Monday, July 25, 2005

Compendio: Parte III

Fair Amy's got a musing up over Magister's griping over the Compendio....

In sum, and I'm translating, he calls the Italian edition a missed opportunity, way too expensive (9.50 Euro for the smaller edition, 18 for the larger) and expresses despair over what he sees as the mishandling of "a 'little red book' of the Church which should be available to an innumerable number of people and remain in circulation not just for years, but decades."

For his initial (and more positive) breakdown of the work, here is a piece from earlier in July, already translated. Amy mentions the layout, and this is the citation:
There is an unexpected novelty in the new "Compendium" of the catechism of the Catholic Church presented by Benedict XVI on June 28. It features prominently, in full color, fourteen sacred images.

As the pope has explained, the images are not there purely for the sake of illustration. They are an integral part of the new catechism.

They are to be reproduced in all the translations of the "Compendium." And each time they are to be placed in the same position with respect to the text. Each of the images is accompanied by a detailed commentary, with extensive citations from the Bible and the Fathers of the Church.
Amazon is taking orders for the English release....

And one last thing that really struck me about this volume is the impressive collection of prayers it has in the back as an appendix. The Pope noted in June that the Catholics should be able to say the basic prayers in Latin in addition to in their own languages, and they're listed here in Latin alongside the Italian. The Latin will also feature in the English and other translated editions.

But what I love most are the three prayers not with side-by-side Latin, because they're taken from the Eastern rites -- one from the Copts, one from the Syro-Maronites, one from the Byzantine tradition. Their inclusion is a small step toward JP's "both lungs" vision, but if the clean-lined grace of the texts inspires enrichment and greater curiosity on the part of Western-rite Catholics, then it'd sure be a giant leap for the universality of the church. And that's the furthest thing from a missed opportunity I could imagine.

-30-

1 Comments:

Blogger Vonshui said...

Nice review.

25/7/05 23:55  

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