Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: Thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast compassed me with gladness:To the end that my glory may sing to Thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to Thee for ever.
Psalm 29: 12-13
Please pray for SuperNerd and SuperMommy and the SuperSiblings as they will miss Tiny Princess very much. She was a vector of grace and love in her short time within the Church Militant, but is now a saint in the Church Triumphant – and we know this for an absolute certainty. Tiny Princess has no need of our prayers. We are in need of hers. I have already asked her to pray for me, and for all of you.
I have received some of the best email feedback over the past 18 hours that I have ever received. I have heard from a slew of Latinists, and what struck me was their kindness and gentility even to the point of being deferential. I have, as of this writing, only received ONE nasty email, which resorted to the VERY tired “gaslighting” tactic, bandying about accusations of “insanity”. Sadly, that correspondent was…wait for it…a priest. Sigh. But remember, folks, these priests in the various Ecclesia Dei communities know that Antipope Bergoglio WILL come after them and the Mass of the Ages itself eventually, and they are frightened. That fear is why they are lashing out. Although, I must admit that I do not understand how the whole “go along to get along and maybe the crocodile will eat us last” strategy can possibly be thought viable by anyone anymore.
While I have now at least FOUR different “theories” as to the nuance of the Latin subjunctive and the use of “vacet” in the February 11, ARSH 2013 attempted partial abdication statement, ranging from “Potential Subjunctive” (citing Gildersleeve) all the way to “Subjunctive as Indicative” and points in between (citing Allen & Greenough and Linnekugel), all the Latinists agreed that the nuance of this Latin grammar question is NOT something to hang one’s hat on with regards to the invalidity of Pope Benedict’s attempted partial abdication. As per my video presentation, the crux of the matter is SUBSTANTIAL ERROR per Canon 188, not the Latin subjunctive.
One Latinist that I was especially pleased to hear from is a German classicist. It turns out that he is one of the curators of a website that has been translating and posting my essays into both German and Polish for years now. I was aware that this website existed, but I did not know who the curators were. Now I do. He said in his email that if he were to include in an exam this example of the particle “ut” preceding the subjunctive, that he estimates that 95% of students would, after a lesson on the particle “ut” and how it signals the subjunctive in various contexts, miss the nuance and get this translation wrong.
Given the quality of the feedback, I wish there were a way to get these Latinists together around a table to discuss it. It would be a fascinating discussion indeed. Maybe someone with a blog specializing in “slavishly accurate” Latin translations might oblige the group? After all, I don’t think there has been this much excitement among Latinists since that time the raccoon got stuck in Reggie Foster’s copier!
“Speaking at the presentation of a new book on Benedict’s pontificate at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome May 20, Archbishop Gänswein also said that Pope Francis and Benedict are not two popes “in competition” with one another, but represent one “expanded” Petrine Office with “an active member” and a “contemplative.”
Archbishop Gänswein, who doubles as the personal secretary of the Pope Emeritus and prefect of the Pontifical Household, said Benedict did not abandon the papacy like Pope Celestine V in the 13th century but rather sought to continue his Petrine Office in a more appropriate way given his frailty.”
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But remember folks, there is no evidence, and to even question Bergoglio’s legitimacy is “insanity”.
Years ago I had a bunch of people all saying the same thing to me: “Ann, you MUST learn and use the Subjunctive mood. Use of the Subjunctive is a social sorting mechanism, and if you want to be taken seriously and sound like an intelligent person, you have to learn, understand and use the Subjunctive.”
And now, here we are, and all of those seemingly random admonitions from years ago are sounding downright prophetic.
The Subjunctive mood in language is the grammatical form of the hypothetical. In English it is fading fast from American mainstream usage, due largely to the fact that grammar is no longer taught to American school children, and also due to the fact that Americans are largely unread, and that which they do read tends toward teenaged vampire novellas. I know that Americans do not know or understand the Subjunctive mood because whenever I use it in writing, I generally get an email or two from a reader trying to correct me.
Look at the following two sentences and tell me which one is grammatically correct:
If I was her, I would not put up with that.
If I were her she, I would not put up with that.
The second sentence is grammatically correct. “If I WERE”. Every time I use the Subjunctive in writing, I get emails from people saying, “You don’t say ‘I were’, you say ‘I WAS’!”
The “strange” shift from I was/He was to I were/He were AFTER the signal word “if” is the Subjunctive verb form conjugation. Other words that signal this hypothetical mood and thus the use of the Subjunctive include “maybe”, “perhaps”, “I think that”, “I hope that”, “I wish that”, “in such a way that”, etc.
In Latin, the present Subjunctive has its own unique conjugation form, and it sticks out like a sore thumb – far more than the Subjunctive sticks out in English. When the Subjunctive appears in Latin, it is a huge red flag. Here is an explanation of the Present Active Subjunctive mood in Latin:
From here on, I will use the traditional term Subjunctive, although I would prefer to call it a Conditional as used in most modern foreign languages. I want to impress on your mind the sense of these new forms rather than their formal traditional title. When I say Conditional, I am calling forth all the associations that go with unreality, possibility, potentiality, in the English words “may” and “might” and “could be” and ” if it were…”. These are in a different world from the world of fact, where things “are”, where “is” can be counted upon to “be”, where facts are facts when you get down to brass tacks.
