The American Ecclesiastical Review (Volume 7); A Monthly Publication for the Clergy (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892. Excerpt: ... Translation: "Wreaths enriched with thirty-lold ornaments crown some; sixtyfold Duplicata--double the others' value) wreaths crown certain others; three-fold wreaths laden with fruit one hundred-fold beautify thee, O holy man." The stanza evidently alludes to verses 8 and 23 of the xiii chapter of St. Matthew. The transposition of "alios" and "quosdam" seems to be made simply to suit the measure, and the triple wreath on the brow of the Baptist clearly refers to his threefold character of Virgin, Prophet and Martyr. D. A. Donavan Without criticizing our Reverend Correspondent's version we would add that, just as serta in its etymology does not suggest somuch a ' crown" as it does a garland, whose interwoven strands might still bear the flower or the berry of the myrtle, the word ' fruits" would be preferable, in a literal translation to ' ornaments.' Moreover since serta is rarely used in the singular it may be best considered as a plural substantive; and the distributive trina (which form, instead of tema, would be most commonly used in such a connection)might be translated as a cardinal number--"three" instead of "three-fold." The Baptist's crown would then be the tiara of a "Virgin, Prophet and Martyr." The difficulty of retaining in a literal version the suggestion of the word crementum (growth) which brings vividly before the mind the parable in Matthew xiii, is obvious As our correspondent suggests, the variation between the two versions of the Cistercian and Roman Brevaries is slight, appearing only in the third and fourth lines. We place both side by side submitting a translation of the Roman text. Roman Breviary. Serta ter denis alios coronant Aucta crementis, duplicata quos-dam Trina te fructu cumulate centum Nexibus ornant. Cistercian Breviary....