Circulating on the Internet are texts purporting to come from the Congregation for Divine Worship, allegedly authorising formulae for use (in the Naughty Ordo) in time of plague.
One phrase sticks out: God is invited to "grind your people down" (tere).
Is this
(1) a cheeky compositor's attempt at a witticism, rather like the infamous Harcourt Interpolation in The Times newspaper of 23 January 1882? Or
(2) an April Fools' Day joke in rather poor taste? Or
(3) yet another typo in the unbroken tradition of typos and howlers which have made the CDW such a laughing stock over the last half-century?
The texts on the website of the CDW contain the following Oratio super populum:
ReplyDeleteProtéctor in te sperántium, Deus,
bénedic pópulum tuum, salva, tuére, dispóne,
ut, a peccátis liber, ab hoste secúrus,
in tuo semper amóre persevéret.
Per Christum.
It seems that either the texts you found circulating on the internet are mistyped, or the CDW has silently corrected this file.
Here is the official text: http://www.cultodivino.va/content/cultodivino/it/documenti/decreti-generali/decreti-generali/2020/preghiera-universale-venerdi-santo-2020/adnexus.html
ReplyDeleteYou allure with a wink and raised eyebrow that the answer is "All three", methinks.
ReplyDeleteFr PJM refers to the official text of the insertion into the Good Friday Intercessions, but Fr Hunwicke is referring to the "Oratio super populum" of the Mass IN TEMPORE UNIVERSALIS CONTAGII
ReplyDeleteThe text I had (Adnexus decreto diei 30 martii 2020 (Prot. N. 156/20) has the same typo that Fr H refers to:
Protéctor in te sperántium, Deus,
bénedic pópulum tuum, salva, tére, dispóne,
ut, a peccátis liber, ab hoste secúrus,
in tuo semper amóre persevéret.
Per Christum.
And "tere" is on the internet, as in the Boston Catholic: https://www.bostoncatholic.org/sites/g/files/zjfyce871/files/2020-04/156-20- Adnexus...
So it seems that Protasius is correct.