Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ, Bishop of Raphoe and the Irish Bishops’ Conference representative on the International Commission for English in the Liturgy (ICEL), has published the following statement following the death on 31 October of Dom Placid Murray OSB:
Statement
Dom Placid Murray, who died at the age of 104 years on the eve of All Saints Day, was the right person in the right place at the right time. In the first years after the Second Vatican Council’s decision in favour of liturgy in the vernacular, scholars grounded in theology and the Church’s life of prayer were required to lead the work of translation. Dom Placid had all the skills and training necessary for that important work. He was appointed a consultor of the International Commission for English in the Liturgy, established during the Second Vatican Council and, thereafter, Dom Placid was centrally involved in many projects for the translation of liturgical texts into English.
The Church of this generation in Ireland and further afield will always be deeply indebted to Dom Placid. In 1970 he was appointed chair of the committee that translated the Liturgy of the Hours for use in Ireland, Great Britain and Australia. Everyone – clergy, religious and lay – who has prayed the Liturgy of the Hours in recent decades has reaped personal benefit from his expertise and generosity.
We thank God for the life and work of this great Benedictine priest and scholar and offer sincere condolences to his confreres in Glenstal Abbey, his family and all who mourn his passing.
+Alan McGuckian SJ
Bishop of Raphoe and Secretary of ICEL
ENDS
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