COLLECT OF THE WEEK - 6
The Supple Doctor is off to Skiathos next week, to get more supple still by
the application of abundant sun to his lallies. I shall suspend my mail
before I go - grieve not, I shall return - and will post a couple of
forthcoming collects in advance.
Collect for the 5th Sunday after Trinity (i.e. 14th July 98):
Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine, ut et mundi cursus pacifice nobis tuo ordine
dirigatur, et ecclesia tua tranquilla devotione laetetur. Per Dominum . . .
BCP translation:
Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so
peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy church may joyfully serve thee
in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
An interesting example, and contrary to the usual trend, of the Reformers
replacing a co-ordinate clause (et . . . et) with a subordinate clause (so .
. . that). The usual practice is the reverse, to replace an 'ut' with an
'and'. Goulburn comments, "This translation brings out, much more forcibly
than the original, the idea that the great end which God has in His
providential governance of the world is the spiritual welfare of His Church."
A more literal translation would be,
Grant us, we beseech thee, O Lord, that both the course of the world may be
peacefully arranged by your ordinance, and also that your Church may rejoice
in joyful devotion.
'dirigo' has a range of meanings, all to do with making straight. It can
meen to steer a ship, to sail a straight course, which the Reformers may
have acknowledged by the use of the word 'governance' (cf guberno, to steer
a ship). Actually the Gospel is a nautical one: Jesus teaching from a
ship, and the miraculous draught of fish, from Luke 5.
'pacifice' can be related to the Epistle, from 1 Peter 3: "inquirat pacem,
et sequatur eam" - let him seek peace, and follow it.
Goulburn comments on the insertion of the word "serve" in the translation:
'The second variation is the introduction of a new idea, foreign to the
original, by the word "serve;" "that thy Church may serve thee in godly
quietness," in the place of "that thy Church may rejoice in tranquil
devotion." This is an important variation, and we venture to think a
considerable improvement. Joyful and tranquil devotion is only one-half of
the Christian's duty to God; he must also do Him active service. Thus the
alteration (a truly English one, and one worthy of an English translator)
has given a prominence to work, to the practical service of God, which was
entirely wanting in the original prayer.'
And this is the nub of the question: the Collector was not an Englishman.
He was a Roman. The prayer (with a couple of minor differences) derives
ultimately from the Leonine Sacramentary. The ascription of this to Pope
Leo I is purely arbitrary, but the texts do seem to originate from that
period, and it has been suggested that some of the prayers are in fact by Leo.
On your imaginary forces work: imagine yourself as the good Pope Leo. It
is the year 452. A kindly but misunderstood old gentleman called Attila the
Hun is passing through Italy. Behind him lie the smouldering ruins of
Aquileia and many another centre of Roman culture. Now the Huns are at the
very gates of Rome. The Roman general Aetius, with the only remaining
Roman army, has made himself very scarce. There is absolutely nothing to
stop Attila from raping, pillaging, and burning Rome to its foundations.
Nothing . . . except you. You have offered to go out and appeal to Attila's
better nature.
You are more than a little apprehensive about this, because in your heart of
hearts you are not entirely convinced that Attila HAS a better nature.
However, you go out; and what prayer do your breathe silently to God as you go?
"Da nobis, Domine, Deus noster" - so the prayer begins in the Leonine
Sacramentary; you omit the "quaesumus" - God can see very well that you are
asking. But you do remind God that he is "Deus noster" - you have a fair
idea that he is not Attila's god, or at least that Attila would not
acknowledge him as such. You go on, "ut et mundi cursus pacifice nobis tuo
ordine dirigatur" - that, both the course of the world may be peacefully
directed for us by your ordinance. You do not continue with an "ut"; an
"ut" would be quite unnecessary. You don't need to tell God why you prefer
peace and order to rape and pillage; it is self-evident. This is not the
moment to insult God's intelligence. Peace, stability, order, are
invaluable in themselves, whatever further consequences they may have for
the life of the Church.
And you are, in the absence of a western emperor, the representative of both
Church and State. So you pray for both. Having prayed that the course of
the world (by which you mean, more or less, the Empire) may be peaceably
governed, you go on, "et ecclesia tua tranquilla devotione laetetur" - and
that your church may rejoice in tranquil devotion. Tranquillity is
something it conspicuously lacks just now, expecting as it does to be
exinguished at any moment. If Attila will only go away and leave you in
peace to say your prayers, then that will be an occasion for great
rejoicing. If people are also moved to serve God by good works, all the
better for them, but the urgent thing, the thing for which you so earnestly
pray in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, is for peace.
There is in this and many of the other collects a note of urgency,
heightened by sometimes extreme brevity. No set of prayers ever paid more
heed to the teaching of Jesus, "And in praying, do not heap up empty phrases
as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many
words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you
ask him." This text, when allied to the natural Roman terseness, produces
great brevity of expression. It is curious actually that the best
translations of the collects (so far as I know) are those of the BCP,
because that book has quite the opposite tendency, to prolixity and
redundancy of words:
"We acknowledge And confess
our manifold sins And wickedness . . .
provoking most justly thy wrath And indignation . . .
We do earnestly repent, And are heartily sorry . . ."
I have no idea if this week's collect was in fact composed by Leo, but let
me quote an account of Leo's style from T. Jalland, "Leo the Great" (London
1940; New York 1941). The first paragraph is itself a quotation from
Milman's "History of Latin Christianity":
'"(Leo's) sermons singularly contrast with the florid, desultory and often
imaginative and impassioned style of Greek preachers. They are brief,
simple, severe; without fancy, without metaphysic subtlety, without
passion; it is the Roman censor animadverting on the vices of the people:
the Roman praetor dictating the law, and delivering with authority the
doctrine of the faith."
'His latinity displays a terseness and brevity of expression which, in spite
of his frequent uses of abstractions and of inverted constructions in
conformity with the taste of the period, justifies his being assigned a
place of disctinction among post classical authors.'
Oriens.
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