* So, when the Greek Liturgy was translated into the then vernacular Latin, prior to the fifth century, that was the beginning of the demise of worship.
When the Church permited the Liturgy to be celebrated in the vernacular Slavonic tongue it was allowing Jesus to be dragged down?
News of their successful missionary work among the pagan Slavs was carried to Rome along with complaints against them for celebrating the rites of the Church in the heathen vernacular. In 868 Saints Cyril and Methodius were summoned to Rome by Nicholas I, but arriving there after his death they were heartily received by his successor Adrian II, who approved of their Slavonic version of the liturgy.
Nothing new under the sun except the (wrong) idea Latin is a sacred language.
As someone who is present at the Traditional Latin Mass almost every single day, and so would say Amen (that's Ah-men!) to his praise of that venerable Rite and congratulate him on his many insights into its theological and aesthetic depths, I would only caution this young and enthusiastic devotee that, as with everything in this valley of tears, the pre-Novus Ordo REALITY was often far less than the IDEAL.
What do I mean?
Well, our young friend never attended the weekday morning Mass at any parish in . . . oh, say . . . Dorchester, Massachusetts in the late 1950s . . .
The Mass was usually in black. Why? Because whenever there was a "4th class" ferial day, the Requiem Mass "cotidianum" could be said, and most parish priests took advantage of this option. Not only because of Mass intentions or devotion to the Souls in Purgatory, but because it was the SHORTEST MASS POSSIBLE to say in the old rite: no Psalm 42 at the foot of the altar, no Gloria Patris in the Introit and Lavabo, one less prayer before Holy Communion - and the readings! Look them up in your Missal.
15 to 20 minutes tops - does anyone else remember this? - the daily "requiem" - and, once I went to high school and learned Latin from the Carmelite Fathers, I realized just how HORRENDOUS was the Latin of most of the priests (except at the Scalabrini parish, where the native-born Italian priests had been praying in Latin most of their lives). For years I thought that the Irish Monsignor was remembering an old sister-in-law or housekeeper at every Mass: AGNES DALY! AGNES DAILY! AGNES DAILY!
Yes, you might say that the Daily Requiem was the Tridentine Rite's equivalent of Eucharistic Prayer II !!!
It wasn't all beautiful, all the time, dear young undergraduate! :-)
In fact, if anything, having been deprived of that ancient Rite lo these many years just might have helped bring it back with a fresh awareness of its beauty and a new devotion to offering it as it was meant to be offered!
Funny.... Jesus didn't speak Latin. And he came as a common man and fought all the traditionalists that deceived people into thinking keeping a man-made tradition would save people.
I was born shortly before the new Mass was instituted, so I grew up in the wake of the changes. I now go to an indult, and I am gaining an appreciation for the tradition, our birthright, that was robbed from us. When I was young, the novus ordo was offered very reverently. However, through the years, it has slowly devolved as it gets further away from the anchor of the Mass of the ages. When our worship becomes less reverent, every other aspect of our Church follows it down.
While I acknowledge the validity of the Missa Normativa, I no longer prefer it, and say without hesitation that the Traditional Latin Mass is preferable, doctrinally, symbolically and stylistically.
I pray that the Holy Father soon restores the right of all priests to say it without having to ask permission.
I don't idolize 1950, 1850, 1750, 1650 or 1550 but I revere the Catholic Mass. I disdain the lutheran community gathering which is what the Novus Ordo generally is. I don't claim that Lutherans are evil..but they worship Christ in a particular way that, as a Catholic, makes me ill at ease.
That Novus Ordo catechetics downplays transubstantiation and promotes the community is natural...it's a different religion...not focused on Cavalry...focused on community, hand holding, feeling good and always keeping people ill at ease with constant changes.
The Latin Mass is arguably the most beautiful religious rite I have ever witnessed.
The current Mass is pedestrian and mundane in comparison.
The same problem occurred pre-1962 as well, since the old Episcopal and Lutheran services bore an outward similarity to the old Catholic Mass, esepcially in "High Church" Lutheran and Episcopal circles. The problem is mentioned in several older apologetic books.
They are not gods which are made with hands.