For 9 September: Saint Peter Claver in the Ordinary Form.
COLLECT (2002 MR):
Deus, qui beatum Petrum servorum servum effecisti
eumque mira in eis iuvandis caritate et patientia roborasti,
eius nobis intercessione concede,
ut, qua Iesu Christi sunt, quaerentes,
proximos opere et veritate diligamus.
NEW CORRECTED ICEL (2011):
O God, who made Saint Peter Claver a slave of slaves
and strengthened him with wonderful charity and patience as he came to their help,
grant, through his intercession,
that, seeking the things of Jesus Christ,
we may love our neighbor in deeds and in truth.
I am not making this up.
LAME-DUCK ICEL (1973):
God of mercy and love,
you offer all peoples
the dignity of sharing in your life.
By the example and prayers of Saint Peter Claver,
strengthen us to overcome all racial hatreds
and to love each other as brothers and sisters.
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Yeah…I’m usually prepared for ridiculousness in the lame duck collects, but even I laughed out loud at that one this morning.
Now that the use of the corrected version is getting closer, I’ve been walking around telling everyone: The Pope has corrected the Mass, just for me :)
Wow. Is the 1973 version even considered a “translation”? It looks like they just made something up.
Is the 1973 version even considered a “translation”?
Surely not. Many of the 1973 propers are fabrications rather than translations.
After all, how do you get “racial hatreds” as a part the translation of “ut, qua Iesu Christi sunt, quarentes, proximos opere et veritate diligamus.” anyway? I think that might have put in there as sort-of a “sign of the times” thing.
strengthen us to overcome all racial hatreds
Even the race of dynamic equivocators? Maybe just a little hate?
All we are sa-ay-ing, is give peace a chance!
Now, where did I put my birkenstocks?…
This is incredible. In the English Sacramentary, the prayer was completely different from the traditional prayer. Now I see that it is actually almost identical. Thank God for the new translation.
As a side note, this is still a good example of how the prayers in the New rite in Latin, while much much better than their old ICEL translation, are still often weakened from what they were in the Traditional Form of the Roman Rite. The prayer is identical except for the first line. “Deus, qui abreptos in servitutem Nigritas ad agnitionem tui nominis vocaturus, beatum Petrum…” was changed to “Deus, qui beatum Petrum servorum servum effecisti…”. The change has some things in its favor. “Nigritas” is probably not going to sound very good to modern ears. Also, the addition of the mention of “slave of slaves” is nice as a reference to his saying that he would be the slave of [the slaves] forever. However, the new prayer, even in Latin, has removed the reference to God’s intention to actually convert the slaves (ad agnitionem tui nominis) and has only left the part (albeit the majority of the oration) that pertains to doing works of mercy (by which most people would think primarily of corporal works of mercy rather than the spiritual ones to which St. Peter Claver also heroically dedicated himself; of course “love our neighbor in deeds and truth” does at least imply both kinds of works). But there is no reason that the reference to calling the slaves to knowledge of the true God could not have been retained while removing the reference to “Nigritas” and adding the reference to “servorum servum”.
St. Peter Claver called himself the “slave of the slaves forever.” The Collect uses this phrase, which in Latin (incredibly) echoes one of the titles given to the Pope himself, “Servus Servorum Dei.”
The 2011 correction restores this phrase, which was completely left out of the 1973 Collect. The omission of such a memorable and striking phrase in 1973 was inexplicable.
I wonder if the 1973 text borrowed the word “overcome” from the song, “We Shall Overcome, Someday.” It did not come from the Latin text.
Is anybody keeping a list of all these mistranslations? I would like to see them all consolidated in one place. Perhaps Fr. Cekada’s book has them all?
Is anybody keeping a list of all these mistranslations? ….. Perhaps Fr. Cekada’s book has them all?
No, regarding the collects, Fr. Cekada’s book concentrates on the changes from the 1962 Latin (EF) to the 1970 Latin (OF), rather than with the translation of the 1970 Latin into English.
Regarding the 1973 alterations in English, the most comprehensive source would be Father Z’s collected WDTPRS columns.
I glanced at this post this morning just before praying Lauds using the Liturgy of the Hours for the Church in Africa, which was published in 2009. I was stunned to find this new translation used for today instead of the old ICEL version. When I have some free time, I will have to do a comparison and see just how much of the new prayers appear in the African edition of the Liturgy of the Hours.
This one appears to be so bad that it leaves me wondering if the Latin original (which is not separately reproduced here) changed from 1970 to 2002.
Following on Speravi’s comments, here is the English translation of the collect of this feast from the 1961 St. Pius X hand missal that I own:
O God, You endowed Blessed Peter with wonderful charity and patience in helping the enslaved Negroes, when about to call them to the knowledge of Your name; grant, by his intercession, that we may seek the things of Jesus Christ and love our neighbors in deed and in truth. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end. Amen.
Strange, I distinctly remember the “slave of slaves” line from this morning’s Mass, though I couldn’t tell you anything else about the collect. Can’t say I am upset ;-)