3 July 2022

Today's Collect in the ORDINARIATE MISSAL (and Sarum)

Normally, of course, the Sunday Propers of ORDINARIATE MISSAL are the same as those of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. But during the Sundays after Pentecost, which we call the Sundays after Trinity, there is a dislocation, partly (let's not go into all the intricacies) due to the question of whether or not one of the ordinary Sunday masses is used up by the weekdays between Trinity Sunday and the next Sunday; and partly because we have an additional Sunday proper, which we call The Third Sunday After Trinity, which is missing from the Missals of S Pius V and S John XXIII. It does, however, come from the same old Roman Sacramentary sources as all the other Sunday Masses. Here is the Latin original of the Collect, followed by Dr Cranmer's 1549 translation and then by the form this prayer was given in 1662 (bold type for its 'padding').

Deprecationem nostram, quaesumus, Domine, benignus exaudi; et quibus supplicandi praestas affectum, tribue defensionis auxilium.

1549: Lorde, we beseche thee mercifully to heare us, and unto whom thou hast given an heartie desyre to pray; grant that by thy mightie ayde we may be defended.

1662: O Lord, we beseech thee mercifully to hear us: and grant that we, to whom thou hast given an hearty desire to pray, may, by thy mighty aid, be defended and comforted in all dangers and adversities.

Perhaps Cranmer's very Liturgiam authenticam preservation of the clause order  of the Latin had, by 1662, come to seem a trifle mannered, if not plain obscure.

Sharp-eyed users of the preconciliar Missal and Breviary may find this collect oddly familiar. That is because the compilers of the ancient Roman Sacramentaries were not shy about using identical or nearly identical formularies on different occasions. See if you can find it.

As I have said before, the marker of these immemorially ancient prayers is their brevity, simplicity, and preoccupation with the most basic needs of the most ordinary Christian life. None of the verbose clevernesses which tempt modern liturgical committeepersons, both Anglican and Roman Catholic. Thank God for them - the ancient prayers, I mean, not the modern committeepersons.

1 comment:

Joshua said...

In the 1962 Roman Missal (and earlier editions back to the Middle Ages), this collect is the Oratio super populum for Monday after the 4th Sunday in Lent.