WRITING AUTHORITY IN LATE MEDIEVAL ... - Cornell University

and common practice. It is not important that a parishioner know Latin simply because “modo
vero omnes sunt instructi” ‘all are taught by means of the true manner’—that is, the Church’s
customs replicate the same knowledge that a parishioner would get by understanding its Latin
language and there is no particular benefit from the “virtus sermonis” ‘strength of the voice’
because God’s grace is ideal and not physical.
In interpreting Paul, Aquinas raises similar questions regarding the absence of the
vernacular in pedagogical and liturgical practices as Dominus: are there universal customs? How
do people learn Scripture? How does language convey teachings? However, unlike Dominus,
Aquinas situates Paul in a historical time in which there was no Church or a universal habitat for
Christian teachings:
Sed quare non dantur benedictiones in vulgari, ut intelligantur a populo, et conforment se magis
eis? Dicendum est quod hoc forte fuit in Ecclesia primitiva, sed postquam fideles instructi sunt et
sciunt quae audiunt in communi officio, fiunt benedictiones in Latino.
But why are blessings not given in the vernacular, so that they would be understood by the
populace, and so that they conform themselves more to it? Answer: It must be said that this
perhaps was in the primitive Church, but afterwards the faithful were instructed, and they know
that the blessings which they hear in the common office are made in Latin. 433
Aquinas couches his arguments in terms of learning, but he reasons that, because the meaning of
Latin services is generally understood and because language is used for this general
understanding, Latin must continue to be used not to render the gospel’s message intelligible but
because of its authoritative use in instruction. Blessings are said not for the knowledge of an idea
of God but for the experience of piety. Instruction has a Latin face which would be sacrificed if
one could give “benedictiones in vulgari” ‘blessings in the vernacular,’ and thus introduce the
possibility of variance into an otherwise “communi officio” ‘common office.’
Dominus follows a similar logic except through an English perspective by saying that in
the liturgical service “such Englysch prechyng ys verrey Englysch translacion.” Again, the worry
433 Aquinas Super 1 Corinthios. Lectio 3.
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