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Dear All,

Given that GC27 (SDB) said that we need to be mystics in the Spirit, and that mysticism is part of our charism, it follows that the more we grasp the essence of the charism, the more we will be helped if we need to translate its mystical side.

As Salesian translators we should not be surprised, then, if at some point we are asked to translate a text that is strongly mystical in nature.

So imagine that you are asked to translate  ‘Take me with you!’, the mystical experiences of Vera Grita, Salesian Cooperator (1923-1969), mystic of the Eucharist, ‘victim’, and now Servant of God. ‘Take me with you!’ is a series of ‘dictations’ from Jesus.

If we were to define the mystical as that which cannot be expressed, then it ought to pose a problem for translators. But this negative definition may not be the best definition of the mystical. If the divine is actually speaking to the human, then something is being expressed.

What kind of guidelines might a translator have for dealing with something like this? There are not too many books in the translation discipline that provide such (although mystical experience is one of the most studied experiences in religious studies), so we need to perhaps look to guidance from within...

Consider the following Message from Jesus to Vera:

I Jesus, Holy Spirit, who have descended into your little soul, will speak the language that
the poor can speak... What others must see is the truth of my Messages, not the ‘form’, the
substance and not the ‘style’.
’ Message, 25-11-1968.

‘Take me with you!’ is not an easy text to deal with, but in the message above, Jesus was offering some guidance. Can we take it from the message above that the form and style might be a bit disconcerting? I think so, and that is certainly the case for the messages in Vera’s notebooks. But the translator has the task of somehow managing to convey the truth and substance. Form and style in this case will be Vera’s. The truth and substance belong to Jesus. So we might seem to be translating Vera, but we are really trying to translate Jesus! 

This suggests that prayer about this kind of translation is essential. If translators ever need the Spirit, then this is such a case.

Sometimes translators might choose to translate a text; at other times they are simply asked to do so. This was the case with ‘Take me with you!’ It was done out of obedience. That is a guideline, especially as many of the messages are precisely about obedience. One might have a natural resistance to this sort of language, but it is best to try to put that aside and tackle the task with good will.

Mystics have been translated before. Think of the works of Hildegard von Bingen. But we do not need to go back that far. Not too far from the Salesian tradition (well, very much part of it really, since she was a disciple of Francis de Sales) is St Margaret Mary Alocoque. Father Rua quotes her liberally at the time the Salesian Congregation was being consecrated to the Sacred Heart. We also have other examples of Salesian Family mystics. There is quite some similarity in life experience between Vera and Alexandrina da Costa (Portugal), for example. In constant union with Jesus in the world’s tabernacles, the latter was the subject of ecstasies and revelations. The Lord provided that her second spiritual director be a Salesian, Fr Umberto Pasquale, who asked her sister to keep a diary of her words and mystical experiences. However, I have only read snippets of her conversations with Jesus, not entire diaries of them. In Vera’s case we have 13 notebooks worth of mystical material. But certainly, reading up on available mystical material (in Italian or English or...) would have to be considered a guideline for the translator.

At the very least, there might be a need for a translator’s preface to explain the approach that has been taken in dealing with such difficult material.

Anyway, it is up to the reader to determine if the translation could ultimately be described as successful. If you wanted to get a feel for who Vera Grita is, her relevance to the Salesian charism, but also the difficulty a translator faces when tackling mystical material, then by all means take a look at the result.

And turn to the Best Practice for this week (which is no. 17, even though last week’s was 15, but I explained this in last week’s newsletter) for some more practical ideas about what the translator did in this case.

----------

On another matter: the SF World Advisory Council finished its meeting in Rome a few days ago, and the minutes were sent on for translation. You might be interested in the discussion on suggestions for next year's Strenna. The RM specifically asked for ideas from this group (which involves the leaders of each of the SF's 32 'families'). He gave them a lead by suggesting that it would almost certainly ‘deserve to be connected with the motto of the Jubilee Year 2025, “Spes non confundit” (Hope does not disappoint)’. And there is already planning for the 150th anniversary of the first missionary expedition. The group then put forward some ideas: 

  • Consider the Jubilee theme: “Pilgrims of Hope” or “Missionaries of Hope.” How the Salesian Family witnesses and communicates hope to young people. Don Bosco, a teacher of hope. Salesian journeys of hope. Mary Help of Christians brings hope. Who do you place your hope in? Educating ourselves to educate young people, the elderly, migrants, families in hope. Strengthen missionary passion in the Salesian Family. Journeying together with hope and missionary spirit.

That might be sufficient to give us a general idea of where things will be heading regarding Strenna 2025.

best_practice_17-mysticism.docx

 


List of Articles
No. Subject Author Date Views
30 Translators newsletter No. 30 “TM" Best Practice No. 28 - Using Matecat file tolle 2024.08.17 156
29 Translators newsletter No. 29 “How long does it take to...?" Best Practice No. 27 - Translation time file tolle 2024.08.10 161
28 Translators newsletter No. 28 “Learning Language Through Translation" Best Practice No. 26 - Learning through translation file tolle 2024.08.04 159
27 Translators newsletter No. 27 “Online with saints..." Best Practice No. 25 - TEP file tolle 2024.07.27 182
26 Translators newsletter No. 26 “Lively debates!" Best Practice No. 24 - Terminology file tolle 2024.07.20 172
25 Translators newsletter No. 25 “Voicing the Word" Best Practice No. 23 - Orality file tolle 2024.07.13 186
24 Translators newsletter No. 24 “Dealing with dialect, accent, idiom" Best Practice No. 22 - Dialect file tolle 2024.07.07 173
23 Translators newsletter No. 23 “Pastoral translation - 1” Best Practice No. 21 - FABC file tolle 2024.06.29 183
22 Translators newsletter No. 22 “Not word-for-word but world-for-world” Best Practice No. 20 - World-for-world file tolle 2024.06.22 185
21 Translators newsletter No. 21 “When a word makes a difference” Best Practice No. 19 - Glossary file tolle 2024.06.14 171
20 Translators newsletter No. 20 “Be a ‘smart’ translator” Best Practice No. 18 - SDB Resources file tolle 2024.06.08 171
» Translators newsletter No. 19 “Translating Jesus!” Best Practice No. 17 - Mysticism file tolle 2024.06.03 197
18 Translators newsletter No. 18 “What shoes should a translator wear? Ratio” Best Practice No. 15 - Multimedia translation 1 file tolle 2024.05.25 177
17 Translators newsletter No. 17 “With sighs too deep for words” Best Practice No. 16 - Translators prayers file tolle 2024.05.25 199
16 Translators newsletter No. 16 “Multimedia translation” Best Practice No. 14 - Multimedia translation tolle 2024.05.25 192
15 Translators newsletter No. 15 “Humpty Dumpty” Best Practice No. 13 - Ten tips for Salesian translators file tolle 2024.05.25 168
14 Translators newsletter No. 14 “Turning to the Scriptures” Best Practice No. 12 - Christianese file tolle 2024.05.25 156
13 Translators newsletter No. 13 “YM - quotations, citations” Best Practice No. 11 - Quotations, citations file tolle 2024.05.25 184
12 Translators newsletter No. 12 “Hagiography” Best Practice No. 10 - Hagiography file tolle 2024.05.25 204
11 Translators newsletter No. 11 “C&R” Best Practice No. 9 - Juridical file tolle 2024.05.25 179
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