18 September 2022

Prayer after Sunday Mass for the King

There are some slight inaccuracies in the information being circulated in some places.

Cantor: Domine, salvum fac Omnes: Regem nostrum Carolum.

In the Collect, the word is incrementa, and not incrementum. (Neuter plural, not neuter singular.)

3 comments:

  1. Interestingly the 1926 Ritus servandus, and the 1940 Plainsong for schools have ‘incrementum’ in the collect.

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  2. Father you are spot on, as ever.

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  3. I have double-checked a number of older books available online, from 1783, 1793, 1809 and 1830: all read "incrementa" - as does the collect in the Roman Missal, from which this prayer is derived. Interestingly, some omitted "et" before "vitiorum", but this appears to be a simple oversight.

    As to the regnal names of former and future kings included in the versicle in the accusative and in the collect in the nominative, William is "Guliélmum" (acc.), "Guliélmus" (nom.); George is "Geórgium" (acc.), "Geórgius' (nom.). These should suffice for use until the dawning of the 22nd century - long may they successively reign!

    To consider the possible reasons for the unexpected combination of a versicle and collect alone, without any antiphon before them, the earliest sources noted that Psalm 19 "Exáudiat te Dñs" was sung in full, inserting "nostrum Geórgium" after "regem" in its last verse, continuing with the Glória Patri, then adding two further verses, "Mitte ei" and the salutation "Dñs vobiscum", before the "Oremus" and collect. For reasons of brevity, I suspect, the full psalm and last versicles were soon dropped, and while initially the "Glória Patri" was retained after the "Salvum fac regem", it too disappeared in time.

    If an antiphon is wanted for use in private devotion, the obvious choice would be the following, used at the Magnificat on the Saturday before the 7th Sunday after Pentecost:

    Aña. Unxérunt Salomónem Sadoc sacérdos et Nathan prophéta, regem in Gihon, et ascendéntes læti dixérunt: Vivat rex in ætérnum. (Cf. 3 Reg. 1, 45)

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