Cardinal explains changes in Mass text (very insightful view of how and why)

Rumors began to fly even before the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Los Angeles, June 15 to 17. The media said changes were going to be made in the responses that parishioners make during the Mass.

Before you knew it, columnists began to opine about whether they liked the old or the new responses, and whether the new responses made sense.

To all of that, Cardinal Justin Rigali says: “We want people to know that, yes, the bishops have approved, by a large vote, the changes in the Ordinary of the Mass. But it’s important for people to realize that, before these are put into effect, the rest of the translations to the Roman Missal in English have to be approved.

“By the time everything is approved, it will be another couple of years, in my estimation. I want to assure the people that the changes will not just show up one Sunday at Mass. Before the Roman Missal comes out, the changes will be duly explained.”

But why would the bishops want to change some of the responses that Catholics make at Mass? What’s wrong with the current translation? Is this just change for the sake of change?

Few bishops have the credentials that Cardinal Rigali has to answer such questions. He was there on Dec. 4, 1963, when the Second Vatican Council issued its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. That’s the document in which Pope Paul VI authorized a momentous change in the way Catholics worshiped around the world. Instead of using Latin, as the Church had for centuries, the text of the Roman Missal would be translated into the venacular languages for the first time in history. Some of the rites or rituals of the Mass would also be changed.

Many people were aghast. They asked then, as we do now, why the change?

The Cardinal said the Second Vatican Council found that was needed “to help the people of God participate fully, consciously, actively and fruitfully in the Mass.”

But how would the monumental task of translating the entire Roman Missal into all the major languages of the world be accomplished?

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy provided a clue. Bishops of each language would consult with each other. And so, for 11 English-speaking nations (Australia, Canada, England and Wales, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, The Phillippines, Scotland, South Africa and the U.S.) the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) was born. Headquartered in the United States, ICEL set about its immense task with the help of bishops and experts from many countries. The translators included experts in patristics, Scripture, and many other fields. All were needed, because so much of the translation is linked to the Bible, the Fathers of the Church, or the tradition of the Church.

“The job had to be done in a short period of time,” Cardinal Rigali said. “The difficulty was that not every translation is pleasing to everybody. They did the best they could. Little by little, these texts were approved by the bishops of the individual nations.”

And so it was that the first edition of the Roman Missal in English was produced, and Americans began to worship in English for the first time in the history of the Church.

But the translation wasn’t perfect. Twenty-five years later, Pope John Paul II issued a document called, “The Twenty-fifth Year.” In it, the pope recounted how Vatican II had authorized the translation of the Mass and sacraments, and how grateful the Church was for the work that had been done in this area.

“However, no one ever claimed the translations were perfect or as good as they should be, because they were done under great pressure,” Cardinal Rigali said. “It could have taken decades [to do this work] because of the amount of text [but it did not].”

Now, said Pope John Paul II, the time had come for the Church to look at those translations and try to improve them, to make them more faithful to the original, dignified texts — texts that can be proclaimed effectively.

“He never suggested these texts had to be translated slavishly,” the Cardinal said. “But they had to be more than just a paraphrase. They had to be faithful, pleasing, artistic.”

To ensure that the new translations did not have the same difficulties as past translations, the Holy See issued Liturgiam Authenticam (On the Use of Venacular Languages in the Publication of the Books of the Roman Liturgy), a practical document that outlined the principles to be followed in making those translations.

“It was to be faithful, taking into account all the words, not just the ideas,” Cardinal Rigali said. “It was not to be a slavish translation, but it had to account for all the words — not a ‘dynamic equivalent.’ In many cases, we are translating the Word of God so we have to do more than paraphrase.”

In the meantime, the second edition of the Roman Missal was produced. Before that could be translated completely, the third edition came out.

“That’s where we are now,” the Cardinal said. “We're not only revising the Roman Missal that came out after the Council, we’re on the third edition. There are things that have never been translated. For example, there are new feast days — the feasts of Padre Pio, St. Rita, the Holy Name of Mary, [etc.] The work goes on.”

At the June meeting of the USCCB, two-thirds of the bishops approved the changes to the Ordinary of the Mass. But each English-speaking country also has the privilege of making some amendments, which apply only to its own country. At the USCCB, some amendments for the United States only were accepted, and some were rejected. The whole document has now gone to the Holy See for ratification.

So it sounds as if we will soon have some new responses at Mass, right?

Not so, said Cardinal Rigali.

“As soon as the Holy See okays it, it be able to be used — but not until it is printed, and it won’t be printed until the entire Roman Missal in English has been translated and approved.”

