A Prayer after Communion from the 1599 Primer

This prayer, appearing in the post-Tridentine 1571 Officium B. M. V. nuper reformatum, and put into English by Richard Verstegen in the 1599 Primer or Office of the Blessed Virgin Marie that was printed at Antwerp and smuggled into England for the use of recusant Catholics, is a very fine summary of what the Blessed Sacrament is and ought be for us; I have modernized the spelling and made a few minor punctuation changes, but have retained both “reduce” in its old meaning ‘bring back’, as the rendering of reducat, and the old word “costage”, meaning ‘expense or provision for a journey’, as the rendering of viaticum:

Alia Oratio post communionem.

Ineffabilem misericordiam tuam, Domine Jesu Christe, humiliter exoro, ut hoc sacramentum corporis et sanguinis tui, quod indignus suscepi, sit mihi purgatio scelerum, sit fortitudo fragilium, sit contra mundi pericula firmamentum, sit impetratio veniæ, sit stabilimentum gratiæ, sit medicina vitæ, sit memoria tuæ passionis, sit contra debilitatem fomentum, sit viaticum meæ peregrinationis. Euntem me conducat, errantem me reducat, revertentem me suscipiat, titubantem me teneat, cadentem me erigat, et perseverantem me in gloriam introducat. O altissime Deus, beatissima præsentia corporis et sanguinis tui sic immutet palatum cordis mei, ut præter te nullam unquam sentiat dulcedinem, nullam amet pulchritudinem, nullum quærat illicitum amorem, nullam desideret consolationem, nullam admittat unquam delectationem, nullum curet honorem, nullam timeat crudelitatem. Qui vivis et regnas cum Deo Patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Another prayer after receiving the Blessed Sacrament.

O Lord Jesu Christ, I humbly beseech thy unspeakable mercy, that this sacrament of thy body and blood, which I unworthy have received, may be to me a purging of offences, a fortitude against frailties, a fortress against the perils of the world, an obtaining of pardon, an establishment of grace, a medicine of life, a memory of thy passion, a nourishment against weakness, a costage of my pilgrimage. Let it guide me going, reduce me wandering, receive me returning again, uphold me stumbling, lift me up falling, and persevering bring me into glory. O highest God, let the most blessed presence of thy body and blood so alter the taste of my heart, that besides thee at any time it feel no sweetness, it love no fairness, it seek no unlawful love, it desire no consolation, it admit no delectation at any time, it care for no honour, it fear no cruelty. Who livest and reignest, God, with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.

Consider what is said about the Eucharist in this prayer. 

May it be for the pray-er: 

1. a purging of offences, 
2. a fortitude against frailties, 
3. a fortress against the perils of the world, 
4. an obtaining of pardon, 
5. an establishment of grace, 
6. a medicine of life, 
7. a memory of thy [i.e. Christ’s] passion, 
8. a nourishment against weakness, 
9. a costage of my pilgrimage.

And then let it: 

1. guide me going, 
2. reduce me wandering, 
3. receive me returning again, 
4. uphold me stumbling, 
5. lift me up falling, and 
6. persevering bring me into glory.

Moreover, may it so change the tastes of the human heart that: 

1. besides thee [i.e. Christ] at any time it feel no sweetness, 
2. it love no fairness, 
3. it seek no unlawful love, 
4. it desire no consolation, 
5. it admit no delectation at any time, 
6. it care for no honour, 
7. it fear no cruelty. 

How surprising that this fine prayer seems to have fallen out of common use.