• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Roman Missal 3.0 — Installment No. 3

Fr. David Friel · February 10, 2012

We take up today the third “highlight” I would like to present on the topic of the new Roman Missal in English: the orientation of the canon. (And I’m not talking about where to point the big gun!)

The Roman Canon, sometimes also called Eucharistic Prayer I, is one of several different canons the priest may choose to pray during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. There are four main options, plus several others, but the Roman Canon is the canon with the longest history in the Roman Rite. In fact, it has been prayed almost unchanged for roughly 1500 years.

By comparing the first words of Eucharistic Prayer I in the new and old English translations with the Latin original, a remarkable change becomes obvious. Let’s begin with the official Latin, employed from time immemorial:

Te igitur, clementissime Pater…

This line, in the English translation of the former Sacramentary, was rendered:

We come to you, Father…

Now, with the newly translated Roman Missal, the following begins the Canon:

To you, therefore, most merciful Father, we…

In Latin, the words of a sentence can be placed almost anywhere and still maintain sensibility. Thus, the placement of words is empowered as a manner of conveying meaning. It is not by mistake, then, that the very first word of the Roman Canon is Te (“You”), referring to God. That the prayer begins with Te tells us the orientation of the whole prayer: toward the Father.

Word placement commands power in English, too, although there is less freedom in its regard than there is in Latin. What we have been praying since 1973, noticeably, changes the initial focus from Te (God) to We (us). This translation fails to capture the fundamental orientation that is so clear in the Latin and instead, unfortunately, places undue emphasis upon the worshipping community.

The new English translation has masterfully restored the essential orientation of this prayer. In addition to reinstating the loving description of our Father as “most merciful,” the placement of the word “you” at the outset of this prayer faithfully accomplishes the same nuance realized by the Latin.

Guided by the tremendous fidelity of our new translation, may we all be led “toward the Father!”

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “The Times” mentions CCW
    We were mentioned in article in an article by “The Times” (United Kingdom), as you can see here.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

These prayers were not peculiar to Good Friday in the early ages (they were said on Spy Wednesday as late as the eighth century); their retention here, it is thought, was inspired by the idea that the Church should pray for all classes of men on the day that Christ died for all. Duchesne is of opinion that the “Oremus” now said in every Mass before the Offertory—which is not a prayer—remains to show where this old series of prayers was once said in all Masses.

— Catholic Encyclopedia (1909)

Recent Posts

  • Summer Ward Method Courses • CUA 2023
  • PDF Download • Vespers Organ Accomp. Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent) — 24 pages
  • Mass and Motets
  • Sneaky “Salicus” Statements by Solesmes
  • “Lætáre Jerúsalem” • Introit (3rd Sunday of Lent)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.