Bishop Baraga Association to publish newly translated text from Bishop Baraga

The U.P. Catholic

The Bishop Baraga Association (BBA) will soon have a newly translated book written by Venerable Bishop Frederic Baraga available for purchase, titled “Heavenly Flowers.” Bishop Baraga wrote the book in 1846.

Dcn. John Vidmar of the Archdiocese of Chicago serves as a board member for the BBA and worked on the translation of the book.

Heavenly Flowers was written in 19th century Slovenian. “Slovenian as a written language began to standardize its spelling of words and word usages only after this was published,” Dcn. Vidmar explained. “It is a phonetic language, and it is possible to sound a word out and determine what it means. There are also dictionary sources for what we would call Old Slovenian.”

“Heavenly Flowers” was translated by Dr. Simona Štavbar, a professional translator. “We have collaborated on another Baraga focused book, ‘They Followed Him to America.’ She is also in the last stages of translating a biography of Baraga written by a prominent Slovenian Baraga scholar,” Dcn. Vidmar said.

Dcn. Vidmar described the other parts of the translation process, which went through two additional stages. The first was a theological review of the content, to ensure that the translation is in concordance with Church teaching. After that was complete, there was another review by a native English speaker to ensure the language is standard American English.

The BBA is in the final stages of preparing the book for publication and hopes to have it available for purchase in December.

Dcn. Vidmar said that Bishop Baraga’s inspiration was taken from 2 Corinthians 2:15, and noted that some translations of the verse contain the word “Spirit,” instead of “aroma,” referencing the translation from the Jerusalem Bible: “To God we are the aroma of Christ, both among those who are being saved and among those who are on the way to destruction; for these the smell of death leading to death, but for others, the smell of life leading to life” (2 Corinthians 2:15).

“Baraga’s focus was on having people realize that imitating Christ creates an aroma that is pleasing before God,” said Dcn. Vidmar. “That aroma then is not only an indication of our conversion but also draws others to God.”

“Baraga always strove to have people open themselves up to God. This work is very much in this vein. Baraga felt compelled to write this book as well as another to help bring people in the land of his birth to an acceptance of the all merciful, all loving God,” Dcn. Vidmar continued.

Dcn. Vidmar shared one of his favorite quotes from “Heavenly Flowers.” In the first chapter Bishop Baraga wrote, “My dear Christian, fear God … You should not be afraid of Him only because He is almighty and a harsh judge who will condemn a sinner to eternal suffering. Such fear does not hate sin because it is evil in itself and offends God, but only because it makes man eternally miserable. True and holy fear of God comes from the love of God and causes us to hate sin above everything else, to fear it more than a poisonous snake, and to avoid it because it offends God, and that we fear nothing in the world as much as offending God and thus losing Him forever.”

“This is one of my favorite quotes from this book. It defines what Baraga meant by fear of God which can only come from loving God,” said Dcn. Vidmar. “Right before this, Baraga explains that too often people seek virtue by not doing things. That is an empty faith. It lacks love of God. Love of God drives action in the world.”

For more information about the Bishop Baraga Association, visit https://bishopbaraga.org/.