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Views from the Choir Loft

Which Translations Do You Prefer? Literal Or Poetic?

Jeff Ostrowski · January 7, 2014

879 Latin E SPENT a lot of time carefully choosing literal translations of the Latin texts for the Edmund Campion Missal & Hymnal. But why did we insist upon literal ones? Why not poetic translations? Well, consider this famous verse by St. Thomas Aquinas:

Tantum ergo Sacraméntum Venerémur cérnui:
Et antíquum documentum Novo cedat rítui;
Præstet fides suppleméntum Sénsuum deféctui.

Look at what they proposed for the 1998 Sacramentary, and hopefully you’ll understand what I’m getting at:

1998 Sacramentary (Rejected)
Secret past imagination,
Dazzling and compelling awe:
Sacrament and celebration
Richer than the ancient law;
Faith can see by revelation
More than senses ever saw.

Literal Translation
Let us therefore, prostrate,
adore so great a Sacrament,
and let the Old Law give way
to the New Ordinance;
let faith supplement
the weakness of the senses

Speaking of the (rejected) 1998 Sacramentary, here’s a selection from a different Pange Lingua, by Venantius Fortunatus:

Lustrix sex qui jam peráctis, tempus implens córporis,
Se volénte, natus ad hoc, passióni déditus,
Agnus in Crucis levátur immolándus stípite.

… and here’s how they translated it in the 1998 Sacramentary, using colloquial, forced phrases like “only born to be rejected”:

1998 Sacramentary (Rejected)
So he came, the long-expected,
Not in glory, not to reign;
Only born to be rejected,
Choosing hunger, toil, and pain,
Till the gallows was erected
And the Paschal Lamb was slain.

Literal Translation
The redeemer had now completed thirty
years and had come to the end of His
earthly life, and then of His own free will
He gave Himself up to the Passion. The
Lamb was lifted up on to the tree of the
Cross to be sacrificed

SADLY, THE 1998 SACRAMENTARY VERSION of the Good Friday Hymn by Fortunatus was adopted for the Third Edition of the Roman Missal (although they did repair some of the worst lines and restored two beautiful verses the 1998 had deleted). Here’s another verse from Fortunatus:

Sola digna tu fuísti ferre saecli prétium,
Atque portum praeparáre nauta mundo náufrago,
Quem sacer cruor perúnxit, fusus Agni córpore.

… and here’s the doggerel poetic translation in the 1998 Sacramentary:

1998 Sacramentary (Rejected)
Only tree to be anointed,
With the blood of Christ embossed,
You alone have been appointed
Balance-beam to weigh the cost
Of a universe disjointed,
Pilot for the tempest-tossed.

Literal Translation
Thou alone wast found worthy to bear
the Victim of the world! Thou wast the
ark that led this ship-wrecked world into
the haven of salvation! The sacred
Blood that flowed from the Lamb
covered and anointed thee.

I never thought I’d say this, but I actually agree with Paul Inwood. Despite his somewhat fanatical attachment to the 1998 Sacramentary (for ideological reasons), Inwood excoriates that translation in this forum entry (“Southern Comfort” is his nom de plume). Inwood is absolutely correct: rather than use “Thee” or “Thine,” they chose a truly absurd version. However, what’s odd to me is that, having condemned all things forced and uninspired, “Southern Comfort” then proceeds to recommend that everyone purchase a certain piece by Paul Inwood, whose music is (in my humble opinion) catchy, but rather predictable — consider, for example, this and this.

ADDENDUM:   Paul made a good point in the combox. It might be worth pointing out that (normally) poetic translations are used so they can be sung. For myself, however, I always find such translations forced. I suppose there are exceptions … e.g. some of Dr. Neale’s translations. I cite Fortescue’s opinions on this subject in this essay.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: 1998 Rejected Sacramentary, Paul Inwood Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for Pentecost Sunday (8 June 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. Because our choir is on break this week, the music is relatively simple.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“With all the powers of modern music open to him, from romanticism through French impressionism to the German and Russian modernists, he is yet able to confine all these contradictory forces on the groundwork of the Gregorian tradition.”

— Theodor Rehmann (on Msgr. Jules Van Nuffel)

Recent Posts

  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday
  • “Participation” • Recovering its Receptive Dimension

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