O My Jesus (Fatima Prayer) in Latin?

Traditional Catholicism
#1

I have found three different translations of the Fatima Prayer in Latin. I say translations because the original, I believe, would have been written in Portuguese. Does anyone have a feel for which translation is more accurate. Here are the translations:

1st:
Domine Iesu, dimitte nobis debita nostra, salva nos ab igne inferiori, perduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim eas, quae misericordiae tuae maxime indigent.

2nd
O mi Jesu, dimitte nobis debita nostra, libera nos ab igne inferni, conduc in caelum omnes animas, praesertim illas quae maxime indigent misericordia tua.

3rd
O mi Iesu, indulge peccata nostra, conserva nos ab igne inferni, duc omnes ad cæli gloriam, præcipue tua misericordia indigentes.

What makes me question the first one is the that in english the beginning would translate to Lord Jesus. However the second translation uses J in Jesu an J is not a letter of the latin alphabet. Yet the website the that I got the second translation from has an audio and the speaker sound very good.
fshcm.com/preces.html

Are there any latin experts who can shed some light on which transalation is more accurate, compare to the english transaltion?

#2

There are different ways to translate the prayer. I would expect the Vatican has adopted a standard, but I’m not sure which one of the three is it.

The website I go to for Latin translations of prayers uses an “I” instead of a “J” for the second version you cite. I would think using a “J” would be OK anyway since it’s a variant of “I.”

My two years of Latin isn’t enough to clinch it, but if you don’t already have this website, here it is:

home.earthlink.net/~thesaurus//index.htm

You can email the webmaster at the site for someone more qualified to answer than I am.

#3

I’m not a Latin expert, nor do I play one on television, but I was a professional translator for a number of years, and I have to say that I’m not completely happy with any of these translations. It’s perfectly legit to write your own, based on the English and how you would want to express the prayer.

Phrase by phrase, here is what I would use:

O mi Iesu (this translates “Oh my Jesus,” using the correct Latin letters)…
dimitte nobis peccata nostra (using the wording from the Pater Noster, but substituting the word for "sins)…
conserva nos ab igne inferni (“libera” seems to have the meaning of setting free from, rather than preserving from, and I prefer “inferni” to “inferiori”)…
duc/perduc/conduc in caelum omnes animas (any of those verbs expresses the thought; take your pick, but my favorite is conduc; option 3 does not mention “all souls”)…
praesertim eas/illas, quae misericordiae tuae maxime indigent (take your pick for “those,” but my preference would be illas; to me this version best espresses the English and flows the best)

Full prayer:
O mi Iesu:
Dimitte nobis peccata nostra;
Conserva nos ab igne inferni;
Conduc in caelum omnes animas,
Praesertim illas, quae misericordiae tuae maxime indigent.

I have only recently begun the process of recovering my two years of high school Latin. I hold myself open to correction from the many out there in CA-Land who are more expert than I.

DaveBj

#4

Jordan and DaveBj,

Thank you both for your (name removed by moderator)ut. DaveBj, I like your translation, so I think I will use it.

#5

Is this the prayer that they say between the decades of the Rosary on EWTN? They also say it in my current parish, and it always catches me off guard because it wasn’t used when I learned the Rosary years ago. Was it “officially” added? Even if not, when did it come into common use?

#6

JMJ

Our Lady of the Rosary requested of the three children of Fatima that this prayer be said after each decade of the Rosary. This request was made on July 13, 1917, immediately after the view of hell and the secret (to be revealed in three parts), including her promise to return later to request the consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart. It has been spread gradually from 1917 until today by the devotees of the Fatima apparitions and requests of the Blessed Mother.

I might add to the Latin comments above that I have seen the prayer written: *O mi Jesu, *remitte ** nobis peccata nostra…

Also, English translations from the Portuguese have been rendered thus: “O my Jesus, forgive us, save us from the fire of hell. Lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who are most in need.” (“The Whole Truth About Fatima” by Frere Michel de la Trinite, Vol. I, page 183, English translation by John Collorafi, Immaculate Heart Publications, Buffalo, NY 1989 French Copyrigfht 1983)

#7

I have memorized this one because it is in this excellent bilingual rosary booklet.

#8

yep, I ran into the same problem a couple of years ago so I wrote to SSPX seminary and to UNA Voce western Washington. Got similar answers from both. (there are many ways to translate the latin) But I chose #3 in the above discussion, Also its the one on the Latin CD from ProMultis Media.

#9

Agreed. I learned and use the third version simply because Father Perez uses it on the outstanding ProMultisMedia CD. A tiny bonus is that I enjoy the sound of the word “præcipue”. :slight_smile:

#10

Agreed, Avus. It really boggled my mind that I couldn’t get anyone to say “this version is correct”. At least now we know why there is so much disagreement in translating the Bible.

#11

There is no “official” version of devotional prayers. There are, however, widespread and accepted devotional prayers and practices.
The Fatima decade-prayer is confusing, because while the Blessed Mother told the children to pray it, there seem to be versions of it even in Portuguese (perhaps the children did not remember exactly). I guess it’s ok as long as the particular version you pray expresses the same meaning. Since the Virgin Mary said it, we might as well pray it, right?
It should be helpful if you use the same version as those around you when praying out loud.

#12

THANK YOU FOR THIS! Now if I can just manage to learn to pronounce the Latin. Hope Latin is pronounced like Spanish and German, the only foreign languages I have any experience with.

#13

What luck this thread came up! I think I’ve gotten the other rosary prayers down (in latin), just need to memorize the Creed and this one. :smiley:

#14

There are three different versions in Latin because theoriginal alnguage of that prayer was Portuguese.

#15

Awesome prayer, thank you!:thumbsup:

#16

Portuguese is my native language. That I am a Brazilian makes no difference here, since the original jaculatory would not differ significantly from the vernacular Portuguese as spoken in Brazil.

This is the original prayer according to the Leiria-Fatima diocese in Portugal:
“Ó meu Jesus, perdoai-nos e livrai-nos do fogo do Inferno. / Levai as almas todas para o Céu, principalmente as que mais precisarem”.

Translated into English this prayer means:
“O my Jesus, forgive us, and save us from the fire of Hell. Take all souls into Heaven, especially those who may need it most.”

Please consider that the children who reported the prayer were humble, uneducated shepherds. Catholic authorities never took the prayer to be a literal record, but considered it to be, more probably, a paraphrase. Perhaps such a conjecture brought the Vatican to abstain from issuing an official Latin translation for the prayer. That means that not one of the many Latin versions circulating in the Web is above criticism.

For instance, the initial expression O mi Jesu could be grammatically correct if it used “I” instead of “J,” but it is not idiomatic. A simple vocative flexion would sound more natural than the use of an interjection to address Jesus. More: all mentions to “debita nostra” (our debts) or “peccata nostra” our sins) are “apocryphal” additions to the Portuguese version, which says simply “perdoai-nos” (forgive us). Equally extraneous is “misericordiæ tuæ” (your mercy).
So, forget about Latin, and adopt my err faithful translation.

#17