Aurelio Porfiri
The news about restrictions on the Tridentine Mass is making the rounds these days and one of the problems stated is the Latin language. That is, the Mass should be restricted because people don’t understand Latin. Now, I thought this problem should have long since been overcome, but it is not.
First of all, for those who want to understand the meaning of what is being said, there are bilingual missals that have played their role very well for decades without anyone complaining that they do not understand.
Then it is necessary to understand what is meant by “understanding.” Most people who go to Masses in the vernacular probably do not grasp the concepts of the letters of St. Paul or the Roman canon, because they are concepts that express a high theology, but no one would say that these people “do not participate.” The understanding of the Mass is not at a purely semantic and intellectual level, but at a certainly much deeper level. Many religions have a language that they reserve for worship, separate from everyday use. The use of Latin in the liturgy must also be understood in this sense.
As said in the liturgy, one does not participate primarily to “understand,” but to experience God by participating in the Sacrifice of Our Lord. To understand Catholic doctrine, there is catechism, there are spiritual conferences and there is a good press. The Mass is not primarily for this, this is a part of its function. I have never explained to myself how, with the Mass in Latin before the Council, so many people, humble and simple, became saints. If Latin had been an impediment, how can we explain the holiness of culturally ignorant people but evidently rich in a wisdom who also drew from the sources of the liturgy? This also applies to music, you may not understand how the sonata form works but this does not prevent you from enjoying a symphony.
I have noticed that many very normal young people around the world feel the charm of this language, the language that is at the origin of so much of our civilization, and through it they approach the faith. Then I want to make an aside: when I was teaching in Asia, in Macau, I noticed that my Chinese students had no problem with the Latin we used for numerous songs and were fascinated by the sound of the language. The same students listened to pop music in Korean or Japanese, languages that they may not understand but that they freely chose because they were fascinated by something else. Well, for many Latin is not a linguistic fact, but an experience with the Tradition of the Church, an experience that has led many to kneel before their God.
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