The Roman Missal includes not only the Ordinary of the Mass (what we actually say on most Sundays), but also the Proper of the Seasons (which is the text used during Lent, Advent, and other special times of the year), the Masses used during special sacraments such as confirmation, Masses for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Masses for the feasts of saints, and votive Masses.

“Some will say they like it the way it is,” the Cardinal said. “But you have to take into account that this translation has gone out for the whole world. It’s not possible for every bishop or every Catholic to have exactly what he or she wants in the text.

“This work is very exact. It’s like translating the Bible. It’s not just a question of your taste. It’s good that there be collaboration between regions, because we’re a global Church.

“We’re dealing with texts that go back a thousand years. They are the treasures of the Church. You can’t say, ‘It means more or less this.’ You have to understand what it says. It’s very important that it be as perfect as we can make it.”

The following changes still must be approved by the Vatican:

• 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: “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.

During the offertory prayers, the priest will pray that “the sacrifice which is mine and yours will be acceptable" instead of the current prayer that “our sacrifice will be acceptable.”

Before the preface, when the priest says, “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God,” instead of saying, “It is right to give him thanks and praise,” the people will respond, “It is right and just.”

• 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.”

You are quite right to wonder about what happened between 1964, when the Tridentine Mass, with increasing modifications and increasing vernacular, was still in effect, and 1970 when the New Order of Mass was promulgated and the ICEL text implemented world-wide in all English-speaking countries.

Here is the timeline, as accurately as I can remember it:

From 1964 to 1970, in the United States of America, we were responding "And with your spirit," and preparing for Holy Communion with "Lord, I am not worthy, that you should come under my roof . . . "

Why? Because there was no ICEL text - the Commission was just forming.

Once permission for the vernacular was granted, it was up to each nation's bishops to decide how much vernacular (within limits set by Rome: the prefaces and the Canon were off-limits) and to provide a translation to be used within their jurisdiction.

Thus the translations varied: USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia.

In the US, for instance, two books came out in that time period (one in 1964, the other in 1966) because our bishops did not allow ALL that could have been in the vernacular to be so, while Canada and Australia, for instance, did allow as much as was permitted by Rome and so had only one book.

In the USA: Advent 1964: The ROMAN MISSAL is published by Catholic Book Publishing and by Benziger. The Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, all the priest's private prayers (Offertory, for instance), and the Collect, Secret, Embolism after the Our Father (Deliver us, Lord) and Postcommunion all remain in Latin. There is one book: no lectionary (unless you wanted to buy a separate book, but that just had the one-year Tridentine Lectionary from the Missal).

1966: The US Bishops publish a second book called "The English-Latin Sacramentary for the United States of America," for they have decided to permit the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, the Collect, Secret (now called Over the Gifts), and Postcommunion to be in English, and Rome has granted the Prefaces, so those were included as well. But the Offertory, Tridentine still, of course, remains in Latin. The Holy Week chants are now all in English as well (the Pius XII 1957 form of Holy Week: with the bees in the Exsultet and the Baptismal Water exorcisms and ornate Blessing; but not the perfidious Jews).

Of course, now you're juggling TWO big red books! Because the readings are only in the Roman Missal 1964. There's an experimental weekday lectionary eventually, late 1967, the forerunner of the Novus Ordo one, but it's optional.

Or you could buy the Missal the Franciscans cleverly put together, THE ROMAN-SERAPHIC MISSAL, combining the 1964 and 1966 books into one VERY LARGE Missal!

Oh yes - where did the texts for the priestly prayers in the 1966 English-Latin Sacramentary come from? Ready for this - I kid you not: THE MARYKNOLL MISSAL. Accurate maybe, but not very elegant.

Compare them to the texts for those same priestly prayers in the Canadian or Australian Missals of 1964 - where the bishops had granted all those prayers to be used in vernacular right away. They secured the translations of the eminent Latinist, Prof. Dr. Christine Mohrmann. She kept close to the Latin, both in vocabulary and structure, and I've often wondered if Vox Clara or the New ICEL have given her work a thought.

In September of 1967 The Roman Canon is published (to go into use at Advent?) and is the first production of ICEL. It gets inserted into whatever books each nation was using at the time. It is a RADICAL translation of the CANON MISSAE by any objective standard, and foreshadows things to come. Unknown to everyone in the USA, however, this Canon was published - at least in draft form - with a THEE/THY/THOU version for the UK. The same would be true of at least ICEL'S Funeral Rite also - and the UK published an alternative translation authorized side-by-side with ICEL. More on that below.

Just ahead of the BIG change: a fascicle with ICEL's Holy Week, and another with the THREE NEW EUCHARISTIC PRAYERS are published as inserts for the 1966 book. The Eucharistic Prayers booklet is historically noteworthy because, in this first version, there was a profound bow (like the Supplices te rogamus of the Roman Canon) prescribed for each of the post-consecratory epicleses of the three new prayers (e.g. in Eucharistic Prayer II: "He bows profoundly with hands joined on the altar and says: 'May all of us who share in the body and blood of Christ be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit." Holy Week also came out - at least in draft form.

