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> > "This prayer is in honor of the Virgin Mary and was discovered under > > her sepulchre in the valley of Josephat." > >Oriens wrote: >The Valley of Jehosaphat is the Kedron Ravine, which divides Jerusalem >from the Mount of Olives. The Church of the Assumption/Tomb of the >Virgin is indeed there, and I have visited it several times. To the original poster of the prayer honouring the Virgin: In relation to the full text of the original prayer posted, and possibly to the collection of materials, if any, with which it was found, it may be a useful lead to note that as a topos of sacred geographical lore, the identity of the Valley of Joasaphat ( Joel 3:1-2; 12 : "For behold in those days, and in that time when I shall bring back the captivity of Juda and Jerusalem: I will gather together all nations ,and will bring them down into the valley of Joasaphat... Let them arise, and let the nations come up into the valley of Joasaphat; for there I will sit to judge all nations round about.." ) was coincidental with that of the site of the Last Judgement. It was established in the tradition as early as a sixth c, Breviary of Jerusalem ( Forma b, lines 134040, ed. Weber, Itineraria et alia geographica..) and adopted as a commonplace in medieval itineraries by the 11thc -12thc.(See Palestinian Pilgrim's Text Society, 6, London 1984, repr. 1971, Anonymous Pilgrim 1) For these medieval pilgrims and geographers, it was also no coincidence that the other main reason to revere this valley was its being the site of the tomb of the Virgin Mary ( traceable to the apocryphal 5thc. Transitus Mariae) a commonplace accepted and well absorbed in both popular and liturgical lore well before the high middle ages. The particular formaulation of that prayer to the Virgin may well have been shaped by similar petitionary prayers common to the theme of the last judgement. I know there exists an annotated collection of such petitionary prayers, and will try to locate the exact citation for you. While these suggestions may ultimately be of no help in specifically identifying the prayer, they may well help pinning dowm the tone and flavor. Josef Gulka > Josef Gulka [log in to unmask] Tel: 215- 732-8420 Fax (215) 732-8420 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%