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Changes in the Liturgy

This story from Catholic News Service on proposed changes to the Mass has really got me thinking. While I may not have any real training in theology, I spend far too much time thinking about translation, so I may just have something worthwhile to say on this issue.

Here's a list of the possible changes included in the article for those to lazy to read the whole thing:

--Whenever the priest says "The Lord be with you," the people will respond, "And with your spirit." The current response is "And also with you."

--In the first form of the penitential rite, the people will confess that "I have sinned greatly . . . through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault." In the current version, that part of the prayer is much shorter: "I have sinned through my own fault."

--The Nicene Creed will begin "I believe" instead of "We believe"--a translation of the Latin text instead of the original Greek text.

--The Sanctus will start , "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts." The current version says, "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might." The new ICEL text for the people's prayer for Communion says "Lord, I am worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed."

In the Nicene Creed, where the current version refers to Christ as "one in being with the Father," the new ICEL translation says, "consubstantial with the Father." In the documentation sent to the bishops before the meeting, however, the Committe on Liturgy has recommended keeping the "one in being" translation in the United
States.

The committe proposed that the bishops seek to keep the current shorter version of
the beginning of that prayer, "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you." The
committee did not, however, propose a change from the ICEL translation at the
end, where the people currently pray, "but only say the word and I shall be healed."

We have a number of issues going on here. First, aesthetically: "And with your spirit" is the biggest offender. That phrase is cleary not English. Also, "Consubstantial" fails to improve upon "One in being," while the longer version of the Penitential Rite is another obvious instance of a phrase not original to English. Finally, I personally like "Lord of Hosts," but the term is obviously somewhat antiquated.

Aesthetics, however, is not the most important criterion by which we must judge. I think that it paramount that we keep in mind that we are members of the Roman Rite, even though we attend Mass in the vernacular. As such, one would assume that the Mass said in the United States would be as close to the normative Latin as possible. I was shocked when I first saw the proposed change to "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you." While the meaning in both prayers is the same, the translator of our current version decided to leave out "roof" and "soul."

Here's the Latin from the Novus Ordo:

Dòmine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo et sanàbitur ànima mea.

Word for word, it would be translated:

Lord, now I am worthy, that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and it will be healed my soul.

This prayer is, of course, a reference to Matthew 8: 5-13.

From the NAB:

5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, 6 saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." 7 He said to him, "I will come and cure him." 8 The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven, 12 but the children of the kingdom will be driven out into the outer darkness, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." 13 And Jesus said to the centurion, "You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you." And at that very hour (his) servant was healed.

From the Vulgate:

5 cum autem introisset Capharnaum accessit ad eum centurio rogans eum 6 et dicens Domine puer meus iacet in domo paralyticus et male torquetur 7 et ait illi Iesus ego veniam et curabo eum 8 et respondens centurio ait Domine non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum sed tantum dic verbo et sanabitur
puer meus 9 nam et ego homo sum sub potestate habens sub me milites et dico
huic vade et vadit et alio veni et venit et servo meo fac hoc et facit 10 audiens autem Iesus miratus est et sequentibus se dixit amen dico vobis non inveni tantam fidem in Israhel 11 dico autem vobis quod multi ab oriente et occidente venient et recumbent cum Abraham et Isaac et Iacob in regno caelorum 12 filii autem regni eicientur in tenebras exteriores ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium 13 et dixit Iesus centurioni vade et sicut credidisti fiat tibi et sanatus est puer in hora illa.

As you can see, the only change in the Latin is "anima mea" for "puer meus"--"my soul" for "my slave."* The new translation reflects the Biblical passage in a way our current translation does not. I cannot condemn the current translation of this prayer strongly enough. There is no reason for the changes other than the translator thought that the words we now use express the idea behind the prayer better; however, that is not the translator's job in this case. None of the words from the Latin are complicated, nor is "under my roof" (sub tectum meum) a Latin idiom for a person. The Latin from Novus Ordo can be, and is in the proposed translation, rendered into perfectly understandable English. If the bishops think a prayer should be reformulated, they should take it up with Rome and their fellow bishops from around the world.

While trifling in size, perhaps the biggest problem with our current translation of the Mass lies in the way we recite the Nicene Creed (and no it's not that useless "again"). While the Latin starts with "Credo" (I believe), we, of course, proclaim "we believe." Now, I don't want to get into an argument about theology here. I can see perfectly valid reasons for saying we believe, not least of which is defend against relativism. Be that as it may, I don't think it's too much to ask for the statement of our faith be the same for the entire Catholic Church.

On a side note, I found the quote from Arinze's letter to Skylstad absolutely hillarious: "It it not acceptable to maintain that people have become accustomed to a certain translation for the past 30 or 40 years, and therefore that it is pastorally advisable to make no changes." I see. So 500 years of tradition can be dropped for an ill-conceived translation, but God forbid that that same translation be minorly altered after a whole thirty years! It beggars belief that some bishops would have actually made that argument.

*I really don't know why the NAB has "servant." The RSV also uses servant, so it's unlikey to be because of an aversion to the word "slave." "House slave" is probably the best translation. The Latin here literally says "boy," which was the usual term for addressing a . . . slave.

