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We’ve Got Mail
February 9, 2010 | 3 comments
Last Call
Staying Alive
C.S. Lewis, the last of the Latin letter writers.
Ancient tongues like Latin tend to enter our daily lives in small ways. There is the quick phrase sitting like an italicized island lending polish and age, if not pretension, to what we write. In art galleries there is the occasional tapestry with Latin embroidered in the top and bottom margins or in the spaces between figures. And upon aged churchside graves there is often a name carved, usually in wing-tipped Latin letters — proof, it would seem, that the language is at rest. And yet, every so often, like a crocus in winter, the so-called dead tongue displays her original, brilliant force. This is, I think, a gentle species of what the Greeks identified as epiphany.
Recently I came across such a wonder between the navy covers of a book published 10 years ago and now being reprinted by St. Augustine Press. The book collects and translates the letters — all of them written in clear, cogent Latin — between a Catholic saint in Verona, Don Giovanni Calabria, and one of the greatest Protestant writers, C. S. Lewis, in Oxford. As far as I know, this is the one instance in the 20th century when, beyond the Vatican and the classroom, Latin was used out of such merry necessity — and the one instance when Latin was ferried through Europe’s clouds via Air Mail.
Calabria started the correspondence on September 1, 1947, after reading Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters in Italian. Wishing to thank the author for his work but not knowing English, he decided to write him in Latin. After all, he recalled, Lewis was a classicist. Lewis responded five days later in Latin, and they exchanged prayers and words on paper until Calabria died. At that time another priest took up his post and wrote Lewis until Lewis died in 1963. The bulk of the surviving correspondence is by the Oxford man, who tended to burn letters he received two days upon receipt to better protect his senders’ privacy.
The Lewis/Calabria letters aren’t the stuff of literature, but each writer voices the same great wish, and often: that the two churches of which they are part, Catholic and Reformed, might one day be reunified after Christ’s imperative, as expressed in the Vulgate, ut omnes unum sint (“that they may all be made one”). That message is refined by casting it in Latin, a language native to neither man and becoming here a silent lingua franca for two.
After reading the 35 letters in this afternoon-length book, which prints the Latin on facing pages, I opened a few other books by Lewis to scan for what he’d written about the old language he commanded so well. In so doing, I came across a passage about another old language he commanded, Attic Greek, that I’d copied out longhand in my first year of learning Latin when I was weary of its starched grammar and wanted to quit. My father, whose first published piece, incidentally, was in these very pages in 1974 and concerned Lewis, urged me to keep on, because after the study of grammar there would come the study of literature.
In the passage about Greek, Lewis says that beginning to think in another language is the “great Rubicon to cross” in learning it. He continues:
Those in whom the Greek word lives only while they are hunting for it in the lexicon, and who then substitute the English word for it, are not reading the Greek at all; they are only solving a puzzle. The very formula, “Naus means a ship,” is wrong. Naus and ship both mean a thing, they do not mean one another. Behind naus, as behind navis or naca, we want to have a picture of a dark, slender mass with sail or oars, climbing the ridges, with no officious English word intruding.
What rigorous study of language teaches — or rather, teaches us to remember — is that words of any time and place are deliciously and, Lewis elsewhere wrote, “incurably metaphorical,” pointing to the raw image behind the noun, the raw action behind the verb. No longer steeped in Latin, I tend to forget this small wonder. As Elizabeth Bishop says in the plain refrain of “One Art,” “the art of losing isn’t hard to master.”
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Kitty| 4.15.10 @ 7:23AM
I took one year of Latin as a high school freshman and loved it. I learned more about English in that one year than in all the other years combined. I still have my Latin book.
Now, if we could only return to the mass in Latin...
Ryan| 4.15.10 @ 9:12AM
Honestly, as a Protestant, I see and understand the arguments for returning to the mass in Latin, and I heartily disagree.
The populace HAS to know and understand scripture and the church. Latin was used at mass originally because it was practical, not holy - many parishioners understood it in the first few early centuries. Maybe it may help some who speak in a Romance language, but how can God be glorified when I don't understand what is going on?
Bob S| 4.15.10 @ 3:34PM
Ryan... wrong. I'm looking at my Missal right now- Latin in one column, English translation right next to it. Latin is a very easy language to understand and get used to, by the way. Over 65% of English is based on it. Try again.
Ryan| 4.15.10 @ 3:54PM
That doesn't mean that it should be used at mass.
English is still more understandable than Latin to Americans. Latin was used in the same manner, not because it was a holy language or was the original language of scripture.
