UNTIL it was published in the third edition of the SAINT EDMUND CAMPION MISSAL, the splendid English translation of the Roman Canon by Monsignor Ronald Knox was unpublished and forgotten. His English translation of the EXSULTET (which, in my humble opinion, is peerless) was also published by Sophia Institute Press in that same book. Like so much of his work, these renderings by Knox are glorious, memorable, and inspiring. In 2010, Father George Rutler wrote that: “Archbishop Sheen told a friend of mine—in a moment perhaps made candid by the mellowing of years—that anything he had ever said of significance was taken from either Knox or Chesterton.”
John Cardinal Heenan, Archbishop of Westminster and friend of Evelyn Waugh and Malcolm Muggeridge, wrote as follows in 1973:
I went to the Somerset village of Mells to take leave of Monsignor Ronnie Knox who was dying of cancer. We had never been close friends but rather more than acquaintances. He was perhaps the greatest figure in the Church of the twentieth century. As a writer he was admired not only by his fellow Catholics and former colleagues of the Anglican Church but by all connoisseurs of stylish prose. His greatest contribution to literature was his translation of the bible into contemporary English. To this monumental task he brought not only his wide learning but an extraordinary capacity for assembling critical views of his draft translation to enable him to produce a final polished version. A notoriously shy man he might have been expected to work in scholarly solitude but he sought the help of the widest possible range of students, young and old, famous and obscure. All were invited to give their criticisms and suggestions. He was overwhelmed by the number of those who offered advice. After the publication of his translation he thanked all those who had written. Then (typically) he could not forbear to thank ‘still more’ those who did not proffer help. Although renowned as a preacher and scholar his real greatness lay in his holiness of life. He was very near death when I visited him but he received me with great courtesy and thanked me for coming to take leave of him. Being a genuine intellectual he had an essentially simple faith. He was what we now call an old-fashioned Catholic. He loved the Imitation of Christ of which he left an excellent but unfinished translation (published posthumously).
Envy • Recently, it has been fashionable for a certain cadre (who aren’t worthy to fasten his sandals) to denigrate Monsignor Knox. Frequently, this is done out of jealousy by folks who don’t receive the recognition they feel they deserve. Unfortunately, the rise of social media has made it possible for the “terminally online” to enter conversations where they don’t belong. In any event, serious people understand how phenomenal Knox was—and he hardly requires a defense by me! As Father Valentine Young used to say: “Do not cast your pearls before swine.”
Photograph of Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (1888-1957)
