Page:Raccoltaorcolle00raccgoog.djvu/13

Rh to adhere, letter for letter, to the very words of the decrees. In a future edition it is to be hoped, however, that such a simplification may be sanctioned by the voice of authority, and the bulk of the volume be thus materially diminished without sacrificing aught of its contents. Refraining, then, from altering the words of the original in any way, he only permitted himself the license of changing the grammatical construction of the sentences, so as to bring the words stating the amount of the Indulgence to be gained to the beginning of a sentence, numbering them in Roman figures, i. ii. iii. &c., and printing them in small capitals in fresh paragraphs, so as to catch the eye of the reader, who otherwise might be tempted to omit the perusal of the decrees, in order to avoid the weariness of wading through a long formula; the Translator's experience of readers of the Italian original leading him to believe that many who have had it in use for years as their daily companion for private devotion, seldom read through the grants to which no prayers are annexed, and consequently remain in ignorance of many of the most liberal concessions of the Sovereign Pontiffs to the faithful. The additional labour and expense which was necessary for this (the extraordinary number of small capitals requiring types to be cast expressly for the work) will be abundantly repaid to the Translator if he is thereby enabled to draw attention to this portion of the work; failing which, many valuable Indulgences are, it is to be feared, lost to the faithful themselves and to the souls of the departed.

Having said thus much concerning this part of the work, the Translator now ventures to offer a few remarks regarding the Prayers, by far the most difficult portion of the translation, as well on account of the accuracy necessary to insure for it the merit of being a versio fidelis of the original (the condition absolutely required by the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences to enable the translation to carry with it the privileges bestowed on the original), as also on account of the peculiarly Italian character of many of these prayers. In reference, however, to fidelity to the original, it is necessary to observe, that many, indeed most, of the devout meditations which are printed both here