In short the Indicative is the world of Western Civilization and American practical hardheaded ability to take the world as fact. In contradistinction, what we are going to discuss is the shadowy world of the unknown, the unreal and the un-factual.
It feels good to take a positive, factual view of the world, but no one can go very far into living without observing that there are various levels of reliability and truthfulness. On a scale of one to ten I could outline the following:
1 2 5 6 7 8 9 0 Engl.= is perhaps maybe just possibly might be might possibly be could possibly be
Now, let’s look at both the text AND the video of Pope Benedict’s attempted partial abdication announcement:
Fratres carissimi
Non solum propter tres canonizationes ad hoc Consistorium vos convocavi, sed etiam ut vobis decisionem magni momenti pro Ecclesiae vita communicem. Conscientia mea iterum atque iterum coram Deo explorata ad cognitionem certam perveni vires meas ingravescente aetate non iam aptas esse ad munus Petrinum aeque administrandum.
Bene conscius sum hoc munus secundum suam essentiam spiritualem non solum agendo et loquendo exsequi debere, sed non minus patiendo et orando. Attamen in mundo nostri temporis rapidis mutationibus subiecto et quaestionibus magni ponderis pro vita fidei perturbato ad navem Sancti Petri gubernandam et ad annuntiandum Evangelium etiam vigor quidam corporis et animae necessarius est, qui ultimis mensibus in me modo tali minuitur, ut incapacitatem meam ad ministerium mihi commissum bene administrandum agnoscere debeam. Quapropter bene conscius ponderis huius actus plena libertate declaro me ministerio Episcopi Romae, Successoris Sancti Petri, mihi per manus Cardinalium die 19 aprilis MMV commisso renuntiare ita ut a die 28 februarii MMXIII, hora 20, sedes Romae, sedes Sancti Petri vacet et Conclave ad eligendum novum Summum Pontificem ab his quibus competit convocandum esse.
Fratres carissimi, ex toto corde gratias ago vobis pro omni amore et labore, quo mecum pondus ministerii mei portastis et veniam peto pro omnibus defectibus meis. Nunc autem Sanctam Dei Ecclesiam curae Summi eius Pastoris, Domini nostri Iesu Christi confidimus sanctamque eius Matrem Mariam imploramus, ut patribus Cardinalibus in eligendo novo Summo Pontifice materna sua bonitate assistat. Quod ad me attinet etiam in futuro vita orationi dedicata Sanctae Ecclesiae Dei toto ex corde servire velim.
Ex Aedibus Vaticanis, die 10 mensis februarii MMXIII
Here is the video, and the key timestamp is 01:28 when Pope Benedict clearly says, “sedes Sancti Petri VACET”.
So there is absolutely no debate, we have the official text in writing AND we have video of Pope Benedict clearly saying the words of the text.
Here is the problem. Every translation of this that I have seen, including the Vatican website and the subtitles on the video above, as well as all of the thought leaders out there arguing that Pope Benedict said, “the See of St. Peter WILL BE VACANT” are wrong. That is NOT what “sedes Sancti Petri vacet” means. “Vacet” is NOT the future indicative tense. The future indicative “WILL BE VACANT” in Latin is “VACABIT”.
Pope Benedict wrote and said “sedes Sancti Petri VACET”, which is the present SUBJUNCTIVE, and we have further confirmation of the intentional use of the subjunctive mood in this sentence by the signal particle “ita ut” in the previous clause, which means “in such a way that”, which not only throws up the red flag signal of the subjunctive mood, but signals a specific type of subjunctive mood called the POTENTIAL SUBJUNCTIVE. In English, the Potential Subjunctive must be translated as “COULD BE…”
So what is the actual, accurate translation of the Potential Subjunctive “sedes Sancti Petri VACET”?
“THE SEE OF SAINT PETER COULD BE VACANT”
I couldn’t make this up in a thousand years if I tried, folks.
Why does this matter? Well, let’s think about how well the Potential Subjunctive would go over in other juridical contexts. Let’s start with marriage vows.
Impressive Clergyman: Do you Wesley, take Buttercup to be your lawfully wedded wife?
Wesley: I COULD….
That isn’t assent, folks. Wesley and Buttercup would NOT be married if either of them said, “I could” instead of “I do.”
Let’s now consider a legal contract – say, a MORTGAGE. How do you think it would go over if you arrived at a closing on a real estate transaction in which you were buying a house using a 30 year mortgage; the bank’s representative is sitting across the table and you, the borrower, take the mortgage agreement and strike out all instances of the future indicative tense, and replace it with the potential subjunctive. So, for example:
”The borrower, John Smith, will pay 360 monthly payments of $1225.00 to the lender, “First National Bank of Springfield” becomes…
”The borrower, John Smith, COULDPAY 360 monthly payments….”
