Seeking Translations for 3 Marian chants
  • Where in the world can I find a translation (preferably a literal one) of Omni Die Dic Mariae (all 50-some verses)? Also adding to my angst, I am seeking translations for the 2 following chants: 1)Immaculata, and 2) O Virgo Pulcherrima. If someone could help me out with even one of the above requests, I would be so relieved!
  • Can you give us links to the originals? I can't even find them in Latin, never mind in English.
  • Omni Die Dic Mariae: The full Latin text can be found here: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1002

    If you have a reasonable knowledge of Latin, Google translate is not bad to get you close enough to do your own translation (not at the quality of Father Z but good enough. :-)

    You do know that the first section of Omni Die is "Daily, daily, sing to Mary"?

    There is a lovely setting by Charpentier (I have a recording but there is no translation in the liner notes), and a more homophonic/strophic setting by Gorczycki; the latter can be found at cpdl.org and IMSLP.

    Is this the Immaculata you are seeking? http://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/BVM/Immaculata.html

    BTW, http://www.preces-latinae.org/ is a treasury of Latin prayers and hymns with English translations, very, very helpful.

    That's a quick take around the Internet and my resources--I may be able to help more later.
  • Joseph, the link for the chants "Immaculatam" and "Omni Die" was actually listed in a previous discussion about "Cantus Selecti": http://musicasacra.com/books/cantus_selecti.pdf Song numbers are #93 and #123, respectively (BVM section).

    The chant "O Virgo Pulcherrima" is taken from Cantuale Romano-Seraphicum (Desclee, 1922), #66.

    Patricia, thanks for your assistance. I tried the Google translation service for "Omnie Die" but when I typed in the phrases "cole splendidissima" and "ipsam cole," well....I don't know if it's just my computer that is depraved...but I think I understood Father Z's caution about translation services then.
  • Expeditus1, I _did_ make a disclaimer about it...in addition, there are some other good Latin word dictionaries online that can help with, ahem, stubborn words :-)

    Fr. Abel DiMarco has a lovely harmonization of O Virgo pulcherrima on cpdl, and has included a Spanish translation of the verses he set there. Perhaps if you ran that translation through a translator, you would be triangulating toward an accurate translation of the Latin into English!

    (I'm a bit odd that way; I love languages, and praying the Mass in Latin and French and English (the last my native tongue) I see nuances of meaning and grace that go beyond just a single language. My EF hand missal is Latin/French, which means I have to engage my 'whole heart and mind and body and soul and strength'. On second thought, perhaps I am more than just a bit odd... :-)