Historically Latin was also a common international language. Educated people could understand Latin across much of Europe. Not so great for the majority of people, of course. The article seems to indicate that in some places it was pretty widely understood.

I think some rites of the church did use other languages such as Syriac.

I knew about SSPX but not the Palmarians. They seem to be even odder and a cult. Interesting in the same way I find conspiracy theories interesting, so thanks.

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somenameforme an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Not just Europe. Well into relatively modern history educated individuals in America were expected to have fluency in Latin and frequently Greek as well. This [1] Harvard admission exam from 1869 immediately comes to mind. Applicants were expected to be able to pass that test, and the overwhelming majority did.

[1] - https://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/education/harvard...

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mostertoaster an hour ago | parent | next [-]

The classical school movement in America is growing quite rapidly, and so maybe we start to see it again?

My kids at least are all learning Latin, and later, Greek.

	▲	oersted 17 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		In Spain both are still taught in the standard high-school curriculum. Not everyone takes those classes of course, but Latin is one of the core optatives in the humanities path, it can be chosen in the university entrance exam as one of the core tests, and many students do pick it. It's not really taught as a foreign language though, it is used to teach fundamental concepts in linguistic analysis and translation, and it can be a legitimately valuable foundation to have a strong general literacy across romance languages. I'm not sure how common it is elsewhere, but Roman law also makes up a non-trivial fraction of the compulsory curriculum in the first years of studying law at university. Most of the concepts are still relevant, it's what all modern legal systems are founded on. I remember that a good friend of mine somehow avoided studying maths for the last four years of high-school by choosing all the alternatives, which included both Latin and ancient Greek. He was and still is a fantastic programmer despite hating maths though, obsessed with Linux distros from early teens.
	▲	iso1631 25 minutes ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Classical greek and modern greek are quite different
	▲	ai_slop_hater an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Audentes fortuna iuvat!

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graemep an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I was thinking of rather earlier in history, but you are right.

My grandfather was studied Latin (and Greek) in school in Sri Lanka.

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oersted 26 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Indeed, it was also the lingua franca (pun intended) of early science for quite a long time.