Prayers to Plague Saints

Over the past several weeks or more I had thought to post these prayers to Saint Sebastian, Saint Roch and Saint Rosalia against contagious disease, but my procrastination has led me to leave off disseminating such petitions to these famous plague saints almost too late:

1. Ad Sanctum Sebastianum Martyrem.

Aña. O beate Sebastiane, Martyr Dei, intercede pro nobis ad Dominum Jesum Christum, ut a peste seu a morbo epidemiæ tuis meritis et precibus liberemur. 

V. Ora pro nobis, beate Sebastiane.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi. 

Oremus. 

Oratio.Da nobis, quæsumus, Domine, « omnia tela nequissimi ignea exstinguere » (Eph. 6, 16b), qui inclyto Martyri, Ecclesiæ defensori, et pestilitatis propulsori Sebastiano tribuisti sagittarum suarum tormenta superare. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen. 

2. Ad Sanctum Rochum Confessorem. 

Aña. Ave, Roche sanctissime,
Nobili natus sanguine,
Crucis signatus schemate
Sinistro tuo latere.
Roche, peregre profectus,
Pestiferæ mortis ictus
Curavisti mirifice,
Tangendo salutiferæ.
Vale, Roche angelice,
Vocis citatus flamine,
Obtinuisti deifice
A cunctis pestem pellere. 

V. Ora pro nobis, beate Roche.
R. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi. 

Oremus.

Oratio.Deus, qui beato Rocho per Angelum tuum tabulam eidem afferentem promisisti; ut qui ipsum invocaverit, a nullo pestis cruciatu læderetur: præsta, quæsumus, ut qui ejus memoriam agimus, ipsius meritis et precibus a mortifera peste corporis et animæ liberemur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen. 

3. Ad Sanctam Rosaliam Virginem. 

Hymnus (abbrev.) Ave, rosa sine spina,
Contra pestem medicina,
Rosalia, dux inclyta,
Recens a mundo cognita.
Post tot sæcla revelata,
In Patronam orbi data
Contra pestem nobis fave,
Dum tibi sonamus Ave.
Laus, honor sit Majestati,
Uni, trinæ Deitati,
Rosaliam exaltanti,
Pestem per eam sedanti. 

V. Ascendat odor rosæ hujus in conspectu Domini.
R. Et placetur ira Altissimi. 

Oremus. 

Oratio.Deus, qui corpus famulæ tuæ Rosaliæ Virginis post tot sæcula inter montes inventum, contra sævientem pestilentiam sacrum amuletum fidelibus tuis esse voluisti: præsta supplicibus tuis, ut, qui ejus commemoratione lætamur, ejus quoque intervenientibus meritis, a præsentibus periculis, et a malo pestilentiæ liberemur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. R. Amen.

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1. To St Sebastian. 

Antiphon. O blessed Sebastian, Martyr of God, intercede for us with the Lord Jesus Christ, that from plague or from epidemic disease we may be delivered by thy merits and prayers. 

V. Pray for us, blessed Sebastian.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. 

Let us pray.

Collect.Grant unto us, we beg, Lord, “to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one” (Eph. 6:16b), who didst grant unto Sebastian, the famous Martyr, the defender of the Church, and the repeller of plague, to overcome the torments of his arrows. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen. 

2.  To St Roch. 

Antiphon. Hail, most holy Roch,
Born of noble blood,
Marked with the form of the Cross
On thy left side.
O Roch, rendered a pilgrim,
Struck by pestilential death,
Thou didst miraculously cure
With healing touch.
Hail, angelic Roch,
Summoned by the blast of the voice,
Thou didst obtain, O god-like one,
To drive plague from all.  

V. Pray for us, blessed Roch.
R. That we may be made worthy of the  promises of Christ. 

Let us pray. 

Collect.O God, who didst promise blessed Roch, by thine Angel delivering a tablet to the same, that those who call upon him should suffer no torment of plague: grant, we beg, that those who make remembrance of him may be freed, by his merits and prayers, from deadly plague of mind and body. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen. 

3. To St Rosalia.

Hymn. Hail, rose without a thorn,
Medicine against pestilence,
Rosalia, famous leader,
Recently made known to the world.
Revealed after so many centuries,
Given to the world as a Patroness,
Support us against the pestilence,
While to thee we cry out Hail.
Praise, and honour be
To the One Majesty, the Trinal Deity,
Exalting Rosalia,
Stopping the plague through her. 

V. The fragrance of this rose ascended in the sight of the Lord.
R. And appeased the wrath of the Most High. 

Let us pray. 

Collect.O God, who didst will the body of thy servant Rosalia the Virgin, found after many centuries amongst the mountains, to be a sacred amulet for thy faithful against the raging pestilence: grant unto thy supplicants, that we, who rejoice in her commemoration, and by her intervening merits, may be delivered from present perils, and from the evil of pestilence. Through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

Miserere nostri, Domine: quia peccavimus tibi

Now that the new translation is about to be fully implemented, one hears the second form of the Penitential Act in a more faithful version than formerly – for the Latin is:

V/. Miserere nostri, Domine.

R/. Quia peccavimus tibi.

V/. Ostende nobis, Domine, misericordiam tuam.

R/. Et salutare tuum da nobis.

and the new English thereof is:

V/. Have mercy on us, O Lord.

R/. For we have sinned against you.

V/. Show us, O Lord, your mercy.

R/. And grant us your salvation.

(In both cases, I have added the versicle and response marks for clarity.)

But whence cometh this text?

