Q: In Joris Heise’s January 2007 St.
Anthony Messenger article, “The
Gospel of Judas: Reliable or Not?,” the sidebar
“What Is Scripture and Who Decides?” raised
a very important issue. He described the text
of Job 36:16-20 as “gibberish.” When I looked
those verses up in my New American Bible (St. Joseph Edition), I found no text there but
simply a series of dashes.
When I called a Baptist friend, she read
me her Bible’s text for that passage. My
Douay-Rheims translation, printed in 1941
with a nihil obstat and an imprimatur, has
words for those verses. Why does one
translation have words and another one
simply use dashes?
A: Your question raises a very
important point but requires a
detailed answer. Please bear with me. I
should say at the outset that I am very
much indebted to Father Hilarion
Kistner, O.F.M., a Scripture scholar, for
assistance with this answer.
Our oldest complete Hebrew manuscript
of the Bible dates to the 10th
century A.D. In his Dictionary of the
Bible, John L. McKenzie explains that
this was the work of rabbis called Massoretes (derived from the Hebrew word
for “tradition”) and is thus called the
Massoretic text.
The Dead Sea Scrolls (found in the
late 1940s but dating to the second
and first century before Christ) contain
the complete text of Isaiah, as well
as fragments of varying length for every
other Old Testament book except
Esther. The oldest complete copy of
the Septuagint (Greek version of the
Old Testament) is the fourth-century
Codex Siniaticus (156 of its “leaves” are
now in London’s British Museum, 43
are in Leipzig and some leaves are not
accounted for).
The vast majority of biblical texts
are quite certain. A few places, including
these verses from Job, have words
missing or words whose meaning is no
longer sure. Although some translators
make educated guesses for such passages,
other scholars use dashes to indicate
where the text is uncertain. That is
why your friend’s Bible and your Bible
differ.
The Douay-Rheims Bible (completed
in 1609) is a translation from the Latin
text of the Bible. The New American
Bible and The New Jerusalem Bible are
translations from the Hebrew and
Greek originals, a change that was
encouraged by Pope Pius XII’s 1943
encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu.
A nihil obstat and imprimatur indicate
that the text in question contains
nothing that contradicts faith and
morals. Concerning editions of the
Bible, it is not a statement that a given
translation is the best one possible.
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary describes the Book of Job as “the most
difficult work in the Old Testament to
translate.” Job has approximately 100
words or phrases not found anywhere
else in the Bible, plus many very rare
words. The oldest Hebrew text that we
have also contains about 100 more
verses than the book’s Greek text.
We need to remember that the Scriptures
were given to faith communities
and are best understood in dialogue
with the Jews and Christians who recognize
them as inspired. That does
not mean that every biblical book
was dictated by God word for word
or was written by a single human
author. God is the ultimate author.
In
this web site's Archive section for Scripture From
Scratch, readers can find excellent articles
by Sandra Schneiders, I.H.M., and
Ronald Witherup, S.S. (“Interpreting
the Bible: The Right and the Responsibility”
and “The Use and Abuse of the
Bible,” respectively). In the Archive section of Catholic
Update, readers can find “Choosing and
Using a Bible: What Catholics Should
Know,” by Father Witherup. All three
articles are available as reprints.
 Recognizing Holy People in the United States (Part 1)
Q: Where can I find a list of all the people
in the United States for whom a diocesan
investigation has begun for their possible
beatification and canonization?
A: Because the answer to this question
will take more space than
is available this month, I will start now
and conclude my answer in the August
column.
Let’s begin by reviewing the beatification
and canonization process. A person’s
“cause” is opened in the diocese
where he or she died. Documents and
testimonies are collected—if any contemporaries
are still living when the
cause is opened. Otherwise, evidence is
collected about this person’s reputation
for holiness. Once the diocesan
phase is concluded, the documents are
sent to the Holy See’s Congregation for
the Causes of the Saints. The person is
called a “Servant of God.”
The person’s writings are then
reviewed for their orthodoxy. If the
Congregation issues a decree affirming
the heroic virtue of this person, then he
or she is given the title “Venerable.”
When a miracle is officially accepted, a
decree affirming that is published and
the person can be beatified. If a second
miracle is accepted, the person can be
canonized.
If the Congregation judges that the
person was killed out of hatred for the
faith, then no miracle is required for
beatification. But a miracle is needed
for canonization.
The Congregation for the Causes of
the Saints publishes Index et Status
Causarum, a book that indicates the
status of each active cause. The Index’s
most recent edition was in 1999.
The following people who lived in
the United States have been declared
Venerable: Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853), a former slave known for his
charitable works in New York; Samuel
Mazzuchelli (1806-1864), a Dominican
missionary in the Upper Midwest;
Cornelia Peacock Connelly (1809-1879), foundress of the Society of the
Holy Child Jesus; Maria Dudzik (1860-1918), who founded the Franciscan
Sisters of Chicago; and Solanus Casey
(1870-1957), a Capuchin priest and
porter in Detroit (see Father Jack
Wintz’s article).
The causes of Blesseds Damien
Joseph de Veuster, Junipero Serra, Kateri
Tekakwitha, Marianne Cope and
Francis Xavier Seelos are still active.
The same is true for Carlos Manuel
Rodriguez (1918-1963), a Puerto Rican
layman who promoted more active participation
in the liturgy and was beatified
in 2001.
The following causes have completed
their diocesan phase and are under
investigation in Rome: Mother Mary
Elizabeth Lange (c.1784-1882), who
founded the Oblate Sisters of Providence
in Baltimore; Bishop Frederic
Baraga (1797-1868), bishop of Marquette,
Michigan; Mother Henriette
Delille (1812-1862), foundress of the
Sisters of the Holy Family in New
Orleans; Msgr. Nelson Baker (1842-1936), pastor in Lackawanna, New
York; Father Michael McGivney (1852-1890), organizer of the Knights of
Columbus; Mother Maria Kaupas
(1880-1940), who founded the Sisters of
St. Casimir in Chicago; Archbishop
Fulton J. Sheen (1895-1979), radio/TV
pioneer and mission promoter; Sister
Miriam Teresa Demjanovich (1901-1927), a member of the Sisters of Charity
in Convent Station, New Jersey; and
Cardinal Terence Cooke (1921-1983),
archbishop of New York.
These causes are all for clergy or
members of religious congregations.
Those most interested in seeing these
people beatified, however, are usually
laypeople who have benefited from
their apostolic work.
That is true of the nine people listed
above and of the six U.S. “blesseds”
listed earlier. Laypeople promoted the
causes of St. Padre Pio and Blessed
Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
I am grateful to Nancy Hartnagel at
Catholic News Service for assistance in
drawing up this list. Next month, I will
list the beatification causes that are still
at the diocesan level.
Q: At a recent meeting of Christian mothers, someone asked when
the custom of placing a rosary in a deceased Catholic’s hands began.
Although we found the question intriguing, no one there could
answer it. Can you?
A: This custom must have begun after the 12th century because
the rosary, as we know it, began then. When I passed your
question along to the Catholic Cemetery Conference, a
national organization headquartered in Hillside, Illinois,
they got in touch with Msgr. Joseph Rebman of the Diocese of Wilmington,
Delaware. He faxed me an article which noted that archaeologists
over the centuries have often found burial sites with religious
objects significant for that deceased person.
Some Christians bury their dead with a Bible in the person’s hands.
Many Catholics place a rosary instead. I am not sure which pious custom
is older.
If you have a question for Father Pat, please submit it here.
Include your street address for personal replies enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, please. Some answer material must be
mailed since it is not available in digital form. You can still send questions to: Ask a Franciscan, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
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