OW MANY CATHOLICS could answer this question: “Which psalter translation is used for the LECTIONARY for the United States?” I suspect very few know the correct answer: viz. our LECTIONARY uses the 1950 translation of the complete PSALTER by Father Louis Francis Hartman (d. 1970), a polyglot who ran the department of Semitic languages at CUA. This 1950 translation was also chosen by other important books: The SAINT ANDREW BIBLE MISSAL; the English-Latin Roman Missal (1966); the 1964 Mass Propers by Father Arbogast; the 1964 O’Fallon Propers by the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood in O’Fallon, Missouri; and so forth. When I say our LECTIONARY uses the 1950 version by Father Hartman, I mean that literally. It isn’t ‘based upon’ Father Hartman; his translation was replicated verbatim. If anyone doubts what I’m saying, compare any one of the 150 Psalms from Father Hartman’s 1950 publication to the text printed in our current LECTIONARY (which can be found in your parish sacristy). The version by Father Hartman—which is accurate but colorless—was most likely chosen because it uses You and Your instead of Thee, Thy, and Thine for God.1
Dr. Mark Giszczak • Today we release an interview I did with Dr. Mark Giszczak, professor of Sacred Scripture at The Saint Paul Seminary, where Fulton J. Sheen was prepared for ordination to the priesthood. In our exchange, we tackle an array of engaging topics such as: “What makes a good translation?” Specifically, Dr. Giszczak speaks about his book, Bible Translation & the Making of the ESV Catholic Edition (ESV-CE). In 2024, the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of England, Scotland, and Wales adopted the ESV Catholic Edition as the basis as their LECTIONARY.
Breathtaking Release • Moreover, for the first time in history, we today release something “rare as a unicorn.” It’s a 1956 book by Desclée: HOURS OF THE DAY OF THE ROMAN BREVIARY, ACCORDING TO THE RECENT DECREES. It uses the Pius XII Psalter, providing the Latin (with accent marks) and a literal English translation:
* Pristine Copy • HOURS OF THE DAY—(1,545 pages)
—Desclée (1956) • “Pius XII Psalter” in Latin and English.
On 6 March 1948, here’s how Dr. Thomas E. Bird described the Pius XII Psalter:
“On March 24th, 1945, Pope Pius XII, by the Motu Proprio In cotidianis precibus gave permission to all who recite the divine office to use a new version of the Psalter made by six Jesuit professors of the Biblical Institute. This, contrary to some expectations, was neither a revision of the existing Vulgate nor of Saint Jerome’s Psalterium juxta Hebraeos, but a new translation altogether, based on the Massoretic text, the versions, and (in a few instances) on conjectural emendations.”
Hymn Translations • That 1956 book provides literal English translations of many hymns. Several can be found nowhere else!
1 In the 1970s, it was fashionable to pretend that ‘lofty’ or ‘stately’ or ‘majestic’ language shouldn’t be used at Mass, claiming such language was incomprehensible. They hoped the faithful didn’t notice Thee and Thy were used in the Lord’s Prayer, yet nobody had difficult understanding.
