SEDE VACANTE AUC MMDCCLXXVIII

Today, the 2778th anniversary of the foundation of the City of Rome, on Easter Monday, died Pope Francis; of your charity, pray for the repose of his soul:

Deus, qui inter summos Sacerdótes fámulum tuum Francíscum ineffábili tua dispositióne connumerári voluísti: præsta, quǽsumus; ut, qui unigéniti Fílii tui vices in terris gerébat, sanctórum tuórum Pontíficum consórtio perpétuo aggregétur. Per eúmdem Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen. 

(O God, who didst will in thine unspeakable disposition to number thy servant Francis amongst the high Priests: grant, we beg, that he, who ruled as vicar of thy Son on earth, may be aggregated to the fellowship of thy holy Pontiffs. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who with thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.) 

Pray also that Christ the Lord may speedily grant his beloved Bride, the Catholic Church, a worthy Catholic to be his Vicar on earth, that the next Pope may rule wisely and well, for the salvation of souls and the greater glory of God:

Súpplici, Dómine, humilitáte depóscimus: ut sacrosánctæ Románæ Ecclésiæ concédat Pontíficem illum tua imménsa píetas; qui et pio in nos stúdio semper tibi plácitus, et tuo pópulo pro salúbri regímine sit assídue ad glóriam tui nóminis reveréndus. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum, Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus, per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum. Amen. 

(In suppliant humility, O Lord, we pray earnestly, that thy boundless piety may grant to the most holy Roman Church that Pontiff, who may both by pious zeal for us ever be pleasing unto thee, and to the glory of thy name assiduously be respected by thy people on account of his beneficial rule. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who with thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.)

A Break

I heard Mass this morning; to-morrow morning, however, after stopping off to pay my respects at my father's grave (it being the third anniversary of his death - do spare a prayer, gentle reader, for him), I will be driving south to the Tasman Peninsula for a few days' break. The weather forecast is not promising, unfortunately.

Margaret McManus, R.I.P.

Of your charity, pray for the repose of the soul of Margaret McManus, who was found dead at her home in Melbourne yester-day, though she may have died earlier.  Margaret, a sometime workmate and a friend of mine from my days living in Melbourne, had suffered ill-health on and off over the last decade, but her death, so unexpected, has been a great shock to all who knew her.

Please pray also for her elderly parents, who face the tragedy of the death of their daughter.  She was only forty-four.

Into thy hands, O Lord, we commend thy servant Margaret, our dear sister, as into the hands of a faithful Creator and most merciful Savior, beseeching thee that she may be precious in thy sight. Wash her, we pray thee, in the blood of that immaculate Lamb that was slain to take away the sins of the world; that, whatsoever defilements she may have contracted in the midst of this earthly life being purged and done away, she may be presented pure and without spot before thee; through the merits of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord. Amen. 

O God, whose days are without end, and whose mercies cannot be numbered: Make us, we beseech thee, deeply sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of life; and let thy Holy Spirit lead us in holiness and righteousness all our days; that, when we shall have served thee in our generation, we may be gathered unto our fathers, having the testimony of a good conscience; in the communion of the Catholic Church; in the confidence of a certain faith; in the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope; in favor with thee our God; and in perfect charity with the world. All which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

—The Book of Divine Worship, The Burial of the Dead: Rite One (Additional Prayers)

Clementissime Domine - II

Herewith, the traditional Dominican recension of the votive antiphon for the dead, Clementissime Domine:

(Sorry about the poor quality, I'm not so adept at cutting and pasting.)

The text, in the traditional Dominican version, is as follows:

Clementissime Domine, qui pro nostra miseria ab impiorum manibus mortis supplicium pertulisti: libera animam ejus ab inferni voragine, et de ministris tartareis miserator absolve: et cuncta ejus peccata oblivione perpetua dele: eamque ad lucem tuam Angeli tradant, Paradisique januam introducant: ut dum corpusculum pulveri traditur, ad æternitatem perducant. Domine, miserere super peccatore.

(Most merciful Lord, Who on account of our misery hast borne at the hands of the impious the punishment of death: deliver his soul from the jaws of hell, and set it free from the ministers of Tartarus, Merciful One, and blot out all his sins in perpetual oblivion: and may angels deliver him into Thy light, and bring him into the gate of paradise: that while the little body is handed over to the dust, they may lead him into eternity.  Lord, have mercy upon a sinner.)

