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WHY LATIN
and
GREGORIAN CHANT?
UNA VOCE
pamphlets on the liturgy
No. 1
WHY LATIN and
GREGORIAN CHANT?
UNA VOCE
Pamphlets on the Liturgy No. 1
UNA VOCE in the United States 1968
Foreword 4
I The Deci sion of the Church 5
II Latin, Pro and Con 10
III Sacred Music 14
Bibliography 17
Membership Application 21
3
FOREWORD
UNA VOCE is an international association of Roman
Catholics participating in the liturgical apostolate of the
Church. Among its special interests are the preservation
and promotion of the use of Latin and Gregorian Chant in
the liturgy of the Roman Rite.
UNA VOCE understands that pastoral considerations
make the use of vernacular languages beneficial at certain
times and places and that minor changes in rubrics may
also be beneficial. However, it sees its principal mission
within the liturgical apostolate at the present time as
helping to safeguard the traditional usages of the Latin
Rite; for they represent a most suitable form for the
faithfuls participation in the universal prayer of the
Church, a proven means of conveying and safeguarding
orthodox doctrine, and an effective symbol of the unity of
the Holy Catholic Church.
This pamphlet has been written in order to set forth
to American Catholics in a convenient form the reasons
which have led the Church recently to reaffirm its com-
mitment to liturgical Latin and Gregorian chant.
4
I
9
encouragement to the laity to persist in their support of the
sacred and venerable liturgical Latin and Gregorian Chant.
In an address given on 26 April 1968, Pope Paul stated
that the Latin language retains a privileged status in
Roman Catholic liturgy, even today when circumstances have
urged the use also of the vernacular. Latin, he said, must
be cultivated in the Church to serve the spiritual needs of
the faithful, not as an end in itself. He described Latin as a
most important unifying link in the liturgy and in Canon Law
among the peoples of the world, whose origins and cultures
are so diverse. It is also important, he said, that the heritage
of wisdom found in the Latin writings of many Fathers of the
Church be passed on. He noted that though it had introduced
the use of the vernacular in the liturgy, the Second Vatican
Council also recommended a thorough study of Latin in the
seminaries and its preservation in the liturgy.
* * *
II
11
-
12
Now that more and more Catholics are attending college
as a matter of course, it is absurd to claim that the small
effort needed to learn to participate in the Latin Mass is
too difficult for them. Furthermore, the very effort to
master the liturgy in the traditional language of the Church
will result in a more sensitive participation in the Mass.
(The use of the vernacular is no guarantee of genuine
participation, which always requires an inner, spiritual
awareness.)
Another reason given for the suppression of the Latin
Mass is the desire to foster ecumenicism by bringing
the Catholic liturgy closer to that of the Protestants.
(Again, the anti-Latinists overlook the unitive force of
Latin.) But a prohibition of Latin would in fact be anti-
ecumenical, for it would diminish freedom within the
Church, not enlarge it. What is called for is permission
to use both the vernacular and the Latin - a freedom most
in keeping with an ecumenical spirit. And a universal
liturgical language is one of the gifts Catholics have
for their separated brethren.
It is sometimes argued that the continued use of
Latin would add to the confusion that can be found in the
Church today as a result of linguistic and other changes
in the liturgy. But at a time when many languages are in
use (often in the same city), when many optional practices
are in effect, when a great variety of musical forms are
being introduced into the Mass, when the English trans-
lation seems to many inferior to the Latin original - at
such a time, with such a diversity of liturgical usage,
it is more essential than ever that the Latin Mass be
maintained in daily practice so as to preserve that liturgical
norm upon which all other translations and variations are
based.
It thus no mere aesthetic concern that has moved
is
the Churchto retain Latin in the liturgy. Unless the liturgical
Latin is kept alive and accessible to the faithful, the variety
of languages and practices will obscure the universality of
the Church - if it does not tend to promote division among
the faithful and raise doubt about the content of the faith.
13
LEX ORANDI, LEX CREDENDI. The law of prayer is the
law of faith. The liturgical action of the Church, as expressed
in the Latin of the Roman Rite, represents a vital locus of
orthodoxy, to which all may confidently turn, not only to
resolve problems and controversies that may arise (indeed,
that have arisen) from the use of the vernacular (the mean-
ings of the words of which are always changing), but also to
find the most accessible and organic and appropriate
expression of the one, universal, immutable faith which the
Church safeguards for its members.
Ill
SACRED MUSIC
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Church Documents
ON LATIN
ON GREGORIAN CHANT
Note:
tained from The Pope Speaks, 3622- 12th St. N.E.,
Washington, DoC. 20017.
19
On Gregorian Chant
20
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