A video of Pope Leo singing the Our Father in Latin has over 200,000 views on YouTube, and many have noticed his affinity for the tradition of chanting parts of the Mass in Latin, the official language of the Catholic Church. Here at Sts. Anne & Joachim, our own pastor Fr. Luke Meyer has asked that we begin singing the ‘Our Father’ in Latin as well, at the 8:30am Mass on Saturday mornings.
Right around the time Pope Leo’s pontificate began, a delightful series developed from Rome at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, titled, “Let’s Sing with the Pope,” led by President of the institute, Fr. Robert Mehlhart, O.P.
In this series, Fr. Mehlhart demonstrates & teaches many of the Latin chants commonly sung at Mass by Pope Leo, offering everyone an opportunity to ‘sing with the pope’ across the world! This is a distinctive feature of Catholicism as a ‘universal’ church– our shared heritage in liturgical Latin is a source of unity for us who celebrate in Fargo, or New York, or London, Manila, Indonesia, Germany, Brazil, or a small town in Guinea, and of course Rome itself! With all the languages of the world, it is a great gift that the Catholic Church offers us a single language with which we can unite ourselves with the entirety of the global population who profess the same faith.
Over the next few weeks, we will take time to re-invigorate this tradition in our own parish on Saturday mornings, and we invite you to take some time to familiarize yourself with this prayer we all know, and join in the voice of the Catholic Church in our mother tongue of Latin. The text, translation, and music notation can all be found below for your convenience:
Our Father, who art in heaven:
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
Pater noster, qui es in cælis:
sanctificétur nomen tuum;
advéniat regnum tuum;
fiat volúntas tua,
sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidiánum da nobis hódie;
et dimítte nobis débita nostra,
sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris;
et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem;
sed líbera nos a malo.
Simple Modern Notation
Traditional 4-Line Chant Notation
