By the time he graduated, he had discerned his vocation to the priesthood. He had also discovered the appeal of Latin.

"I had this thirst both for the language and what it conveyed, meaning the whole tradition of the West," he said.

Today, at age 42, Msgr. Gallagher is able to follow both of his callings as the only American on a seven-man team in the Vatican's Office of Latin Letters, which translates the most important Vatican documents into the church's official language. Among other challenges, his job entails concocting Latin words for modern inventions, such as "discus rigidus" for "hard drive" or "aerinavis celerrima" for "jet."

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