Name	Ecclesiastical LatinChurch LatinChristian Latin
Nativename
Familycolor	Indo-European
Region	In dioceses of the Roman church before Protestantism; in dioceses of the Catholic Church subsequently
States	Never spoken as a native language; other uses vary widely by period and location
Nation	Holy See
Script	Latin alphabet
Extinct	Still used for many purposes
Posteriori	Literature, documents, inscriptions.Spoken and written Lingua FrancaLiturgical and administrative language
Fam2	Italic
Map
Agency	Style not regulated
Fam3	Latino-Faliscan
Fam4	Latin
Iso1	la
Iso2	lat
Iso3	lat

Ecclesiastical Latin (sometimes called Liturgical or Church Latin) is the Latin used by the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in all periods for ecclesiastical purposes. Having developed as a style of Late Latin called sermo humilis, used to preach and otherwise communicate to the people in ordinary language, it can be distinguished from Classical Latin by some lexical variations, a simplified syntax in some cases, and, commonly, in modern times, an Italianate pronunciation. It appears in various contexts, including theological works, liturgical rites, and dogmatic proclamations, and in various styles: as syntactically simple as in the Vulgate, as hieratic as in the Roman Canon of the Mass, as terse and technical as the language of Aquinas' Summa Theologica, and as Ciceronian as in Pope John Paul II's encyclical letter Fides et Ratio. In late antiquity and in the Low Middle Ages the intended audience or use determined the style the ecclesiastical writer employed; in modern times it depends on the context. Christian Latin refers to the Latin employed in their preaching and writing by Christians of ancient times.

Scope and usage

The Church issued the dogmatic definitions of the first seven General Councils in Greek, and even in Rome Greek remained at first the language of the liturgy and the language in which the first Popes wrote. During the Late Republic and Early Empire periods, educated Roman citizens were generally fluent in Greek, although state business was conducted in Latin.

The Holy See has no obligation to use Latin as its official language and, in theory, could change its practice. However, such a change appears unlikely in the foreseeable future. As a language no longer in common use (a dead language, though some would dispute whether it should be called "dead"), Latin has the advantage that the meaning of its words is less likely to change radically from century to century. This helps to ensure theological precision and to safeguard orthodoxy. Since Latin is spoken as a native language by no modern community, the language is thought to be a universal, internally consistent means of communication without regional bias. Accordingly, recent Popes have reaffirmed the importance of Latin for the Church and in particular for those undertaking ecclesiastical studies.

Especially since the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965, the Church no longer uses Latin as the exclusive language of the Roman and Ambrosian liturgies of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. As early as 1913, the Catholic Encyclopedia commented that Latin was starting to be replaced by vernacular languages. However, the Church still produces its official liturgical texts in Latin, which provide a single clear point of reference for translations into all other languages. The same holds for the official texts of canon law.

After the use of Latin as an everyday language died out even among scholars, the Holy See has for some centuries usually drafted papal documents and the like in a modern language, but the authoritative text — the one published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis — generally appears in Latin, even if this text becomes available only later. For example, the writers of the Catechism of the Catholic Church drafted it in French, and it appeared first in that language in 1992. But five years later, when the Latin text appeared in 1997, the French text underwent correction to stay in line with the Latin version. The Latin language department of the Vatican Secretariat of State (formerly the Secretaria brevium ad principes et epistolarum latinarum) is charged with the preparation in Latin of papal and curial documents.

Occasionally, the official texts are published in a modern language, including such well-known texts as the motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini (1903) by Pope Pius X (in Italian) and Mit brennender Sorge (1937) by Pope Pius XI (in German).

The rule now in force on the use of Latin in the Eucharistic liturgy of the Roman Rite states: "Mass is celebrated either in Latin or in another language, provided that liturgical texts are used which have been approved according to the norm of law. Except in the case of celebrations of the Mass that are scheduled by the ecclesiastical authorities to take place in the language of the people, Priests are always and everywhere permitted to celebrate Mass in Latin."

