Oddities of the New Translations of the Missal

The Vatican, egged on by an ignorant claque, are hurtling toward another egregious scandal, which will undercut the credibility of bishops all over the English-speaking world by putting their illiteracy on public display. The one man who is trying to stop this train-wreck is Bishop Donald Trautman. The bishops must heed his warning voice, and not the shrieking ignoramuses of the following variety: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2009/11/bp-donald-ineffable-trautmans-jihad-against-the-new-translation/

I offer below a small sampling of the illiteracies in the new translations. The problem is far deeper than this can show. The new texts have no merit at all, since they make not the slightest effort at style or rhythm. It is argued that St Jerome, contrary to his usual practice、translated the Bible literalistically, relying on the original to supply the rhythm. But in fact Jerome was a stylist to his fingertips, even when being very literal. The faceless committees who concoct liturgical translations -- and especially the present batch based on the mistaken principles of Liturgiam Authenticam -- simply have no conception of style.

Concern with correct grammar, coherent syntax. communicative and eloquent diction, is mocked as elitism by the boors and philistines who are purveying these corrupt texts. They claim to speak in the name of Joe and Mary Catholic just as Sarah Palin speaks in the name of Joe Six-Pack. And the bishops seem to have the same patronizing attitude, believing that what is shoddy, ugly and dead will do for their flock.

Remember, Lord, your servants N. and N. and all gathered here, whose faith and devotion are known to you. For them and all who are dear to them, we offer you this sacrifice of praise or they offer it for themselves and all who are dear to them, for the redemption of their souls, in hope of health and well-being, and fulfilling their vows to you, the eternal God, living and true.

OR THEY OFFER IT FOR THEMSELVES AND AND ALL WHO ARE DEAR TO THEM?

The phrase in Latin is sometimes thought to signal an alternative reading.

FOR THE REDEMPTION OF THEIR SOULS, IN HOPE OF HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, AND FULFLLING THEIR VOWS TO YOU

Gibberish!
 
Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

LIKE THE DEWFALL?

Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and all who have died in your mercy: welcome them into the light of your face. Have mercy on us all, we pray, that with the blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, with the blessed Apostles, and all the Saints who have pleased you throughout the ages, we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life, and may praise and glorify your Son, Jesus Christ.

FALLEN ASLEEP IN THE HOPE?

DIED IN YOUR MERCY?

INTO THE LIGHT OF YOUR FACE?

You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.

A SACRIFICE TO YOUR NAME?

Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church, and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son, and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.

RECOGNIZING?

To our departed brothers and sisters and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom. There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory through Christ our Lord through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.

GIVE KIND ADMITTANCE?

We give you praise, Father most holy, for you are great, and you have fashioned all your works in wisdom and in love. You formed man in your own image, and entrusted the whole world to his care, so that in serving you alone, the Creator, he might have dominion over all creatures. And when through disobedience he had lost your friendship, you did not abandon him to the domain of death. For you came in mercy to the aid of all, so that those who seek might find you. Time and again you offered them covenants and through the prophets taught them to look forward to salvation.

AH, SURE, YOU’RE GREAT!
YOU DID NOT ABANDON HIM… FOR YOU CAME IN MERCY TO THE AID OF ALL.
(I did not abandon my child… FOR I provided money for his education.
I did not neglect my studies… FOR I studied every evening.)

TIME AND AGAIN
(In English it always has a negative sense: ‘Time and again I have told you, but you never listen’ — so is the text scolding the Jews or what?)

LOOK FORWARD TO SALVATION
I look forward to a treat or a good movie. ‘Hey, Lord, I’m looking forward to seeing you again when you come in glory!’

And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose for us, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as the first fruits for those who believe, so that, bringing to perfection his work in the world, he might sanctify creation to the full.

THE FIRST FRUITS FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE?

SANCTIFY TO THE FULL?

Therefore, O Lord, we pray, may this same Holy Spirit graciously sanctify these gifts, that they may become the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the celebration of this great mystery, which he himself left us as an eternal covenant.

