The Raccolta (1857)/Translator's Preface
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.
In accordance with the Rescript on the preceding page, wherein his Holiness vouchsafes to sanction this translation of the Raccolta delle Indulgenze, it has been made from the thirteenth and last Roman edition, and contains all the latest Indulgences granted by our present beloved Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IX., whose latest grant, conferred in this current year, and standing in this translation as No. 15, is subsequent to the last Roman edition itself.
No apology is required for presenting to all the faithful who speak the English language a book of prayers which has the highest sanction of the Church, and the use of which is not only authorised, but privileged in the highest degree, so as to entitle it to be called emphatically "The Church Prayer-Book of Private Devotion," as the Missal and the Breviary are her books of Public devotion. To a Catholic such a book speaks for itself, as the Church has given her formal approval of the pious practices and devotions contained in it by the privileges she has so abundantly accorded to them. If any apology is needed, it is from the translator to the Catholic public, for venturing to present to them in his own language words of prayer which the Church has adopted as her own; and this he would hardly have presumed to do, but for the high sanction given to the undertaking.
A few words, however, are necessary in explanation: first, of a few deviations he has permitted himself from the arrangement of the original in that part of the book which may be called its rubrical and historical portion; and secondly, of the sort of license he has permitted himself in the translation of the prayers.
First, then, with regard to the historical portion, printed in this translation in smaller type, and in the Roman original in italics. This is made up of quotations from Papal Briefs, Rescripts, and Decrees of various Sacred Congregations, and is the voucher for the genuineness of the grants. In perusing these grants, it will be observed that many, having been made in favour of certain devotional exercises or good works, have no particular form of prayer attached to them; the Sovereign Pontiffs who conferred them, although always prescribing prayers to be offered up according to their own intention, having in these cases left the words to be used to the option of the faithful themselves. In other grants, the recital of one or more Pater noster, Ave Maria, and Gloria Patri, has been enjoined, and nothing further. In others the prayers are specified, and given afterwards at full length.
In translating these authentic notices, the Translator's chief, or rather only duty, was to render the original word for word, being especially careful neither to omit nor to alter any of the conditions prescribed. But as he had imposed upon himself another duty, viz. to bring into common use with all classes a book which, in addition to what has been already said of it, has been recommended by word of mouth to his fellow-countrymen by the condescension of the Holy Father himself, and which is now presented for the first time entire to the English-speaking Catholic world, he was desirous of giving this portion of the work a more simple, and at the same time, if he may use such an expression, a more inviting appearance than it seems to him to have in the Italian original. Accordingly his first thought was to have simplified the wording of the grants, by merely stating the conditions under which they have been conferred,—one, two, or three, as the case might be,—omitting long formulas, which are almost invariably the same. But as he was advised that in a matter of so much importance as recording the authentic documents of the Church's Sacred Congregations, where fidelity to the very words of the document is of such paramount importance, such a proceeding might be called in question, he determined to adhere, letter for letter, to the very words of the decrees. In a future edition it is to be hoped, however, that such a simplification may be sanctioned by the voice of authority, and the bulk of the volume be thus materially diminished without sacrificing aught of its contents. Refraining, then, from altering the words of the original in any way, he only permitted himself the license of changing the grammatical construction of the sentences, so as to bring the words stating the amount of the Indulgence to be gained to the beginning of a sentence, numbering them in Roman figures, i. ii. iii. &c., and printing them in small capitals in fresh paragraphs, so as to catch the eye of the reader, who otherwise might be tempted to omit the perusal of the decrees, in order to avoid the weariness of wading through a long formula; the Translator's experience of readers of the Italian original leading him to believe that many who have had it in use for years as their daily companion for private devotion, seldom read through the grants to which no prayers are annexed, and consequently remain in ignorance of many of the most liberal concessions of the Sovereign Pontiffs to the faithful. The additional labour and expense which was necessary for this (the extraordinary number of small capitals requiring types to be cast expressly for the work) will be abundantly repaid to the Translator if he is thereby enabled to draw attention to this portion of the work; failing which, many valuable Indulgences are, it is to be feared, lost to the faithful themselves and to the souls of the departed.
