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At 01:43 PM 8/11/98 +0300, Jussi Hanska wrote: >Dear Fellow List Members, > >I am seeking your ever benevolent assistance on a little linguistical >problem. I have come across following passage in a sermon by Vincent Ferrier: > >"Secunda oratio est canticum, quicumque vult salvus esse, faciendo crucem in >quolibet versu. Probatum est quod si devote dicatur genibus flexis...etc." > >It is a question of different prayers that were supposed to give shelter >against thunder storm. What could the canticum mean in this context? I hope >that this question is not totally absurd and something that every one should >know anyway. Even if it is, do me a favour and stretch your patience enough >to answer it. > "Quicumque vult salvus esse . . ." is the opening of the so-called Athenasian Creed, which was probably written in France in the late fourth or early fifth century. Although not really suited for such a role, it was at times used in the Liturgy of the Hours, and I would guess (and I'm stretching my neck out considerably here) that it passed from there into more general usage as a prayer for special, non-liturgical occasions (such as thunderstorms). Given this, I would translate "canticum" as "canticle." Stephen A. Allen The Medieval Institute University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 46556-5692 [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%