Clementissime Domine

Clementissime Domine, qui pro nostra miseria ab impiorum manibus mortis supplicium pertulisti: libera animam ejus de inferni voragine, et de ministris tartareis miserator absolve, et cuncta ejus peccata oblivione perpetua dele: eamque ad lucem sanctam angeli tradant, paradisique januam introducant: ut dum corpus pulveri traditur, ad æternitatem perducant. Domine, miserere super isto peccatore. Domine, miserere super isto peccatore. Domine, miserere super isto peccatore.

(Most merciful Lord, Who on account of our misery hast borne at the hands of the impious the punishment of death: deliver his soul from the jaws of hell, and set it free from the ministers of Tartarus, Merciful One, and blot out all his sins in perpetual oblivion: and may angels deliver him into holy light, and bring him into the gate of paradise: that while his body is handed over to the dust, they may lead him into eternity.  Lord, have mercy upon this sinner. Lord, have mercy upon this sinner. Lord, have mercy upon this sinner.)

— Antiphon, Carmelite Ritual*

[*The modern Dominican ritual retains this chant, with some minor verbal differences also found in mediæval sources: eam not eamque, tuam not sanctam, portam not januam, corpusculum not corpus – and with two major differences: the insistent threefold Domine, miserere of the Carmelites does not appear; and, very obviously and shamefully, the ancient words ministris tartareis, as an unacceptable reference to devils in this modern age, have been replaced by vinculis mortis, "the bonds of death".]

This anthem is interesting since it seems to compare with the well-known Offertory chant Domine Jesu Christe of the Requiem Mass, inasmuch as it, too, is addressed to Our Lord, and goes on to pray that the soul of the deceased be delivered from the pains of hell, and taken up to paradise by the holy angels.

I continue to pray for the repose of my father, Keith, who died one week ago to-day.

Commendatory Prayer

The 1662 B.C.P. contains this very apt prayer for the dead – or so I read this "commendatory Prayer for a sick person at the point of departure", from the Order for the Visitation of the Sick.  Really, it teaches the doctrine of purgatory admirably: "that whatsoever defilements... being purged and done away", the soul of the departing person "may be presented pure and without spot before" God, Whom we supplicate to "Wash it... in the blood of that immaculate Lamb, that was slain to take away the sins of the world".  (Its last sentence is also a sober instruction for mourners.)  From this prayer I love to quote the words about "this miserable and naughty world": here "naughty" has its original, fuller, stronger sense of "bad and evil".

O ALMIGHTY God, with whom do live the spirits of just men made perfect, after they are delivered from their earthly prisons: We humbly commend the soul of this thy servant, our dear brother, into thy hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator, and most merciful Saviour; most humbly beseeching thee, that it may be precious in thy sight. Wash it, we pray thee, in the blood of that immaculate Lamb, that was slain to take away the sins of the world; that whatsoever defilements it may have contracted in the midst of this miserable and naughty world, through the lusts of the flesh, or the wiles of Satan, being purged and done away, it may be presented pure and without spot before thee. And teach us who survive, in this and other like daily spectacles of mortality, to see how frail and uncertain our own condition is; and so to number our days, that we may seriously apply our hearts to that holy and heavenly wisdom, whilst we live here, which may in the end bring us to life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ thine only Son our Lord. Amen.

For Dad, his withered body had become indeed an unhappy tumbledown prison; may his soul find mercy, that – laved in Christ's precious Blood, cleansed of all spots incurred through human frailty – he may rest in peace.

(The photograph is the last one I have of him, from his 84th birthday just a week or so ago.)

Death of My Father

Of your charity, please pray for the repose of the soul of my father, Keith, who died at 11:30 this morning, the 1st of October 2010.  Please remember also my mother and family in your prayers.

Absolve, we beg, Lord, the soul of Thy servant Keith, that being dead to the world he may live to Thee: and the faults which by the frailty of the flesh he hath committed in human life, Thou wipe away of Thy most merciful pity.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

O God, Whose property it is ever to have mercy and to spare, bowing down we graciously pray Thee for the soul of Thy servant Keith, whom to-day Thou hast commanded to pass from this world: that Thou wouldst not hand him over into the hands of the enemy, neither wouldst Thou forget him for ever, but command him to be received by the holy Angels, and led to the homeland of paradise; that, since he hath hoped and believed in Thee, he may not endure the pains of hell, but may possess eternal joys.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

O God, Who hast commanded us to honour our father and mother: in Thy loving kindness have mercy on the soul of my father, and forgive him his sins; and bring me to see him in the joy of eternal glory.  Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

"The Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord in that day"
— II Tim. i, 18a.