Augustine on Friendship

Confessions, IV, 8:

All kinds of things rejoiced my soul in their company--to talk and laugh and do each other kindnesses; read pleasant books together, pass from lightest jesting to talk of the deepest things and back again; differ without rancour, as a man might differ with himself, and when most rarely dissension arose find our normal agreement all the sweeter for it; teach each other or learn from each other; be impatient for the return of the absent, and welcome them with joy on their homecoming; these and such like things, proceeding from our hearts as we gave affection and received it back, and shown by face, by voice, by the eyes, and a thousand other pleasing ways, kindled a
flame which fused out very souls and of many made us one.

Confessions, IV, 9:

This is what men value in friends, and value so much that their conscience judges them guilty if they do not meet friendship with friendship, expecting nothing from their friend save such evidence of his affection. This is the root of our grief when a friend dies, and the blackness of our sorrow, and the steeping of the heart in tears for the joy that has turned to bitterness, and the feeling as though we were dead because he is dead. Blessed is the man that loves Thee, O God, and his friend in Thee, and his enemy for Thee. For he alone loses no one that is dear to him, if all are dear in God, who is never lost.

The first citation would pass without comment as a description of the friends one meets in college (and less often in high school). As I began reading the paragraph from which I pulled the second citation, I realized how blessed I am regarding the health of those I'm close to. A function of my age, no doubt, and gone all too soon.

A further thought:

The translation I've been been reading was made by F.J. Sheed. As English it reads very well. Having never really looked at the Latin, I cannot vouch for its accuracy. The "Translator's Note" Sheed gives marks an interesting change in prayer language (at least here in the States). As rancour should have given away, Sheed is English. To get back to my point, Sheed feels the need to address a controversy that doesn't even register today:

The use of Thou or You in speaking to God presented a real problem. St. Augustine, of course, knew nothing of Thou as a term reserved for religious use. He, like any other writer of Latin, used Tu when he was talking to one (whether it were God or his mother or his mistress or an opponent in controversy), Vos when he was talking to more than one. It would seem therefore that our usage of Thou, with the special religious atmosphere that now goes with it, introduces a note into the translation that was not in the original.

On the other hand, Christians of the English tongue are so accustomed to using Thou in their prayers, that You would sound odd.

St. Augustine is addressing God all the time: he relates the story of his life to God,
discusses philosophical problems with God, and from time to time breaks into what we should more naturally regard as prayer to God. If Thou is used throughout, the effect is quite intolerably archaic and untrue to the extreme moderness of St. Augustine's Latin. I have therefore made a compromise: in passages of straight prayer, I have used Thou; but when he addresses God in narrative or discussion, I have used You.

The border-line between prayer and discussion (or narrative) is not always quite clear. And, even apart from that, it has not been possible to apply the rule with entire consistency. Where St. Augustine uses Scripture passages in which our English version uses Thou, I have kept Thou; and in his own comments arising out of or linking such Scripture passages, it seemed best to keep to Thou.

Sheed published his translation in 1942. My parents and my grad school teachers taught me to say "Our Father, who art in heaven" and "the Lord is with thee." In high school, we were supposed to say you instead of thee. I don't remember what was the preferred option regarding art. For the "Memorare," which I learned in high school, I know as "To you do I come. Before you I stand," whereas my mom uses thee.

I can see both sides of the argument here and am not too invested in either, although "who is in heaven" sounds abominable.

Movie Idea

Here's the opening of G.K. Chesterton's "The Dragon at Hide-and-Seek":

Once upon a time there was a knight who was an outlaw, that is a man hiding from the king and everybody else; and one who lived so wild and lawless a life, in being hunted from one hiding-place to another, that he had great difficulty in going to church every Sunday. Although his ordinary way of life was full of fighting, and burning, and breaking down doors, and therefore looked a little careless, he had been very carefully brought up, and it was obviously a very serious thing that he should be late for church. But he was so clever and daring in his way of getting from one place to another without being caught, that he generally managed it somehow. And it was often a considerable disturbance to the congregation when he came with a great
crash flying in through the big stained-glass window and smashing it to atoms, having been patiently hanging on a gargoyle outside for half an hour; or, when he dropped suddenly out of the belfry, where he had been hiding in one of the big bells, and alighted almost on the heads of the worshippers. Nor were they better pleased when he preferred to dig a hole in the churchyard and crawl under the church-wall, coming up suddenly under a lifted paving-stone in the middle of the nave or the chancel. They were too well-behaved, of course, to notice the incident during the service; and the more just among them admitted that even outlaws must get to church somehow; but it caused a certain amount of talk in the town, and the history of the knight and his wonderful way of hiding everywhere and anywhere was by this time familiar to the whole country-side . . .

Wouldn't that be fabulous as the beginning of an animated movie? I can just picture the knight smashing through the stained glass, landing on some startled members of the congregation, and then calmly finding himeslf a seat. The rest of the story isn't as great as the opening promises (nor would it translate well to film), but what an opening!

Yet Another Utilitarian Post . . .

I'm putting this picture up just so I have a reliable place to link to for my away message. It has the additional benefit of plugging for Duck Soup, which rates as the best comedy of all time (tied with Airplane!) in my opinion. Go rent it if you haven't seen it. The mirror scene alone is worth the price of admission.

It's Funny Because It's True

Ah, Jockular, your prowess amazes me. Now if only your satire wasn't needed . . .

New Portrait

A Blogger profile picture can only be 50 kb in size and must be posted on the web. Since the picture I wanted was too large I had to resize it myself and then post it, a-like so.