FOR THE CELEBRATION
Get your party hat ready for the celebration?

In a similar way, taking the chalice filled with the fruit of the vine, he gave thanks, and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying:

CALIX is CUP not CHALICE in modern English

IN A SIMILAR WAY — not the same way? What was the difference? Compare and contrast.

THE FRUIT OF THE VINE? GRAPES?

Therefore, O Lord, as we now celebrate the memorial of our redemption, we remember Christ’s death and his descent to the realm of the dead, we proclaim his Resurrection and his Ascension to your right hand; and as we await his coming in glory, we offer you his Body and Blood, the sacrifice acceptable to you which brings salvation to the whole world.

AS WE CELEBRATE, WE REMEMBER, WE PROCLAIM, AND AS WE AWAIT, WE OFFER.

What exactly is going on here?

Look, O Lord, upon the Sacrifice which you yourself have provided for your Church and grant in your loving kindness to all who partake of this one Bread and one Chalice that, gathered into one body by the Holy Spirit, they may truly become a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your glory.

A COMMA AFTER ‘Church’ MIGHT ALLOW A BREATHING SPACE.

A SACRIFICE TO is usually followed by the person or cause demanding it — e.g. a sacrifice to God or to duty. A SACRIFICE TO THE PRAISE is a solecism. A SACRIFICE OF PRAISE is a biblical locution.

How do we TRULY BECOME A LIVING SACRIFICE IN CHRIST?

Therefore, Lord, remember now all for whom we make this offering: especially your servant, N. our Pope, N. our Bishop and the whole Order of Bishops, all the clergy, those who make this offering, those gathered here before you, your entire people, and all who seek you with a sincere heart.

WE MAKE THIS OFFERING FOR THOSE WHO MAKE THIS OFFERING?
 
Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope, and the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.

BY THE HELP OF YOUR MERCY?

THE BLESSED HOPE, AND THE COMING — two different things?
 
May this Sacrifice of our reconciliation, we pray, O Lord, advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth, with your servant N. our Pope and N. our Bishop, the Order of Bishops, all the clergy, and the entire people you make your own. Listen graciously to the prayers of this family, whom you have summoned before you. In your compassion, O Merciful Father, gather to yourself all of your children scattered throughout the earth.

PLEONASM AND REDUNDANCY ARE ACCEPTED HALLMARKS OF ROMAN LITURGICAL LANGUAGE SINCE PRE-CHRISTIAN TIMES. THEY SOUND DEAD IN ENGLISH.

Comments

[Gene O'Grady]

I'm afraid my own initial reactions were more frivolous -- "kind admittance to your kingdom" made immediately think they must mean Disneyland, and "fruit of the vine" brought to mind a bad (New Christy Minstrels?) song from my long past youth that referenced "bottle of wine, fruit of the vine, when ya gonna let me get sober?"

More seriously, I was reminded by language like "bestow" of the advantages in terms of loving language, archaism and all, that came to me in my youth from the language of worship. But it couldn't have been this bad (although "he whom thou didst deserve to bear" isn't exactly on the level of great poetry, and I know that I would never have tried to teach my own kids to appreciate this kind of language, if for no other reason than that they're far too literate in popular culture of the last hundred years (retro kids I have) not to break out laughing every time they come acros unintended humor. If I wanted them to appreciate that sort of linguistic tradition, they could always learn Latin, or, as per the last post, learn to read Milton.

[Me]

I can only believe that the offices of the vatican have been captured by those trying to drive people out of the Catholic church. Perhaps they are masons? or communists?

[cor ad cor loquitur]

The loquacious Fr Zuhlsdorf has a post focused on the translations.

The blame for these idiotic translations has to be placed with Liturgiam Authenticam, not the translators. Given the silly instruction to translate word-for-word, what else could they produce?

St Jerome had this all figured out hundreds of years ago, when he wrote to Pammachius (letter 57) about translations:

Quam vos veritatem interpretationis, hanc eruditi κακοζηλίαν nuncupant

(What men like you call "fidelity in transcription" [or, we might say, slavishly accurate translations], the learned term "pestilent minuteness".)

