Sandro Magister
A discussion has been prompted by the motu proprio “Magnum Principium” with which Pope Francis a few days ago redefined the responsibilities of the bishops and of the episcopal conferences in the translations of liturgical texts.
Meanwhile, however, there are those who are going rogue, without even being bishops. Like Professor Alberto Melloni, who on September 13 offered in grand style to the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew - on a visit to Bologna, to the foundation created by Giuseppe Dossetti and Giuseppe Alberigo, the captain of which today is Melloni - his own brand-new Italian translation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan “Credo,” the one that is recited or sung at every Mass.
In presenting this creature of his, “ruminated over for a long time among several scholars and discussed with a philologist of the caliber of Silvia Ronchey,” Melloni said that he wanted “to leave the Latin Credo to its history,” along with that divisive “Filioque” which has never been part of the original Greek text. As if to resolve on his own in this way, by magic, centuries of schism between the Church of Rome and the Churches of the East.
In reality, without much horn-tooting over unlikely ecumenical miracles, John Paul II and Benedict XVI (
) had already, on several occasions, recited the “Credo” in the original Greek text without the “Filioque,” together with patriarchs of Constantinople:
) had already, on several occasions, recited the “Credo” in the original Greek text without the “Filioque,” together with patriarchs of Constantinople:
But here comes Melloni with his own “Credo,” translated from the Greek into a very bizarre Italian, capable according to him of finally “reviving the hidden rhymes of the common faith and the thrum of that ‘One’ which seems like a refrain.”
It has to be read to be believed. With the line breaks, punctuation, parentheses, syntax of Melloni himself. A text that is already unpronounceable in Italian. But one that should find its equally bizarre matches in other languages, with effects that can be sampled in the replicas in English, Spanish, and French proposed here in jest by Settimo Cielo.
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We believe in a God One
Father, Omnipotent, Maker of heaven and earth, of the
visible and the invisible.
Father, Omnipotent, Maker of heaven and earth, of the
visible and the invisible.
And [we believe] in a Lord One,
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-Begotten,
Generated by the Father before all the ages,
[God from God], light from light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father
through whom all was created.
He [who] for us men
and for our salvation came down from heaven
and became incarnate of the Holy Spirit
and from the Virgin Mary humanized himself.
The Crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
He [who] died and was buried
and rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures
and ascended into heaven, and enthroned at the right hand of the Father
and will return again in glory judging the living and the dead,
He, whose Kingdom will have no end.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-Begotten,
Generated by the Father before all the ages,
[God from God], light from light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father
through whom all was created.
He [who] for us men
and for our salvation came down from heaven
and became incarnate of the Holy Spirit
and from the Virgin Mary humanized himself.
The Crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,
He [who] died and was buried
and rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures
and ascended into heaven, and enthroned at the right hand of the Father
and will return again in glory judging the living and the dead,
He, whose Kingdom will have no end.
And [we believe] in the Holy Spirit
the Lord and Life-giver
who departs from the Father
and with the Father and the Son
the Co-worshipped and Co-glorified
the Speaker through the Prophets.
the Lord and Life-giver
who departs from the Father
and with the Father and the Son
the Co-worshipped and Co-glorified
the Speaker through the Prophets.
[We believe] the church One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
We confess a baptism One
for the remission of faults,
we await the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the future age.
for the remission of faults,
we await the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the future age.
Amen.