Traditionalist publishing renaissance (5): The newly-established Cenacle Press

Many readers will already be familiar with the wonderful online giftshop of the traditional Benedictine monastery of Silverstream Priory in Ireland. The same monastery has recently launched Cenacle Press, with six classic reprints, all newly typeset -- four by Robert Hugh Benson and two by Dom Hubert van Zeller -- along with biography of a remarkable Polish nun, Sr. Maria Bernadette of the Cross, and a collection of new poetic works and poetic translations from Latin by the monks of Silverstream.

All titles are available from the online giftshop (ships to anywhere) and also at online retailers such as Amazon. Happy reading!

“Vatican’s dear citadel / Besieged of hell?”: A Poem Written by Pope Leo XIII

Although educated Catholics know Leo XIII as a prolific author of encyclicals, especially on Catholic social doctrine and on the Rosary, fewer are aware that he wrote a considerable body of poetry, including liturgical hymns, sonnets, ballads, and other popular forms. What follows is a (poetic) English translation of one of the poems, copied out of an old volume that I have long since lost the title of. The poignancy of certain lines struck me, in light of the events of recent days and years. (UPDATE: A kind reader sent in the exact reference! The book is called Poems, Charades, Inscriptions of Pope Leo XIII: Including the Revised Compositions of His Early Life in Chronological Order, published in 1902.

THE OPENING CENTURY

Lines written on New Year’s Eve, 1900

Pope Leo XIII

A noble nurse of all the arts,
The Age departs:
Let who will sing the truths it taught,
The marvels wrought.

Me rather shall its sinful years
But move to tears,
As in a backward glance I see
Its infamy.

Shall blood of men be my lament,
Or scepters rent,
Or Vatican’s dear citadel
Besieged of hell?

Saint Teresa of Jesus - 500 - II - Laetare: Nada te turbe / Let naught disturb thee

Saint Teresa of Jesus - 500 - I - I was born for Thee

It is quite hard to translate and keep both a reasonable identity of meaning between the original version and the translated text. With poetry, this is much harder. With devotional poetry, even more. And it is almost unimaginably difficult to do all that while remaining under the obligation to prevent any doctrinal error from creeping into the translation of a thoroughly orthodox text.

So all our gratitude to the nuns of the former Stanbrook Abbey for the great effort they put over 100 years ago in the translation of some of the deepest works of Saint Teresa of Avila, her poems, the greatest jewel of the Golden Age of Spanish Arts and Literature (el Siglo de Oro), that cultural apotheosis of Catholic civilization. As we approach the 500th anniversary of her birthday (March 28, 1515), let us get nearer to the Lord this Lent in her own words.

Vuestra soy, para Vos nací

I am Thine, I was born for Thee