''In cotidianis precibus'' () is a ''

motu proprio In law, (Latin for 'on his own impulse') describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a document issued by the pope on h ...

'' from

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

dated 24 March 1945, regarding the new Latin translation of the Psalm to be used in the

liturgy Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

. The Latin translation used hitherto had in earlier times been the one made from the Greek Septuagint by

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

. According to the Pope, Jerome also realised that there must have been flaws in this translation of a translation, and that is why he translated the psalms directly from the Hebrew. However, this latter translations from the original Hebrew did not find its way into the tradition of the Catholic Church, while the Latin translation of the Septuagint became the common translation. This translation from the Septuagint was added to the

breviary A breviary () is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviar ...

Pope Pius V Pope Pius V, OP (; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (and from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 January 1566 to his death, in May 1572. He was an ...

. Only in the course of the centuries, the Pope says, has the full richness of the original texts (in Hebrew) become apparent, especially through translations made - with the permission of the ecclesiastical authorities - directly from Hebrew into various

vernacular languages Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken form of language, particularly when perceived as having lower social status or less prestige than standard language, which is more codified, institutionally promoted, literary, or formal. More narr ...

. Since the psalmists were inspired by the

Holy Ghost Most Christian denominations believe the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, to be the third divine Person of the Trinity, a triune god manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each being God. Nontrinitarian Christians, who ...

, it is helpful to have translations that are as close as possible to the intentions of the original texts; all this - Pius writes - in accordance with his previously published encyclical ''

Divino afflante Spiritu ( English: " ythe divine inspiration of the Spirit" ) is a papal encyclical letter issued by Pope Pius XII on 30 September 1943 calling for new translations of the Bible into vernacular languages, using the original languages as a source in ...

''. It is for this reason that the Pope decided to commission the production of a new translation of the Psalms, taking into account the tradition of the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

, and using the new techniques and insights of

textual criticism Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...

. The work to produce the new translation was given by the Pope to the

Pontifical Biblical Institute The Pontifical Biblical Institute (also known as Biblicum) is a research and postgraduate teaching institution specialised in biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies located in Rome. Founded in 1909 by Pope Pius X, it is an institution of the ...

. In this ''

'', the pope decides that this new translation must henceforth be used in the Hours:''In cotidianis precibus'', 7

References

External links

Text of the ''motu proprio'' in Dutch

In the ''AAS'' (''Acta Apostolicae Sedis''. 37: 65–67. 1945.)
{{Liturgical Movement Psalms Motu proprio of Pope Pius XII Catholic liturgy 1945 documents