Background on the new translation
by Msgr. James P. Moroney
Pope John Paul II presented the Church with a gift for the millennium: the
third edition of the Missale Romanum (Roman Missal) since the Second Vatican Council.
[The reason why the new English translation is called the Third Edition, even if the translation itself is actually just the second translation - the first since the original English translation was done for the 1970 change-over to the Novus Ordo. The so-called 'typical edition', or standard edition, of the Novus Ordo Missal is in Latin, and is the basis for translation into other languages. The current typical edition of the Extraordinary Form is the 1962 edition as revised by Blessed John XXIII.]
The Roman Missal is the book that sits on the altar at Mass and contains all the prayers and a description of the actions that make up the celebration of the Mass, “the source and summit of the entire Christian Life.”
Along with this new missal, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments provided us with an entirely new instruction on the translation of liturgical texts entitled G]Liturgiam Authenticam (On authentic liturgy).
This instruction, the fruit of decades of consultation, describes a new way of translating that is more capable of conveying the meaning, beauty, and form of the ancient Latin prayers. Indeed, the vast majority of the prayers we pray at Mass have been preserved by the Latin Church for more than a thousand years and help not only to hand on what we believe but also to make clear who we are.
The prayers of the Roman Missal serve an indispensable role in passing on the faith, for, as the ancient axiom lex orandi, lex credendi reminds us,what we pray is what we believe. The authentic translation of these prayers, therefore, plays an important role in the catechetical life of the Church.
Thanks to the new Roman Missal and the instruction
Liturgiam authenticam, the Church in the English-speaking world receives a new translation of the Mass, beginning with the First Sunday of Advent of 2011.
Catechists play an important role, not only in the effective introduction of these texts at Mass, but also in the exciting process of unpacking their meaning for years to come.
How did a new translation come about?
The principles of translation by which our present liturgical books were rendered into English were first articulated in the 1968 instruction
Comme le prévoit. Although admirable in its attempts to enthusiastically and creatively render a text into modern forms of English,
the 1968 instruction’s reliance on the subjective judgments of the translator often ended up with a time‐bound translation influenced by the translator’s theological presuppositions.
In the subsequent decades, a new way of translating evolved that engaged a variety of experts, from Latinists and patrologists to theologians and pastors, musicians and poets, and specialists in English literature.
Such a collaborative model of translation sought to reach a final product that was at once more precise and more memorable. It was a task as ambitious as the process to achieve it was complex.
The first agent of liturgical translation is the conference of bishops, which is charged by the Council Fathers with the translation and approval of liturgical texts. Bishops, however, are not necessarily translators, so experts need to be engaged to accomplish this work.
For this purpose, the Holy See forms mixed commissions at the requests of the conferences of bishops, organizations devoted exclusively to the development of translations of liturgical texts into a common language. The mixed commission for the English language is called the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) and is made up of the eleven major conferences of bishops where English is spoken.
ICEL’s chairman is Bishop Arthur Roche of Leeds, and the U.S. representative is Bishop Arthur Serratelli of Paterson. ICEL is located on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C., but it employs specialists from around the English‐speaking world to assist in its work of translating the Latin liturgical books into the sort of English that is spoken today.
Over the past decade, our conference of bishops, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has reviewed translations of the Roman Missal produced by ICEL in several different forms.
In November 2009, the bishops approved the last of the twelve segments of the Roman Missal by the requisite two-‐thirds vote of all de iure Latin rite members.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, essentially the Pope’s Liturgy Office, hold the responsibility of reviewing all translations of liturgical texts that have been approved by conferences of bishops.
Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera serves as prefect to that Congregation, while two native English speakers — Archbishop J. Augustine DiNoia, OP, and Reverend Anthony Ward, SM — serve as secretary and undersecretary, respectively.
So important is the task of confirmation of the Roman Missal, that with the advent of the instruction
Liturgiam Authenticam, the Congregation undertook the formation of a committee of advice on the question of the translation of English-language liturgical texts.
That committee is chaired by Cardinal George Pell of Sydney and is composed of senior prelates from all around the English‐speaking world.
On March 25, 2010, the English language edition of the Roman Missal was confirmed, an event commemorated by a luncheon with the Vox Clara Committee in the presence of the Holy Father on May 10.
[It was decided at the time that the new translation would be implemented in all churches of the English-speaking world on the first Sunday of Advent 2011 to give sufficient time for the parishes to prepare.]
Here are excerpts from the extemporaneous remarks about the new translation made by the Holy Father at that luncheon last year:
I thank you for the work that Vox Clara has done over the last eight years, assisting and advising the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in fulfilling its responsibilities with regard to the English translations of liturgical texts....
Saint Augustine spoke beautifully of the relation between John the Baptist, the vox clara that resounded on the banks of the Jordan, and the Word that he spoke.
A voice, he said, serves to share with the listener the message that is already in the speaker’s heart. Once the word has been spoken, it is present in the hearts of both, and so the voice, its task having been completed, can fade away(cf. Sermon 293).
I welcome the news that the English translation of the Roman Missal will soon be ready for publication, so that the texts you have worked so hard to prepare may be proclaimed in the liturgy that is celebrated across the anglophone world.
Through these sacred texts and the actions that accompany them, Christ will be made present and active in the midst of his people. The voice that helped bring these words to birth will have completed its task.
A new task will then present itself, one which falls outside the direct competence of Vox Clara, but which in one way or another will involve all of you – the task of preparing for the reception of the new translation by clergy and lay faithful.
Many will find it hard to adjust to unfamiliar texts after nearly forty years of continuous use of the previous translation. The change will need to be introduced with due sensitivity, and the opportunity for catechesis that it presents will need to be firmly grasped.
I pray that in this way any risk of confusion or bewilderment will be averted, and the change will serve instead as a springboard for a renewal and a deepening of Eucharistic devotion all over the English-speaking world...
As the prayers of God’s people rise before him like incense (cf. Psalm 140:2), may the Lord’s blessing come down upon all who have contributed their time and expertise to crafting the texts in which those prayers are expressed. Thank you, and may you be abundantly rewarded for your generous service to God’s people.
And addressing the bishops of northeastern United States at the Vatican yesterday, he said this about the new translation:
In these days, the Church in the United States is implementing the revised translation of the Roman Missal. I am grateful for your efforts to ensure that this new translation will inspire an ongoing catechesis which emphasizes the true nature of the liturgy and, above all, the unique value of Christ’s saving sacrifice for the redemption of the world.
A weakened sense of the meaning and importance of Christian worship can only lead to a weakened sense of the specific and essential vocation of the laity to imbue the temporal order with the spirit of the Gospel.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/11/2011 16:57]