You should be laughing at the very notion.
Folks, this is what Pope Benedict did in his faux-abdication announcement. And he CLEARLY went out of his way to do it.
I have been aware of this for over two years, but I intentionally did NOT cover it in my video because I wanted to really drive home the “Substantial Error” point, but also because I knew that my audience would be mostly American English speakers, and if I started in on Latin Grammar and the use of the potential subjunctive in Latin, I would lose 90+% of the audience.
But, after having been asked by multiple people to PLEASE post about this, I am happy to write this up and explain it.
The fact that even Trad priests who read and recite Latin every day aren’t even aware of this, and in fact use the incorrect translation “WILL. BE. VACANT!” as their primary rebuttal to the Barnhardt Thesis only proves that being able to read and recite Latin is NOT the same thing as being FLUENT in Latin. Most Trad priests today only study Latin enough to make them comfortable in praying the Mass and the Divine Office, which is fine. It does not make them Classicists, Latin scholars, nor even Latin speakers. As an example, I can recite/pray large swaths of the Mass in Latin by now, and know the meaning of what I am saying just from the repetition of going to Mass every day for years and years. HOWEVER, I literally couldn’t ask you to pass me the salt in Latin if my life depended on it. I do remember from the Gospel that “salt of the earth” is “sal terrae”, so maybe the best I could do is point at the salt shaker, say, “SAL”, and then gesture towards myself. So most Trad priests today don’t have sufficient Latin to recognize this use of the Potential Subjunctive “VACET”, and think that the future indicative “will be vacant” is accurate, when, in fact, it is wildly incorrect.
Now, if Trad priests who say the Mass in Latin every day miss this, imagine all of the Novus Ordo Cardinals, Bishops and Priests who have ZERO knowledge of Latin. When Pope Benedict gave his faux-abdication speech above, almost NO ONE IN THE ROOM HAD ANY IDEA WHAT HAD JUST HAPPENED. There was one person that we can see in the video that knew enough Latin to realize what Pope Benedict was saying. It is the priest on the far right. Watch his eyes and the stunned look on his face, and how he is looking out at the hall filled with Cardinals who have no clue what is happening… BECAUSE NONE OF THEM KNOW LATIN.
Latin is the language of the Church because it is an incredibly PRECISE language that leaves very little room for confusion or ambiguity. Now do we see why satan HATES Latin, and why priority number one of the Freemasonic-Communist-Sodomite infiltrators was to purge the knowledge and use of Latin from the Church when they came to power in the 1960s?
So, this is YET ANOTHER data set in this bizarre situation pointing to the fact that Pope Benedict’s attempted partial resignation was invalid, and that he remains the one and only living Pope.
I hope this helps.
Mary, conceived without the stain of Original Sin, pray for us.
Happy feast of St. Ambrose. See you tomorrow for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Bring your thinking cap. We are going to delve into Pope Benedict’s wildly invalid Latin in his spoken and written resignation. Too many have asked me to post on that. And yes, it is… wildly, massively nutty.
In this episode we discuss the end of the world, but without getting too apocalyptic about it. This contemplation of end times, promoted by the Catholic liturgy of the past couple weeks, is as good a time as any to discuss authentic martyrdom and to debunk “The Rapture” and advocate a decrease in people’s belief in Increase Mather’s polemics.
Feedback: please send your questions, comments, and suggestions to [email protected]
The Barnhardt Podcast is produced by SuperNerd Media; if you found this episode to be of value you can share some value to back to SuperNerd at the SuperNerd Media website. You can also follow SuperNerd Media on Twitter.
I’m still cracking up about this line of clever beverage containers, but then I’ve always been a huge fan of puns. This particular pun has pretty much everything going for it:
The Coffee Mug Version
Latin Trad Catholic nerd puns are THE BEST PUNS!
For those of you who might not be Latin Mass goers yet, these are the words from the Confiteor, (Confiteor means “I confess…”), mea culpa, mea culpa, MEA MAXIMA CULPA, which means “my most grievous fault”.
I confess to almighty God, to the blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to you, brothers, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, all the Saints, and you, brothers, to pray to the Lord our God for me.
Mea maxima CUPPA works well as a cute pun, is a GREAT conversation starter, and could even serve as a little reminder that it might not be a bad idea to quickly make an Act of Contrition and plan on getting over to sacramental Confession….
I think this is just about the most clever and useful Christmas gift / stocking stuffer for that Trad Nerd (or cleric!) on your Christmas list.
But wait! There’s more! We have the handsome coffee mug above, but look! Here is an insulated car cup version!
Perfect for those long drives to the nearest Traditional Mass!
And for the beer drinker in your life? Here is the Beer Stein version!
“Ja, das ist gut!!”
And for those who might take a wee dram of the ol’ Spiritus Frumenti… SHOT GLASS!
