The Preface to the Holy Trinity



The Church should have hired poets as well as theologians when it translated the Preface to the Holy Trinity from the Latin into English.  I am disappointed with the dull wording in the English translations of this wonderful prayer that one hears in parish after parish.  Here is the Latin:

Latin Text
Vere dignum et iustum est, æquum et salutare,
nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere:
Domine, sancte Pater, omnipotens æterne Deus:
Qui cum Unigenito Filio tuo et Spiritu Sancto
unus es Deus, unus es Dominus:
non in unius singularitate personæ,
sed in unius Trinitate substantiæ.
Quod enim de tua gloria, revelante te, credimus,
hoc de Filio tuo,
hoc de Spiritu Sancto,
sine discretione sentimus.
Ut in confessione veræ sempiternæque Deitatis,
et in personis proprietas,
et in essentia unitas,
et in maiestate adoretur æqualitas.
Quem laudant Angeli atque Archangeli,
Cherubim quoque ac Seraphim,
qui non cessant clamare quotidie, una voce dicentes:  (The Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus follows here.)

This is a translation that I think is not only beautiful but it seems very true to the Latin as well, so I wonder why it is for personal use only?  I shan't bother to put one of the more common translations here because, as indicated above, I find them uninspiring, and some versions I have read seem actually insulting to the Faith, and to God Himself who gave us the Faith and who is beauty beyond our imagining.

St. Joseph Missal, 1957
Preface for Sundays — unofficial translation of Latin text for personal use only.

         It is fitting indeed
        And just, right and helpful to salvation,
        For us always and everywhere to
        give thanks to You,
        O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Everlasting God,

       Who, with Your Only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit
       Are one God, one Lord;
       Not in the unity of a single person,
       but in the trinity of a single nature.
       For that which we believe on Your revelation concerning Your glory,
       That same we believe of Your Son,
       that same of the Holy Spirit,
       without difference or discrimination.
       So that in confessing the true and everlasting Godhead,
       We shall adore distinction in persons,
       oneness in being,
       and equality in Majesty.

      This the Angels and Archangels,
      the Cherubim, too, and the Seraphim do praise;
      day by day they cease not
      to cry out as with one voice, saying: (Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts etc.)