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

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, but let us continue with our march through Advent by looking at an ancient prayer from the Rotulus of Ravenna, which survived the centuries and became Saturday’s

COLLECT:
Deus, qui, ad liberandum humanum genus
a vetustatis condicione,
Unigenitum tuum in hunc mundum misisti,
largire devote exspectantibus supernae tuae gratiam pietatis,
ut ad verae perveniamus praemium libertatis.

This is an ancient prayer found in the Rotulus of Ravenna, which is included by Mohlberg in his edition of the ancient Veronese Sacramentary.

The phrase condicio vetustatis here refers to the "old man" we must put off, the state of sin inflicted by the fall of our first parents.

A SLAVISHLY LITERAL VERSION:
O God, who sent Your Only-Begotten
into this world in order to save the human race
from the condition of the old man,
lavish the grace of Your heavenly mercy
upon those devoutly awaiting,
so that we may attain unto the reward of true freedom.

A PROPOSED VERSION:
O God, who sent your Only-begotten Son into this world
to free the human race from ancient bondage,
lavish on those who devoutly await him
the grace of your compassion from on high,
that we may reach the prize of true freedom.

NB: My version above I posted about a year ago.   The "proposed" version above is being kicked around as an eventual official replacement for the wretched stuff presently in use.  What I find consoling is the fact tha the second version really tries to stick to the sense of the Latin, and does so smoothly. 

Opinions?

Under another entry, about St. Charles Seminary beginning to teach also the older form of Mass subsequent to Summorum Pontificum, one of the comments included this prize:

I am proud to announce that Saint Vincent Seminary in Latrobe, PA, run by the Benedictines of Saint Vincent Archabbey, will be offering an elective course this spring on how to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form (as requested by some of our bishop sponsors). Granted, I am sure there are some monk professors who are not happy about this, but it will be taught by a Benedictine who regularly offers the TLM. In addition, while not part of the seminary, there is a weekly Low Mass on Fridays on our campus that gets a number of seminarians who attend. Hope is alive!