I have been told recently that the Roman alphabet does not have the letter "U" in it. The person who told me this was concerned that I was propagating a falsehood and wished that I take the above image off of this site. I have replied to this wish and I would like to put the information up on this website for any others who may have questions regarding the validity of this truth.

Here is what I have found to be satisfactory evidence:

1. "There was no U in the Roman alphabet, the same letter (V) having two pronounced forms: TITVS, where it sounds like our U, or VINDOLANDA, where it sounds like our W (there was no V sound as such)." Translated into the English Language we would read these words Titus and Windolanda. Thus the two letters U and V become interchangeable upon translation. This is not to say that these are the only letters that are like this. If we were to take the Catholic Church as an authority on the Latin language then the following would be further proof of the validity of the above image.

2. The Catholic Church says that the image above is accurate. In the November 15, 1914 issue of Our Sunday Visitor, page 7 it states, "The title of the Pope of Rome is Vicarius Filii Dei and if you take the letters of his title which represent Latin numerals and add them together they come to 666. Vicarius Filii Dei means Vicar of the Son of God."

3. The Romans spoke Latin and they took 6 of the 23 letters of their alphabet and gave them numerical value. Many of us are familiar with these Roman Numerals as we learned them in school. Here they are with their numerical values (these are the letters that the quote above was refering to):

The Hebrews and the Greeks gave numerical value to all of the letters in their alphabets.

4. There are some who have claimed that the Popes in their writings use the title Dux Cleri, head of the clergy. Although this is not confirmed, when added up these letters also come to the total 666.