

I do not know a priest who can not speak Latin?

By: vinlunney

vinlunney — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

having the mass said in latin was to bring in the rich and elite. the church stopped it so they could market their services to everyone. cut off your customer base you lose money. make the masses in latin people stop going, the church loses what it cares about and then goes broke because it can’t pay out to it’s rape victims.

By: panglosswasright

panglosswasright — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

I heard that they are bringing the Latin Mass back. They would of course still keep the English Mass as well. When I was still Catholic, I took my husband to mass. He asked "when do they start speaking English?" I replied "in about an hour dear". I always thought the Latin Mass was beautiful and would love to attend one again.

By: Father K

Father K — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

I serve Mass for a Priest who celebrates the Latin Mass at my old parish. He’s my Father Confessor. He’s not bad…he can do the Mass and converse a little bit. English is used at most conclaves…but I think documents are still written in Latin

By: Ki Yote

Ki Yote — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

In nuce, me.
May they bring it back to mass.

By: Marysia

Marysia — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

i only know one that is in his late 30’s. however Latin is still taught throughout the Catholic schools in the archdiocese of Detroit. we use the Latin for the Agnus Dei and maybe a couple other prayers but generally it’s English or Polish (due to my ethnic background). i truly wish i could have actually learned Latin in stead of just a few prayers and the Ave Maria.

By: AMDG

AMDG — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

To the first poster. . . I speak Latin very well and am only a Catholic Convert – go figure.

As for Latin being a "revived" language, I think it would be great, no need to translate the Vatican documents into several languages, a better understanding of language in general (many have Latin roots).

I know several (4 or 5) priests that can speak Latin very well and several religious Brothers and Sisters who do even better.