Spaniard by birth and Roman by inclination, Vallejo served the Society of Jesus with his vast knowledge of Latin.
by Mark Lewis, SJ
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Spaniard by birth and Roman by inclination, Vallejo served the Society of Jesus with his vast knowledge of Latin. |
Another chapter in the long history of the Latin language closed with the death last December of Fr. Félix Sanchez Vallejo, SJ, who, for most of his Jesuit life, had occupied himself with Latin.
He joined the Jesuits in 1937 in Spain at age eighteen and almost immediately was sent into exile in Belgium because of the civil war raging in his home country. After his return to Spain he studied Latin, Greek, and philosophy at Salamanca and Oña and then planned to head to Oxford for higher studies in the Classics.
Circumstances, however, changed that assignment, and he was sent to Naples and Padua for theology and Classical studies, during which he won prizes from "Latinitas," the papal foundation for the promotion of Latin, and would later receive the Cross of Alfonso X from the Spanish crown.
In 1962, Father General Joseph Janssens called Vallejo to Rome as editor of Memorabilia Societatis Iesu (later the Annuario). But he soon became a regular translator for the Office of Bishops during Vatican II and continued to provide Latin texts for the papal and Jesuit curias.
For 42 years in Rome, Vallejo provided much-needed expertise in the Latin language; he wrote, spoke, lived, and breathed the language of Cicero.
 Denarius of Antoninus Pius, 2nd Cent. AD. Courtesy Loyola Marymount University/Mac James |
Vallejo became increasingly dismayed by the decline in the study and use of Latin in the Church after the council and sought to make it more available to the ordinary person. Unsuccessful in finding traditional publishers for his wide-ranging anthology of Latin texts, he embraced the new technology of the internet, establishing his own web site, Breviter sed Quotidie, "short but daily," which provided readers with a paragraph a day to read, translate, and absorb. Texts ranged from the classics of ancient Rome to contemporary accounts of mission activity.
At the end of his life he frequently and fervently pressed the European community to consider establishing Latin as the official language of its developing entities. While he was never successful in his campaign, he did win the interest of many Europeans in continuing to develop interest in the Latin language.
Fr. Mark Lewis, SJ, worked at the Jesuit Historical Institute in Rome, where he regularly made use of Fr. Vallejo's expertise. He's now teaching at Spring Hill College in Mobile and serving as archivist for the New Orleans Province. | 
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Lest anyone believe that Latin study leaves one stodgy and out of touch, the story of Vallejo and his Vespa must be told. He acquired the used motor scooter in the mid 1960s and made twenty trips from Rome to Spain before relinquishing the keys in 1997, his 60th year as a Jesuit. He delighted the community with stories of the many adventures that befell him on his bike. Returning from the beach one summer day, he encountered his first bikini, worn by a young woman whose car had broken down. A true knight-errant, he gave her a lift to the nearest garage. He dryly commented about the image of a priest in cassock with a young woman holding on behind!
Because he never made it to England for studies, Vallejo never learned English, and he often lamented its dominance in the European community. He argued that Latin was the simpler, more-elegant alternative. When he once observed to an American Jesuit that English was written one way and pronounced another, the quick-witted reply to the Spaniard was, "you mean like Vallejo, which should be pronounced 'Valley-Joe'?"
For many in the Jesuit Curia, that became the affectionate nickname for the unconventional Latinist from Spain, the indefatigable "Valley-Joe." 
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