Yesterday the Holy Father visited a parish in the Testaccio area of Rome, along the river, S. Maria Liberatrice. He was presented with a poem, in honor of his visit, in Romanesco, the dialect of Rome. The Holy Father said:
I am very happy to be with you here today. Unfortunately I don’t speak Romanesco, but as Catholics we are all a little Roman and we carry Rome in our hearts, and so we understand a little of the Roman dialect.
Too true!
Did you know that the Internet Prayer I wrote some years ago was rendered into Romanesco? Yep, it’s true! I had a recording of it, read by the Roman who made it, but, alas, I have lost track of where it is! I will get another soon, I hope.
Mind you, Romanesco, or in this case Romanacci, isn’t really a good language for very literal translations. This time I make the exception of dynamic equivalence. If you know something of Roma, well… you wouldn’t need to ask why.
ROMANACCIO (ROMAN)
Orazzione prima da collegasse a la rete
Oddio ‘nnipotente ‘n zempiterno, che c’hai fatto apparo de ‘na pittura de Sampietro, (1)
e c’hai detto:"bbadate da cerca’ le cose bbone, ‘ndo’ stanno stanno e senza torna’ ‘ndietro,(2)
e speciarmente in de la perzona de Mi’ fijo e Signore Vostro Ggesucristo",(3)
fa’ che Sant’Isidoro, Vescovo e Dottore come sarvognuno nun z’era mai visto,(4)
ce dia ‘na mano a ggira’ co’ ‘sti machinari in de la rete de’ internette,
addopranno occhi e mmano cercanno da piacette
e trattanno tutti quelli che che ‘ncontramo
come farebbe Cristo, fijo Tuo, e nno Ccaino, fijo d’Adamo.
Pe’ Ccristo Nostro Signore. Ame’.
(1) A reference to the Sistine Chapel and the catechetical intent of the depiction of Gen 1,26-27
(2) Luke 9:62
(3) Surely a Roman commoner would have God speak in first person.
(4) "sarvognuno" = "no disrespect to all others"
