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

Today I used the Missa in tempore belli

COLLECT:
Deus, qui conteris bella,
et impugnatores in te sperantium
potentia tuae defensionis expugnas:
auxiliare famulis tuis, implorantibus misericordiam tuam;
ut, inimcorum suorum feritate depressa,
incessabili te gratiarum actione laudemus.

LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who obliterates wars,
and who by the power of Your defense wipes out the attackers of those hoping in You:
come to the aid of Your servants imploring Your mercy;
so that, once the savagery of their enemies has been repressed,
we may praise You with endless thanksgiving.

I note in this prayer the distinction of "we", on the one hand, and "your servants" on the other.  The prayer invokes God’s help on His servants (famulis tuis) and then refers to their enemies using suorum, "their", not "our".  Then, in the next part, "we" are to rejoice (laudemus).  This reveals a concern that we who are celebrating this Mass in this place are mindful of God’s servants who are not present and who are experiencing the attacks of the enemy.  The combatants in the war are God’s servants for whom we are asking God’s aid.

Today is the commemoration of St. Elisha, prophet, called also Eliseus.  This was the disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-21).  When Elijah was about to be taken up to heaven in the firey chariot, Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit.  So great was God’s power to work miracles in him that even the touch of his corpse could heal (cf. Ecclesiasticus, 48, 152; Kings 13:20-21). 

Maybe some of you would like to take a shot at his entry in the Martyrologium Romanum:

 

Die 14 Junii
Decimo octavo Kalendas iulii.

1. Samariae seu Sebaste in Palestina, commemoratio sancti Elisei, qui, discipulus Eliae, propheta fuit in Israel tempore regis Ioram usque ad dies Ioas; etsi oracula non reliquit, tamen, miracula pro advenis patrando, salutem nuntiavit omnibus hominibus adfuturam.

Carmelites make much of St. Elisha, I suppose because of his connection to Elijah.  They have celebrated his feast since 1399.  I found this prayer online, though I don’t have the Latin original to compare it with (from Carmelite Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours,” Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome: 1993).  Perhaps one of you out there have the Latin version and will post it.

O God,
protector and redeemer of the human family,
whose wonders have been proclaimed through the wonders accomplished by your chosen prophets,
you have bestowed the spirit of Elijah on your prophet Elisha:
in your kindness grant us too
an increase in the gifts of the Holy Spirit
so that, living as prophets,
we will bear constant witness to your abiding presence and providence.

One of the things I think about right away when Elisha is mentioned is the older form of blessing Holy Water.  You might know that exorcized and blessed salt was used in the rite for blessing water.  The salt was personally addressed as a creature of God and then exorcized.

Exorcizo te, creatura salis, per Deum + vivum, per Deum + verum, per Deum + sanctum, per Deum, qui te per Eliseum Prophetam in aquam mitti jussit, ut sanaretur sterilitas aquae; ut efficiaris sal exorcizatum in salutem credentium; et sis omnibus sumentibus te sanitas animae et corporis; et effugiat, atque discedat a loco, in quo aspersum fueris, omnis phantasia et nequitia vel versutia diabolicae fraudis, omnisque spiritus immundus, adjuratus per eum qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, et saeculum per ignem.  R. Amen.

O you creature of salt, I purge you of all evil by the living + God, by the true + God, by the holy + God, who commanded by the Prophet Elisha that you be put into water in order that the sterility of the water would be healed: so that you might be rendered a puified salt for the salvation of believers, and so that you might be a healthiness of soul and body to all who consume you, and so that you may put to flight and drive out from a place in which you will have been scattered every phantom and wickedness, and cunning trap of diabolical deceit, and every unclean spirit be solemnly banished by command through Him Who shall come to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire.  R. Amen.

 

Priests ought to pray this way all the time!  Instead, we have a wimpy version of prayers today that are vague and uninteresting.  The old Ritual is a mighty fine book!

Adjuro is a great verb meaning basically in later Latin "to conjure or adjure, to beg or entreat earnestly".  In the writings of North African Fathers such as Tertullian, Cyprian, and Lactantius it comes to mean "oblige by speaking" and is applied to exorcizing demons and unclean spirits. 

COLLECT:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui populo tuo beatum Antonium
praedicatorem insignem dedisti,
eumque in necessitatibus intercessorem,
concede, ut, eius auxilio, christianae vitae documenta sectantes,
in omnibus adversitatibus te subvenientem sentiamus.

This prayer was of new composition for the 1970MR.  Whoever worked on it, however, knew his stuff.  It is "classical" in many respects.

Subvenio and adversitates give us a military flavor to this prayer.  Subvenio means, "to come up or advance to one’s assistance (the figure taken from the advance of a military reserve; v. subsidium), to come to one’s assistance, to aid, assist, relieve, succor; to obviate, remedy, heal, cure a disease, an evil, etc." 

We also need to turn to our knowledge of ancient rhetoric for a glimpse into documentum.  This is a “pattern for imitation”, like exemplum, but also in some contexts having the meaning of “a proof”, a concrete demonstration that what is asserted is true: evidence.   In this case it is a paradigm after which we are to pattern and shape our own lives.  But this pattern or model itself actually has power to shape us.  Christ transforms us the baptized who are made in his image and likeness, after his perfect exemplum, and who imitate His exempla and documenta, His words and deeds. 

LITERAL VERSION:
Almighty eternal God,
who gave blessed Anthony to Your people
as an outstanding preacher,
and in times of need as an intercessor,
grant, that, by his help, following his examples of Christian life
we may sense You coming to aid us in every adversity.

I recall seeing statues of the famous Franciscan when I was in Lisbon, many years ago.  St. Anthony, a native of Portugal, is there depicted in his pre-Franciscan mode, indeed, as an Augustinian canon with long hair, not the corona we are used to seeing.

You know the old Italian phrase, "Chi fa per se, fa per tre".  You also know the old rhyme of those in need:

Tony, Tony, look around.
Something’s lost and must be found.  

It might be consolation to many of you that St. Anthony was able to help himself when something important was lost.  Some years ago an important relic of St. Anthony (jaw, perhaps?) was stolen from a shrine here in Italy.  It was recovered after not very long.  I am not sure how much confidence that should inspire, but if it had not been recovered…