The International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) is a commission set up by a number of episcopal conferences of English-speaking countries for the purpose of providing English translations of the liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the originals of which are in Latin. [1]
Decisions to adopt these translations are made by the episcopal conference of the country concerned, [2] and these decisions are reviewed by the Holy See before being put into effect. [3]
Bishops from English-speaking countries who were in Rome for the Second Vatican Council set up the Commission in 1963 in view of their intention to implement the Council's authorization to use more extensively [4] the vernacular language, instead of Latin, in the liturgy. [1] On 15 September 2003, ICEL was formally established as a mixed commission of several bishops conferences in accordance with the instruction Liturgiam authenticam. [1]
Eleven bishops conferences are full members of ICEL, each of them represented by a bishop. Those full members of ICEL are the conferences of Australia, Canada, England and Wales, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Scotland, South Africa, and the United States of America. [1] Another 15 are associate members: those of the Antilles, Bangladesh, CEPAC (Pacific islands), Gambia - Liberia - Sierra Leone, Ghana, Kenya, Malaysia - Singapore, Malawi, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. [1] The eleven member bishops are assisted by the ICEL secretariat in Washington, which coordinates the work of specialists throughout the world who work on preparing translations. [1]
Liturgical books that have appeared in ICEL translations (some of which have been superseded) include: [5]
Of all the books that ICEL translated, the Roman Missal is the one that Catholics in general are most familiar with. The first translation that ICEL produced appeared in 1973, less than four years after the Latin original had appeared. In keeping with the 1969 Vatican instruction on translation Comme le prévoit, it was not a literal translation of the Latin texts but sought what has come to be called "dynamic equivalence," capturing the meaning of the prayer but avoiding technical terms: "no special literary training should be required of the people; liturgical texts should normally be intelligible to all, even to the less educated". [11] The resulting English translation of the Roman Missal (called Sacramentary in the United States) received wide acceptance, but was also criticized for straying too far from the Latin originals and for occasional banality in the language. [12]
By 1998, ICEL completed a new version in English of the Roman Missal. This translation included richer translations of the Latin texts, but it also included original compositions prepared by ICEL, particularly alternative collects based on the Sunday Lectionary, an alternative contemporary form of the Easter Proclamation (Exsultet), variant texts in the Order of Mass, and some options in the rubrics, particularly around the celebration of weekday Masses. This new translation was approved by all the bishops' conferences that were members of ICEL and was submitted to the Congregation of Divine Worship for confirmation, as required by canon law. [13] The Congregation, whose work on a new edition of the Roman Missal in Latin was already well advanced – part of it was published in 2000 and the entire volume in 2002 – refused its consent for adoption of the proposed new English version based on the earlier Latin edition.
On 28 March 2001, the Congregation for Divine Worship issued the Instruction Liturgiam authenticam, which included the requirement that, in translations of the liturgical texts from the official Latin originals, "the original text, insofar as possible, must be translated integrally and in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content, and without paraphrases or glosses. Any adaptation to the characteristics or the nature of the various vernacular languages is to be sober and discreet." In the following year, the third typical edition [14] of the revised Roman Missal in Latin was released. These two texts made clear the need for a new official English translation of the Roman Missal, particularly because even the 1973 ICEL version was at some points an adaptation rather than a translation. An example was the rendering of the response "Et cum spiritu tuo" ("And with your spirit") as "And also with you".
To correspond with the demands of the Congregation for Divine Worship, there was a change in the leadership of the ICEL in 2002. [15] After this ICEL prepared a new English translation of the Roman Missal, which followed the principle of "formal equivalence" mandated by Liturgiam Authenticam. The completed translation received the approval of the Holy See in April 2010 [16] and was put into effect in most countries at the end of November 2011. Before and after its implementation, this translation generated controversy both because of its language and syntax, and because of the process by which it was prepared. [17]
| List of Chairmen of the ICEL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Chairman | Dates | Notes |
| 1 | Francis Joseph Grimshaw | (d. 1965) | Archbishop of Birmingham, England and Wales |
| 2 | Paul John Hallinan | (d. 1968) | Archbishop of Atlanta, USA |
| 3 | Gordon Gray | Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland | |
| 4 | Emmett Carter | Archbishop of Toronto, Canada | |
| 5 | Denis Hurley | 1975–1991 | Archbishop of Durban, South Africa |
| 6 | Daniel Edward Pilarczyk | 1991–1997 | Archbishop of Cincinnati, USA |
| 7 | Maurice Taylor | 1997–2002 | Bishop of Galloway, Scotland |
| 8 | Arthur Roche | 2002–2012 | Bishop of Leeds, England and Wales |
| 9 | Arthur J. Serratelli | 2012–2019 | Bishop of Paterson, USA |
| 10 | Hugh Gilbert | 2019–present | Bishop of Aberdeen, Scotland |
The Roman Missal is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church.
Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, is one of the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council. It was approved by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,147 to 4 and promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 4 December 1963. The main aim was to revise the traditional liturgical texts and rituals to reflect more fully fundamental principles, and be more pastorally effective in the changed conditions of the times, clarifying not only the role of ordained ministers but the modalities of appropriate participation of lay faithful in the Catholic Church's liturgy, especially that of the Roman Rite. The title is taken from the opening lines of the document and means "This Sacred Council".