Lutherans and Praying for the Dead

Rudolf Otto, in the liturgy for Holy Communion that he used as a Lutheran pastor, publicly prayed for the dead alongside his congregation, as, for example, in these petitions:

Remember, O Lord, in mercy our brethren N.N., whom thou hast called to thyself before thy throne —

* Lift up thy countenance upon them and be gracious unto them.

Remember, O Lord, our sisters N.N., who have returned to their heavenly home —

* May they rest in peace, and may light perpetual shine upon them.

Remember, O Lord, the souls of our children N.N., whom thou hast so soon bid return unto thee —

* Grant them in thy light to see light and comfort them that mourn their loss.  Amen.

(Quoted from his Religious essays: A supplement to The Idea of the Holy, p. 64f.  The asterisks mark the congregation's responses to the pastor's prayers; a footnote explains that the first of these petitions commemorates those who have died since the last celebration.  Pretty obviously, the congregational responses allude to, respectively: the latter part of the Aaronic blessing – very dear to Lutherans – in Numbers vi, 24-26; the usual Catholic prayer for the dead Requiem æternam and Requiescant in pace; and to both Psalm 35(36):10(9) and St Matthew v, 5 – one of the Beatitudes.  It is pathetic in the true sense to see the need then felt, even in a First World country, to have special commemoration made of the many who died as children.) 

Now Otto (1869-1937) was no oddity, but a famous theologian in his day, most well-known for his book The Idea of the Holy (first published in German in 1917, and in English in 1923); while I was in Tanunda, I perused, but didn't buy, an edition of his essays, including the form he used when celebrating the Lutheran Communion service (Religious essays: A supplement to The Idea of the Holy, London 1931).  A quick consultation of Google Books turned up the above quotations, thus saving me having to go back and buy it!

So, what of all this?  Well, I mentioned in an earlier post that a Lutheran pastor explained to me that, while Lutherans do not in general pray for the dead, the practice (as opposed to, say, a very overtly Roman Catholic view of purgatory with all that entails in the way of indulgences, etc.) is not outlawed by the Lutheran confessions, as contained in The Book of Concord: for while the documents contained therein certainly inveigh against the offering up the Mass as a sacrifice for the faithful departed, very notably it is stated that the Lutherans do not fall into the error of Arius, for "Epiphanius writes, that Arius maintained that prayer for the dead is useless.  Now, we do not speak of prayer, but of the Supper of Christ, whether this is an offering, ex opere operato, benefiting the dead." (Apology to [sic; lege of] the Augsburg Confession, XII.)

Luther himself, in his usual racy style (did he have Tourette's?), wrote that:

As for the dead, since Scripture gives us no information on the subject, I regard it as no sin to pray with free devotion in this or some similar fashion: 'Dear God, if this soul is in a condition accessible to mercy, be thou gracious to it.' And when this has been done once or twice, let it suffice. For vigils and requiem masses and yearly celebrations of requiems are useless, and merely the devil's annual fair.

—Martin Luther, "Confession Concerning Christ's Supper" (1528), in Luther's Works, vol. 37, p. 369.

(Of course, Scripture does give us information on this subject:  Catholics know that II Machabees is truly among the inspired books, and it tells us "It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins" – II Mach. xii, 46; Luther, following the Jews, dismissed this book, alas.  In any case, St Paul prays for Onesiphorus, writing "The Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the Lord in that day" – II Tim. i, 18a – and it is most strongly implied that Onesiphorus was dead, seeing as, in verse 16, St Paul prays for God's mercy for "the house of Onesiphorus", that is, for his family, and goes on to speak of all Onesiphorus did for him in the past tense throughout.  The Nonjurors, to refer to my favourite Continuing Anglicans of yester-year, certainly believed in prayer for the dead and justified it by reference to this text of the Apostle.)

Hence, it would appear that, while Lutherans are not generally engaged in praying for the dead, to do so would not be, strictly speaking, against their doctrines; and indeed, while in Australia such prayers are not used in public worship, they were in Germany, and by a noted Lutheran theologian, too.

Black Saturday: First Anniversary

Day turned to hellish night – the firestorm at Steels Creek, seen out the kitchen window by the homeowner (Mr Cleaveley), at 6:11 pm 

Of your charity, pray for the souls of the 173 Victorians killed – 38 at Kinglake, 34 at Marysville, 27 at Strathewen, to say nothing of many other fatalities – in the Black Saturday bushfires of the 7th of February 2009, and pray also for those who survived, who continue to struggle to rebuild their lives and homes, mindful of their relatives, friends and neighbours who perished.

