Latin Grammar: For the Reading of the Missal and Breviary

"[Latin is the] language of wondrous spiritual power, transcending the boundaries of the nations . . . from which is removed." St. Paul VI, Sacrificium LaudisLatin is the universal patrimony of all Roman Catholics. It is one of the three holy tongues nailed to Christ's Cross, along with Hebrew and Greek. Most of all, it is the native language of the city where the holy First-Enthroned Apostle Peter and the Pre-Eminent Apostle Paul shed their blood for the Lord – that is, Holy Rome. And so, throughout the generations, Latin has become the language of the entire Western Church, and, in virtue of Rome's being the seat of Apostolic authority, the universal language of the entire Catholic Church. For over 1500 years at least, all Western liturgy was conducted in Latin. It is the language that when prayed devoutly burns the demons, "the language of the angels," "the speech of the Christian centuries," and "something of priceless worth," as St. Paul VI called it on the eve of its abandonment