| ORIGINAL | ENGLISH | COMMENT | CITATION |
|---|
| La Chiave del Paradiso [IT] | The Key to Paradise | Published by DB in 1848. Of interest because it contains an identikit of the Christian he would like to form: conformed to Christ, pray as Jesus prayed, accessible to the poor, ignorant, children, as Jesus was; deal with neighbor as Jesus did; servant of all, obedient, eat and drink as Jesus did at Cana and Bethany... | |
| la grazia di unità [IT] | the grace of unity | Term used in reference to our consecrated life which unites both the divine and the earthly. From Special General Chapter 20 but much promoted by Fr Viganò. | Viganò ACG345:..dato da mangiare.La grazia di unità fa crescere insieme i due poli di Dio e dei bisognosi. |
| laicità [IT] | laicity | The English term is not a happy one! English may prefer 'lay state' but this would not capture the sense of the word as used by Fr Viganò for example. Hence we have to stay with 'laicity'. Fr Viganò offers three levels of meaning to the term - the most general being that of the universal condition of creation, a second level being that of the Church's mission, and the third as a lay form of religious life, the Salesian Brother. | RATIO: ...presente la molteplicità di possibilità per vivere in Congregazione la laicità consacrata |
| laico [IT] | lay person or lay (adj) | Avoid 'lay man' unless the reference is clearly to a man. In its ecclesial context it refers to all the faithful except those in Orders or Religious (though technically many Religious are still lay) according to Vatican II's ''Lumen Gentium''. Note that this term was used by DB himself, e.g. in the first constitutional text 1858 on the scope of the society. It predates the term coadiutore and in fact in that text is more a reference to what DB called his ''salesiani esterni'' (lay people living in the world with his spirit) than it is to coadjutors. | CG20:..1 sacerdote e del Salesiano laico. Il coadiutore sia presente anche nel lavoro della pastorale vocazionale |
| Laicus [LA] | (Lay) Brother | Term found in the Year Book. | |
| L'Amico della gioventù [IT] | The Friend of Youth | Published by DB in 1848. It only had a short life. Only the first edition is in archival hands. His biographer says that in this period DB was having a terrible time. | |
| laurea, laureato [IT] | degree, degreed | The Italian term designates a University degree - any. Italy state-run universities do not have MA, PH.D but Catholic institutions do - the ''licenza'' comes after the ''baccalaureato'', the ''dottorato'' is the crowning degree. Baccalaureato = Bachelors, |
licenza = Masters. Dottorato = Doctors or Ph D. ||Chavez ACG386:..P. STELLA, Valori spirituali nel "Giovane Provveduto" di San Giovanni Bosco. Estratto dalla dissertazione di laurea (Roma 1960), pag. 48. 80-81. ||
| lavoro [IT] | work | Be aware of the ascetic sense that this word has in early Salesian literature (''lavoro e temperanza'' - work and temperance). Nevertheless, for DB the term had wide application - any kind of productive activity short or long-term, apostolic or intellectual as well as manual. He distinguished work from play and prayer. | Dbletrom:..martiri dello studio e del lavoro? |
| Lavoro e temperanza [IT] | Work and temperance | Classic expression of DB's. Motto of the Salesian Society, originally expressed in Latin as ''labor et temperantia''. DB called it ''la parola d'ordine e il distintivo del salesiano'' (MB XII, 466) i.e. the term which is most distinctive of the Salesian, his badge, if you like.. | CG20-4:..a) Operosità instancabile e rinuncie ('Lavoro e temperanza') |
| lectio divina [LA] | lectio divina | The term is not translated. It has a long pedigree in the Church's experience. The term refers in particular to a way of reading the Word of God (hence the ''divina'') directly or via commentaries. ''lectio divina'' has more recently been encouraged in Salesian spirituality, especially by Fr Chávez. | Chavez ACG380:...Indicare per le case di formazione la metodologia e la pratica della Lectio divina. |
| L'estasi dell'azione [IT] | the ecstasy of action | Originally a term from St Francis de Sales. The term was taken up again by Fr. Viganò in AGC 332 and 338. He suggests it is the interior side of ''da mihi animas''. Action sanctified by prayer. It is the Salesian interpretation which leads to art. 12 of the Constitutions: 'contemplative in action'. | Viganò ACG308:...San Francesco di Sales soffermandoci con predilezione sulle sue riflessioni circa 'l'estasi dell'azione'. |
| lettera circolare [IT] | circular letter | | |
| Lettere dimissoriali | Dimissorial Letters | Letter from Bishop or Major Superior to ordaining Bishop of candidate for ordination, giving the go-ahead for the ordination. | |
| lettorato [IT] | ministry of reader | Note that English does not attempt to call it 'lectorate'. The one who takes on this ministry is called ''lettore'' or 'Reader'. In the Ratio 474 the English refers to 'this ministry,' allowing the sentence structure to refer to the earlier mention of ministry of lector. 'Lector' is a possibility but not a preference as an English gloss for ''lettorato''. | EG06-Ministeri e Ordini Sacri:..Per i salesiani avviati al Presbiterato e al Diaconato, i Ministeri istituiti (Lettorato e Accolitato) |
