Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1913 — Parish Split Over Latin [ARTICLE]

Parish Split Over Latin

French and Germans of Metz at War Over the Proper Sound of "U.” The proper method of pronouncing Latin has long been a matter of controversy among the learned, but it Is startling to find an entire parish disorganized by the question. This is the case In the parish of St. Maximln’s, in Metz. , The older clergy of Alsace-Lorraine were brought up under French influence, and are accustomed to pronounce the church Latin with the soft French “u.” The younger generation has been taught in the schools to pro* nounce the “u” full, according to the German and Italian manner. Yesterday the choir of St. Maximin’s pronounced the Latin of the pieces sung at mass in the German way. The parish priest, an old man, solemnly rebuked them, and they shut up their music books and left the church. Probably the clergyman found the new pronunciation grated on his ears, and his outburst was duo to the sensitiveness of a scholar.

The parishioners, however, are not scholars, and are now divided into two camps—those who maintain that, as Metz is now a German city, the church Latin should be sung in the German way, and those who hold that the choir Is doing the work of German officials and- attempting to destroy French influence. —N»w York Tribune.