A LESSON IN JEWELRY . . .

Breguet chronometer movement

.... and in humility. I thought I would try translating a French Collect back into Latin to see how close I could come to the original (which I hadn’t seen). Oh dear. Humbling for yours truly; but what a joy to see the original’s elegance!

The French: Dieu qui veux habiter les cœurs droits et sincères,donne-nous de vivre selon ta grâce,alors tu pourras venir en nous pour y faire ta demeure. Par.

My Latin: Deus qui vis habitare in cordis sinceris rectisque, da nobis vivere secundum gratiam tuam, ut poteris venire nos colere. Per. 

The real thing : Deus qui te rectis ac sinceris manere pectoribus adseris, da nobis tua gratia tales existere, in quos habitare digneris. Per.

The Collect is from the Gregorian  Sacramentary, and may date from between the seventh and eleventh centuries. It seems not to have clear quantitative clausulae in the Ciceronian tradition.  But it is still an exquisite example of miniature intricacy creating beauty to the glory of God.

THE HOLINESS OF BEAUTY

Collect for the Fourth Sunday After Trinity:

O GOD, the protector of all that trust in thee, 

without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: 

Increase and multiply upon us thy mercy; 

that, thou being our ruler and guide, 

we may so pass through things temporal, 

that we finally lose not the things eternal: 

Grant this, O heavenly Father, 

for Jesus Christ's sake our Lord. Amen.

One of Thomas Cranmer's finest efforts, where content, vocabulary and rhythm all come together. Read it aloud, and note the stresses on the syllables. And note that for once Cranmer's English is almost stronger than the Latin original from the Gregorian Sacramentary, via the Use of Sarum:

Protector in te sperantium Deus, sine quo nihil est validum, nihil sanctum; multiplica super nos misericordiam tuam, ut te Rectore, te Duce, sic transeamus per bona temporalia, ut non amittamus Êterna. Per Dominum nostrum.

Cranmer, otherwise humdrum as a writer, achieved greatness in translation. Amazing.