Why Latin?

Note: This was written prior to the changes which occurred after the Second Vatican Council...

"Each heard them speaking in his own tongue." Acts, 2:6.

A customer once asked a druggist why doctors write their prescriptions in Latin and not in English. The druggist told him because Latin is more exact and definite than English. He explained that Latin is a dead language, which means that it does not change, as English so often does during one short generation.

The druggist showed his questioner that a large number of drugs are obtained from flowers and herbs. He even showed the man his pharm­acopaeia, the official and standard book which describes drugs, chemicals, and medicines. He pointed out many scientific names - all in Latin. In fact, two thirds of all drugs have no English name at all. They have a name only in Latin and hence could not possibly be written in English.

The man who mixes medicines gave another reason: "Suppose a doctor did write out in the vernacular a prescription, and his patient was unedu­cated. Suppose the patient lost the prescription, but thought he remembered what it said. And then suppose, for example, the doctor had ordered iodine of potassium, but the patient thought it was cyanide of potassium. A sick person could take ten grains of the first and it would not kill him. But one grain of the second drug will make him a corpse."

The man behind the counter gave another reason: "Latin is a language used by scientific men all over the world, especially in medicine and drugs. No other language is used. You can get a Latin prescription filled in any real drug store in the world."

The druggist smiled as he told this experience: "The other day I filled a prescription which we had made up right here several years ago. Since then the patient has been traveling almost around the world. That prescription has been stamped by druggists in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Constantinople, Cairo, Tokyo and Shanghai. What good would an English prescription have been in Shanghai?"

For similar and higher reasons the Catholic Church prescribes Latin as the official language of her public ceremonies, particularly of the Mass.

1. First we must know that Latin is not used in all Masses in the Roman Catholic Church. Right in Southern Italy the Italo-Greeks have said Mass in Greek for over a thousand years. Arabic and Greek are used in Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The Byzantine Rite uses fourteen different languages, but the Mass is the same in all. With these exceptions aside, the Mass is said in Latin. Why?

2. The use of one common language in the liturgy makes for uniformity in public worship. In the great majority of countries a Catholic will feel right at home while hearing Mass. Just suppose that the language of the Mass was to be the language of that particular people, with the idea that every­body in church could hear it and understand it. That would mean churches no larger than a fair-sized hall. The altar would almost have to be in the middle and the priest would have to shout in order to be heard and under­stood by all. We could not celebrate more than one Mass at a time in the same church because of distractions. There could be no organ playing or singing.

Furthermore, if each country had its own Missal in its own language, we would have to have as many kinds of Missals as there are kinds of tongues. Most languages change constantly; the Missals would have to be revised repeatedly.

An English priest saying Mass in Paris would have to carry his English Missal along, and then his Paris congregation would not understand him. What would missionaries do in countries where there is no written lan­guage? What would they do in places like China, where it takes years of painstaking study before they can speak or preach in that language? Travel­ing through Europe in 1950, I encountered some of the usual language difficulties, but, thank the Lord, I could say daily Mass in a language I knew from a book with which I was thoroughly familiar.

Then suppose the priest was saying Mass for a group of representatives of five or six different nations, as I had the privilege of doing in St. Peter's at Rome on May 6, 1950. What language could he or should he use? I heard several people of different tougues giving the Latin responses to my Mass.

True, these are negative reasons, but they are sound ones, for the use of a single, universal language, especially in public service.

3. A positive reason is that Latin does not change. The words mean today exactly what they meant to the Apostles. Other tongues change the meaning of words often in just a few years time.

4. The main reason is that unity of language makes for unity in the Church. There is little or no danger of errors of faith creeping in through the language. A priest can say Mass at the majority of Catholic altars throughout the world in the same language he used in his parish church.

And the Catholic layman, though he travel the world, can find a church somewhere nearby where the Holy Sacrifice is offered in the same words he heard at home. Everywhere the meaning is the same.

5. Furthermore, that meaning is made clear to the intelligent, up-to-date Catholic in every country by means of translations into the vernacular or language of the people, of the prayers and ceremonies of the Mass. That is why we urge you to secure and use an English Missal. In many places priests explain the prayers and ceremonies, as we have tried to do in this series on the Mass.

6. Again, we must always remember that Mass is a sacrifice, an action, and that people can take part in the Sacrifice of the altar without understanding the words in their literal meaning.

When you hear 35,000 people of all tongues and races and nations joining in the singing of a plainchant Credo in Latin, as I heard in the great home church of the Pope in Rome, you realize the beauty and value of one common language.

It helps doctors and druggists in their important work. It helps the Church in its work. Amen.
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Adapted from Talks on the Mass
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (© 1950)