The second versicle, used for perhaps a thousand years and more in the preparatory prayers at Mass, is of course from Psalm 84, but the first, while it sounds Scriptural, doesn't occur anywhere word-for-word in Holy Writ.

Initially, it does remind one of the words of the Lenten chant Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi (which, while not directly from Scripture, are hallowed by centuries of use, and have quite a nice tune to which they are sung – a pity they weren't simply inserted into the Mass if such an alternative to the Confiteor was actually necessary).

The nearest echoes I have found are as follows.

Baruch 3:2, especially in the Vulgate (still the official Latin version when the Novus Ordo Missæ was drawn up), is quite close:

Audi, Domine, et miserere, quia Deus es misericors: et miserere nostri, quia peccavimus ante te.

(In the Neo-Vulgate, as I call the Nova Vulgata, the allusion is obscured, as the phrase quia Deus es misericors: et miserere nostri is omitted, presumably because it is not in the Hebrew, and came into the Latin via the Septuagint through the process know as dittography, whereby the first phrase is redoubled. Also, the Neo-Vulgate changes the last two words of the verse into in conspectu tuo.)

Now as to finding exact verbal correspondences, the versicle is the same as those first few words of Psalm 122(123):3, Miserere nostri, Domine; whereas the reponse instead comes from the end of Jeremias 14:20, quia peccavimus tibi (in both cases, the words are the same in the Vulgate and New Vulgate).

Why was such a strange pastiche composed and inserted?  Well, evidently the second versicle, Ostende nobis, Domine, was found worthy, and simply lifted from the versicles said by the priest at the conclusion of the prayers at the foot of the altar in the Extraordinary Form, but the versicle preceding it in that liturgy, Deus tu conversus, was evidently found "not quite suitable".  Hence, the reformers made up a "better" one themselves.  How curious.

The Holy Name

While I kept the Feast of the Most Holy Name of JESUS yesterday, since I was praying the 1962 Breviary (altho' I didn't get round to it till late at night after a very busy day!), in the modern Roman Rite the same feast (as an optional memorial) falls today, rather than attaching to the Sunday between the 2nd and the 5th inst., or failing that, on the 2nd; and the modern Martyrology declares:

Sanctissimi Nominis Jesu, in quo solo omne flectatur genu, cælestium, terrestrium et infernorum, ad gloriam divinæ majestatis.

(Of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, at which alone every knee shall bend, of celestials, of terrestrials and of infernals*, to the glory of the divine majesty.  [Cf. Phil. ii, 10-11.])

[*i.e. "of those who are in heaven, on earth, and in hell" – my little joke.]

This reminds me: one of the many things I like about the modern Divine Office is the inclusion of New Testament canticles at Vespers; and I liked to genuflect at the words Ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur, cælestium, terrestrium, et infernorum, which appear each Saturday in the cancticle from Philippians ii, 6-11; I based this on the rubric requiring this genuflection at the same words when read on Palm Sunday (and on the feasts of the Holy Cross) as part of the Epistle at the Traditional Mass.

I also try to maintain the formerly universal Catholic custom of bowing the head at the name of Jesus.  It is a sad sign of secularization that this salutary practice has become so rare.

Today's a good day (especially since I hardly celebrated the Feast yesterday) to pray the Litanies of the Most Holy Name; also a good day to delight in the moving Office hymns – Jesu Rex admirabilis (at Matins), Jesu decus angelicum (at Lauds), and Jesu dulcis memoria (at Vespers)  – proper to the (Traditional version) of the feast, drawn from the Jubilus Rhythmicus (wrongly) attributed to St Bernard.

Certain versicles in the Office, widely used elsewhere in the Church's Liturgy, have great appeal also:

V/.   Sit nomen Domini benedictum.

R/.  Ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.  (Ps 112:2)

V/.  Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.

R/.  Qui fecit cælum et terram.  (Ps 123:8)

V/.  Magnificate Dominum mecum.

R/.  Et exaltemus nomen ejus in idipsum.  (Ps 33:4)

Domine, Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra!  (Ps 8:2)

Ego autem in Domino gaudebo, et exsultabo in Deo Jesu meo.  (Hab.  iii, 18)

The last sentence - the 3rd antiphon at Vespers – is unique in that it is the actual Vulgate rendering of "But I will rejoice in the Lord, and exalt in God my Saviour": for that is the import of the Name Jesus.

This also reminds me of the pious customs for those at Sunday or festal Vespers to bow their heads (and doff their birettas...) at the half-verses Sanctum et terribile nomen ejus and Sit nomen Domini benedictum in Psalms 110 and 112, and even at et sanctum nomen ejus in the Magnificat.

Yesterday's Postcommunion at Mass in the extraordinary form is quite unusual:

Omnipotens æterne Deus, qui creasti et redemisti nos, respice propitius vota nostra: et sacrificium salutaris hostiæ, quod in honorem nominis Filii tui, Domini nostri Jesu Christi, majestati tuæ obtulimus, placido et benigno vultu suscipere digneris; ut gratia tua nobis infusa, sub glorioso nomine Jesu, æternæ prædestinationis titulo gaudeamus nomina nostra scripta esse in cælis.  Per eumdem Dominum...

(Almighty eternal God, Who hast created and redeemed us, graciously regard our prayers: and deign to receive with a placid and benign countenance the sacrifice of the saving Victim which we have offered unto Thy Majesty, in honour of the Name of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; that Thy grace being poured forth into us,  we may rejoice at our names to be written in heaven under the glorious Name of Jesus as a title of eternal predestination.  Thro' the same...)

"For there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved."  (Acts iv, 12.)