What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

We had a look at the phrase "In necessitatibus unitas…", etc. often but falsely attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo.  Someone asked about another famous phrase attributed to the Bishop of Hippo, "He who sings, prays twice".  Augustine didn’t write that either!  Let’s look at it.

First, the original phrase is in Latin and the modern language versions leave out an extremely important little word: bis orat qui bene cantat... "he who sings well prays twice."   I think any of you who attend parishes with sub-optimal pop-bands at Mass understand this.

So, if Augustine didn’t write that phrase, did he write anything similar that gave rise to the phrase?

He did write, "cantare amantis est... Singing belongs to one who loves" (s. 336, 1 – PL 38, 1472). This is the citation for qui bene cantat bis orat in the primitive edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) 1156. 

But this is not the end of the story, folks!

In the Latin edition of the CCC we are sent to footnote n. 26 (oddly, this is note 21 in the newer English edition, which adds a confer reference to Col. 3:16 – which is not in the Latin CCC). Latin CCC 1156, note 26 reads:

Cf. Sanctus Augustinus, Enarratio in Psalmum 72, 1: CCL 39, 986 (PL 36, 914).

Surprise surprise, I just happen to have CCL (= Corpus Christianorum Latinorum, a vast series of volumes of Latin authors) vol. 39 at hand. Looking up that reference, we find what Augustine really said:

Qui enim cantat laudem, non solum laudat, sed etiam hilariter laudat; qui cantat laudem, non solum cantat, sed et amat eum quem cantat. In laude confitentis est praedicatio, in cantico amantis affectio...For he who sings praise, does not only praise, but also praises joyously; he who sings praise, is not only singing, but also loving Him whom he is singing about/to/for. There is a praise-filled public proclamation (praedicatio) in the praise of someone who is confessing/acknowledging (God), in the song of the lover (there is) there is deep love.

This is a very interesting passage. Augustine is saying that when the praise is of God, then something happens to the song of the praiser/love that makes it more than just any kind of song. The object of the song/love in a way becomes the subject. Something happens so that the song itself becomes Love in its manifestation of love of the one who truly is Love itself.

However, it does not say qui canit bis orat. There seems to have been some confusion of the verbs laudare and orare.

I am still of the mind that the choice for the Secretary of State will be His Eminence Tarcisio Card. Bertone.  However, for the sake of being complete, I heard another interesting thing today naming His Eminence Agostino Card. Vallini, the present Prefect of the Apostolic Segnatura.

Why have I posted entries about "dew" in the writings of the Fathers of the Church?

There are many disputed points in the new draft translation the USCCB has now approved and is sending (with suggested adaptations and emendations) back to Rome for review and, if deemed opportune, a recognitio (old ICEL was of saying "okeydokey").  While I think the most important issue is how to render pro multis ("for many, for the many, for the multitude") the choice of "dew" in the draft, rejected by the bishops, merits attention. 

Brief review.

Bishop Donald W. Trautman was elected to the chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Liturgy (BCL) after a floor nomination by Bishop John Kinney of St. Cloud.  He had been once before chair of the BCL.  He had been a long-standing proponent of "dynamic equivalence" and "inclusive language".  His election following the floor nomination was considered by many watchers as a declaration on war on the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (CDWDS) and on the norms for translation promulgated in Liturgiam authenticam (LA).  Bishop Trautman was an outspoken critic of LA.

After his election to the chair of the BCL, Bishop Trautman argued in various fora against the norms in LA and suggested resisting them.  His position has essentially two prongs.  First, people should directly understand what the texts mean.  Second, the texts should be in language commonly spoken.  This partially explains why His Excellency was set against the norms of LA which specifically state that liturgical language whould not be to similar to everyday speech and should adhere as strictly as possible to the original Latin texts. 

This review brings into focus the comments made by His Excellency after the vote just taken in Los Angeles. 

Bishop Trautman told the National Catholic Register that he and about half of the nation’s bishops believe the proposed text contains too many complicated words, as well as sentences and phrases that are too long. The words “precious chalice,” for example, replace the word “cup” during the consecration prayers.

“To me, ‘precious chalice’ says something gold with diamonds all around it,” Bishop Trautman said. “Jesus used a drinking cup at the last supper, not a precious chalice.”