The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or Novus Ordo, is the most commonly used liturgy in the Catholic Church. It is a form of the Latin Church's Roman Rite, and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969 and published by him in 1970; it was then revised in the 1975 edition of the Roman Missal, further revised by Pope John Paul II in 2000, and published in a third edition in 2002.
The New American Bible (NAB) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1970. The 1986 Revised NAB is the basis of the revised Lectionary, and it is the only translation approved for use at Mass in the Latin-rite Catholic dioceses of the United States and the Philippines, and the 1970 first edition is also an approved Bible translation by the Episcopal Church in the United States.
The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1966. In 1965, the Catholic Biblical Association adapted, under the editorship of Bernard Orchard OSB and Reginald C. Fuller, the Revised Standard Version (RSV) for Catholic use. It contains the deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament placed in the traditional order of the Vulgate. The editors' stated aim for the RSV Catholic Edition was "to make the minimum number of alterations, and to change only what seemed absolutely necessary in the light of Catholic tradition."
A missal is a liturgical book containing instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the liturgical year. Versions differ across liturgical tradition, period, and purpose, with some missals intended to enable a priest to celebrate Mass publicly and others for private and lay use. The texts of the most common Eucharistic liturgy in the world, the Catholic Church's Mass of Paul VI of the Roman Rite, are contained in the 1970 edition of the Roman Missal. Missals have also been published for earlier forms of the Roman Rite and other Latin liturgical rites. Other liturgical books typically contain the Eucharistic liturgies of other ritual traditions, but missals exist for the Byzantine Rites, Eastern Orthodox Western Rites, and Anglican liturgies.
The Nova Vulgata, also called the Neo-Vulgate, is the official Classical Latin translation of the original-language texts of the Bible published by the Holy See. It was completed in 1979, and was promulgated the same year by John Paul II in Scripturarum thesaurus. A second, revised edition was published in 1986. It is the official Latin text of the Bible of the Catholic Church. The Nova Vulgata is also called the New Latin Vulgate or the New Vulgate.
The Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office or Opus Dei are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official set of prayers "marking the hours of each day and sanctifying the day with prayer." The term "Liturgy of the Hours" has been retroactively applied to the practices of saying the canonical hours in both the Christian East and West–particularly within the Latin liturgical rites–prior to the Second Vatican Council, and is the official term for the canonical hours promulgated for usage by the Latin Church in 1971. Before 1971, the official form for the Latin Church was the Breviarium Romanum, first published in 1568 with major editions through 1962.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM)—in the Latin original, Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (IGMR)—is the detailed document governing the celebration of Mass of the Roman Rite in what since 1969 is its normal form. Originally published in 1969 as a separate document, it is printed at the start of editions of the Roman Missal since 1970.
Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, is a large family of liturgical rites and uses of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church sui iuris of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once dominated. Its language is now known as Ecclesiastical Latin. The most used rite is the Roman Rite.
Dominus vobiscum is an ancient salutation and blessing traditionally used by the clergy in the Masses of the Catholic Church and other liturgies, as well as liturgies of other Western Christian denominations, such as Lutheranism, Anglicanism and Methodism.
The term Catholic Bible often refers to a Christian Bible that includes the whole 73-book canon recognized by the Catholic Church, including some of the deuterocanonical books : those of the Old Testament which are in the Greek Septuagint collection but not in the Hebrew Masoretic Text collection. The term may also refer to a version of the Bible which has been approved for publication in accordance with Catholic Canon Law.
The Zaire Use, officially the Roman Missal for the Dioceses of Zaire, is a Congolese liturgical use of the Roman Rite within the Catholic Church. Approved by the Vatican in 1988, it contains many elements from the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, but also incorporates elements from sub-Saharan African culture, particularly Congolese, including a number of inculturated liturgical modifications.
Arthur Roche is an English cardinal of the Catholic Church who has served as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship since 2021. He previously served as secretary of the congregation from 2012 to 2021.
Sine populo is an expression that is used in the Roman Rite liturgy to describe a Mass celebrated by a priest without a congregation.
Liturgiam authenticam is an instruction of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, dated 28 March 2001.
The Grail Psalms refers to various editions of an English translation of the Book of Psalms, first published completely as The Psalms: A New Translation in 1963 by the Ladies of the Grail. The translation was modeled on the French La Bible de Jérusalem, according to the school of Fr. Joseph Gelineau: a simple vernacular, arranged in sprung rhythm to be suitable for liturgical song and chant. All official Catholic English translations of the Liturgy of the Hours use the Grail Psalms.
Pope Francis issued the document Magnum principium dated 3 September 2017 on his own authority. It modified the 1983 Code of Canon Law to shift responsibility and authority for translations of liturgical texts into modern languages to national and regional conferences of bishops and restrict the role of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW). It was made public on 9 September 2017 and its effective date was 1 October of the same year.
Traditionis custodes is an apostolic letter issued motu proprio by Pope Francis, promulgated on 16 July 2021 regarding the continued use of pre-Vatican II rites. It restricts the celebration of the Tridentine Mass of the Roman Rite, sometimes colloquially called the "Latin Mass" or the "Traditional Latin Mass". The apostolic letter was accompanied by an ecclesiastical letter to the Catholic bishops of the world.
Liturgical use of Latin is the practice of performing Christian liturgy in Ecclesiastical Latin. This practice is typically found in the context of liturgical rites of the Latin Church.
