Ecclesiastical Latin

Ecclesiastical Latin (sometimes called Church Latin) is the Latin used by the Roman Catholic Church in all periods for ecclesiastical purposes. It can be distinguished from Classical Latin by some lexical variations, a simplified syntax in some cases, and, commonly, an Italianate pronunciation. It appears in various contexts, including theological works, liturgical rites, and dogmatic proclamations, and in various forms: as syntactically simple as the Vulgate, as hieratic as the Roman Canon of the Roman Rite Mass, as terse and technical as Aquinas' Summa Theologica, and as Ciceronian as Pope John Paul II's encyclical letter Fides et Ratio. In 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 is the Latin employed in their works by Christian or ecclesiastical writers 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. (In fact, during the Late Republic and Early Empire periods, educated Roman citizens were generally fluent in Greek, although state business was conducted in Latin. The books that eventually became the New Testament were originally written in Greek and only later translated into 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 have less likelihood of changing radically from century to century. This helps to ensure theological precision and to safeguard orthodoxy. 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 Catholic Church. As early as 1913, the Catholic Encyclopedia commented on the beginnings of the replacement of Latin by vernacular languages. But the Church still produces official liturgical texts in Latin, thus providing a clear single 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 had to undergo correction in line with the Latin version. The Latin language department of the Vatican Secretariate of State (formerly the Secretaria brevium ad principes et epistolarum latinarum) is charged with the preparation in Latin of papal and curial documents. The celebrated Latinist, Fr. Reginald Foster, O.D.C., works here.

Occasionally, the official texts come out in a modern language. The best-known such include 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" (Redemptionis Sacramentum, 112).

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 as /tsi/ (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 /e/ and /i/ commonly receives the value of /ts/ and speakers pronounce "G" in all positions hard, never as English J. (See also Latin regional pronunciation and Latin spelling and pronunciation.)

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