I have two older (pre-Vatican II) missals. One is called The New Marian Missal. It was published by Regina Press in 1950. The other is a smaller combined hand missal and prayer book called The New Key of Heaven, also published by Regina Press in 1952. I also have a newer missal for the older Mass which was published by Baronius Press in 2004. These three hand missals all use the same unofficial translation for the Mass prayers, which I've reproduced below. First, let's compare them to the 1975 official translation (the one we currently use): Note: I apologize for the formatting of the columns, but I can't get them to line up perfectly.
Pre-Vatican II (Unofficial) 1975-Present (Official)
Glory be to God on high, Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men of good will. and peace to his people on earth.
We praise Thee. Lord God, heavenly King,
We bless Thee. Almighty God and Father,
We adore Thee. We worship you, we give you thanks,
We glorify Thee. we praise you for your glory.
We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory.
O Lord God, heavenly King,
God the Father almighty.
O Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son. Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. Lord God, Lamb of God,
Who takest away the sins of the world, You take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us. have mercy on us;
Who takest away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer.
Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, You are seated at the right hand of the Father:
have mercy on us. receive our prayer.
For Thou only art holy. For you alone are the Holy One,
Thou only art the Lord, you alone are the Lord,
Thou only art most high, O Jesus Christ. you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ.
Together with the Holy Ghost With the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen. in the glory of God the Father. Amen. Now, compare the older, unofficial translation with the new 2007 official translation that we will begin using in Advent 2011:
Pre-Vatican II (Unofficial) New (Official)
Glory be to God on high, Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth, peace to men of good will. and on earth peace to people of good will.
We praise Thee. We praise you,
We bless Thee. We bless you,
We adore Thee. We adore you,
We glorify Thee. We glorify you.
We give Thee thanks for Thy great glory. We give you thanks for your great glory.
O Lord God, heavenly King, Lord God, heavenly King,
God the Father almighty. O God, almighty Father.
O Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son. Lord Jesus Christ, only Begotten Son.
O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father. Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father.
Who takest away the sins of the world, You take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us. have mercy on us;
Who takest away the sins of the world, You take away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer. receive our prayer;
Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, You are seated at the right hand of the Father,
have mercy on us. have mercy on us.
For Thou only art holy. For you alone are the Holy One,
Thou only art the Lord, you alone are the Lord,
Thou only art most high, O Jesus Christ. you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ,
Together with the Holy Ghost With the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen. in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Needless to say, I was really surprised at a few things. First, it is really shocking how much was actually changed with the 1975 "translation" of the Gloria. Entire phrases were omitted and others were moved. And there were other, more subtle changes, too. For example, notice how "peace to men of good will" (from the Latin "pax homÃnibus bonae voluntátis") was changed to "peace to his people". The latter is much more broad and less precise and, importantly, it is less scriptural because it does not correspond to Luke 2:14, the origin of this line. Both the pre-Vatican II and the new translations, correctly translate this famous line from the gospel (the newer version uses "people" instead of "men."). Aside from "thee" and "thou" changing to "you" and versions of words being updated ("sittest" changed to "sit", for example), the pre-Vatican II and new translations are virtually identical. Makes one wonder why it took forty years to go back to what we had.
So, I'd say the answer is "yes, the new translation is very much like the older one that most Americans used before the vernacular Mass was introduced in the 1970's." I recommend taking the time to go through this prayer line by line and I think you, too, will be shocked at how much really is different about the 1975 version and how much in the new translation is similar to what Catholics in the U.S. had been praying for years before Vatican II. You'll then appreciate why the upcoming changes were necessary. The 1970s translations were an unnecessary break in the organic worship of the Church; a real disconnect, for the people in the pews, from what was prayed in Mass before 1970. Thankfully, after more than thirty years, the Church is rectifying this and we are returning to, and will soon actually be praying again, the true texts of the Mass.
If anyone has any real interest in this, I'll be happy to do more comparisons like this, with other prayers from the Mass. Just let me know in the comments. And, please do yourself a favor and visit the official USCCB website on the new translations here.
