(Please excuse the rather unorthodox Trinity depicted!)
One feature of the pre-1962 Little Office that I like is the Commemoration, at Lauds and Vespers, of all saints - which in a sense is a condensation into one collect (actually, two under one conclusion) of the six or so commemorations in the pre-1912 Breviary. I esteem it because it is an excellent general intercession, rather like the preces in fact; when praying Our Lady's Hours, I follow the '62 rules, but immediately after the Fidelium I then recite this Commemoration:
Aña. Sancti Dei omnes, intercedere dignemini pro nostra omniumque salute.(All ye Saints of God, deign to intercede for our and all men's salvation.)V/. Lætamini in Domino, et exsultate, justi.R/. Et gloriamini omnes recti corde.(Rejoice in the Lord, and exult, ye just.(And glory, all ye upright of heart. - Ps. 31:11)Oremus.Protege, Domine, populum tuum, et Apostolorum tuorum Petri et Pauli, et aliorum Apostolorum patrocinio confidentem, perpetua defensione conserva.Omnes Sancti tui, quæsumus, Domine, nos ubique adjuvent, ut dum eorum merita recolimus, patrocinia sentiamus: et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus, et ab Ecclesia tua cunctam repelle nequitiam: iter, actus, et voluntates nostras, et omnium famulorum tuorum, in salutis tuæ prosperitate dispone: benefactoribus nostris sempiterna bona retribue: et omnibus fidelibus defunctis requiem æternam concede. Per Dominum...(Protect, Lord, Thy people, and by Thy everlasting defence preserve them that trust in the patronage of Thy Apostles Peter and Paul, and the other Apostles.*(May all Thy Saints, we beg, Lord, everywhere help us, that when we recall their merits, we may feel their patronage: both grant us peace in our times, and drive away all wickedness from Thy Church: dispose our way, acts and wills, and that of all Thy servants, in the prosperity of Thy salvation: repay our benefactors with everlasting good things: and give eternal rest to all the faithful departed. Through...)
It may be seen that these collects answer to seven petitions:
- for the patronage of SS Peter and Paul, and all Apostles;
- for the patronage of all Saints;
- for peace;
- against the enemies of Holy Church;
- for our salvation and that of all;
- for benefactors;
- for the dead.
[* This first prayer I said to-day while paying a visit to the Church of the Apostles in town, with a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and a Rosary - then lighting some candles and some more petitions entrusting all and sundry to Our Lady, ut mos est.]
2 comments:
While the multiple commemorations of the pre-1912 breviary were condensed into one for the Divine Office, the Little Office, both pre- and post- 1912, had the commemoration in the form you have given.
Forgive me for being unclear in my original comment - mediæval versions of the Little Office had many commemorations, so I surmise that in the post-Trent Little Office, these were condensed into one, whereas the Breviary still maintained a number of them until 1912. (The Little Office in the edition of 1599 only has the one commemoration, bolstering my theory.)
Apparently the Little Office was reformed under St Pius V - that's why for centuries later it was styled "nuper reformatum".
Any idea of what was done?
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