F YOU ASK EVEN the most educated Catholics about the PIUS XII PSALTER, the answer you’ll receive from 99.9% will be: “That was a failed project of Pius XII which lasted only a few years before being utterly abandoned by everyone.” As a matter of fact, that’s incorrect. Since 1969 in the United States, our RESPONSORIAL PSALMS have ‘cut and paste’ the 1950 translation by Father Louis Hartman—head of the department of Semitic languages at the Catholic University of America—which is a translation made from the same sources as the PIUS XII PSALTER. In the 2nd paragraph of the PREFACE to the 1950 translation by Father Hartman and his team, we read:
“The basic text for the present translation is not the current Massoretic text but one considered closer to the original inspired form, namely the Hebrew text underlying the new Latin Psalter of the Church, the Liber Psalmorum cum Canticis Breviarii Romani, second edition, 1945.”
(The “Liber Psalmorum” is the PIUS XII PSALTER, which goes by various names.)
Popular Translation • All USA churches have used—verbatim—the 1950 translation by Father Louis Hartman since 1969. Furthermore, many other English-speaking countries use our LECTIONARY, especially countries lacking the USA’s wealth.1 The English translation by Father Louis Hartman was adopted by many famous books, which I’m sure readers recognize, such as the SAINT JOSEPH DAILY MISSAL (1959); the ENGLISH-LATIN ROMAN MISSAL FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (1965); the SAINT ANDREW BIBLE MISSAL (1962); and so forth.
Father Kleist of Saint Louis • Reading about the life of Monsignor Percy Jones (a student of Dom Suñol, Monsignor Raffaele Casimiri, Father Licinio Refice, and Dom Paolo Maria Ferretti), my attention was arrested by his effusive praise of the 1954 translation by Father James Aloysius Kleist. In particular, notice how Monsignor Jones says “the translation adapted itself perfectly to the eight tones of plain chant” because every ending is iambic. Here is the entire PSALTER of Father James Aloysius Kleist:
* PDF Download • FATHER KLEIST PSALTER—124 pages
As church musicians, it’s important to be aware of every asset at our disposal. The translation by Father Kleist is approved for liturgical use in the United States when it comes to items which are sung, and many of his renderings are splendid. For those desiring Father Kleist’s complete footnotes and explanations, we have scanned and uploaded the full PDF.
CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED has scanned several ‘forgotten’ efforts by leading lights. I feel bad their works are now forgotten and will try to assemble a convenient list of these. I’m talking about priests like Very Rev’d Charles J. Callan; Rev’d William H. Mcclellan, SJ (Scholar of Biblical studies: Woodstock College); Very Rev’d John F. Rowan; Rev’d James E. Coleran, SJ; Dom Bede Babo, OSB; and Rev’d Francis P. Le Buffe, SJ.
Cat’s Meow • Saint Jerome made more than one translation of the PSALTER. His version translated directly from the Hebrew (“Psalterium iuxta Hebraeos”) never gained the popularity of his translation from the SEPTUAGINT (“Psalterium Gallicanum”). In the early half of the 20th century, some Catholic scholars became infatuated with the Massoretic Text, in spite of the fact that its earliest manuscripts date from about 600 years later than Saint Jerome. I’m not here to say the MASSORETIC TEXT has no value. Nor do I claim that it should be completely ignored (because it comes to us from much later than other sources). The accuracy of the MASSORETIC TEXT is unquestionable in light of certain discoveries—such as the Dead Sea Scrolls—and it should therefore be granted “a seat at the table.” However, it’s silly to pretend that the MASSORETIC TEXT is the only tradition worth considering. Yet, starting around 1940, many scholars did precisely that; and that was reprehensible.
Pope Pius XII had said all valuable traditions must be taken into consideration; not just one. In spite of what he said, many began treating the MASSORETIC TEXT (in spite of its late date) as the cat’s meow. This obsession or “infatuation” with the MASSORETIC TEXT sometimes contradicted the post-conciliar reform. For instance, when it comes to the Responsorial Psalm for Friday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time (Year II), the 1969 books reference a particular section of a verse from Psalm 32 (“Exsultáte justi”), omitting “et réprobat consília príncipum.” Those words occur in the Church’s traditional psalter, but they do not occur in the Massoretic version. Another part of the revised Lectionary calls for the full verse. But the obsession or “infatuation” with the Massoretic version doesn’t concern itself with such niceties. So much for the notion of an ‘irreversible’ reform! 😊
(I was proud to have discovered this particular specimen … only to learn a few days ago that Monsignor Ronald Knox took note of this particular verse back in 1946.)
Never Forget This! • The PIUS XII PSALTER was not a revision of Saint Jerome’s Psalterium juxta Hebraeos; it was a new translation altogether, based on the Massoretic text. Writing in 1948, Father Charles J. Callan—of HOMILETIC AND PASTORAL REVIEW fame—called it: “the most recent critical edition of the Hebrew Massoretic text.”
1 Since 2011, the bureaucracy in Washington D.C. has insisted that the English translation of the RESPONSORIAL PSALMS is going to be replaced. Fifteen years later, nothing has happened.