Pray also for the 62 who died during the 1967 Black Tuesday bushfires in southern Tasmania, whose anniversary also falls this day.  Having lived in Hobart for some years, I recall how all around the city the story was still told of "Here the fire came" – down the forested hills and gullies, to the university campus, to my old university college, to the homes of friends and to those of the dead...  

(Some stories from 1967: Jane, at home while the fire bore down, in a house backing on to a cliff above the beach below, thought, "I must save my children," and, paying out the neighbours' garden hose over the steep slope, snatched up all four of them at once and abseiled to safety like an opossum!  Many others nearby also found safety on the beach.  But one old couple, fearing the flames, fled their home and made for the beach down along a creek – alas! they were unable to outrun the bushfire and were burnt to death in the open, while by cruel contrast their house was left untouched – on whose souls the Lord have mercy.)

Pray that the ongoing Royal Commission into last year's tragedy will fearlessly report the truth about that day, uncovering mistakes and failings, forcefully pointing out what must be done if deaths are to be avoided in the future.  Pray that lessons learnt at such a price will not be neglected.

Unfortunately, the typical twenty-year gap between particularly savage, deadly bushfires feeds a culture of complacency that gradually grows up after each disaster recedes in memory...

Tragedy

Media vita in morte sumus...

Please of your charity pray for the many many people killed in natural disasters recently, in the Philippines, Vietnam and so forth, due to savage weather, and in Samoa, struck by a tsunami.

In particular, please pray for a family devastated - one of the victims of the tsunami was a Australian woman on holiday with her husband: she was caught in the debris and drowned; by a cruel twist of fate, the trip had been meant as her 50th birthday present. She leaves behind her badly injured husband (who had the harrowing grief of identifying her even as he bore broken bones and lacerations) and her devoted daughter, receiving the dread news to-day, back in Tasmania - whom I know.

Media vita in morte sumus: quem quærimus adjutorem nisi te Domine? qui pro peccatis juste irasceris. * Sancte Deus: † Sancte fortis: ‡ Sancte et misericors Salvator: amaræ morti ne tradas nos.

V/. Ne projicias nos in tempore senectutis: cum defecerit virtus nostra, ne derelinquas nos, Domine. * Sancte Deus: † Sancte fortis: ‡ Sancte et misericors Salvator: amaræ morti ne tradas nos.

V/. Noli claudere aures tuas ad preces nostras. † Sancte fortis: ‡ Sancte et misericors Salvator: amaræ morti ne tradas nos.

V/. Qui cognoscis occulta cordis parce peccatis nostris. ‡ Sancte et misericors Salvator: amaræ morti ne tradas nos.

In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour but of Thee, O Lord, Who for our sins art justly displeased. * Holy God, † Holy mighty, ‡ Holy and merciful Saviour, give us not over unto bitter death.

V/. Do not cast us away in the time of age: when our strength fails, do not forsake us, O Lord. * Holy God, † Holy mighty, ‡ Holy and merciful Saviour, give us not over unto bitter death.

V/. Shut not Thine ears to our prayers. † Holy mighty, ‡ Holy and merciful Saviour, give us not over unto bitter death.

V/. Thou who knowest the secrets of the heart, spare our sins. ‡ Holy and merciful Saviour, give us not over unto bitter death.

Sir Edward Carne

Another monumental inscription at San Gregorio al Celio:

D.O.M.

EDOVARDO CARNO BRITANNO EQVITI AVRATO IV[-]
RISCONSVLTO ORATORI SVMMIS DE REBVS BRITA[-]
NNIAE REGVM AD IMPERATOREM, AD REGES, BISQ.
AD ROMANAM ET APOSTOLICAM SEDEM QVARVM
IN ALTERA LEGATIONE A PHILIPPO MARIAQ. PIIS
REGIBVS MISSVS OBORTO DEINDE POST MORTEM
MARIAE IN BRITANNIA SCHISMATE SPONTE PATRIA
CARENS OB CATHOLICAM FIDEM CV[M] MAGNA INTE[-]
GRITATIS VERAEQ. PIETATIS EXISTIMATIONE DECE[-]
SSIT HOC MONVMENTVM GALFRIDVS VACHANVS
ET THOMAS FREMANNVS AMICI EX TESTAMENTO POS.
OBIIT ANN. SALVTIS MDLXI XIIII CAL. FEB.

