FFQ

[siggen1.livejournal.com]

Um... I'm not catholic, so I don't really know this stuff.
Would Father Mulcahy, being a priest and all, pray his rosary in Latin or English?

Comments

[vampirespider.livejournal.com]

Latin, I'm assuming, since English wasn't even included in American/English masses until 1964 or 65, with the advent of Vatican II.

[qzee.livejournal.com]

though latin wasn't used in masses until the 1960's, the laypeople of the church, the faithful would have prayed in whatever language they spoke normally. So, though a Monk in a monastery might pray solely in latin, I think Father Mulcahy would pray the rosary in English most of the time as praying the rosary is not part of the liturgy.

[subluxate]

I'm pretty sure it's Latin.

[stillwell.livejournal.com]

Definitely Latin.

[yndigot.livejournal.com]

As a Catholic, I have to say that whether or not some people said the rosary in Latin, I have no I idea, but I don't believe it was ever a requirement. It is completely independent of the mass and was developed c. 9th century by some spititual Celts who themselves probably did not know Latin. Often when the mass was in Latin, people who didn't understand Latin would pray the rosary during the service because it was something that they did understand.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Latin, definitely.

He might very well have originally learned the prayers for his rosary in English when he was a child, but he would have learned them in Latin while studying to be a priest.

Actually, I suppose "it depends" - it's just possible that if he were in a state of real shock and reverting to childhood, he might start praying in English.

FAQ (http://www.udayton.edu/mary/questions/faq/faq07.html) about rosary-prayers here.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

And more (http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/2002Nov/nov19tra.htm).

[siggen1.livejournal.com]

Thanks:)
Another thing: Do you know whether the system with saying the joyful mysteries on monday and saturday, the luminous on thursday etc. was something practised at that time, or is that something "new"?

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

The "luminous mysteries" were added by Pope John Paul II, the first addition to rosary-prayers in centuries, I think.

The tradition of saying different mysteries on different days of the week is pre-Vatican II, I think (so this site (http://www.kensmen.com/catholic/week.html) seems to suggest).

If you want to know about what Mulcahy would have had to do routinely, suggest you do a search on "Holy Office" - all priests were required to recite all 150 of the psalms every week, at certain hours of the day, pre-Vatican II - post Vatican II this got extended to 150 every month, I think.

(Vatican II was 1962-1965. Everything Mulcahy does as a priest at the time of the Korean war would have been pre-VII, or ought to have been, though the series was of course written ten to twenty years post-VII, and mostly before JPII began to roll back some of the changes made by VII. So in a sense - I hadn't thought of this before - Mulcahy is a priest with a lot of post-VII attitudes, but undoubtedly using pre-VII ritual.)