During the Early Modern era, Latin was the official language of the Church of Rome; however, analyzing bulls, decrees and edicts, Italian was preferred as a vehicular language. Even though Italian bishops and inquisitors used Italian to deliver papal bull and Conciliar decrees, they thwarted Luteran doctrin, which was in favor of the use of the vernacular languages for the Holy Scriptures and for liturgy, restricting the knowledge of the Misteries of the Faith just to the ones who were able to understand Latin. Upon which themes was it necessary to be understood? Were they loyal to the original ones or did they exploit margins of interpretation to curb the repressive stranglehold imposed by the papacy after the Council of Trent?
Silvia Manzi
The Languages of the Church
Firenze University Press, Firenze 2018
