ecclesiastical Latin
Liturgical Roman tongue
Ecclesiastical Latin is the form of Latin used by the Roman Catholic Church in liturgy, theology, and official documents.
It developed from classical Latin through centuries of church use, with distinctive pronunciation (softer c's before e and i) and vocabulary for Christian concepts.
Unlike classical Latin, it remained a living administrative and ceremonial language into the modern era: The mass was celebrated in ecclesiastical Latin until Vatican II.
- liturgicalOf public worship rites
- VaticanPapal city-state
- medievalOf the Middle Ages
- Gregorian chantMonophonic Catholic liturgical music
- chantRepetitive rhythmic phrase
Mass · Ave Maria · clergy · monastic · sacred · Church Fathers · papal · canonical · breviary · vestments · incense · sign of the cross · psalter · missal · pontifical · diocese · cathedral · sacrament
- Latin studiesAeneid, Metamorphoses, Seneca, Livy, Lucretius
- Latin pronunciationvowels, long vowels, short vowels, diphthongs, consonants
- manuscriptscodex, codices, folio, folios, papyri
- Medieval LatinAquinas, Augustine, Jerome, hagiography, breviaries
- LatinCicero, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Livy
- Bible textsHebrew Bible, New Testament, Old Testament, Septuagint, King James Version