THE LANGUAGE OF CHRISTIANS
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Pentecostés. El Greco. Museu del Prado. Madrid.[1]
According to the
Bible—in the Gospel teachings—the apostles asked Christ: "When we go out
into the world to preach the Gospels in Your name, how will we be recognized as
authentic? How will people know that we are not false prophets?" Christ
answered him—as we read in the New Testament, in the Acts of the Apostles
2:4–6—saying:
“For the Holy
Spirit will bestow upon you the gift of tongues, and wherever you go in My
name, people will hear you speaking in the language native to each place.”
From this, it
follows that the language of Christians is the language native to each place.
This means:
In Catalonia and
the Catalan-speaking area (the Catalan Countries), it is Catalan—not Spanish
(Castilian), nor French (or *langue d’oïl*).
In Alghero, it is
Catalan—not Italian.
In Occitania, it is
Occitan—not French (or *langue d’oïl*), nor Spanish (Castilian).
In Brittany, it is
Breton—not French (or *langue d’oïl*).
In the Basque
Country (*Euskal Herria*), it is Basque—not Spanish (Castilian), nor French (or
*langue d’oïl*).
In Corsica, it is
Corsican—not French (or *langue d’oïl*).
The list of such
nations—which possess distinct vernacular characteristics and their own
natural, original, or vernacular languages—is far longer, with examples found
all over the world, across all five continents.
The affirmation of
these native or vernacular languages has been a hallmark
of identity within the Christian tradition since the very beginning of
Christianity. Christian religious art—especially Romanesque art—is replete with
references to the events of Pentecost: the Apostles receive the Holy Spirit and
begin to speak in the languages of all the nations
from which their listeners had come. Acts 2:4, 6
“They were all
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages [...] each one
heard them speaking in their own language.” Its representative symbol is the
dove.
St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (Vatican)
The Coming of the
Holy Spirit
When the day of
Pentecost arrived, they were all gathered together. 2 Suddenly, as if a violent
gust of wind had arisen, a sound was heard from the sky that filled the entire
house where they were sitting. 3 Then, tongues like fire appeared to them,
distributing themselves and resting upon each one of them. They were all filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in various languages, just as the
Spirit enabled them to express themselves.[1]
Mural at the
Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat (Catalonia)
The Second Vatican
Council (1965) and the use of vernacular languages
The Second Vatican
Council (1962–1965)—specifically the liturgical constitution *Sacrosanctum
Concilium* (1963)—opened the door to the use of vernacular languages (the languages native to each
national territory) in the Mass and liturgical rites, gradually replacing
Latin. This created an extraordinary opportunity for languages such as Catalan,
Basque, and Galician.
This decision
sparked significant tension and opposition from General Franco’s
Spanish-nationalist regime, as it directly clashed with one of the ideological
pillars of the Francoist dictatorship. The regime imposed the monolingual use
of the Castilian language—which it labeled "the Spanish
language"—persuading the public that it was "the language of
everyone." Franco had prohibited speaking... ...vernacular languages, such
as Catalan, Basque, and Galician.
The conservative
faction of the Spanish episcopate (including the Cardinal of Tarragona,
Benjamín de Arriba y Castro) placed numerous obstacles in the way of the
official approval of liturgical texts in Catalan or Basque, delaying their
publication and authorization for years.
Censorship and
police control: The regime maintained police surveillance both inside and at
the entrances of churches. Priests who delivered homilies or celebrated Mass in
Catalan or Basque were frequently reported and fined for "acts against the
unity of the Spanish nation."
ADULTERATION OF THE "SPANISH" DICTIONARY
One strategy
employed by the Castilian-centric Spanish regime to discredit vernacular
languages was to alter the dictionary definition of the word "vernacular"
(*vernacle*), leading people to believe this corrupted definition and,
consequently, reject the term. They added a second
definition—"slave"—thereby inciting rejection of a word that
originally meant "native to a place."
This distorted and
biased definition influenced many academics, some of whom still reject the term
"vernacular" today. In my book *Vernaclística*, I argue—using various
lines of reasoning and symbolic references—for the restoration of the original
meaning of "vernacular." I also propose a corresponding
"vernacularist" framework, in which vernacular languages, cultures,
and nations are political subjects independent of the framework imposed by the
imperialist and colonial states that oppress, alienate, and seek to annihilate
them.
I believe that the
independence of Catalonia (the Catalan Countries) and the various other
vernacular nations of... ...world, they must recover this vernacular-oriented
frame of reference, within which the concept of “ecolinguistics” plays an
essential role that aligns with an ecological cultural conception.
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