Comparison with classical Latin

The written Latin of today, as used for Church purposes, does not differ radically from classical Latin. Study of the language of Cicero and Virgil suffices adequately for understanding Church Latin. However, those interested only in ecclesiastical texts may prefer to limit the time they devote to ancient authors, whose vocabulary covers matters that, though of importance in that period, appear less frequently in Church documents.

In most countries, those who speak Latin for liturgical or other ecclesiastical purposes use the pronunciation that has become traditional in Rome, giving the letters the value they have in modern Italian, but without distinguishing between open and closed E and O. AE and OE coalesce with E, and before these and I the letters "C" and "G" take the sounds of English CH and J respectively. "TI" followed by a vowel is generally pronounced (unless preceded by "S", "T" or "X"). Such speakers pronounce consonantal "V" (not written as "U") as in English, and double consonants are pronounced as such. No distinction is made between long and short vowels.

However, ecclesiastics in some countries follow slightly different traditions. For instance, in Slavic countries and in German-speaking ones the letter "C" before the front vowels and commonly receives the value of and speakers pronounce "G" in all positions hard, never as English J. (See also Latin regional pronunciation and Latin spelling and pronunciation.)

Language materials

The complete text of the Bible in Latin (revised Vulgate) appears at Nova Vulgata - Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio. An edition at Latin Vulgate.com, has the text of the Latin Vulgate, flanked by the Douay-Rheims Version (based on the Latin) and the King James Version of the Bible. Another site gives the entire Bible, in the Douay version, verse by verse, accompanied by the Vulgate Latin of each verse.

In 1976 the Latinitas Foundation (Opus Fundatum Latinitas in Latin) was established by Pope Paul VI to promote the study and use of Latin. Its headquarters are in Vatican City. The foundation publishes an eponymous quarterly in Latin. Other initiatives of the Latinitas Foundation include the publication (in Italian) of the 15,000-word Lexicon Recentis Latinitatis (Dictionary of Recent Latin), which indicates Latin terms to use in referring to modern ideas, such as a bicycle (birota), a cigarette (fistula nicotiana), a computer (instrumentum computatorium), a cowboy (armentarius), a motel (deversorium autocineticum), shampoo (capitilavium), a strike (operistitium), a terrorist (tromocrates), a trademark (ergasterii nota), an unemployed person (invite otiosus), a waltz (chorea Vindobonensis), and even a miniskirt (tunicula minima) and hot pants (brevissimae bracae femineae). Some 600 such terms extracted from the book appear on a page of the Vatican website.

Current use

Latin remains the main official language of the Holy See and the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. Up until the 1960s (and still later in Roman colleges like the Gregorian) Roman Catholic priests studied theology using Latin textbooks, and the language of instruction in many seminaries was also Latin. The use of Latin in pedagogy and in theological research, however, has since declined. Nevertheless, Church law requirements that seminary formation provide for a thorough training in Latin still remain. Latin was still spoken in recent international gatherings of Roman Catholic leaders, such as the Second Vatican Council, and is still used at conclaves to elect a new Pope. The Tenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in 2004 was the most recent to have a Latin language group for discussions.

Although Latin is the traditional liturgical language of the Roman (Latin) Church, the liturgical use of the vernacular has predominated since the liturgical reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council. The Church law currently in force for the Latin Church stipulates that the Sacrifice of the Mass may be carried out in the Latin language or in another language provided that the liturgical texts have been legitimately approved. The exclusive use of Latin in liturgical celebrations is retained in an authorized extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, commonly called the "Tridentine Mass".

Notes

Bibliography

The New Missal Latin by Edmund J. Baumeister, S.M., Ph.D. Published by St. Mary's Publishing Company, P.O. Box 134, St. Mary's, KS 66536-0134, USA

A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin by John F. Collins, (Catholic University of America Press, 1985) ISBN 0-8132-0667-7. A learner's first textbook, comparable in style, layout, and coverage to Wheelock's Latin, but featuring text selections from the liturgy and the Vulgate: unlike Wheelock, it also contains translation and composition exercises.