Partial understanding doesn't help. Having a congregation get used to a different language doesn't help. I cannot grasp the Gospel if I cannot understand the words.
paradoctor| 4.16.10 @ 1:20PM
A song in a language not understood is simply music, and must be enjoyed as such. But if the words are understandable, then that invites critique, or doubt, or even dissent.
Therefore the lack of lay understanding of a Latin Mass is not a bug; it is a feature.
1FreeMan| 4.15.10 @ 8:59AM
You remind me to read the screwtape letters again. This age, when politicians and world forces seem to be tearing, again, at our faith and freedom, that wonderful work by C.S. Lewis is a potent reminder of strings and puppets.
A cruce salus !
Ryan| 4.15.10 @ 9:16AM
Lewis is probably quoted more in Protestant churches than any other; I still need to go read God in the Dock, but Mere Christianity, Screwtape Letters, and the Chronicles of Narnia are practically required reading for every Christian.
And if you think the Chronicles of Narnia are just for kids...go read them again. You'll find yourself having a change of heart.
My personal favorite is his Space Trilogy (namely Perelandra); Lewis considered Til We Have Faces his best work...it was okay...
Probably Lewis's one theological flaw was his semi-universalism (which he may have backed off from), as he believed that if someone followed the parts of their religion closest to Christianity (and didn't know about Christ) that they were probably okay.
Bob S| 4.15.10 @ 3:38PM
Out of the Space Trilogy (all three books are great), my favorite happens to be That Hideous Strength. We, as a country, are already close to having our own version of the National Institute for the Coordination of Experiments (N.I.C.E.). However, I think our outcome will be much less satisfactory than the ending in the book.
Matt Morehouse| 4.15.10 @ 10:27AM
I took five years of Latin in a Jesuit High School. (We were required to take two periods in Freshman year.)
Not much remains except the solid foundation it provided for English.
jim sweeney| 4.16.10 @ 12:46AM
Did we attend the same high school? Regis - NYC I went on to 4 years more in college (easy to pass after being a Jesuit student). And Latin makes i mpossible to make an error in Enlish as to gender, number or case.
Sarah| 4.15.10 @ 11:29AM
Just the other day, one of my children asked me why I used a much more expanded vocabulary than their father. I told her it was because even though two words can mean the same thing in English, one of them may hold a nuance that better describes the thing than the other. This, of course, led her to ask what "nuance" meant. *sigh*
I took three years of high school Latin, and one year each of Latin and Greek in college. I have never regretted it. My high school Latin teacher (who is himself fluent in Russian and Mandarin Chinese as well as Latin and of course English) still teaches at our local community college and I have offered my daughter that I will attend the class with her if she wants to go. She doesn't think that it's necessary. I weep because she has no desire to further expand her horizons in understanding our linguistic background. My youngest child I have higher hopes for as she seems to take after me in the learning department.
And as to the above comments about returning the Mass to Latin, I have to agree. When I was 18, our priest asked me to sing the Gloria in the original Latin at Easter Vigil. I happily obliged. Afterwards, the amount of older parishoners who wanted to thank me for doing so was overwhelming. The joy that was in their faces over a simple prayer sung in the original Latin was astounding. Whether we realize it or not, Latin calls to many of us, both young and old, in ways that are primal and not understandable.
Ryan| 4.15.10 @ 11:31AM
I have no debate that it's a beautiful language; however, if I'm being preached to in a language I don't understand, how am I supposed to get what is going on?
Ray| 4.15.10 @ 11:59AM
You could always learn the language. I mean, really, isn't it better to know and understand the original writings than to depend upon someone else's translations? What if they get those translations wrong? Without learning the language in question, you'll never know if the translations are accurate.
Ryan| 4.15.10 @ 12:12PM
Latin wasn't the original writings - it was Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic.
I have a passing knowledge of Koine Greek, btw - took 4 classes in college.
I don't disagree with you - they should form the basis at least for any sermon, and communicated well.
Bob S| 4.15.10 @ 3:44PM
Latin allowed the Catholic (universal) Church to speak with one language no matter what country you happened to be in. No ambiguity, very little misunderstanding. One voice. Also- Mass in Latin, sermons in the vernacular- plus, what I pointed out before, all Missals had the vernacular translations right beside the Latin. Another reason- Latin, being a dead language, is not subject to change in the meanings of its words. They mean something exact, and are not subject to the whims of change. Just as God is unchangeable.
Ryan| 4.15.10 @ 3:56PM
I understand the concept - but Latin is no longer universal.
The unchanging nature is a decent argument; I think the one problem that you could run into is that a lot of it may have come from Jerome instead of Augustine.
paradoctor| 4.16.10 @ 1:34PM
You are assuming that the purpose of a Mass is to expound a rational argument. That is not so. Its actual purpose is to set an emotional tone. Comprehensible language would merely distract.
