Category: Liturgy and Music

(HT: NLM)

With those bad “phonetic” spellings, it might be painful to hear, but I guess they have to start somewhere.

If you’ve ever attended a celebration of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, you’ll be familiar with the Litany of Peace which begins the service. A deacon sings the (more or less) twelve petitions, and the people join in each intention by responding, “Lord have mercy”.
Since it is not unusual for the Latin church to borrow some of the beauties of the Eastern liturgies, I’ve wondered whether this litany has ever found its way into Western church books; and it has: at least recently. The 1981 Psalterium Monasticum (Monastic Psalter), p. 518, presents this Latin version of the litany (reduced to nine petitions) and authorizes its use in the Office, before the Our Father.

V. Dicamus omnes ex tota anima et ex tota mente: Kyrie eleison. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. Pro pace orbis universi, prosperitate sanctæ Dei Ecclesiæ, omniumque christifidelium unitate, Dominum rogemus. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. Pro papa N. et omni sacerdotio, Christi ministris et ascetis, cunctoque fideli populo, Dominum rogemus. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. Pro aerum temperie, fructuum terræ copia, tranquillisque temporibus, Dominum rogemus. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. Pro salute infirmorum, incolumitate viatorum, ac sublevatione pauperum et tribulatorum, Dominum rogemus. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. Pro liberatione omnis animæ christianæ a furore persecutorum et a vexatione dæmonum, Dominum rogemus. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. Pro conversione peccatorum et illuminatione errantium a fide vel non credentium, Dominum rogemus. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. Pro requie eorum qui iam dormierunt patrum fratrumque nostrorum et omnium ubique in Christo defunctorum, Dominum rogemus. R. Kyrie eleison.
Et simul his qui domum hanc sanctam, cum fide, pietate, et timore Dei sunt ingressi, nostram ad Dominum precem compleamus.
Pater noster…

Here, off the cuff, is a somewhat free English version:

V. Let us say with our whole soul and our whole mind: Kyrie eleison. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. For peace in the world, the well-being of the holy Church of God, and the unity of all Christians, let us pray to the Lord. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. For Pope N. and all the priesthood, for those who serve Christ and are consecrated to Him, and for all His faithful people, let us pray to the Lord. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. For favorable weather, an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. For the health of the sick, the safety of travelers, and relief to the poor and suffering, let us pray to the Lord. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. For all Christian souls, that they may be freed from the persecution of men and the vexation of evil spirits, let us pray to the Lord. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. For the conversion of sinners and the enlightenment of those who err in faith and of unbelievers, let us pray to the Lord. R. Kyrie eleison.
V. For the repose of our fathers and brothers who are now asleep and all who have died in Christ, let us pray to the Lord. R. Kyrie eleison.
And also for those who enter this holy house with faith, reverence, and fear of God, let us complete our prayer to the Lord:
Our Father….

(Update: fixed three typos)

Every Advent, I get a little impetus to start saying the Office regularly, though I don’t usually last long. Since it’s time this evening for Vespers of the first Sunday of Advent, I figured I’d pull out some books I bought recently and give it a go.
It turns out that it’s not totally easy yet, because the chant books for the Office have been published in an piecemeal fashion over the past 25 years: the psalms are in one volume (Psalterium Monasticum, 1981), the antiphons are in another (Antiphonale Monasticum, 2005), the hymns are in a third (Liber Hymnarius, 1983), and the collects are, as far as I can tell, to be sought over in the Gregorian Missal. Putting it all together requires a bit of flipping around and determination.
It’s a fitful observance of Vespers, as I have to pause at times to work out the unfamiliar tunes on a keyboard. It pays to remember that the good of praying the Office does not depend on how easily it goes for us, but on the simple aims of adoring God who is worthy of all our love, and of praising him in union with Christ’s mystical body, the Church present throughout the world.

Y’know, at this time of year, I have a hard time keeping It Came Upon the Midnight Clear separate in my head from Mother Dear, O Pray for Me.