medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Does anybody know:
(1) If this is the same St Richard?
(2) Is the attribution correct?
(3) What is the original text of the prayer - presumably in Latin?
Can answer the first two points. Yes this is the same Richard and yes,
this
is his prayer. I learnt this prayer in my schooldays in Portsmouth some
50
years ago.
I am afraid I do not know it in Latin nor where the original is to be
found.
Respondeo: The reason I ask these things is that prayers have a way of
being foisted on saints. For example, the familiar "Prayer of St
Francis" ("Where there is despair, may I bring hope" etc.) is a modern
composition with no connexion to St Francis; I think it occurs for the
first time on a ninetenth-century holy picture, and has only become
well known during the past thirty years or so. This is true: look in
any older book of popular prayers, and you will find the "Prayer of St
Richard" and the "Prayer of St Ignatius" but not the "Prayer of St
Francis. I certainly did not learn it in my schooldays. There is, so
far as I know, no Italian orginal. If there were, it would be a major
document in early Italian philology, as is his "Canticle of Brother
Sun".
Now with the greatest of respect, the fact that Brenda learnt "The
prayer of St Richard" in her schooldays (as did I) does not mean that
it is correctly attributed to St Richard. If it does derive from St
Richard, there is surely a Latin original, or else the early Middle
English original would be a document of some philological interest.
Can anyone shed light upon the matter?
Bill.
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