Q: Blessings to you!
This is not urgent: but an inquiry regarding an antiphon from the Liturgy of the Hours:
For the Solemnity of the Annunciation, morning prayer, 1st antiphon (I’ve long noticed this every year) it states “The angel Gabriel was sent to the Virgin Mary, who was engaged to be married to Joseph”. Not only is this a terrible translation, it’s simply untrue, and I’ve seen it give rise to theological error and the common belief among the faithful that Mary was an unwed mother.
Is there any explanation for this serious oversight of the English translation (I don’t if the original translation of the breviary is coming from the Latin – and what that might be…) And whether this has been brought to the attention of the translators of the English for any future revision translation?
Thank you for any insight you may offer. Blessings and prayers for your ministry!
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A: The Latin word in the typical edition for this antiphon is desponsatam. It means “betrothed” or “engaged”. I have no records of how the first translators made their decisions.
The same antiphon appears at Morning Prayer on December 20, where it serves the Canticle of Zechariah. A slightly longer version of it accompanies the second psalm of Evening Prayer I on March 19, the solemnity of Joseph, husband of Mary. There the English translation says “a virgin betrothed”.
As we await the revised Liturgy of the Hours, I’m not sure where these antiphons stand in the translation process right now, but when ICEL considered them several years ago, the commission consistently chose the word “betrothed” in place of “engaged to be married.”
It’s the same word in the Latin Vulgate in Luke 1:27, so I’m sure that’s how it ended up in these antiphons. The New American Bible, Revised Edition, translates it as “betrothed.” The preconciliar Breviary used these same antiphons for March 19 and 25.