1970: Two fascicles are published with ICEL's translation of the General Instruction (Order of Mass I) and with the actual texts (Order of Mass II) (Advent): New Order of Mass by ICEL is published and is inserted into the 1966 English-Latin Sacramentary with adjustments made to the Calendar as well as can be done (Later there is also an optional comb-bound version of the forthcoming ICEL SACRAMENTARY). This is an attempt to have a universal English translation.

Note, however, that England conducted an interesting experiment, authorizing (in 1972 perhaps?), THREE versions of the Missal:

1) ICEL (although with some slight differences from the US version - the Credo was a later form of the interfaith texts adopted in the USA. At this time all the Protestant churces were in the process of adopting our Lectionary and a heavily-Catholic influenced ecumenical translation of the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, etc)

2) The National Liturgical Commission text: you can still find this in some online bookstores as "Saint Michael's Daily Missal" or any ROMAN MISSAL published by Goodlife and Neale - that's THIS version, NOT the ICEL.

3) Glenstall-Headingley (sp?): this Missal never happened, but you can find its Collects in the UK's 3-volume "Collins Divine Office." (It is amusing to find, in some online forum, people praising this version over and against ICEL's. The Collects are nicer, but the Psalms are the Grail in both, and the Biblical versions in the UK book are many and varied - everything from Knox (good) to Today's English Version - aka Good News for Modern Man (ugh). The patristic readings and intercessions in the ICEL Liturgy of the Hours are largely the work of the Stanbrook Benedictines, whereas in the UK Divine Office the patristic translations are eclectic and the intercessions are sometimes mere paraphrases or outright original stuff from students at the Venerable English College (aka Venomous English Cottage).

Finally, 1975: Complete ICEL Roman Missal, called The Sacramentary only in the USA and Canada.

Coincidently, on eBay, there are currently THREE eBay auctions up for each set of materials in the three stages. You might find them interesting/informative to look at:

First auction for the 1964 book:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=102250450466

Second auction for the 1966 book:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=102250452184

Third auction for the novus ordo junk:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=102250453745

You will note that in the FIRST TWO auctions, the very last scans show you the CANADIAN book. As noted above, the Canadians and Australians put the Collect, etc. into English right away = and they used a far superior source, Dr. Christine Mohrmann.

I hope this too-lengthy history lesson and links to actual pages of the pre-ICEL books used in the USA may be interesting in light of the present transition we are about to begin.

They should have used the translation from the facing page

Excellent point!

Well, there are various translations you could choose from? I have been told, by those who were adult practicing Catholics before Vatican II, that you could purchase one of a number of Missals, some with more poetic translations some with simpler translations. Personally, I think we should go back to Latin and have the variety of English translations that were once available.

I happen to have two Missals from that period and the little Missal we use at my parish. Here are three translations of the first line or two of the Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I for those who may be reading and don't know what the Canon is).

I will put the Latin in bold and italizize the various translations from the "right page," so to speak. Any insertions of my comments within the translations will be in bracets:

Te igitur, clementissime Pater, per (J)esum Christum, Filium tuum, Dominum nostrum, supplices rogamus ac petimus, (he kisses the atar)[<--written in red of course] uti accepta habeas, et benedicas, haec + dona, haec + munera, haec + sancta sacrificia illibata, in primis, quae tibi offerimus,

In this Latin text of the Canon from the Marian Missal of 1961, there is no period after "offerimus" but a comma. But then strictly speaking there isn't any punctuation in Latin. Stopping with the "offerimus" is enough I think, to demonstrate the differences between translations. Now the English translation:

We therefore, humbly pray and beseech Thee most merciful Father, through Jesus Christ: Thy Son, our Lord (he kisses the altar)that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to accept and bless these + gifts, these + presents, these + holy unspotted Sacrifices,

The next English translation of this Latin text comes from The Cathedral Daily Missal pub. 1961 by the E. M. Lohmann Co., St. Paul, Minnesota:

Most merciful Father, we humbly pray and implor You, through Jesus Christ Your Son, Our Lord, to be pleased to receive and bless these gifts, these presents, these holy unblemished offerings.

And now from the Assumption Grotto English translation of the Latin text.

Your, therefore, most merciful Father, Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, as suppliants, we ask and beseech, that you regard as accepted and bless these gifts, these offerings, these unblesmished sacrifices,

Now mind, my Pastor does not use this translation when he says the Mass in English, he uses the official English translation.

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