The parishioners are not there for the words. They are there for the music.
Ted| 4.15.10 @ 4:53PM
Ryan,
You said you were Protestant, so whether you are preached to in Latin seems to be irrelevant. Besides, saying you don't know it is no excuse, because you could learn the language, should you choose to do so.
One of the great things about using Latin is that you could go to any Catholic Church in the world, and here the same thing. Kind of Universal (yes, the pun is intended).
Gretchen| 4.15.10 @ 3:24PM
One can make a good case for the Mass in Latin in that the words remain the same everywhere one goes -- "Dominus vobiscum" is "Dominus vobiscum" in London, Lisbon, Latvia, Lima or Los Angeles. To understand and follow the Mass in the vernacular one would have to understand/speak English, Portugese, Latvian and/or Spanish. (Sermons, on the other hand, are usually in the vernacular.)
Speaking, (or should one say "writing") of Lewis' books, there is one not nearly as well known as his "Space Trilogy," The Chronicles of Narnia," Screwtape," etc. -- "Til We Have Faces." It is uncanny how Prof. Lewis, a middle-aged British academic, "gets inside the head" of his protagonist -- an elderly queen of a barbarian country, with a horribly deformed face, (NO face, in fact) who has had to struggle all her life -- not just with her deformaty, but for her very survival. It is as if he IS the woman. "Til We Have Faces" is a haunting book; I recommend it highly!
Bridget| 4.16.10 @ 2:04AM
Generally, when one learns another language, they learn and appreciate their primary or first language all the more. I did not take Latin, but took Spanish in high school and am now struggling learning German - I also took a French class. What is interesting is the structure of languages - there is a structure that is similar in most of them. Additionally, if one looks at the physiological manifestations going on when speaking, one can see how the language affects the culture and vice-versa. Some of the ideas and perceptions one encounters in different languages are very different as the languages have different ways of expressing them. It's probably an iterative process or iterative-evolutionary. In any case, learning another language allows one to use their brain differently and think through a different perspective. I highly recommend it!
On sort-of topic - I thought that another purpose of having the Latin mass was that wherever one went in the world, they would be able to 'fit-in' to the mass and participate immediately. Of course, it gave a sense of community as well as stability in a changing world or environment, but also a way to subtly ( or not so subtly) control those of the community. It's a balancing act: one either goes native, so to speak, or maintains their previous cultural affiliation - the Roman Catholic Church decided to go native in terms of having mass in the local language in 1962. I do agree, the original Latin mass has a grace and elegance that isn't as noticeable in other languages. And, I do love the chanting done in Latin or songs in Latin that accompany the mass.
KyMouse| 4.16.10 @ 8:10AM
I, too, loved studying Latin, and have been blessed by Lewis's books, especially "Mere Christianity."
Concerning the wish that the Catholic and Reformed churches "may all be made one," I'll note that it is the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) which has separated itself from biblical Christianity. For example, the RCC has added layers of legalism to what the Bible says about salvation.
No one’s sins are forgiven through belonging to a certain church, RCC or otherwise; or through baptism. We are saved only by trusting in Jesus (John 3:14-18, Romans 5:1-2, Ephesians 2:8-9), believing that He rose from the dead (Romans 10:9). He alone is the way, the truth and the life, and forgiveness comes through gratefully accepting His one-time payment for all of our sins on the cross (Hebrews 7:27).
All good works that we do are gifts to Him, out of gratitude for what He has done for us. No works that we do (even if we believe that they’re done by God’s grace) add anything to our salvation – not the Catholic sacraments, not the words of any priest or pope, not the intercession of Mary or the saints; and not penance, indulgences, the brown scapular or the rosary.
No Christian need go through a priest to receive God’s forgiveness. We have one High Priest – Jesus – and through Him we may go directly to God through prayer and receive His forgiveness (Hebrews 4:16). He alone is our mediator, our intercessor (I Timothy 2:5). And no amount of RCC tradition or magisterium is more authoritative than the Bible. As Paul warned in Colossians 2:8, “See that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men…rather than according to Christ.”
We’ve just passed the fifth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II. I’ll repeat what World magazine’s cultural editor, Gene Edward Veith, wrote shortly after the pontiff’s funeral:
“[Though] the pope was eulogized for all of his good works, the prayers begged God to let him into heaven, calling on Mary and the saints to intercede for him. Sadly missing was the liberating gospel of salvation through faith in the free forgiveness won through Christ alone.”
paradoctor| 4.16.10 @ 1:24PM
Off topic, and inaccurate.
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