what we ought to feel at the conclusion of such petitions The Litany. as have preceded: it is in general expressions, to supply any omission of a request, or of a confession, which ought to have been made: a prayer for repentance, forgiveness, and the grace of amendment of life.1 The Lesser Litany which follows is according to the old form; the Response, 'Grant us thy peace,' being inserted from Hermann's Litany. and Prayers. The Versicle, Response, and Prayer, 'O God, merciful Versicles Father, &c.,' are also taken from Hermann's Litany, as to their position. The English Litanies had many versicles in this place besides the couplet; and the prayer had been the Collect in the Mass pro tribulatione cordis Deus qui contritorum non despicis gemitum, et morentium non spernis affectum; adesto precibus nostris, quas pietati tuæ pro tribulatione nostra offerimus: implorantes ut nos clementer respicias, et solito pietatis tuæ intuitu tribuas ut quicquid contra nos diabolicæ fraudes atque humanæ moliuntur adversitates ad nihilum redigas, et consilio misericordiæ tuæ allidas; quatenus nullis adversitatibus læsi, sed ab omni tribulatione et angustia liberati, gratias tibi in ecclesia tua referamus consolati. Per Dominum.2 The next portion, reaching to the end of the Gloria Patri, also differs from the older Litanies in its position. It was taken by Cranmer, in 1544, from the Introduction to the Litany sung on Rogation Monday before leaving the choir to form the procession: Ordo processionis in secunda feria in rogationibus. Hæc antiphona dicatur a toto choro in stallis antequam exeat processio, 1 The American Prayer Book has some verbal differences in the Litany (e.g. 'prosperity' for wealth), and necessarily substitutes a general suffrage for all Christian rulers and magistrates;' instead of those for the Queen. Before the Lesser Litany, it directs that the Minister may, at his discretion, omit all that follows, to 2 Miss. Sar. col. 797*. The Litany. cantore incipiente antiphonam. An. Exsurge, Domine, adjuva nos, et libera nos propter nomen tuum. Alleluia. Ps. Deus, auribus nostris audivimus: patres nostri annuntiaverunt nobis. Non dicatur nisi primus versus, sed statim sequatur. Gloria Patri. Deinde repetatur. Exsurge Domine.1 In translating the verse of the Psalm, Cranmer completed the sense by adding the second verse; the whole passage is Ps. xliv. 1, in our translation. The Versicles were taken at the same time from an occasional portion added to the Litany in time of war :— Si necesse fuerit, versus sequentes dicuntur a predictis clericis in tempore belli. Ab inimicis nostris defende nos, Christe. Afflictionem nostram benignus vide. Orationes nostras pius exaudi. Fili Dei vivi,2 miserere nobis. Hic et in perpetuum nos custodire digneris, Christe. Exaudi nos, Christe, exaudi, exaudi nos, Christe.3 The last couplet was added at the same time, and was called The Versicle,' and The Answer,' showing that it came from a different source. It was one of the couplets among the 'preces' of Morning and Evening Prayer.1 After the Versicles, the old Litanies of the English Church ended, for the most part, with the following seven Collects :5 1. Deus cui proprium est misereri semper et parcere, suscipe deprecationem nostram; et quos delictorum catena constringit, miseratio tuæ pietatis absolvat. Per. 1 Processionale Sarisb. fol. cxvi. Paris, 1530. 2 This is rendered, 'O Son of David;' cf. Luke xviii. 38: it was a not uncommon expression in mediæval devotion; see examples in Blunt, Annotated Prayer Book, Additional note on the Litany,' p. 586. 3 Processionale Sarisb., 'Letania in rogationibus,' fol. cxxxiiii. 4 Above, pp. 190, 193. 5 Maskell, Mon. Rit. 11. pp. 107110, and pp. 221, 227. 2. Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui facis mirabilia, &c. (The Prayer for the Clergy and People.) 3. Deus qui caritatis dona per gratiam Sancti Spiritus tuorum cordibus fidelium infundis, da famulis et famulabus tuis, fratribus et sororibus nostris, pro quibus tuam deprecamur clementiam, salutem mentis et corporis, ut te tota virtute diligant, et quæ tibi placita sint tota dilectione perficiant. 4. Deus a quo sancta desideria, &c. (The Second Collect at Evening Prayer.) 5. Ineffabilem misericordiam tuam nobis quæsumus, Domine, clementer ostende; ut simul nos et a peccatis omnibus exuas, et a pœnis quas pro his meremur benignus eripias. 