sarum – Page 7 – A Collection of Prayers

Give Us Your Righteousness

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d O God,
source of perfect blessedness,
you teach your faithful people to walk in your laws,
to search your testimonies,
to keep your commands;
Give us your righteousness,
that we may seek you with our whole hearts;
that we, who often have wandered like lost sheep,
may be restored by your kind arms,
and rejoice in the glories of Paradise,
through Jesus Christ your Son.
Amen.

Source: Sarum Breviary

Source of this version: Freely modified from Prayers Ancient and Modern
by Mary Wilder Tileston, Boston, Little Brown, 1914, p. 63 #2

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

A Final Commendation of the Dying

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d Depart, Christian soul, out of this world,
in the name of God the Father almighty who created you,
in the name of Jesus + Christ his Son, who suffered for you,
in the name of the Holy Spirit, who has been poured out into you.

May you depart this day in peace,
and your home be in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Source: Sarum

Source of this version: Modified from Ancient Collects and Other Prayers, Ed. by W. Bright: J.H. & Jas. Parker, London, 1902, p. 120 #1

“May you depart this day…” original has “May thy place be this day in peace,”

A longer version reads thus:

Depart in peace, ransomed soul,
in the name of God the Father almighty who created you,
in the name of Jesus + Christ, the Son of the living God, who redeemed you,
in the name of the Holy Spirit, who sanctified you.

Come now to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 121:8) Amen.

Source of this version: The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 119

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

“Enter now Mount Zion…” is a reference to Hebrews 12:22-23

prayer for the dead in middle ages

prayers for the dead

May We Delight in Your Praise

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d In this hour of this day,
fill us, O Lord, with your mercy,
that rejoicing throughout the whole day,
we may delight in your praise;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Source: Sarum Breviary

Also found in Ancient Collects and Other Prayers, Ed. by W. Bright: J.H. & Jas. Parker, London, 1902 p. 13 #2

Also found here: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/potts/prayermiddle.x.pr99.html

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

Collect for Purity

Prayer Book Bible Reading Book Of Common Prayer

Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may love you completely,
and rightly magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: 11th-century Leofric missal, also attributed to the Gregorian Sacramentary (7th Century)

Source of this version: Modified from 1980 Alternative Service Book via wikipedia.com

Traditional English:

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source: Book of Common Prayer

Latin:
Deus cui omne cor patet et omnis voluntas loquitur: et quem nullum latet secretum: purifica per infusionem sancti spiritus cogitationes cordis nostri: ut te perfecte diligere et digne laudare mereamur, per dominum nostrum iesum christum filium tuum qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate eiusdem spiritus sancti deus, per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.

This prayer has its own page on wikipedia.

Variant:

…of your Holy Spirit, that every thought and word of ours may begin from you, and in you be perfectly completed, through Christ our Lord. (The Catholic Prayer Book, 1984, 1986)

Sarum version begins:

O God, unto whom all hearts be open…

Grant Us Your Light

Prayer Book Bible Reading Book Of Common Prayer

Lord, grant us your light,
that being rid of the darkness of our hearts,
we may come to the true Light,
which is Christ.

Source: Compline, Sarum Breviary

Source of this version: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1892/Compline_1892.htm

Variant:

Grant us thy light, O Lord: that the darkness of our hearts being done away, we may come to the true light, even Christ our Saviour.

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

Evening Prayer

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d Guide us waking, O Lord,
and guard us sleeping;
that awake we may watch with Christ,
and asleep we may rest in peace.

Source: Compline , Sarum Breviary

Source of this version: http://bcponline.org/DailyOffice/compline.html

Variant:

Save us, O Lord, while waking,
and guard us while sleeping;
that awake we may watch with Christ,
and asleep we may rest in peace.

Source of this version: https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/daily2/night/compline.aspx

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

God Be in My Head

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at my end, and at my departing.

Source: Attributed to Old Sarum Primer, also attributed to Pynson’s Horae, 1514

Source of this version: http://www.hymnary.org/text/god_be_in_my_head_and_in_my_under

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

A Sarum Blessing (6)

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d Almighty and merciful God,
Father, + Son and Holy Spirit,
bless, help, and bring us at last
to life eternal.
Amen.

Source: Sarum Breviary

Source of this version: http://newscriptorium.com/assets/docs/collects-and-prayers/prmanual.htm

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

A Sarum Blessing (5)

6069369723_ee697728eb_z_d May the eternal God
bless and keep us,
guard our bodies,
save our souls
and bring us safe to the heavenly country,
our eternal home,
where Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit reign,
one God for ever and ever.

Source: Sarum Breviary

Source of this version: Ministry at the Time of Death, Church of England, https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/pastoral/funeral/attimeofdeath.aspx

Variant:

May the eternal God
bless and keep us,
guard our bodies,
save our souls,
direct our thoughts
and bring us home,
where Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit ever reign,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Graphic: Page from an English Psalter, from Flickr, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain.

A Sarum Blessing (4)

old_sarum_cathedral_reconstruction The Father eternal bless you with his continual blessing.
God, the + Son of God, bless and help you.
May the grace of the Holy Spirit illumine your hearts and your bodies.
Amen.

Source: Modified from The Psalter or Seven Ordinary Hours of Prayer according to the Use of the Illustrious and Excellent Church of Sarum, Westminster 1852, p. 12

The blessing can be read as “bless you” or “bless us” as needed.

Graphic: Model of Old Sarum (Salisbury) Cathedral, Wikipedia.com