Having said thus much concerning this part of the work, the Translator now ventures to offer a few remarks regarding the Prayers, by far the most difficult portion of the translation, as well on account of the accuracy necessary to insure for it the merit of being a versio fidelis of the original (the condition absolutely required by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences to enable the translation to carry with it the privileges bestowed on the original), as also on account of the peculiarly Italian character of many of these prayers. In reference, however, to fidelity to the original, it is necessary to observe, that many, indeed most, of the devout meditations which are printed both here and in the Italian in the same type as the prayers, are nevertheless not of obligation, as it appears from the words of the grants preceding them that they are only inserted for the convenience of the reader. Such, for instance, is the case with the meditations for the Via Crucis, where it is expressly said, "The pious reader may use any other devotions which are more to his mind." Again, in the Indulgence for the commemoration of our Lady's Delivery, the Indulgence is granted to the recitation of the forty Ave Maria, not to the words said before them, which may be used or not ad libitum. So with the meditations, or rather heads of meditations, to be used in saying the "Chaplet of our Lord," in the notices preceding which it is said, that "It is not necessary either to read or recite the short meditations which follow;" so with the Rosary and several other Chaplets. The same also is the case with the "Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity," in the notice of which it is expressly said, that "any one may use any form he pleases, provided only it expresses and explains the particular motives of each one of these theological virtues." In all these cases it is manifest that no criticism can be exercised on the fidelity of the translation as affecting the validity of the Indulgences to be gained, as the choice of the words is left entirely free. The case, however, is quite different in those other prayers where the intention of the Pope granting the Indulgence is to include the very words of the prayer; then the sense of those words must be kept, otherwise the Indulgence will not be gained. Yet even here, to judge from the versions which are given in certain cases in the Raccolta itself, considerable latitude of expression is admissive, so long as the sense is preserved. Take, for instance, the well-known prayer Eccomi: the Plenary Indulgence is here given to those who shall recite this prayer before a crucifix; and it is manifest, by a Latin version of it being given in the Raccolta, that the same Indulgence follows the saying as well of the Latin version as of the Italian original. Tet no fresh grant is mentioned as having ever been made to the Latin version; so that if the Plenary Indulgence is to be gained by saying it, it must be in virtue of its being a faithful translation. That it is so may certainly be presumed, for it is printed at Rome in the Raccolta, under the eye and with the sanction of the S. Congr. of Indulgences. In order, however, to bring this out more clearly, it will be well to place the two versions in juxtaposition, that the reader may judge for himself of the extent of the variation authorised.
Eccomi, o mia amato buon Gesù, die alia tantissima vostra presenza prostrato vi prego col fervore più vivo a stampare nel mio cuore sentimenti di Fede, di Speranza di Carità, e di dolore de' miei peccati, e di proponimento di non più offendervi; mentre io con tutto l'amore, e con tutta la compassione vado considerando le vostre cinque piaghe, cominciando da ciò, che disse di voi, o Gesù mio, il santo profeta David: "Foderunt manus meas, et pedes meos; dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea." (Ps. xxi.)
En ego, O bone et dulcissime Jesu, ante conspectum tuum genibus me provolvo ac maximo animi ardore te oro atque obtestor ut meum in cor vividos fidei, spei, et charitatis sensus, atque veram peccatorum meorum pœnitentiam, eaque emendandi firmissimam voluntatem velis imprimere: dum magno animi affectu, et dolore tua quinque vulnera mecum ipse considero, ac mente contemplor, illud præ oculis habens, quod jam in ore ponebat suo David propheta de te, O bone Jesu: "Foderunt manus meas, et pedes meos; dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea." (Ps. xxi.)
Comparing the one with the other, we find, in the first line, "dulcissime" is the rendering of "amato;" "mio" is omitted in the Latin. Farther on, "sanctissima" is omitted, "atque obtestor" inserted in the Latin, with no corresponding words in the original; then "vivendos" inserted; "veram pœnitentiam" is given for the rendering of "dolore;" "firmissimam voluntatem" for "proponimento;" "magno animi affectu" for "tutto amore;" "dolore" for "tutta la compassione;" "ac mente contemplor" inserted; "illud præ oculis habens, quod jam in ore ponebat suo David propheta de te, O bone Jesu," for "cominciando da ciò, che disse di voi, o Gesù mio, il santo profeta David." Thus it appears that in this short prayer, in the first eight lines, there are three words entirely omitted in the Latin translation and nine inserted, the ninth and tenth lines being entirely altered in the construction and wording, though the sense remains the same.
To show still further what variations are consistent with fidelity, it may be mentioned, that in the last Roman edition of the Horæ Diurnæ, published by Salviucci in Rome, with authority, there is another Latin version very different from that in the Raccolta, with a rubric referring to the same grant of Pius VII. as the warrant for its having a Plenary Indulgence annexed to it; yet in this version there is not only even greater latitude than in the other Latin version, but at the end of the prayer a whole sentence is added, with a text from Scripture not found in the original prayer; and as these variationt involve an important question regarding the gaining of Indulgences, we will also give this version as it stands in the Roman Breviary:
En ego, mi dilecte bone Jesu, coram sanctissimo conspectu tuo prostratus. Te ignito fervore obtestor, ut imprimas in cor meum sensus fidei, spei, charitatis, commissorumque peccatorum contritionem, atque propositum non peccandi de cætero: dum ego magno dilectionis affectu, ac commiseratione plenus, tua quinque vulnera perpendo, incipiens ab illis verbis de te dictis, Deus mi, a S. Propheta David: "Foderunt manus meas, et pedes meos; dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea;" et desinens in illis quæ pronunciavit S. Zacharias Propheta: "Aspicient ad me quem confixerunt."