See also

Father Reginald Foster

Latin liturgy

Latin Mass

Latin Rite

External links

Latin and the Catholic Church

The Necessity of Latin (a collection of quotes from Popes, councils, and saints)

Una Voce - International organization promoting the Latin Tridentine Mass

Catechism of the Catholic Church in Latin

Bibles

The Bible in Latin - official text of the Roman Catholic Church

NewAdvent.org bilingual Bible

Latin Bible (Vulgate text) in parallel with the English Douay-Rheims and King James Bibles

Ordo Missae of the 1970 Roman Missal, Latin and English texts, rubrics in English only

Breviaries

Divinum Officium

Latin-English pre-Vatican-II Breviary

Other Ecclesiastical Latin documents

Language Courses

Simplicissimus - free Ecclesiastical Latin course

Category:Latin language

, where the poet's family had a villa]] :Not to be confused with various Romans named "Catulus", see Lutatius. Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca. 84 BC – ca. 54 BC) was a Latin poet of the Republican period. His surviving works are still read widely, and continue to influence poetry and other forms of art.

Biography

Catullus came from a leading equestrian family of Verona in Cisalpine Gaul, and according to St. Jerome, he was born in the town. The family was prominent enough for his father to entertain Caesar, then proconsul of both Gallic provinces. In one of his poems Catullus describes his happy return to the family villa at Sirmio on Lake Garda near Verona. The poet also owned a villa near the fashionable resort of Tibur (modern Tivoli);

It was probably in Rome that Catullus fell deeply in love with the "Lesbia" of his poems, who is usually identified with Clodia Metelli, a sophisticated woman from the aristocratic house of patrician Claudii Pulchri and sister of the infamous Publius Clodius Pulcher. In his poems Catullus describes several stages of their relationship: initial euphoria, doubts, separation, and his wrenching feelings of loss. Many questions must remain unanswered - most importantly, it is not clear why the couple split up - but Catullus's poems about the relationship display striking depth and psychological insight. One such poem with insight to the reasons of his parting with "Lesbia" is poem 11, which is addressed to his companions Furius and Aurelius and requests them simply to pass a farewell insult to Lesbia.

He spent the provincial command year summer 57 to summer 56 BC in Bithynia on the staff of the commander C. Memmius. While in the East, he traveled to the Troad to perform rites at his brother's tomb, an event recorded in a moving poem.

Yeats references Catullus in his poem The Scholars.

Ned Rorem has a song entitled, "Catullus: On the burial of his brother."

See also

Poetry of Catullus

Codex Vaticanus Ottobonianus Latinus 1829

Notes

Further reading

Munro, H A J: Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus (London, 1878)

Ellis, R: A Commentary on Catullus, 2nd edition (Oxford, 1889)

Wilamowitz-Möllendorf, Ulrich von: Sappho und Simonides (Berlin, 1913)

Rothstein, Max: "Catull und Lesbia", Philologus 78 (1923), 1-34

(first statement of the Lesbia = Clodia Luculli thesis)

Kroll, W: Catull (Stuttgart, 1929)

Wheeler, A L: Catullus and the Traditions of Ancient Poetry (Sather Classical Lectures, vol.9, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1934)

Havelock, E A: The Lyric Genius of Catullus (Oxford, 1939)

Maas, Paul: "The Chronology of the Poems of Catullus", Classical Quarterly 36 (1942), 79-82

(restatement and refinement of the Rothstein Clodia Luculli thesis)

Ferrero, L: Interpretazione di Catullo (Turin, 1955)

Barwick, K: "Zyklen bei Martial und in den kleinen Gedichten des Catull", Philologus 102 (1958),284-318

Quinn, Kenneth: The Catullan Revolution (Melbourne, 1959)

Dorey, T A: "The Aurelii and the Furii", PACA 2 (1959), 9-10

Fordyce, C J: Catullus, A Commentary (Oxford, 1961)

Harrington, Karl Pomeroy: Catullus and his influence (New York, Cooper Square Publishers, 1963)

Ferguson, J:

- "Catullus and Martial", PACA 6 (1963), 3-15 - Catullus (G&R; New Surveys in The Classics No.20, Oxford, 1988)

Fletcher, G B A:

- "Catulliana", Latomus 26 (1967), 104-6 - "Further Catulliana", Latomus 50 (1991), 92-3

Wiseman, T Peter:

- Catullan Questions (Leicester University Press, 1969) - Cinna the Poet and other Roman Essays (Leicester University Press, 1974) ISBN 0-7185-1120-4 - Catullus and his World: A Reappraisal (Cambridge University Press, 1987)

Kidd, D A: "Some Problems in Catullus lxvi", Antichthon 4 (1970), 38-49

Duhigg, J: "The Elegiac Metre of Catullus", Antichthon 5 (1971), 57-67

Barrett, A A: "Catullus 52 and the Consulship of Vatinius", TAPA 103 (1972), 23-38

Townend, G B:

- "A Further Point in Catullus' attack on Volusius", G&R; n.s.27 (1980), 134-36 - "The Unstated Climax of Catullus 64", G&R; n.s.30 (1983), 21-30

Coleman, K M: "The persona of Catullus' Phaselus", G&R; n.s.28 (1981), 68-72

Tuplin, C J: "Catullus 68" Classical Quarterly n.s. 31 (1981), 113-139

Newman, J K: Roman Catullus and the Modification of the Alexandrian Sensibility (Hildesheim, 1990)

Gaisser, Julia Haig: Catullus And His Renaissance Readers (Oxford, 1993)

Swann, Bruce W: Martial's Catullus. The Reception of an Epigrammatic Rival (Hildesheim, 1994)

Fitzgerald, W: Catullan Provocations; Lyric Poetry and the Drama of Position (Berkeley, 1995)

Thomson, Douglas Ferguson Scott: Catullus: edited with a Textual and Interpretative Commentary (Phoenix Supplementary volume 34, University of Toronto Press, 1997) ISBN 0-8020-0676-0

Dettmer, Helena: Love by the Numbers: Form and the Meaning in the poetry of Catullus (Peter Lang Publishing, 1997)

Balme, M and Morewood, J: Oxford Latin Reader (Oxford University Press, 1997)

Watson, Lindsay C: "Bassa's Borborysms: on Martial and Catullus", Antichthon 37 (2003), 1-12

Kokoszkiewicz, Konrad W: "Et futura panda sive de Catulli carmine sexto corrigendo", Hermes 32 (2004), 125-28

Johnson, Marguerite (ed.): Antichthon 40 (2006), Thematic Issue: Catullus in Contemporary Perspective

- Johnson, M: Introduction (i-v) - Deuling, Judy: "Catullus 17 and 67, and the Catullan Construct", (1-9) (discusses Dettmer thesis in relation to one pairing, 17 and 67) - Tesoriero, Charles: "Hidden Kisses in Catullus: Poems 5, 6, 7 and 8", (10-18) - Uden, James: "Embracing the Young Man in Love: Catullus 75 and the Comic Adulescens", (19-34) - Watson, Lindsay C: "Catullus and the Poetics of Incest", (35-48) - Greene, Ellen: "Catullus, Caesar and the Roman Masculine Identity", (49-64) - Hallett, Judith: "Catullus and Horace on Roman Women Poets", (65-88) - Clarke, Jacqueline: "Bridal Songs: Catullan Epithalamia and Prudentius Peristephanon 3", (89-103) - Jackson, Anna: "Catullus in the Playground", (104-116)

External links

Catullus translations: Catullus's work in Latin and multiple modern languages

Catullus in Latin and English

Catullus: Latin text, concordances and frequency list

Catullus purified: a brief history of Carmen 16 by Thomas Nelson Winter

SORGLL: Catullus 5, read by Robert Sonkowsky

Category:1st-century BC Romans Category:1st-century BC writers Category:1st-century BC poets Category:Catullus Category:84 BC births Category:54 BC deaths Category:LGBT history in Italy Category:People from Verona