Translation Studies Journal

In 1978 Cardinal Albino Luciani was elected Pope at Rome andchose as his papal, public name John Paul I. Immediately afterwards, a volume of the new Pope’s essays was published with the title Illustrissimi, for the illustrious saints and scholars, fictional characters and writers (such as Mark Twain, Francesco Petrarca, and Gioachino Belli) whom Cardinal Luciani had addressed and imaginatively conversed with in each of these essays.

Trilussa was one of only three Italian poets whom the Pope, that is, Albino Luciani, addressed in his book. The other two were Petrarca and Gioachino Belli, a poet who, like Trilussa, wrote not in standard Italian, but in Romanesco, the modern dialect of Rome. However, Luciani’s essay “To Trilussa: In the Heart of the Mystery,” reveals a misinterpretation of Trilussa’s thirteen-line poem “La Guida,” which he used as a springboard to discuss what Christian faith is and what it is not.

In this essay, DuVal translates Trilussa's Romanesco poem into English and discusses its analysis and meaning, points out the echoes of Dante in the poem, as well as addressing why Pope Luciani may have misinterpreted it, while at the same time honouring with the attention he devotes to it in his essay.