Revised translation from Order of Mass approved
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has received approval from the Holy See’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for the English-language translation from the Latin of the Order of Mass (Ordo Missae), the USCCB announced July 25.
This is the first section of the 2002 third edition of the Roman Missal to be approved with most of the texts used in every Mass celebration including the people’s responses. There are several other sections of the same missal translated from Latin into English awaiting approval.
The revised Order of the Mass, although mandatory, will not be put into use immediately. The purpose for providing it now is to provide “time for the pastoral preparation of priests and deacons and for appropriate catechesis of the lay faithful,” Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect of the Congregation, explained. “It will likewise facilitate the devising of musical settings for parts of the Mass.”
Older Catholics may notice the revised translations more closely resemble those which appeared in former Latin/English missals and the people’s responses when the vernacular Mass was first introduced. For example, et cum spiritu tuo will be translated as “and with your spirit,” instead of the current translation “and also with you.” Dignum et justum est changes to “It is right and just” instead of today’s translation, “It is right to give Him thanks and praise.”
“The revised English translation of the most recent Latin Missal continues to be the ongoing work of the renewal of the Sacred Liturgy. This renewal is to draw all Catholics more and more profoundly into the mystery of the sacrifice of the Mass,” said Father G. Dennis Gill, director of the archdiocesan Office for Worship. “We need to clearly recognize that the liturgical texts communicate the faith of the Church. The texts of the liturgy teach us what the Church believes about the mystery being celebrated and for that reason they should be translated faithfully.”
Liturgical texts, like the Word of God, “give shape to the way Christians pray,” explained Father Gill, who is the former Director of Liturgy and a teacher of liturgy at the North American College in Rome. This revising of the translation into English, he said, “is a very careful, deliberate, pastoral, theological and liturgical process involving the Holy See, the Bishops and people who know the Latin and the English languages.”
Many of the revisions illustrate more fully the biblical connections with the text, Father Gill noted, using the example of the people’s response to the invitation to Communion. The current translation, is revised to more accurately reflect the exact words of the centurion found in the Latin, “Lord I am not worthy for you to come under my roof,” rather than, “Lord I am not worthy to receive you.” This translation “brings out more clearly the biblical resource,” Father Gill said.
“The presentation of this revised translation Order of the Mass serves to remind Bishops, priests, deacons and all of the faithful that the actual texts of the liturgy do not belong to any individual person,” Father Gill said. “The text of the liturgy belongs to the Church. We respect the text because we respect the way the Church prays. That is why the Church is so insistent that no one of us change the language in the present or in the future. The text is not arbitrary.”
The English language revisions were done through collaboration with all 11 English-language Bishops’ conferences and will result in a uniform text with only slight national variations, Father Gill noted. Similar revisions are in process for the other language translations.
An exact timetable for when the revised texts will be used in the celebration of the Mass has not been set, but this begins a period of preparation.
“The Office for Worship will do its part to help the priests and the deacons and the faithful to receive these revised texts to help us celebrate more authentically the sacred mysteries,” Father Gill said. “We will provide catechesis to the clergy and the people, and among other ways making use of The Catholic Standard & Times.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.
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