Denver Newsroom, Nov 19, 2020 / 17:01 pm
The English and Welsh bishops' conference has decreed that in the translation of the conclusion of collects in the Roman Missal, "one" is to be omitted before "God". The conclusions will now read "God, for ever and ever".
The decision follows a letter sent earlier this year by Cardinal Robert Sarah, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, addressing a concern about the English translation.
A Nov. 9 decree signed by Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster, and Fr. Christopher Thomas, the president and general secretary, respectively, of the English and Welsh bishops' conference, notes that "until now" in the three formulae of conclusions to collects, "the Latin words 'Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum' are rendered in English as 'one God, for ever and ever.'"
"The addition of 'one' before 'God' in the conclusion of the Collects could be construed as mistaken and problematic. 'Deus' here refers to the earlier mention of 'the Son' and is a Christological, anti-Arian affirmation, and not directly Trinitarian in this context," the decree states.