The Newtown bee., 1891-05-29

all it's value from it, and presupposes it; an'
 yet the Mass is a true sacrifice because Jesu
 Christ is truly offered up, though ill anothe form and offered, not in the sense of adding
 new merits, as if wanting to the tirSt but be
 cause IL Is Il means appolateu py tue ELeInh ti
 Father and the lncarnate Son for applying the
 merits Of the one bloody Sacrifice to the whole
 Church in general, and to each soul in partic
 ular. In fact, Holy Mass is but one ot the
 means left by our Saviour tor applying His
 merits to man. He Him self instituted It when
 He gave the command to His Apostles: "DC
 this for commemorat1on ot Me-" est. Luke
 xxi. 19.)
 Why is mass read in Latin? The Church is
 Apostolic. She is the Church ot St. Peter and
 of the other Apostles, and she has guarded
 with tenderness all the precious memories
 from each other to1 their mission to announce
 to all nations the Gospel of salvation two Ian.
 BV the tWo Vey great Ted civzed divisions of man
 kind-the Latin language for the most part in
 the West, and the Greek in the East. They
 preached the faith chiefly in Latin and in
 Greek; their teachings and their constitutions
 were written in those two rich Languages, and
 the Church has preserved these monuments
 with religious veneratiOn. This is one reaS-
 why her language is for the most part Lat
 in insthe West and Greek in the East. Yet this
 which, in fact is a testimony in favor of her
 antiquity, is made by some theme Of re-
 prOach against her. Providence has already
 disposed all in advance. Latin and Greek be-
 came dead languages and hence invariable
 and wonderfully adapted to formulate GOT ex-
 press with precisiOn) the doctrines of the
 Church which changes not, because she is di- vine. An interesting calculation made on the changes that have been made in the living languages shows that had the Church adopted the various living languages, instead ot the Latin, she would have been obliged to modify the formula Cor essential wOrds) used in the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism a great many times; otherwise these formulas would not have expressed correctly the idea they should convey. By this we can judge of the many changes which the wording of the Creed and decrees of the early Councils and those of the POpeS would undergo, were they not recorded in an unalterable Cor dead) Ian guage Protestants are perhaps right in pre- ferring the use Ot modern tongues in their au- thorized books of religion. Living languages, continually changing, are more suited to con alteration. But the Catholic Church prefers old unchangeable languages because she is herself funchangeable. The Church uses Lat in, not only because she is unchangeable, but also because she is Catholic, or universal, and has to address herself to all people in all times. During the first four centuries of Christianity, Latin was the language of the civilized world ,and although then aliving Ian guage, it had that character of universality which the Church requires. When in the course of time the world was divided into many nationalities, the Church still preserved her beautiful primitive language, and thus re mained unchanged in her speech as in her es- sence. Thus the Church speaks Latin because she is Apostolic, Unchanging, and Catholic.
 St. Paulit is true in his first Epistle to the Corinthians [chap. xiv), directed the Christ ians to use in their assemblies language underst0od by all the faithful present; but many PrOtestants draw from this an Objec- tion which does not apply to the present question. The Apostle confines himself to preaching, exhorting, and instructing the assembled faithful, all which, he says, must be done in the vernacular or common Ian guage ofthe people. The word prophecy in cludes instructions-speaking on things di- vine. The Catholic Church follows this Apos- tolic command to the letter. Her bishops priests, missionaries, and catechiStS always employ in their teaching language under the most obscure and most barbarous dia- lects, in order that the Word Ot God may reach the undIerst9nding ofall The Catholic Church speaks not only the particular dis t1nctlve language of each land and tribe when instructing the people, but has also a special Catholic language, that her pastors belonging to every nation may readily com with each other, that they may together at the altar, and that her alty, Ot whatever tongue, may not, when in foreign land, feel strange in the house of Cod, but be at home in any Catholic place of way, the Church unites in one universal tongue to implore the mercy and sing the harmony of nations in one faith, with one voice, in the one Fold of the one Shepherd, is worthy of the Church of Christ and of the unity which is her grand characteristic. The Mass IS Sacrifice offered directly to God, lnd It IS not necessary for the people to tol- he Catholic priest stands at the altar though here may be persons present from every dime, as soon as he pronounces aloud any m intelligent part in his ministratiOn, fact which reminds one of the preaching of the pOstles on the Day of Pcntecost, when all rom every nation heard St. Peter, each in lis own tongue (Acts ii, 6). The Church pcakS Latln, therefore, not only because she is Apostolic, Interchangeable, and Catho- ic, but also because she is One. Change of anguage in the Liturgy would seem to break he link with the past, and raise some sus- liclon of innovation in what IS expressed in he Iiturgy; while the having retained the 'ame ancient language indicates that the Ihurch which continues to use it is the very anne as Of old, and that she has not changed n any essential matter, having been care ul as not to change even her language, which, compared with doctrine, is ot much e ess importance; It is fairly presumed that he Church which possesses the language Ot has antiquity on her side; that, be- ng the inhcIitOr of the language, she is also he inheritor ot the ancient faith. The fact of fer still using the Latin language makes eel the more sure that the Catholic Church $ the one old unchangeable Church of God