This is our
birthright, but it is not truly ours unless we can in some degree make
use of what we own.
It has often been pointed out that even to the most uneducated amongst
our people Latin is never a dead language to Catholics, and that the
familiar prayers at Mass and public devotions make them at home in the
furthest countries of the earth as soon as they are within the church
doors. So far as this, it is a universal language for us, and even if it
went no further than the world-wide home feeling of the poor in our
churches it would make us grateful for every word of Latin that has a
familiar sound to them, and this alone might make us anxious to teach
Catholic children at school, for the use of prayer and devotion, as much
Latin as they can learn even if they never touch a classic.
Our attitude towards the study of modern languages has had its high and
low tides within the last century. We have had our submissive and our
obstinate moods; at present we are rather well and affably disposed.
French used to be acknowledged without a rival as the universal
language; it was a necessity, and in general the older generation
learned it carefully and spoke it well. At that time Italian was learned
from taste and German was exceptional.
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