Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk › Academic
Description
The well-known adagium expressed by the anonymous fourth-century author ‘Ambrosiaster’, presumably a Roman contemporary of Ambrose, that liturgical language must be accessible to the hearts and minds of ‘the people’ in order for liturgy to be effective, arose in the context of the transition from Greek to Latin as a liturgical language in the West. The question occurs, in how far the need for liturgical prayers to be ‘confirmed’ by the illiterate is still felt as relevant in the early medieval period, marked by a second linguistic transition that affected the liturgical performance: from Latin to the Romance and Germanic vernaculars. Liturgical sources from this period show that the confirmatory response by ‘the people’ is still counted upon, while at the same time the language of prayer challenges the ability of ‘the people’ to take part in the performative setting not only with their hearts but also with their minds.