I was wondering, is there a tape or CD available that covers the basics of Church Latin so that when you find yourself at a Mass that contains various music selections or passages in Latin you can actually participate with some sense of what is going on, instead of mumbling incoherently?

Reason I ask, is that a while back, I was reading through a book called Latin Made Easy (language book series) and it said that Church Latin was different in some pronunciations. For example, "Caesar" would be pronounced "Kaiser" under regular Latin. Did I read it wrong, or are there some differences?

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 24, 2002

Answers

There are indeed differences, GT, as ecclesiastical Latin is pronounced with an Italian twist. Too bad you joined the forum just a few weeks too late to miss another thread that went into this subject (and now I can't find it). No one mentioned an audible pronunciation guide, but a couple of online Internet guides were offered and evaluated. Perhaps someone can help us find that thread again, since we don't have a search engine. [Hint, hint.]

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), February 25, 2002.

Aha! I found it ... here.

JFG

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), February 25, 2002.

Thank you, JFG, those are very informative. One would think that the missalette publishers would sell somthing like this (after all, you can get a tape of all the songs (chorus + 1-2 verses) in Breaking Bread (musicians' issue)) for learning purposes, and you'd think lectors could use this information too.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), February 25, 2002.

The only audio set available, to my knowledge, is the 13-audiocassette program "Cursus Linguage Latinae Vivae" by a renowned Austrian Carmelite latinist, Fr. Suitbert Siedl, OCD. It is sold by a lawyer and ecclesiastical latin enthusiast in Florida (Jan Halisky, 507 S. Prospect Ave., Clearwater, FL 34616). I believe the price is still $63 for the 200 pp. book and 13 audiocassettes.

The recently re-published _The New Missal Latin: Books One and Two (Angelus Press: Kansas City, MO) also has two audiocassettes available to accompany the book(s)-- for an additional $10 or so.

The only other audio for ecclesiastical latin I am aware of is Ralph McInerny's _Let's Read Latin_ (Dumb Ox Books: South Bend, IN), which for a steep price comes with one 60 min. audiocassette-- with poorly spoken eccl. latin.

Siedl is clearly the course to get hold of. The goal of Fr. Siedl is to get the student to THINK and SPEAK in latin, and the rest will naturall

-- vyachislav g. troshev (spetznaz_chechnya@yahoo.com), April 19, 2002.

I am new to computers and am not even sure who you are. I am interested in Latin and found this on google. The Vatican has a department that sells books and even a couple of magazines in Latin. They also have a tape or tapes that go with a course on Church Latin. I have never heard them but would assume they should be excellent considering the source. I'll try to find the exact address and if I can find this site again will send it later.

-- Kristen (gmke4@wmconnect.com), November 24, 2002.