The term Ecclesiastical Latin (sometimes called Church Latin) refers to the Latin language as used in documents of the Roman Catholic Church and in its Latin liturgies. Though its pronounciation differs slightly from that of Classical Latin, it is not a distinct language or dialect, but only the Latin language used for ecclesiastical purposes, as the same language can be used also for commercial purposes, for purposes of invective, or just for fun. This article should be transwikied to wiktionary Ecclesiastical means pertaining to the Church (especially Christianity) as an organized body of believers and clergy, with a stress on its juridical and institutional structure. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Roman Catholic Church... A liturgy is the customary public worship of a religious group, according to their particular traditions. ... Classical Latin is the language used by the principal exponents of that language in what is usually regarded as classical Latin literature. ...

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. The Holy See has no obligation to use Latin as its official language and, in theory, could change its practice. In Roman Catholicism, a dogmatic definition is an infallible statement published by a pope or an ecumenical council concerning a matter of faith or morals, the belief in which the Catholic Church requires of all Christians (but Christians who are not Catholics do not recognize the Catholic Churchs authority... In Christianity, an Ecumenical Council or general council is a meeting of the bishops of the whole church convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. ... A liturgy is the customary public worship of a religious group, according to their particular traditions. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Pope (from Latin...

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 the exactness of this description), 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. At Wikiversity you can learn more and teach others about Theology at: The School of Theology Theology finds its scholars pursuing the understanding of and providing reasoned discourse of religion, spirituality and God or the gods. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

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 had already 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 Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II, was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church opened under Pope John XXIII in 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI in 1965. ... Ambrosian Rite (also sometimes called the Milanese Rite) named after Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan in the fourth century, is a Catholic liturgical rite practised among Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese of Milan (excluding, notably, the city of Monza, and a few other towns), and neighbouring area... The Latin Rite is one of the 23 sui iuris particular Churches within the Catholic Church. ... The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by The Encyclopedia Press. ... Look up Vernacular in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The same holds for the official texts of Canon law. Canon Law is the ecclesiastical law of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

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. The Acta Apostolicae Sedis is a periodical that serves as the official gazette of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State. ...

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 Catechism of the Catholic Church, or CCC, is an official exposition of the teachings of the Catholic Church, first published in French in 1992 by the authority of Pope John Paul II.[1] Subsequently, in 1997, a Latin text was issued which is now the official text of reference...

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). A motu proprio is a papal rescript in which the clause motu proprio (Latin, of his own motion) is used, signifying that the provisions of the rescript were decided by the Pope personally and not by a cardinal or other advisors. ... Pope St. ... Mit brennender Sorge (German for With deep anxiety, word by word: With burning worry) is an encyclical of Pope Pius XI, published on March 10, 1937 (but bearing a date of Passion Sunday, March 14). ... Pope Pius XI (Latin: ) (May 31, 1857 – February 10, 1939), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922 and sovereign of Vatican City from 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939. ...

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). For other uses, see Eucharist (disambiguation). ... Latin Rite, in the singular and accompanied, in English, by the definite article, refers to the sui juris particular Church of the Roman Catholic Church that developed in the area of western Europe and northern Africa where Latin was for many centuries the language of education and culture. ... A Medieval Low Mass by a bishop. ... A liturgy is the customary public worship of a religious group, according to their particular traditions. ...

Pronunciation

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. Classical Latin is the language used by the principal exponents of that language in what is usually regarded as classical Latin literature. ... Cicero at about age 60, from an ancient marble bust Marcus Tullius Cicero (IPA:Classical Latin pronunciation: , usually pronounced in American English or in British English; January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist, philosopher, widely considered one of Romes greatest orators... Publius Vergilius Maro (October 15, 70 BC – September 21, 19 BC), later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a classical Roman poet, the author of the Eclogues, the Georgics and the substantially completed Aeneid, the last being an epic poem of twelve books that became...

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 close 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.) Latin pronunciation both in the classical and post-classical age, has varied across in different regions and different eras. ... The Roman alphabet or Latin alphabet was adapted from an Etruscan alphabet, to represent the phonemes of the Latin language. ...

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. The Douai Bible, also known as the Rheims-Douai Bible or Douay-Rheims Bible and abbreviated as D-R, is a Catholic translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English. ... The King James or Authorised Version of the Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible first published in 1611. ...

A Vatican institution, the Latinitas Foundation, exists to promote the use of Latin not only in Church documents but in all facets of modern life.

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 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.

See also

• Latin language
• Latin alphabet
• Latin spelling and pronunciation
• Medieval Latin

Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. ... The Roman alphabet or Latin alphabet was adapted from an Etruscan alphabet, to represent the phonemes of the Latin language. ... Medieval Latin refers to the Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church. ...

External links

• Ecclesiastical Latin (article in Catholic Encyclopedia (1913))
• Veterum Sapientia by Pope John XXIII, 1962
• What the Church says on the Latin Language
• The Necessity of Latin (a collection of quotes from Popes, councils, and saints)
• The Bible in Latin - official text of the Roman Catholic Church
• Latin Bible (Vulgate text) in parallel with the English Douay-Rheims and King James Bibles
• Catechism of the Catholic Church in Latin
• Ordo Missae of the 1970 Roman Missal, Latin and English texts, rubrics in English only
• Latin-English pre-Vatican-II Breviary

Text resources Blessed Pope John XXIII (Latin: ),(Italian: Giovanni XXIII), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), was elected as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. ...

• 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.

Wheelocks Latin, officially titled Latin is a comprehensive, beginning Latin grammar. ...