Tea at Trianon: How to Bring Back Latin

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, January 31, 2016

How to Bring Back Latin

From Philip Kosloski:

As a reminder, Latin is the liturgical language of the “Roman Rite” within the Catholic Church. The Church has four major groupings of Rites: the Roman, the Antiochian (Syria) and the Alexandrian (Egypt) and Byzantine. From these groups have developed 20 liturgical Rites, each with their own liturgical traditions! This means that the liturgical language for each is not necessarily the same. The Church really is quite beautiful in its diversity of rites and I encourage you all to explore them when you have the chance.

For example, the Maronite rite (within the Antiochian family) has “Aramaic” as its liturgical language. It is quite a site to be seen, as the words of institution that the priest uses are in that language, the common language that Jesus would have used on an everyday basis. So when the priest says “this is my Body” in Aramaic, you are able to get a glimpse into the Last Supper. If you are interested in learning about the liturgical language for each rite, check out this list on EWTN. I won’t comment on their particular Rites as I am within the Roman Rite and am only vaguely familiar with their liturgical traditions or language.

When it comes to the Roman Rite, the Church has maintained that Latin should not be abolished. The documents of Vatican II state the following:

Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites (Sacrosanctum Concilium, §36).

So, Vatican II did not abolish Latin and instead mandated that it be preserved. But to what extent? (Read more.)