St Gertrude the Great

St Gertrude, mystic and prophetess, ornament of the Benedictine order, is a favourite saint of mine – would that I had relied more on her powerful prayers. I noticed to-day that her Collect in the Monastic Breviary (which has a whole proper Office for her feast) is subtly different to that in the Roman Breviary:

Monastic:

Deus, qui in purissimo corde beatæ Gertrudis Virginis tuæ jucundam tibi habitationem præparasti: ejus meritis et intercessione cordis nostri maculas clementer absterge; ut digna divinæ majestatis tuæ habitatio effici mereatur. Per...

Roman:

Deus, qui in corde beatæ Gertrudis Virginis jucundam tibi mansionem præparasti: ipsius meritis et intercessione; cordis nostri maculas clementer absterge, et ejusdem tribue gaudere consortio. Per…

I wonder which is the original, since they are obviously different versions of the same prayer; the Monastic appears to be the longer, but also to have a more unified theme as it were, so perhaps the Roman is a condensed edition.

Saints' Days

Happy birthday to Fr Greg Bourke, a Melbourne priest who was born on this day and was named for St Gregory the Wonderworker, whose feast it then was. St Gregory it was who actually did move a mountain (hence his name), who received revelation from St John the Evangelist of a very Catholic creed, and who, upon his deathbed, gave thanks to God that through his ministry, the Christians in his city had so multiplied in number that, where there had been but ten when he arrived, by his departure there remained but ten pagans.

To-day the Anglican Use keeps the memory of St Elizabeth of Hungary; and, yesterday, of St Gertrude the Great (who crops up one day earlier in the Traditional Calendar) and of St Margaret of Scotland - the latter always reminds me of a nice old lady who told me that she was a Scottish Episcopalian (once quite a decent High lot, who've gone to the dogs), and that "Our church was founded by St Margaret of Scotland". (Yeah, right.) I forbore to tell her that my Church was founded by Jesus Christ.

Collects

Yesterday's Collect for the 6th after Epiphany (used for the 27th after Pentecost) was noteworthy for reminding us that what is rational, according to right reason, is also what is pleasing to the Logos, as the Pope said at Regensburg:

Præsta, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus: ut semper rationabilia meditantes, quæ tibi sunt placita, et dictis exsequamur, et factis.  Per...

(Grant, we beseech, almighty God, that ever meditating upon what is true, what is pleasing to Thee, we may perform, both in what is said and done.  Through...)

The day also marked the feast of another favourite saint of mine, St Gertrude:

Deus, qui in corde beatæ Gertrudis Virginis jucundam tibi mansionem præparasti: ipsius meritis et intercessione; cordis nostri maculas clementer absterge, et ejusdem tribue gaudere consortio.  Per...