Set originally for Trinity 7, it shows up now as the Collect for Trinity 6, for Proper 4A, and for Proper 8C. A great prayer finds multiple uses, to be sure. Well, a little history. It comes to us from the Gelasian Sacramentary. The book exists in several manuscripts, the oldest of which is an 8th-century manuscript in the Vatican Library, acquired from the library of Queen Christina of Sweden (thus MS Reginensis 316); in German scholarship this is referred to as the Altgelasianum, and is considered the sacramentary used by Saint Boniface in his mid-8th century mission on the European continent. This is the most important surviving Merovingian illuminated manuscript, and shows a synthesis of Late Antique conventions with "barbarian" migration period art motifs comparable to the better known insular art of Britain and Ireland.
In Latin, it prays:
Deus virtutum, cuius est totum quod est optimum, insere pectoribus nostris tui nominis amorem, et praesta, ut in nobis, religionis augmento, quae sunt bona nutrias, ac, vigilanti studio, quae nutrita custodias.
Literally it is rendered:
O mighty God of hosts, of whom is the entirety of what is perfect (best?), graft into our hearts the love of Your Name, and grant, that by means of an increase of the virtue of religion, You may nourish in us the things which are good, and, by means of vigilant zeal, guard the things which have been nourished.
Secretly I love this Collect in part for all of those who turn up their noses at the idea of religion. Here we are praying for the true religion. In any case, it is a wonderful prayer and reminds us always of the goal and fruit of the faith that lives in us today and forever. Zeal for the things of the Lord and His house are the mark of good piety and the flowering of the Spirit at work in us from baptismal grace. The faith we confess is not merely internal inclination but also creates external adornment in that which is good, right, true, beautiful, just, and right -- in accord with the Lord's own revelation of goodness in His commands.
So we pray in Lutheran Service Book:
Lord of all power and might, author and giver of all good things, graft (sow or plant?) into our hearts the love of Your name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of Your great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
A couple of corrections on your literal translation. First of all, God is described as "Deus virtutum," literally, "God of virtues"--if you understand "virtue" as "manly quality," including such things as strength, courage, valor, excellence, etc. (While English has made virtue a rather effeminate concept, Latin and Greek understand the term to mean being the best manly man possible. BTW, I think I just gave you an idea to explore in a blog post.) While "virtues" have at times been understood as a rank of angels (much like "thrones" and principalities") and so could be legitimately translated as you did, it is not the only way the word could be rendered. The LSB mode of translation ("Lord of all power and might," a more poetic way of saying the more literal "Lord of powers") has a long history in the LCMS, appearing in both TLH and ELHB. Service Book and Hymnal and the Book of Common Prayer take a similar tack.
ReplyDeleteSecond, there is no "virtue" in the phrase "increase of the virtue of religion." It should simply read "increase of religion," at least if you are claiming to be giving a literal translation.