6. Fidelium Deus omnium conditor et redemptor, animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem cunctorum tribue peccatorum: ut indulgentiam, quam semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur. 7. Pietate tua quæsumus, Domine, nostrorum solve vincula omnium delictorum; et intercedente beata et gloriosa semperque virgine, Dei genetrice, Maria, cum omnibus sanctis tuis, nos famulos tuos et omnem populum catholicum in omni sanctitate custodi ; omnesque consanguinitate ac familiaritate, vel confessione et oratione nobis vinctos, seu omnes christianos, a vitiis purga, virtutibus illustra, pacem et salutem nobis tribue; hostes visibiles et invisibiles remove; pestem et famem repelle; amicis et inimicis nostris veram caritatem, atque infirmis sanitatem largire; et omnibus fidelibus vivis ac defunctis in terra viventium vitam et requiem æternam concede. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. In revising the English Litany in 1544, Cranmer placed here the following six Collects :— 1. The first part of our present prayer, We humbly beseech thee &c., altered from an old Collect: Infirmitatem nostram quæsumus, Domine, propitius respice: et mala omnia quæ juste meremur omnium sanctorum tuorum intercessione averte. Per.1 2. O God, whose nature and property, &c. (Deus cui proprium.) 3. Almighty and everliving God, which only workest great marvels, &c. (Omnipotens sempiterne Deus qui facis.) 1 Brev. Sar. Psalt., Memoria de it follows the preceding Versicles at omnibus sanctis ad matutinas: Pro- the end of the Litany on the vigil of cessionale Sar. fol. cxxxiiii.; where the Ascension. The Litany. The Litany. Prayers and several occasions. 4. A translation of the Collect, Ineffabilem misericordiam. 5. Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that we in our trouble put our whole confidence upon thy mercy, that we may against all adversity be defended under thy protection. Grant this, &c. 6. A Prayer of Chrysostom.. In 1549 the first and fifth of the above Collects were formed into our present Prayer, the Prayer of St. Chrysostom (without any title) being left as the conclusion. The Occasional Prayers, For Rain and For Fair Weather, were added to the Collects at the end of the Communion Office. In 1552 these, with four other Occasional Prayers, were inserted at the end of the Litany before the Prayer of St. Chrysostom: while the concluding benediction was added to the Litany of Elizabeth (1559). The Occasional Prayers are entirely English compogivings upon sitions; the Collects in the special Masses for Rain, for Fair Weather, and in Time of War, can hardly be said to have furnished a hint towards their expressions. The Prayers In the time of Dearth and Famine were added in 1552; the second form was left out in 1559, and only restored, with alterations, in 1661. The Prayer In the time of War and Tumults belongs to 1552, and also that In the time of any common Plague or Sickness. It is probable that all these forms had their origin in the necessities of the time.1 The Prayers to be said every day in the Ember weeks were added at the last revision. They are peculiar to the English ritual.2 The Ember 1 We find an account of the Sweating Sickness, and a Dearth, in 1551 Strype, Mem. Eccl. Ed. VI. bk. II. ch. iv. Also there was a general European war, besides the more pressing troubles in Ireland: ib. ch. iii. 2 Palmer, Orig. Lit. I. p. 305. The first of these Prayers is in Cosin's Collection of Private Devotions (1627); the second in the Scottish Prayer Book (1637). days were called the Fasts of the four Seasons,1 or, in our Calendar, the Ember days at the four Seasons; and the observance of them with special fasting and prayer was an act of consecration of the four seasons of the year. Being occasions of peculiar solemnity, ordinations were held at these times; and this is the order of our Church in the 31st Canon. The particular days were settled by the Council of Placentia (1095) to be the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, after Whitsun Day, after the 14th of September (the feast of Holy Cross), and after the 13th of December (St. Lucia). The rubric, however, directs one of the prayers to be said not only on the Ember days, but on every day of the Ember weeks.3 The Prayer that may be said after any of the former is as old as the Sacramentary of Gregory; and in an English form has had a place in the Prymer as long as that book can be traced, standing with the Collects at the end of the Litany.5 It was, however, omitted during the reign of Edward VI., but restored in the Litanies at the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth (1558 and 1559). Its place is after the Ember Prayers, and not after the Prayer for all Conditions of Men. Occasional 4 Greg. Sacr. Orationes pro peccatis. Opp. III. p. 195. 5 Maskell, Mon. Rit. II. p. 107. Being a short Collect, it is given here as an example of mediæval English:-'Preie we. Orisoun. Deus cui proprium. God, to whom it is propre to be merciful and to spare euermore, undirfonge oure preieris: and the mercifulnesse of thi pitie asoile hem, that the chayne of trespas bindith. Bi criste our lord. So be it.' This Collect is omitted in the American Prayer Book. 6 Above, p. 54. |