Lost in Translation #136
After the Memento, Domine, the priest prays the Communicantes:
Communicantes, et memoriam venerantes, in primis gloriósae semper Vírginis Maríae, Genitrícis Dei et Dómini nostri Jesu Christi: sed et beáti Joseph, ejusdem Vírginis Sponsi, et beatórum Apostolórum ac Mártyrum tuórum, Petri et Pauli, Andréae, Jacóbi, Joannis, Thomae, Jacóbi, Philippi, Bartholomaei, Matthaei, Simónis, et Thaddaei: Lini, Cleti, Clementis, Xysti, Cornelii, Cypriáni, Laurentii, Chrysógoni, Joannis et Pauli, Cosmae et Damiáni: et omnium Sanctórum tuórum; quorum méritis precibusque concédas, ut in ómnibus protectiónis tuae muniámur auxilio. Per eundem Christum Dóminum nostrum. Amen.
Which the 2011 ICEL edition translates as:
In communion with those whose memory we venerate, especially the glorious ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ, and blessed Joseph, her Spouse, your blessed Apostles and Martyrs, Peter and Paul, Andrew, (James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon and Jude; Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian) and all your Saints; we ask that through their merits and prayers, in all things we may be defended by your protecting help. (Through Christ our Lord. Amen.) [1]
And which I translate as:
Communicating with, and venerating in the first place the memory of the glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of Our Lord Jesus Christ; but also of blessed Joseph, spouse of the same Virgin: and likewise of Thy blessed Apostles and Martyrs Peter and Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, James, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon, and Thaddeus: Linus, Cletus, Clement, Sixtus, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damian, and of all Thy Saints, through whose merits and prayers, grant that we may in all things be defended by the help of Thy protection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
ICEL’s translation of communicantes as “In communion with” captures the essence of the sentiment better than my literal rendering of “communicating,” for it is fellowship with the Saints and not a mere exchange of words that is being signified. As Fr. Nicholas Gihr writes:
The word Communicantes… denotes that we are children of the Church, subjects of the kingdom of Christ, members of the great family of God, in a word, that we belong “to the Communion of Saints.” [2]
On the other hand, “communicating” has the one advantage of reminding us that we speak to the Saints as our heavenly friends and sometimes they speak back.
Not surprisingly for a prayer built upon the command “Do this in memory of Me,” memory is a prominent theme throughout the Canon. In the previous sentence (the Memento), the priest asked God to remember him and the rest of the Church (Militant); here, he mentions that we remember and venerate all the Saints (the Church Triumphant). The Sacrifice of the Mass makes present not only the Lamb that was slain but the many voices round about His throne. (see Rev. 5, 11-12)
Of these many voices, the priest singles out twenty-six by name: The Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, twelve Apostles, and twelve Martyrs. Just as only the bones of martyrs may be placed in the altar stone, so too are only the names of martyrs mentioned in the Canon, for as St. Augustine puts it, they are the imitators of the Lord’s Passion. [3] John the Apostle is considered a “martyr by will” even though he is thought to have died of natural causes because an attempt was made on His life when the Emperor ordered him to be placed in a vat of boiling oil, only to emerge fresher than ever; the Blessed Virgin is considered the Queen of Martyrs and to have suffered a martyrdom through her compassion, when she watched her Son die; and St. Joseph, spiritually united to his spouse, shared in her earlier martyrdom (the first three of her Seven Sorrows).
Here, Mary is called Genitrix Dei, the Latin equivalent of the Greek Theotokos or God-bearer, the title given to her at the Council of Ephesus in 431. A genitrix is literally a begettress, but it is reasonable to translate Genitrix Dei as “Mother of God.” (Less defensible is ICEL’s “Mother of our God,” which blurs the Ephesian title.) She is also called glorious because she is one of the very few Saints enjoying her glorified body now in Heaven, as we celebrate today on this feast of her Assumption. And she is honored “in the first place” (imprimis) ahead of all other Saints because her unique holiness and role in salvation history accord to her not just dulia (veneration) but hyperdulia (hyper veneration, so to speak).
Instead of using “and” to continue the list of Saints, the Canon uses the somewhat curious construction “but also” (sed et), as if to say, “But let us not forget…” Sed et occurs four times in the Canon: here, at the Hanc Igitur, and twice in the Unde et Memores. Outside the Canon, the only other time it is used in the Mass is at the Suscipe Sancte Pater during the Offertory.
The two pairings of Apostles and Martyrs makes twenty-four, the number of the Elders mentioned in Revelation 4,4. Starting with St. Thomas, the Apostles are organized according to their feast days in Rome. [4] Then follows a list of five popes (Linus through Cornelius), one bishop (Cyprian), one deacon (Lawrence), and five laymen (Chrysogonus, the brothers John and Paul, and the physician brothers Cosmas and Damian). Cornelius is the only pope out of chronological sequence so that he can be named alongside his friend Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage who joined him in the fight against Novatian, and who shares a feast day with him on September 16.
Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian of Carthage
The list of Saints in the Communicantes is one of two instances in the Canon of enumerative rhetoric (a device as old as Homer), the other being the list in the Nobis quoque peccatoribus. The best explanation, in my opinion, of these two different lists is offered by Fr. Neil Roy, who sees in them a literary adaptation of an early iconic tradition called the “deesis,” a triptych of sorts that places Christ in the middle, His Mother on one side, and John the Baptist on the other. [5] The first set of Saints in the Canon stresses the hierarchical nature of the Church. It begins with the Queen of Martyrs and organizes the rest according to descending ecclesiastical status. The second set of Saints stresses the charismatic nature of the Church. It begins with St. John the Baptist, who never held an ecclesiastical position but certainly had a charism as the prophet of the Most High, and it continues with seven male and seven female martyrs, most of whom lacked an important position in the Church. Whereas the first group emphasis the Church’s structure, the second group is more about the breath of the Spirit, which is prophetic and eschatological. Whereas the first group of saints are judges, the second group are advocates of mercy.
Deesis, Hagia Sophia
Notes
[1] 2011 Roman Missal, p. 636.
[2] Gihr, Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, p. 606.
[3] “And the communion of the Lord’s Body was celebrated where the martyrs had been immolated and crowned in the likeness of His Passion.” (Conf. 6.2.2.)
[4] Barthe, Forest of Symbols, p. 109.
[5] See Rev. Neil J. Roy, “The Roman Canon: deëis in euchological form,” in Benedict XVI and the Sacred Liturgy, eds. Neil J. Roy and Janet E. Rutherford (Four Courts Press, 2008), 181-199.
