Did I translate this Latin prayer to St Michael the Archangel correctly?

Question

A recent question (related to Catholicism) on Christianity SE has an answer which contains a Latin prayer to St Michael the Archangel. I posed a question on the meaning of part of that prayer, but wanted to make sure I was translating it correctly. The excerpt reads:

tibi trádidit Dóminus ánimas redemptórum in supérna felicitáte locándas

My attempted translation is:

The Lord has handed over to you the souls of the redeemed, to be placed in supernal happiness

This doesn't seem to match what I understand of Catholic teaching. In particular, although St Michael is the defender of Christian souls, it is not he who places souls in supernal happiness, but God Himself at a soul's particular judgment. So my first thought was that I mistranslated or misunderstood something. Is there something I missed here, or some nuance I overlooked?

Answer 1

As Draconis and I mentioned in the comments, your translation is fine. If I might break it down:

tibi trádidit Dóminus ánimas redemptórum in supérna felicitáte locándas

The subject is dominus in the nominative. The main verb is tradidit, in the perfect tense, and its direct and indirect object are animas and tibi respectively. The basic sentence is "The lord handed over to you the souls." Which souls? redemptorum, "of the redeemed," a past tense passive particple, but also locandas, a future passive particple, "to be placed." Where? in superna felicitate, in + abl indicating place in which, "in heavenly happiness."

It's a very straightforward sentence with no tricks here. Your translation is fine.

This seems to be consistent with his secondary roles, if Wikipedia's citation is accurate:

The second and third roles of Michael in Catholic teachings deal with death. In his second role, Michael is the angel of death, carrying the souls of all the deceased to heaven. In this role Michael descends at the hour of death, and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing; thus consternating the devil and his minions. Catholic prayers often refer to this role of Michael. In his third role, he weighs souls in his perfectly balanced scales. For this reason, Michael is often depicted holding scales.

The Wikipedia article cites Mirabai Starr's 2007 book Saint Michael: The Archangel. I don't know anything about this book, but at least the article is consistent with this prayer and your interpretation of Michael's role from it.

Answer 2

I see my issue now. My translation was

The Lord has handed over to you the souls of the redeemed, to be placed in supernal happiness

But the comma should not be there. It gives the impression (to me at least) that Michael is the one who is to place the souls (quasi "animas redemptórum, ut locentur ..."). Without the comma, it is clearer (again, to me) that the souls are to be placed in supernal happiness, but not necessarily by Michael (quasi "animas redemptórum quae locandae sunt ..."). That one little comma was the whole problem. (And some people don't see punctuation as a big deal...)