What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

I attended today the funeral of H.E. Mons. Raffaello Funghini (R.I.P!), who had been the Dean of the Rota here in Roma, and with whom I lived.   He worked in the ambient of the Church’s juridical arm for nearly 50 years. 

His funeral was just plain normal. 

It was held in the beautiful Basilica of San Lorenzo in Damaso, which is attached to the Palace of the Cancelleria Apostolica, which houses the Church’s highest tribunal, the Sacra Penitenzieria, the Church’s Supreme Court or Segnatura, and the Church’s highest marriage tribunal, the Rota (so called from the round table they would sit at).  The celebrant for the funeral was H.E. Agostino Card. Vallini.  H.E. Francis Card. Stafford was present in choir dress. Many bishops concelebrated and around 60 priests.  Latin was used for the Mass, with the excception of the readings and the commendation at the end.  The music was in Latin, Gregorian chant, using the normal chants for a Requiem.  Some of the psalm verses after the antiphons were sung in a very good falso bordone. Holy Water and incense were used at the end. 

Sounds normal, right?  Well… it was.  Setting aside the splendid surroundings and lofty figures involved, the book was followed, the Church’s own language was used, people sang chant, which has pride of place in the Church’s liturgy. 

It occurred to me during the Mass that any of the kids who go to the St. Agnes Schools would have been perfectly comfortable with the ceremonies and the music and the language.  They would have been able to participate easily, even though they were from another country.

THAT is a truly normal Mass!

Communication of the Holy See Press Office

In reference to the news in circulation about the person of the Founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Rev. Fr. Marciel Maciel Degollado, the Holy See Press Office communicates the following:

From 1998 onward, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith received accusations, some of which are already public, against the Rev. Marciel Maciel Degollado, founder of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, for delicts reserved to the exclusive competence of the Dicastery.  In 2002, Rev. Maciel published a declaration to deny the accusations and to express his displeasure for the offense offered him from some former Legionaries of Christ.  In 2005, for reasons of advanced age, the Rev. Maciel retired from the office of Superior General of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.

All these elements were the object of mature examination on the part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and, according to the norm of the Motu Proprio "Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela" promulgated on 30 April 2001 by Servant of God John Paul II, the one-time Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, His Eminence Joseph Card. Ratzinger, authorized an investigation into the accusations.  In the meantime, there occurred the death of Pope John Paul II and the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as the new Pontiff.

After having submitted the results of the investigation to close study, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the direction of the new Prefect, His Eminence William Card. Levada, has decided, taking into consideration the advanced age of the Rev. Maciel as well as his delicate health – to renounce a canonical process and to invite Father to live a life reserved to prayer and penance, renouncing any kind of public ministry.  The Holy Father approved these decisions.

Independent of the person of the Founder, the well-deserved apostolate of the Legionaries of Christ and of the Association Regnum Christi is recognized with gratitude.

I found an interesting site.  Someone took the time to examine carefully the draft translation of the GIRM way back when.  Perpend:

Observations on the English Language Study Translation of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani July 2000 [hereinafter IGMR2000] by the Secretariat for the Liturgy of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops [hereinafter SL]

The following observations do not address issues of style (e.g., inconsistency in capitalization) or nuance of translation. They simply point to omissions and (in the opinion of this writer) over-translations in the SL text. They are based on a comparison of the Latin text of the IGMR2000 as found at the BCL website and the English study text published by the SL. For convenience article numbers from IGMR2000 will be given with comparison to page and line numbers from the SL text.

You might want to look at this page if you are interested in the minutiae of translations of rubrics as you gaze at the official translation of the GIRM.

 

COLLECT:
Tribue, nobis, quaesumus, Domine,
mysteriis paschalibus convenienter aptari,
ut quae laetanter exsequimur
perpetua virtute nos tueantur et salvent.

In the Veronese Sacramentary a precedent of this prayer is found in the month of September, which you veteran readers of WDTPRS know was a fast time in the early Church.  And, as you might guess, the new version of the prayer eliminates the penance language.  Here is the old version: Tribue, quaesumus, domine, fidelibus tuis, ut ieiuniis pascalibus convenienter aptentur, et suscepta sollemniter castigation corporalis ad fructum cunctis transeat animarum.  See the differences and similarities?  In the ancient Gelasian, however, the prayer was a little different: Da, quaesumus, domine, fidelibus tuis ieiuniis paschalibus convenienter aptari, ut suscepta sollempniter castigation corporalis cunctis ad fructum proficiat animarum.  Yes, that was “sollempniter”.  I suppose you are just aching to know what the Sacramentarium Bergomense has… maybe another time.

The trickiest part of this is to make the right choice for exsequor.  According to the great Lewis & Short Dictionary this means “to follow to the end, to pursue, follow” but also “to follow up, prosecute, carry out; to perform, execute, accomplish, fulfill”.   If we turn to Blaise/Dumas we read that exsequor means those things, to be sure, but also “accomplir, célébrer (les mystères)”.  In fact, exequor, which gives us English “execute”, also applies to concepts like ministry and carrying our the commandments.  What to do?  We run into a bit of the same problem with virtus.  Is this virtus in the sense of “virtue” or in the sense of “force, might”.  Again, Blaise/Dumas is helpful in showing that virtus in the plural can refer to manifestations of God’s might, even the working of miracles (operatio virtutum).  I think it is fair to stick to that dimension of its meaning in our

VERY LITERAL VERSION:
Bestow it upon us, we beg You, O Lord,
suitably to be made disposed for the paschal mysteries,
so that those things which we are joyfully fulfilling,
may protect and save us with an unending manifestation of divine might.

There are two layers of this prayer which, to my mind, are both in play at the same time.  First, what we are doing right now, in this moment in the church while we are hearing this prayer sung.  Second, what we are doing outside of the church in our daily lives.

In the first case, we want to be properly disposed to receive (convenienter aptari) joyfully (laetanter) the graces offered us (mysteriis) during the sacred action (exsequimur) of the Mass.  In the second case, we are praying to be made fitting and proper (convenienter aptari) for the resurrection of the flesh and the happiness of heaven after a good judgment (mysteriis paschalibus) and that in the meantime we can carry out (exequimur) with joy (laetanter) our vocations on earth, perform works of mercy, etc.

Holy Mass is a great source of strength for everything else which we do in the course of our (hopefully) busy lives.   Being properly disposed at Holy Mass is the key.  There is physical disposition (observing the Eucharistic fast, being suitably dressed, etc.) and spiritual disposition (being in the state of grace, paying attention, etc.).   The impact of Holy Mass resounds through the rest of our week, or day in the case of you daily Mass participants.