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

Over at American Papist there is a good roundup of coverage on what the Holy Father said in Regensburg that has some muslims freaking out and burning him in effigy.

Take a little time and read some of the stories American Papist link to in his entry.

My reaction at this is point is this: I cannot fathom why news outlets pay dopes to write articles about things they have no clue about. 

Here is my translation with the entry from the Roman Martyrology for the …

Memoria beatae Mariae Virginis perdolentis, quae, iuxta crucem Iesu adstans, Filii salutiferae passioni intime fideliterque sociata est et nova exstitit Eva, ut, quemadmodum primae mulieris inoboedientia ad mortem contulit, ita mira eius oboedientia ad vitam conferret.

The memorial of the greatly grieving Blessed Virgin Mary, who, standing by the Cross of Jesus, was intimately and faithfully united to the saving Passion of her Son and showed herself to be the new Eve, so that just as the disobedience of the first woman lead to death, just so her wondrous obedience might lead to life.

In the older, pre-Conciliar Missale Romanum we find this wonderful Collect for today’s Holy Mass.

COLLECT:
Deus, in cuius passione,
secundum Simeonis prophetiam
dulcissimam animam gloriosae Virginis Matris Mariae
doloris gladius pertransivit:
concede propitius;
ut qui dolores eius venerando recolimus,
passionis tuae effectum felicem consequamur.

LITERAL VERSION:
O God, at whose Passion,
according to the Simeon’s prophecy,
the most sweet soul of the glorious Virgin, Mary our Mother,
was pierced by a sword of sorrow:
mercifully grant
that we who observe her sorrows by veneration
may attain to the happy result of Your Passion….

Also, in the old Communion Antiphon we have a connection between the great sorrow of Mary at the Cross and how she merits to be called Queen of Martyrs:

ANTIPHONA AD COMMUNIONEM:
Felices sensus beatae Mariae Virginis,
qui sine morte meruerunt martyrii palmam
sub Cruce Domini.

Sensus is an incredibly complicated word. It means, among other things, the faculties of sensing and perceiving, but also of the sentiments of the heart and mind. In a collective "sense" sensus stands for "the common feelings of humanity, the moral sense". Sensus is also our disposition of mind or humor and inclination. It signifies understanding of the thinking faculty, in the sphere of reason. How to render this with a word in English?

LITERAL VERSION:
Blissful the sentiments of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
which beneath the Cross of the Lord,
without death merited the martyr’s palm.

This antiphon underscores how the totality of Mary’s being, "magnified" by God at every point of her life, was united with her Son as He endured the sufferings of the Cross.