retreat

[William Ryan]

This bulletin board is mostly used by language and literature specialists -
so why do debates on the meaning of words so often continue for so long
before someone thinks of looking in a dictionary?

The Oxford English Dictionary gives s.v. 'retreat': 'a period of complete
seclusion devoted to religious exercises'. The earliest reference given is
1756 'such retirement being in the language of the Roman Catholics called a
retreat'. I.e. the term was originally culture-specific, and to a large
extent probably still is, to judge from some earlier contributions on this
topic.

I would add that practice must have come to England from France (where most
English Catholic clergy were trained before penalties on Catholics were
lifted), and that the word is a semantic calque of French 'retraite'. Both
the word and the practice were later taken over in England by Protestant
churches, but most people probably still think of retreats as a Catholic
phenomenon. In modern Catholic use the practice tends to be an organized day
or several days, for an individual or group, devoted to prayer, reflection
and spiritual reading, usually under a spiritual director in a religious
establishment such as a monastery or convent, and often with an emphasis on
silence.

I am not aware of current practice in the Orthodox churches, but historically
the organized visits of laymen to Russian monasteries sometimes called
'pokhod' should be translated as 'pilgrimage' because although the ensuing
religious practices may be be similar to a retreat, they involve a journey.
In current English Catholic usage they would be called pilgrimages (in
England bus trips to shrines such as Walsingham for days of prayer are so
designated). I believe American Catholic usage is much the same.

Culture-specific terms such as this often cannot be adequately translated -
you must either simply borrow the word (ritrit?!?) or describe the practice.

Will Ryan, Warburg Institute

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