| lettura spirituale [IT] | spiritual reading | In fact not to be confused with ''lectio divina'' which has a long pedigree in the Church's history and is more meditative by intention than the simpler spiritual reading. | DBscritti:..lettura spirituale, la visita quotidiana al SS. Sacramento, la Confessione settimanale, |
| Letture Cattoliche [IT] | Catholic Readings | First published by Don Bosco in 1853, as a monthly pocket-sized booklet. Often referred to simply as 'The Readings' (Letture). | |
| liceo [IT] | High School | The upper level of secondary school whatever that may be called in different parts of the English-speaking world. The Italian ''liceo'' student either takes languages, liberal arts or science maths directions. To apply for university the ''liceo'' student must take the ''maturità'' exam (matriculation). | Vecchi ACG376:...Mercede, nel cui territorio era andata ad abitare la famiglia Zatti. Avevano due scuole: un liceo |
| liceo di Valsalice [IT] | College of Valsalice | Don Bosco's time. | |
| Liguori, Alfonso de' [IT] | Liguori, Alphonsus | 1696-1787. Saint and moralist. Founder of the Redemptorists. Interestingly enough, English tends to Italianise the surname according to modern Italian orthography rather than its original orthography. DB first 'met' Alphonsus di Liguori at the Convitto Ecclesiastico in Turin 1841-44 - and the study of this so-called Probabiliorist influenced his attitude to confession and to some of the ascetic elements of Salesian life. | |
| liminalità [IT] | frontier situation | A term emanating from post Vatican II discussion of Consecrated Life (or from the anthropologist Victor Turner??). | Viganò ACG347:..'liminalità';- un concetto che indica come la Vita consacrata si collochi in una 'situazione di frontiera'. |
| linguaggio (lingua) [IT] | language (but in plural, it could be glossed in some contexts as expressions, vocabulary.... | Anyone whose native language is English feels a little uncomfortable when Salesian texts speak broadly of the 'language of cinema, theatre' etc., since we are accustomed to a language being rather more clearly defined than this, as in the case of the English or Italian language or any other language spoken by human beings. The answer lies in linguistics which makes a distinction between (using French here because of F. Saussure who introduced the notion) ''parole'', ''langue'' and ''langage''. ''Parole'' is an actual utterance, a local example of speech. ''Langue'' is what we normally understand as a particular language, but taken as a whole, as a system of signs. ''Langage'' is the capacity or competence for language, or the abstract notion of language, and applies equally to animals as to humans, to cinema, art, theatre'.. In Italian, ''langage'' is ''linguaggio'', and ''langue'' is ''lingua''. ''Parole'' is obviously ''parola''. In English we use the term ''language'' for both ''lingua'' and ''linguaggio''. The translation of the phrase ''linguaggi inediti'' in JPII's 'Rapid Development' is 'unknown vocabulary' - it is a reminder not to easily fall into the habit of glossing ''linguaggi'' as 'languages'. | SSCS:...Conoscenza dell'attuale linguaggio giovanile; |
| L'Ispettore Salesiano, un ministero per l'animazione e il governo della comunità ispettoriale [IT] | The Salesian Provincial, a ministry for the animation and government of the Provincial community | Title of what is sometimes also simply called the Provincial's Manual or handbook, a manual which refers to the role of the Provincial in his task of animation and government. | |
| Logo [IT] | Logo | Not to be confused with the stemma or Salesian coat of arms. The logo is of the General Administration. | Chavez ACG381:...convenienza di un logo comune; infine, il tema della comunità della Casa Generalizia |
| Los Hogares Don Bosco [IT] | Los Hogares Don Bosco | Leave in its Spanish original. It is a 'Focolare' style movement. ''Focolare'' would be the Italian gloss for ''Hogares''. | |
| L'Osservatore Romano [IT] | L'Osservatore Romano | Title of Catholic (Vatican) daily first produced on 1st July 1861 a few months after the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed. The publication's aim was clearly apologetical and in defence of the Papal States at the time. It's name reflected the 'Roman Question' of the day. In 1885 Pope Leo XIII made it the official organ of the Holy See. This initial period of development clearly occurred at a time when Don Bosco was himself most active in publishing apologetic materials in defence of Catholic truth and of the Holy See. | |
| Lotteria [IT] | Lottery, benefit raffle | DB began his first lottery or raffle in 1851 and continued this kind of exercise for the rest of his life. | DBpianreg:...Lotteria, che si compie l'anno seguente, che ha favorevolissima accoglienza. |
| Lumen Gentium [IT] | Lumen Gentium | The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, solemnly proclaimed by Pope Paul VI on November 21st 1964. As with Church documents generally, the term comes from the opening two words of the document, literally meaning "light of the people". | |
| luoghi salesianio [IT] | Salesian holy places | A reference to the areas where DB was born and grew up and ministered - Colle, Chieri, Turin etc. | Chavez385:..Valorizzazione dei luoghi salesiani |
