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Views from the Choir Loft

Introductory Latin Courses • Veterum Sapientia Institute

Fr. David Friel · January 9, 2022

T WOULD come as a surprise to many, but one of the strongest endorsements ever given to the Church’s use of Latin was written as recently as 1962. That year, Pope John XXIII issued the Apostolic Constitution Veterum sapientia (VS), available in Latin or (if one dares) English.

Among the many extraordinary things it says, VS asserts that Latin must be given, in the life of the Church, “a primary place” among the variety of vernacular languages. It praises the fittingness of Latin for ecclesiastical purposes, noting that it is universal, immutable, and—importantly—non-vernacular. The Holy Father describes himself as “fully determined to restore this language [Latin] to its position of honor” and pledges to do all that he can “to promote its study and use.”

In its concluding directives, VS stipulates that knowledge of Latin should be considered a prerequisite for seminarians and that professors of the sacred sciences in seminaries and universities should either “speak Latin” or “gradually be replaced.”

To be sure, the vision of Veterum sapientia is miles from where we generally find ourselves today. But there is at least one wonderful organization working to fulfill the mission of immersing Catholic seminarians, priests, religious, and interested laymen in Latin and Greek (VS has a section on the value of Greek, too): the Veterum Sapientia Institute (VSI).

This institute achieves its goal in several ways, including maintaining a YouTube channel (here) and offering online courses (catalog).

VSI also offers a series of summer conferences. The main conference, Veterum Sapientia (24-30 July 2022), is for ecclesiastics with at least some background in Latin. Ab Initio (10-16 July 2022) is a conference for ecclesiastics who are complete beginners to the language, and Vinculum (22-28 May 2022) is a conference for Catholic laity with some background in Latin.

If you’ve been looking for the opportunity to brush up on your ancient languages, you’re in luck. There is still time to join some of the introductory courses on offer this spring.

Omnis lingua confiteatur, quia Dominus Jesus Christus in gloria est Dei Patris! (Phil. 2:11)

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 24, 2022

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    William Byrd • Simple “Agnus Dei” Canon
    Time flies! Back in July, I posted a PDF setting of a perfect canon by William Byrd (d. 1623) arranged as an AGNUS DEI for three voices. Last Sunday, we sang that arrangement with our volunteer choir. To hear a ‘live’ recording of it, click here (Mp3). In my humble opinion, this would be a perfect piece for a choir just beginning to experiment with polyphony.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Glory To God” • (For Choir + Congregation)
    I wish to thank everyone for the nice comments I received vis-à-vis my Glory To God setting for Choir & Congregation. A gentleman with a musical doctorate from Indiana University wrote: “Love this setting so much. And I will pray, as you asked, for your return to composition more fully. You are very very good.” A female choir director wrote: “I love your harmonizations, your musicality, and the wonderful interplay you have with dissonance and consonance in your music. So fun to listen to, and great for intellect, heart, and soul!” A young woman from California wrote: “Thank you for releasing your new Glory To God in honor of Saint Noel Chabanel. I'm enjoying reading through the various parts and listening to your recordings.”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    William Byrd • “Mass for Five Voices”
    Our volunteer choir is learning the “Sanctus” from William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. You can hear a short excerpt (recorded last Sunday) but please ignore the sound of babies crying: Mp3 recording. We still have work to do—but we’re on the right track. Once we have some of the tuning issues fixed, I desire to use it as an example proving volunteers can sing complicated polyphony. — One of our volunteer choirs also sang that SANCTUS on 24 September 2023, and you can listen to how that came out.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

It is clear the Church is facing a grave crisis. Under the name of “the new Church” and “the post-conciliar Church,” a different Church from that of Jesus Christ is now trying to establish itself: an anthropocentric society threatened with imminent apostasy which is allowing itself to be swept along in a movement of general abdication under the pretext of renewal, ecumenicism, or adaptation.

— Cardinal Henri de Lubac (29 August 1967)

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