WRITING AUTHORITY IN LATE MEDIEVAL ... - Cornell University

Prophecy and English, then, affect the “idiotae” or the “dumbe” not by conveying a message
correctly but by imbuing a community of speakers with the authority of one forceful “voice.”
Paul and Dominus think that the power of language does not come from its ability to be
understood but through its immediacy to speakers. Consequently, language is not predicated on
learning, but learning on language. In Trevisa’s words, one “may noзt hure speche vor to lurne,”
and in Paul’s, “et vos per linguam nisi manifestum sermonem dederitis quomodo scietur id quod
dicitur” ‘unless you give manifest speech through language in which way would it be known
what it is said?’ Language impels learning, and without hearing immediate linguistic structures,
it is impossible to understand anything: “commyn lurnyng of speche ys by huyryng. And so
always deef ys alwey dombe, vor he may noзt hure speche vor to lurne.”
Dominus’s conclusion, although literally in accord with Scripture, is not necessarily that
of the Christian tradition that grew from Paul’s letters. The orthodox position, following Thomas
Aquinas’s commentary to 1 Corinthians 14, is entirely different:
Contra: Idem est loqui linguis et loqui litteraliter quantum ad idiotas; cum ergo omnes loquantur
litteraliter in Ecclesia, quia omnia dicuntur in Latino, videtur quod similiter sit insania...
Dicendum est ad hoc, quod ideo erat insania in primitiva Ecclesia, quia erant rudes in ritu
ecclesiastico, unde nesciebant quae fiebant ibi, nisi exponeretur eis. Modo vero omnes sunt
instructi; unde licet in Latino omnia dicantur, sciunt tamen illud quod fit in Ecclesia.
Question: It is the same to speak in tongues and to speak literally so far as concerns the
unlearned/idiots; when therefore all speak in the church, because everything is said in Latin, it
seems that this will be a similar insanity. [Answer]: It should be said to this that there was insanity
in the primitive Church because they were unskilled in the ecclesiastical ritual, while they ignored
which things they trusted unless it was expounded to them. All are taught in a true way whence it
is permissible to say all things in Latin, all nevertheless know what happens in the church. 432
In his commentary, Aquinas argues that the Latin liturgical service by itself is enough to
convince the unfaithful by the universality which lies behind its practices. In other words, there
are things besides language that are able to teach the faithful God’s message—like the liturgy
432 Thomas Aquinas, “Sancti Thomae de Aquino Super I Epistolam B. Pauli ad Corinthios lectura a capite XI ad
caput XVI reportatio vulgate,” Corpus Thomisticum, ed. 1953 http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/c1v.html#87673
(Web 10 October, 2010) Super 1 Corinthios. Lectio 5.
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