He also wrote that

Si ad verbum interpretor, absurde resonant.

("If I render word for word, the result will sound like nonsense")

I fear, though, that Bp Trautman is wasting his time: the dullards in the Vatican won't listen any more than the members of Fr Z's claque do.

It will be interesting to see what happens in UK and US parishes when these bad translations are, as they say, "rolled out".

If you haven't read the recent books on liturgy by John Baldovin SJ (Reforming the Liturgy, A Response to the Critics) and Peter Jeffery (Translating Tradition) I highly recommend them. Jeffery's book deconstructs Liturgiam Authenticam respectfully but surgically; he calls it "the most ignorant statement on liturgy ever issued by a modern Vatican congregation".

[cor ad cor loquitur]

Incidentally, is there a source for the prayers (collects, postcommunions, super oblata, etc.) in the new translation? I'm sure they will be butchered even more than the ordinary parts of the Mass.

[Spirit of Vatican II]

Thanks for your comments, cor. I believe Jerome did not follow his usual policy when translating Scripture. Here is the link for Bishop Trautman's latest effort to stop the train -- or to throw himself under it! http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/liturgy-needs-not-sacred-language-pastoral-language

[Spirit of Vatican II]

I believe the preces are better translated than the canons -- the standard Latin syntactical structures probably produce a better result than the flatly paratactic prayers currently in use. But improved versions of these prayers were presented to Rome in 1998 and Rome turned them down. Thus the whole English speaking world has had to continue to live with those unprayable sawdust texts. The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed -- again and again. Despite the billions of dollars spent financing the Vatican it is monumentally incompetent!

[gedsmk]

Here's the Collect for the 1st Sunday of Advent:

Grant, we pray, almighty God, that your faithful may resolve to run forth with righteous deeds, to meet your Christ who is coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.

Sounds almost impossible to say out loud, doesn't it? "faithful" as a noun? "resolve to run forth"? "they may be worthy"? ugly is as ugly sounds!

Listen to the 1998 version that the Vatican rejected:

"Almighty God, strengthen the resolve of your faithful people to prepare for the coming of your Christ by works of justice and mercy, so that when we go forth to meet him he may call us to sit at his right hand and possess the kingdom of heaven."

[Spirit of Vatican II]

gedsmk I am gobsmacked by the contrast -- I am googling to see will your texts show up on the internet.

[cor ad cor loquitur]

Joseph, I'll be surprised if the prayers are translated any better than the canon. There are only snippets of them on the internet so far, but what has appeared is not encouraging.

Here's the post-communion for 28th August, the feast of St Augustine. The Latin is

Sanctíficet nos, quaesumus, Domine, mensae Christi participatio, ut, eius membra effecti, simus quod accepimus

which the enlightened new translators have rendered

May the partaking of the table of Christ
sanctify us, we pray, O Lord,
that, being made his members,
we may be what we have received.

I am told that maple tables are especially tasty when served with melted butter.

[Gedsmk]

I've got this:
"May partaking of the table of Christ
sanctify us, we pray, O Lord,
that, having become his members,
we may be what we have received."
- not much of an improvement

1998 ICEL renders it in such a way that we don't eat the table!
"Sanctify us, O God,
by our sharing at the table of the Lord,
so that, made members of his body,
we may become what we have received."

[Gedsmk]

Here's another interesting one:
8th September Prayer "over the offerings" (sic)

1998 ICEL first:
"Lord,
Let the humanity of your only-begotten Son
come to our aid.
As the birth of Christ from the Virgin Mother
did not diminish but rather consecrated her virginity,
so may he take away our sins
and make our offering acceptable to you.

Becomes something like a Hammer Horror in the new version:
"As we joyfully celebrate
the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
we offer you our gifts, O Lord,
humbly imploring that we may draw strength
from the humanity of your Son,
who from the Virgin was pleased to take flesh."

[Andy K]

I found the root cause for the quality of these translations. I plugged some of the Latin text into http://translate.google.com/. It came back:

"We are not yet able to translate from Latin into English."