Essential Latin Prayers

by DJ Cyprich

First published June 12, 2021
Feast of St. John of Sahagun
Philippines Independence Day

ISBN: 978-0-9880974-4-5
Version 1.2.0

Copyright © 2021-2023 D.J. Cyprich. All rights reserved.

A variety of languages is a punishment, a consequence of sin; it was inflicted by God that the human race might be dispersed over the face of the earth. The Holy Church, the immaculate Spouse of Jesus Christ, has been established for the express purpose of destroying sin and uniting all mankind; consequently she must everywhere speak the same language. The Catholic Church is the same in every clime, in every nation, and consequently its language must be always and everywhere the same, to secure uniformity in Her service.

Fr. Michael Muller, C.SS.R.

Why publish a prayer book with Latin prayers?

I was born after Vatican 2 and I never knew anything other than the Mass in the vernacular, and in my case, English. I knew about the Latin use in the earlier Masses and Catholic prayers, but had no interest in them. After all, I was a modern Catholic so I should be doing modern things and praying in a modern language. Latin was for language nerds.

Latin is the official language of the Church. The first pope, St. Peter, was the bishop of Rome. The Catholic Church grew out of Latin speaking Rome and spread throughout the world. Latin was used throughout the Centuries by the Church in the Mass and its writings, and even today the most important documents published by the Vatican are in Latin.

Latin is a done language. It’s unchanging and no longer evolves. A prayer written in the 3rd Century can be understood with the same meaning and said today in the 21st Century. English changes over a generation. English bibles written in the 16th Century are difficult to understand in today’s English.

Latin is universal like the Catholic Church. A Latin Mass can be fully participated in by people from any nation who know Latin. An English speaker would have great difficulty following a Mass in Mandarin.

Latin is a beautiful language. My personal opinion is that prayers sound better in Latin. The Latin Mass seems more reverent than a vernacular Mass. Again, this is my opinion but attend one yourself to compare to a Novus Ordo Mass.

I wrote this book to make common Latin prayers easily available for me to use and memorize. I don’t want to carry a paper book everywhere I go, but an e-book fits very nicely in the phone in my pocket.

I hope this book can help you learn and pray in Latin.