This version, very different from the one previously given, contains a whole quotation from one of the minor prophets, not found at all in the original; so that it would appear that we are justified in saying as above, that whilst no alterations of words which do not change the general sense of the prayer forfeit the Indulgence, so also no additions to the prayer affect its validity.
Again, in the translation of the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus, there is no appearance of any attempt to give a literal rendering of the words. The translation, or, as it is more correctly called, paraphrase, consists of a series of sonnets founded upon the words of the original. Take, for instance, the second stanza of the paraphrase:
"In questo mar del mondo
D'angosce noi siam pieni,
E se dal Ciel non vieni
Chi me consolerà.
Ah! vieni, o Paracleto,
Dono del Sommo Dio
Ed il mar turbato, e rio
Tosto si calmerà."
The whole of these three lines are founded on the three words, Altissimi donum Dei; and so, in the remainder of the paraphrase, the six stanzas following; the second are founded on single lines of the original. The paraphrase of the Stabat Mater, also given in the Raccolta, is not, indeed, so free as that of the Veni Creator; but still it is in no sense a literal translation. These quotations, made from the Raccolta itself, will, it is presumed, be sufficient to show how great a license is consistent with the requisition that the translation should be a versio fidelis; the conclusion we are justified in arriving at being, that the sense and general import of the text must not be altered, and that nothing more than this is necessary. The translator has, however, adhered far more strictly than, as has been shown, he was bound to do to the words of the original; nor has he, he believes, departed in any case from the strict sense of the Italian, the chief liberty he has taken being with the adjectives in the superlative degree, which he has frequently, nay commonly, rendered by the positive, as being in English at once more forcible and more according to the genius of the language. In order, however, to secure the validity of the Indulgences attached to the prayers for those who make use of this translation, he has obtained a pontifical Rescript authorising this translation, on condition of its being subjected to the censure of his Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. Accordingly his Eminence appointed an eminent divine to revise it; and to him the work has been regularly submitted as it passed through the press, and such alterations as he suggested carefully conformed to.
It now only remains to say, that the translation is entirely new, no use having been made of any existing translations of prayers occurring in the Raccolta which have appeared in various books of devotion from time to time. The hymns, however, form an exception, as they have been taken from the Lyra Catholica of his dear friend and brother in St. Philip, Father [[Author:Edward Caswall|]] Edward Caswall, of the Birmingham Oratory, who also has kindly given him a new translation of two other hymns which were not in the Lyra, viz. the Viva! viva! Gesù, and the hymn to St. Joseph, Dei qui gratiam impotes. The Very Rev. Canon Morris's translation of the Indulgences attached to Medals, Crosses, &c., for the publication of which he had already obtained special leave, has also been made use of by his kind permission, and the translation of the Anima Christi is also the work of a very dear friend. All the rest is his own. He has to apologise for having been so long in bringing out this translation, which was advertised several years ago, when he had already translated the whole of it, and was about printing it; he was, however, advised by a friend to put it by for a time, as it was thought probable that, on more mature consideration, many changes might be desirable. The translator has much reason to be thankful for this advice, as when he came to look at his former manuscript, after a lapse of nine years, he found so much to be altered, that he for the most part retranslated it, especially in the prayers. Thus he has really translated the book twice; besides which, the many alterations which he deemed necessary have made the work much more laborious than would be imagined from the size of the volume.
In conclusion, he has only to express a hope that the pious reader will pardon the homeliness of his language, which, besides being more natural to himself, he has freely permitted himself on principle, as the best for prayer. He was well aware how arduous a task it was to put into the mouths of others words which they were to address to God; but he has ever considered that the more like little children we are, both in thought and word, when we speak to God, the more acceptable we are to Him, and the more likely are our own minds to be attuned at the same time to feelings of reverence and awe. In some of the prayers to our Blessed Lady, especially the Novenas, which are of a poetical cast, he has somewhat varied his style to correspond more closely with the original. But with these exceptions, all has been rendered in the simplest words he had at his command.
The reader will find that some prayers which are only referred to in the original have been here given at length for convenience-sake, as "The Litany of Loretto," and "The Prayer at the Confession of the Apostles SS. Peter and Paul." There are also many translations of Latin collects not given in the original.
Nothing remains except to commend to her who is the Mother and Mistress of prayer the work he has undertaken, trusting to her all-powerful intercession to obtain for him, and for those who shall make use of the book, all that is asked in accordance with the will of God, as we humbly trust is the case with all the words of this book, authorised as it is and blessed by the Vicar of God himself upon earth.