Editing Roman Catechism (section)

==Editions and translations==
[[File:Catechismo del Concilio di Trento.jpg|thumb|An edition issued in 1757]]
The earliest editions of the Roman Catechism are "Romae apud [[Paulus Manutius|Paulum Manutium]]", 1566; "Venetiis, apud Dominicum de Farrisö, 1567; "Coloniae", 1567 (by Henricus Aquensis); "Parisuis, in aedibus. Jac. Kerver", 1568; "Venetiis, apud Aldum", 1575; and Ingolstadt, 1577 (Sartorius). In 1596 appeared at [[Antwerp]] the "Cat. Romanus&nbsp;... quaestionibus distinctus, brevibusque exhortatiunculis studio Andreae Fabricii, Leodiensis". This editor, A. Le Fevre, died in 1581. He probably made this division of the Roman Catechism into questions and answers in 1570.<ref name=catholic/>

A critical edition was published in 1989.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Rodriguez |editor-first=Petrus |editor-link=Pedro Rodriguez (theologian) |title=Catechismus Romanus seu Catechismus ex decreto concilii Tridentini ad parochos Pii Quinti Pont. Max. iussu editus: editio critica |location=Vatican City |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |year=1989}}</ref>

[[George Eder]], in 1569, arranged the Catechism for the use of schools. He distributed the main doctrines into sections and subsections and added perspicuous tables of contents. This work bears the title: "Methodus Catechismi Catholici".<ref name=catholic/>

The first known English translation was commissioned by [[James II of England]], the last Catholic king of England, and was titled ''The Catechism for the Curats, compos’d by the Decree of the Council of Trent, And Published by Command of Pope Pius the Fifth.''(1687).<ref>Dodd iii, 459; Wing C1742; Gillow i, 310 -- Gillow also lists an earlier English translation of the Catechism under Fenn in 1562, but it lacks any publication information. His Bromley biography includes a quote from J. Waterworth’s book,  The Decrees and Cannons of the Council of Trent, 1848, Dolman, London,  and found in a footnote from the preface:

 <blockquote>
An anonymous translation appeared in 1687; but it is so unfaithful and even ludicrously absurd, that it might be regarded rather as a burlesque, than a translation, of the decrees.
</blockquote>

Gillow lists the Catechism as Bromley’s sole work, so it is puzzling that Gillow would even mention this. The quote from Waterworth is referring to another book printed anonymously in 1687, which is a translation of the Decrees and Cannons of the Council of Trent.  This book is not attributed to Bromley by Dodd, or by Gillow himself.  The DNB does make this attribution, but only on conjecture saying: 

<blockquote>
…and probably he was also the translator of “The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent.
</blockquote>   

The DNB lists as references several sources, but fails to list one that substantiates this supposition.  The only references given are primarily concerned with Bromley’s reputed teaching of the child Alexander Pope, and another references to a William Bromley. This confusion in Gillow, and statement by Waterworth is all the more unjustified, since the biographical notice in Dodd states that Bromley is a good scholar in the classics, suggesting the translation of the Catechism  was not one that would warrant such a derogatory comment.   In any event I have compared the translations in very many places, particularly in areas of very important matter such as the treatment of the Eucharist.  I have found that Bromley’s translation (other than his older English style) is in perfect agreement with the best modern editions available.  The Bromley edition is heavily annotated with Scriptural and Early Church Father references in the margins. 
</ref>  

The next English translation is by [[Jeremy Donovan]], a professor at [[Maynooth]], published by Richard Coyne, Capel Street, Dublin, and by Keating & Brown, London, and printed for the translator by W. Folds & Son, Great Shand Street, 1829. An American edition appeared in the same year. Donovan's translation was reprinted at Rome by the Propaganda Press, in two volumes in 1839; it is dedicated to [[Cardinal Fransoni]] and signed "Jeremias Donovan, sacerdos hibernus, cubicularius Gregorii XVI, P. M." There is another English translation by T. A. Buckley of Christ Church, Oxford (London, 1852), which is more elegant than Donovan's and has notes and glosses giving historical and doctrinal background information.<ref>''The Catechism of the Council of Trent, translated into English with notes by Theodore Alois Buckley (London: George Routledge and Co., 1852).''https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Catechism_of_the_Council_of_Trent_Tr/940_AAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0</ref> The first German translation, by [[Paul Hoffaeus]], is dated Dillingen, 1568.<ref name=catholic>{{catholic|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13120c.htm|title=Roman Catechism|inline=1}}</ref>

Charles J. Callan and John A. McHugh published a new English translation in 1923.<ref>{{cite book|translator1-last=McHugh |translator1-first=John A. |translator2-last=Callan |translator2-first=Charles J. |title=Catechism of the Council of Trent for Parish Priests: Issued by Order of Pope Pius V |location=New York |publisher=Joseph F. Wagner, Inc. |year=1934 |isbn=9781929291236 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OCzZAAAAMAAJ |access-date=March 25, 2023}}</ref> Some reviewers praised the translation as "well done" and "clear and elegant," and also praised Callan and McHugh's new division of the text into sections and their addition of footnotes referring to sources such as [[Thomas Aquinas|St. Thomas]], [[Alphonsus Liguori|St. Alphonsus]], and the [[1917 Code of Canon Law|Code of Canon Law]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Untitled review |magazine=The Catholic World |volume=142 |year=1923 |page=285 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQ44AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA285 |access-date=March 25, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Untitled review |magazine=Irish Ecclesiastical Record |year=1924 |volume=24 |pages=109–10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3T2ahOORma0C&pg=PA109 |access-date=March 25, 2023}}</ref> Another reviewer praised the book's clear printing, but suggested that the section divisions made by the translators were not always fitting and faulted the translation for "defects and mistakes which make us regret that sufficient care was not given to produce a definitive English translation of this great and important work."<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Downside Review |title=Untitled review |volume=42 |year=1924 |page=244 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYkaAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA244 |access-date=March 25, 2023}}</ref>