Bishop Trautman said he’s so concerned about ICEL’s new text that he would like to see “substantial changes” through amendments that will be proposed by his committee and individual bishops in Los Angeles.

“I stand in favor of many amendments,” Bishop Trautman said. “I want as many amendments as possible in order to make this translation proclaimable and understandable. We’re not talking about hundreds of amendments, but we’re talking about a substantial amount to improve the texts to make them conform to the wishes of Vatican II.”

Hold on there!  I just occured to me that it was a command, not a "wish" of Vatican II that Latin should be retained as the language of Holy Mass and that the vernacular might be used occasionally.  It was a command, not a "wish" of Vatican II that no changes be made unless for the true good of the Catholic people.  It was a command, not a "wish" of Vatican II that… well… you get the idea. 

More from His Excellency Bishop Trautman. 

Bishop Trautman argued that “a higher document” than Liturgiam Authenticam, namely, Vatican II’s Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy, says to simplify the Mass. He cited Paragraph 21, which states: “In this reform, both texts and rites should be drawn up so that they express more clearly the holy things they signify; the Christian people, so far as possible, should be enabled to understand them with ease and to take part in them fully, actively, and as befits a community.”

Hmmm…  Didn’t Vatican II reaffirm the authority of the Roman Pontiff?  The Roman Pontiff has extended his own authority to the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.  In other words, the Congregation acts with the Holy Father’s will.  That Congregation issued norms for translation, also according to the explicit will of the Roman Pontiff.  The norms are binding.  Vatican II affirms the authority of the Pope do do these things.  Right?  Morever, we are back to our old friend "active participation".  I have spilled a lot of electrons on this topic already.  Suffice to say that I decline to agree with His Excellency about the meaning of "active participation".  I believe the Church’s liturgical documents on matter also disagree.  But I digress….

I am not the only one who hesitates to get on board with His Excellency’s vision, however:

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver said he agrees that Vatican II trumps any document that derives from it. “But I would also say the Holy See has a much clearer perspective on how to interpret Vatican II than any individual bishop or any bishops’ conference,” he said in an interview. “We shouldn’t confuse our own reading of the council with its accurate interpretation. That work belongs to the Holy See.”

Among the texts Bishop Trautman hopes to amend is the commission’s proposed rephrasing of “let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ,” in Eucharistic Prayer II. The commission wants the text to read: ‘therefore make holy these gifts, we pray, by the dew of your Spirit.”

“It’s a literal translation, and it doesn’t mean anything to Americans,” Bishop Trautman said.
“The ‘dew’ of your Spirit — what does that mean?”

This is clearly a burning question.  This blog has already posted some comments on "dew" from the Fathers of the Church, as in the case of Ambrose and dew and the Holy Spirit. 

I might be a good idea to continue in this project.  I we have a hard time understanding was dew is as a symbol of God’s power at work, then let’s dig into the Fathers for some insight. 

Good comments came from the entry about St. Jerome’s dim view of St. Ambrose, whom he likened to a croaking black raven and an upstart.  Among them was a reminder from fellow patristiblogger and charter member of NAPALM Mike Aquilina of The Way of the Fathers fame.  He brought back to the surface of my over taxed mind a poem about Jerome by Phyllis McGinley.

THE THUNDERER
God’s angry man, His crotchety scholar
Was Saint Jerome,
The great name-caller
Who cared not a dime
For the laws of Libel
And in his spare time
Translated the Bible.
Quick to disparage
All joys but learning
Jerome thought marriage
Better than burning;
But didn’t like woman’s
Painted cheeks;
Didn’t like Romans,
Didn’t like Greeks,
Hated Pagans
For their Pagan ways,
Yet doted on Cicero all of his days.
A born reformer, cross and gifted,
He scolded mankind
Sterner than Swift did;
Worked to save
The world from the heathen;
Fled to a cave
For peace to breathe in,
Promptly wherewith
For miles around
He filled the air with
Fury and sound.
In a mighty prose
For Almighty ends,
He thrust at his foes,
Quarreled with his friends,
And served his Master,
Though with complaint.
He wasn’t a plaster sort of a saint.
But he swelled men’s minds
With a Christian leaven.
It takes all kinds
to make a heaven.

I really like that line: He wasn’t a plaster sort of a saint.