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THE VOICE OF THE
CHURCH AT PRAYER E
Reflections on Liturgy and Language
Uwe Michael Lang
Pope Benedict XVI has made the liturgy a central
theme of his pontificate, and he has paid special
attention to the vitally important role of language
in prayer. This historical and theological study of
the changing role of Latin in the Roman Catholic
Church sheds light on some of the Holy Father’s
concerns and some of his recent decisions about
the liturgy.
The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council
allowed for extended use of the vernacular at Mass,
but they maintained that Latin deserved pride of
place in the Roman Rite. The outcome, however,
was that modern translations of the prayers of the
Mass replaced the Latin prayers.
What was the reason for the Council’s decision
and why is there now a desire for greater use of
Latin in Catholic worship? Why have some postconciliar
English translations of the prayers of the
Mass been replaced?
Fr. Lang answers these questions by first analyzing
the nature of sacred language. He then traces
the beginnings of Christian prayer to the Scriptures
and the Greek spoken at the time of the apostles.
Next he recounts the slow and gradual development
of Latin into the sacred language of the
Western Church and its continuing use throughout
the Middle Ages. Finally, he addresses the rise of
modern languages and the ongoing question of
whether the participation of the laity at Mass is
either helped or hindered by the use of Latin.
“This is a brilliant work, careful in its argumentation
and overwhelming in the wealth of evidence
brought forth. Would that we had had it forty
years ago!”
—ANTHONY ESOLEN,
Professor of English at Providence College
VCP-P . . . Sewn Softcover, 225 pp, $18.95
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SHADOWS AND IMAGES A Novel E
Meriol Trevor
This is the story of a Protestant young woman
and her journey to the Roman Catholic Church.
The fascinating novel is set in nineteenth-century
England-a time when Catholicism was regarded
with suspicion and prejudice against Catholics
was commonplace. Leaving her sheltered life in
the countryside, young Clem becomes acquainted
with the fascinating ideas and people of Oxfordincluding
a brilliant young clergyman, John Henry
Newman. But when her relationship to a Roman
Catholic man with a colorful reputation leads to
an Italian elopement that is more innocent than it
appears, the scandal drives a wedge between Clem
and the upright Anglican circle of friends and family
she left behind. Woven into the story of Clem
and Augustine, their courtship and marriage, and
Clem’s conversion, is the vital, infl uential, and holy
Newman, as seen through the eyes of friends.
Meriol Trevor’s engaging plot charts the ongoing
friendship between Newman and the couple
as it spans many years during which pivotal historical
infl uences, such as the Industrial Revolution
and the Oxford Movement, are shaping Victorian
England.
Many important events, personages, and ideas
in the life of Newman appear in the story-his
reasons for becoming a Roman Catholic, his differences
with Cardinal Manning, his work in the
Birmingham Oratory, and his being made a cardinal
by Pope Leo XIII. The author, a renowned biographer
of Newman, used Newman’s actual correspondence
as the basis for his parts in the dialogue.
Meriol Trevor (1919-2000) was educated at St.
Hugh’s College, Oxford. One of the most prolifi c
Catholic writers of the twentieth century, she wrote
more than thirty novels, for both adults and children,
and several major biographies. She is best
known for her comprehensive biography of Cardinal
John Henry Newman published in the early sixties.
In 1967, she was elected a fellow of the Royal
Society for Literature in England.
SHI-P . . . 278 pp, Sewn Softcover, $16.95
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