Here is the story of his life and end as given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Requiescat in pace. Amen.

Requiem for Robert Peckham

Sancta ergo et salubris est cogitatio pro defunctis exorare, ut a peccatis solvantur.

(II Mach. xii, 46)

As mentioned below (and thanks to Kiran for first alerting me to this noteworthy man), Robert Peckham was a sixteenth century Englishman, who died in Rome, having left all he loved in England, on account of her having miserably defected from the Catholic Faith.

His anniversary of death falls to-morrow, and I have arranged with Fr Brendan, one of the priests at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, to have a Requiem Mass said for him at 8.15 am on Thursday morning the 17th (this being the first free day). Hopefully I will serve this Mass. (If anything comes up and the Mass time changes I will hopefully put a note here.)

In case any may scoff and say, What the benefit of a Mass said so many ages later? - I would contend that his friends put up that memorial inscription in his honour not merely to perpetuate his memory and teach future generations something of how godly virtue spurs one to do even the hardest things, but to elicit prayers on his behalf. Would that one day someone remember me after I am dead and gone!

Robert Peckham, R.I.P.

Robert Peckham was an Englishman who left all he loved in England when his nation fell from the Catholic Faith; he died in Rome on the 13th of September 1569, and had a memorial erected to him in the forecourt of San Gregorio al Celio, where I'm staying. It appears that he had the friendship and the aid of his fellow-escapee from evil Elizabeth, the last of the English hierarchy, Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St Asaph (who assisted at Trent, and ordained St Philip Neri).

I feel a great sadness at this and a connexion to him, and to a fellow Englishman also commemorated by a plaque at St Gregory's, since it was from this same church that St Augustine of Canterbury and his companions went forth in 597 at Pope Gregory the Great's command to bring the pagan English the True Faith; and here one of the faithful remnant of their mission came to die when all seemed lost, when after near a thousand years faithlessness and immorality seemed to triumph in Our Lady's Dowry, which had been Merrie England.

On the last day, I hope to stand, all unworthy, yet penitent, by the side of such stedfast men - and not with Henry, Elizabeth, and all damned heretics and craven followers of worldly expediency.

Here is the inscription:

D.O.M.
ROBERT PECHAMO ANGLO
EQVITI AVRATO
PHILIPPO ET MARIAE
ANGLIAE ET HISPAN. REGIBVS
OLIM CONCILIIS
GENERE RELIGIONE VIRTVTE
PRAECLARO
QVI CVM PATRIAM SVAM
A FIDE CATHOLICA DEFICIENTEM ADSPICERE
SINE SVMMO DOLORE NON POSSET
RELICTIS OMNIBVS QVAE IN HAC VITA
CARISSIMA ESSE SOLENT
IN VOLVNTARIVM PROFECTVS EXILIVM
POST SEX ANNOS
PAVPERIBVS CHRISTI HAEREDIBVS
TESTAMENTO INSTITVTIS
SANCTISSIME E VITA MIGRAVIT
IDIB. SEPT. ANN. MDLXIX AETATIS SVAE LIV
THOMAS GOLDOVELLVS EPISCOP. ASAPHENSIS
ET THOMAS KIRTONVS ANGLI
TESTAMENTI PROCVRATORES POS.

Fr Ckuj R.I.P.

I was saddened to learn, via a correspondent, of the unexpected death of Fr Adrian Ckuj (pronounced "skwee"), aged only 40, in Rome, still only at the beginning of what he promised to achieve for Christ and His flock as a brilliant and holy priest: but God in His inscrutable providence has taken him, we pray, to Himself.  My condolences go especially to his brother, Fr Simon Ckuj (also known to me from my time in Melbourne), and his family.  

May his memory be eternal!

Daily De Profundis for the Dead

The De Profundis (Psalm 129 according to the LXX, Vulgate, and related translations; Psalm 130 in modern Bibles) is one of my favourite psalms.  

From it comes the motto of the Redemptorists: Apud Dominum misericordia, et copiosa apud eum redemptio – "With the Lord there is mercy and fulness of redemption" (v. 7).  [This is also the 4th antiphon for 2nd Vespers of Christmas.]  The psalm is a brief, intense meditation on human redemption: "If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord who would survive?  But with you is found forgiveness: for this we revere you" (vv. 3-4).  

It is par excellence the psalm to pray for the faithful departed, interpreting it as the plaint of souls in Purgatory ("Out of the depths...  My soul is waiting... is longing for the Lord..."); an old custom is to pray it at 9m, at the tolling of a bell.

