austraLasia 1522
DMA is in our DNA: Part 1 for Passion Sunday
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ROME: 9th April 2006 -- It is apparent to the ear - and the
eye - that the Rector Major speaks of a certain idea as he moves around
provinces, speaks to confreres, preaches homilies, writes
for the Salesian Bulletin, addresses gatherings from the academic to
the ordinary, speaks with the young. The idea can be characterised in
a word: passion. What follows refers to the
English word even though the texts examined are in
Italian. No difficulty should arise in translation - except that
English can choose a range of words to gloss
'passione' if it wishes.
I'll come to
that. We are using a total of 70 texts; by and large every major text
the RM has created since 2002 across the range indicated. He rarely
employs the plural form, so it is the
singular 'passion' we are considering. That today is also Passion
Sunday is incidental - any connections may be serendipitous!
Using the grossest of all measures - word frequency - we have 85
appearances of 'passione'. That means little of itself...except for
two things: the
highest relative frequency of any term (function words like 'of') is
3.9%, and 'passione' comes in at .03%, which puts it at a high relative
frequency (most words don't even score); secondly, the 85 appearances
are in
31 of the 70 texts - roughly half. The term is in all but 4 of the 15
major AGC letters.
However, these are 'surface' statistics. It
is more useful to accept that human speech ties words together
and that real meaning comes out of phrases, sentences, paragraphs, so
across 70 texts, what other terms does 'passion' link to
most frequently? We use a measure of 5 words either side of 'passion'
as the central term - anything wider stretches the commons
sense understanding of meaningful linking. In fact there is a useful
statistical calculation called
the Mutual Information Score. When we calculate this for
all 70 texts, the 'winner' is clear and outright - mihi animas.
'Da' is not included as a
preposition which potentially has too many connections. At this
point we can draw a simple conclusion: Da Mihi Animas (DMA) is
what
gives us the meaning of 'passion' as used by Pascual Chávez, or turn
that around if you wish - passion is what explains DMA. We also learn
that 'passion' keeps good (statistical) company
with pedagogy, freedom, growing, disciples, experiences,
accompaniment, solidarity, salvation, poverty, fidelity, challenges....
we are beginning to identify an interesting scenario here which could
have implications as we move forward to 2008, who knows?
Now, digging a little deeper, and describing the 'passion-DMA'
link other than by statistics, we discover that the reference, when
first directly made (in the RM's second letter) is to n.20 of GC25
which in
the Italian reads: Ogni comunità è formata da uomini....che
esprimono la passione evangelica del 'da mihi
animas'... The English renders the key phrase as the
gospel ardour of... ; the translator made a choice other than
'passion', something he is entitled to do, though in hindsight
'passion' may be the way we should read it, for there is absolutely no
doubt now that
'passion-DMA' was the link in the Rector
Major's consciousness
from the beginning, and he has not let go of it; it is elaborated in
phrases like 'for the word', 'for God's holiness', 'for Christ', 'for
human beings', 'for our mission, 'of Don Bosco', 'educational passion',
'Gospel passion', 'pedagogical passion', 'intense passion' (using
subsequent translations of the term).
Incidental to this but supportive of it is the fact that the
International Congress of Religious in Rome two years ago took 'Passion
for Christ, passion for humanity' as its main theme. Serendipity, or
other forces at work? What is clear is that the RM's focus predates
the Congress and is not the result of it.
Perhaps one good reason why the translator avoided glossing
'passione' with 'passion' earlier on is that
we
cannot assume that moderns, including we Religious moderns, are fully
aware of
the Rector Major's now much clearer direction for the term; 'passion'
has had a rough post-Enlightenment ride, after all. What he wants us to
accept is that
'passion' is part of our Salesian DNA
precisely because of the centrality of 'da mihi animas' to our Salesian
being. Why 'passion' needs a re-assessment and a recall of cultural
memory will be the topic of #1523. Keep tuned.
GLOSSARY
serendipitous(adj): serendipity - the capacity to
discover things by accidental connection. An old name for Sri Lanka,
coined by Horace Walpole in 1754 based on the poem 'The Three Princes
of Serendip' whose heroes were always making discoveries by accident,
of things they were not in quest of.
gloss: in this context 'to translate', though
the term 'gloss' used by linguists could also refer to a single
language. Both noun and verb
DNA: The item that contains the genetic
prescriptions for life as we know it: Deoxyribonucleic Acid
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