16 April 2007

Missal Percularity - Et cum spiritu tuo

I just found something rather strange with regard to the missal translation of 'et cum spiritu tuo' for the Classical Roman Rite. There is a difference between the 1962 St Andrew Daily Missal and the 1962 St Andrew Bible Missal. The 1962 St Andrew Daily Missal translates 'et cum spiritu tuo' to 'and with your spirit'. However the 1962 St Andrew Bible Missal translates it as 'and with you also' instead. The omission in the latter is pretty obvious.

On checking the dates of the imprimatur, there was just a difference of 2 month, with the 1962 St Andrew Daily Missal imprimatur being on 26 January 1962 and the 1962 St Andrew Bible Missal imprimatur being on 25 March 1962. While it would be the case that during this period the English translations are not at all official, the very purpose of having a translation alongside the Latin is to assist in the interior participation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Now with an inaccurate translation, one cannot fully understand what is going on.

On the surface, it seems that a logical conversational response to 'The Lord be with you' would be 'And with you also / And also with you'. However, there is actually a context to this is Sacred Scripture. In St Paul's Epistles to Philemon, Timothy, the Galatians and the Philippians, he writes 'the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with thy/your spirit'. The omission of 'spirit' removes this scriptural context and impedes interior participation.

But back to the St Andrew's Missals. It seems that the Monks of St Andrew's Abbey are rather fickle in how 'et cum spiritu tuo' is translated. The occurrence of 'and with you also' is rare in translations for the Classical Roman Rite, well given the innovations that were creeping in its not surprising to see such being published. But with the Nihil Obstat being from Godfrey M Danneels... :p

Another Missal where 'et cum spiritu tuo' is translated to ''and with you also' is the 1961 Fulton J. Sheen Sunday Missal. The Fulton J. Sheen Sunday Missal is actually a wonderful publication with the entire missal having Latin and English on facing pages. Yet one can trust the Jesuits to mess things up :p

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