In English, I know it according to the Grail version (not the "inclusive" second edition, LOL), since this is what appears in the Divine Office, which I've prayed since 1994; I also long since learnt it in Latin, according to the Vulgate, and this has been reinforced by my switch to praying the 1962 Breviary, since early October this year.  I tend to pray it indifferently in either language, as I do with the Angelus, etc.  (The Rosary is very good in Latin, but it takes a little longer...)

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, * 

Lord, hear my voice!  

O let your ears be attentive * 

to the voice of my pleading.  

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, * 

Lord, who would survive?  

But with you is found forgiveness: * 

for this we revere you.  

My soul is waiting for the Lord, *

I count on his word.  

My soul is longing for the Lord, * 

more than watchman for daybreak.  

Let the watchman count on daybreak * 

and Israel on the Lord.

Because with the Lord there is mercy * 

and fulness of redemption, 

Israel indeed he will redeem * 

from all its iniquity.

If saying this devotionally, as for instance as a prayer of penitence, one would add at least the Glory be; and perhaps Kyrie eleïson, Christe eleïson, Kyrie eleïson, then the Lord's Prayer, etc..  To pray this for the dead, it is traditional to add:

Eternal rest * grant unto them, O Lord, 

and let perpetual light * shine upon them.  (Cf. 4 Esdras ii, 34, 35)

V/.  From the gates of hell,

R/.  Deliver, O Lord, their souls.  (Cf. Isaias xxxviii, 10, 17; Pss 48:16; 85:13; 88:49)

V/.  May they rest in peace.

R/.  Amen.

V/.  O Lord, hear my prayer.

R/.  And let my cry come unto thee.  (Ps 101:2)

Let us pray.

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, grant unto the souls of Thy servants and handmaids the remission of all their sins, that through our devout supplications they may obtain the pardon they have always desired.  Who livest and reignest world without end.  R/.  Amen.

V/.  Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.

R/.  And let perpetual light shine upon them.

V/.  May they rest in peace.

R/.  Amen.

Some get disturbed by the versicle "from the gates of hell", but once one reads the canticle of Ezechias in Isaias xxxviii, 10-20 it becomes clear that this versicle is simply alluding to that Old Testament cry for mercy from one brought nigh unto death.  

The collect is interesting, as it is addressed to God the Son (that's why it ends "Who livest and reignest", not "Thro' Christ our Lord" – never make the mistake of praying to Christ "through Christ", it's heretical!), presumably because it was felt that His saving office was alluded to by calling Him "God... the Redeemer of all the faithful".  

(The same is true of nearly all the Advent collects in the traditional liturgy; tho' research shews them to have originally been ad Patrem, it was felt over time better to consider them as ad Filium, since their calls for God to come were considered to apply to the coming of Christ at Christmas.  The old Gallican (Non-Roman Western) liturgy addressed as many prayers to the Son as to the Father, and once the Roman Rite was adopted by the rest of the West, Gallican influences flowed into the Roman Rite and created the atmosphere whereby such changes in address were made.)

Here is the Latin of the psalm (according to the Gallican Psalter of the Vulgate, as used in the Breviary et al.; the Neo-Vulgate is just slightly different):

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: * 
Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuæ intendentes: * 

in vocem deprecationis meæ.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: * 
Domine, quis sustinebit?
Quia apud te propitiatio est: * 
et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine.
Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus: * 
speravit anima mea in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem: * 
speret Israël in Domino.
Quia apud Dominum misericordia: * 
et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israël, *
ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.

Note that the Vulgate renders certain phrases differently: "by reason of Thy law I have waited upon Thee, O Lord" (verse 4b); "From the morning watch even until night let Israel hope in the Lord" (verse 6), treating the repetition of the phrase as in the Grail version as dittography.

And the additions pro defunctis:

Requiem æternam * dona eis, Domine.  

Et lux perpetua * luceat eis.  

V/.  A porta inferi,

R/.  Erue, Domine, animas eorum.

V/.  Requiescant in pace.

R/.  Amen.  

V/.  Domine, exaudi orationem meam.  

R/.  Et clamor meus ad te veniat.  

Oremus.  

Fidelium, Deus, omnium Conditor et Redemptor: animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem cunctorum tribue peccatorum; ut indulgentiam, quam semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur.  Qui vivis et regnas in sæcula sæculorum.  R/.  Amen.  

V/.  Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine.  

R/.  Et lux perpetua luceat eis.  

V/.  Requiescant in pace.  

R/.  Amen.