IndependentI was surprised by the phrase "bowdlerised BCP collects". Is that really the case? There are, of course, numerous differences between the 1662 English Book of Common Prayer and the US BCP-derived Book of Divine Worship, some of which is because the latter book follows the revised Roman calendar of 1969, while the English book is based on the Sarum version of the older Roman calendar. But I did take a quick look at some collects from the two books to see if those prayers which are based on the same Latin originals are really so different. I'm not sure that "bowdlerised" is a just characterization.
21 October 2012 18:20
As for being in touch with Anglican roots and English traditional culture - are a hymn book and former Anglican personnel enough? Have not the Americans of the Pastoral Provision set a good example by adapting the Book of Common Prayer and the King James' Bible for Catholic Use with the Book of Divine Worship?
Edwin21
October 2012 19:36
A good example for America, maybe; but not for former Anglo-Catholics in England. The rich treasury of Tudorbethan English has largely passed us by. No doubt we shall learn (or in the case of the very elderly, like me, relearn) to value BCP's cadences - but only when we have a version of the Mass authorised for our use. To try to use the Book of Divine Worship will not do - its bowdlerised BCP collects, for instance, grate on the ears of those who have used the Book of Common Prayer in times past. Meanwhile, the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham (approved by our Ordinary)is a good place for us to begin.
| A Comparison of some Collects from the Book of Common Prayer, 1662, and the Book of Divine Worship (Rite 1) | ||
| Book of Common Prayer 1662 | Book of Divine Worship | |
| First Sunday of Advent Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen. | First Sunday of Advent Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen. | |
| Second Sunday of Advent Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that, by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. | Proper 28 The Sunday closest to November 16 Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that, by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Second Sunday of Advent Merciful God, who didst send thy messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. | |
| Good Friday First of the three collects Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. | Good Friday Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit ever, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. | |
| Sunday after Ascension Day God, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven: We beseech thee leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us; and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. | Seventh Sunday of Easter O God, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven: We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless, but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Savior Christ is gone before; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen. | |
| 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. | Proper 12 The Sunday closest to July 27 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; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. | |
| And, per Msgr. Barnes' suggestion, here is the collect for Trinity Sunday from both books. | ||
| Trinity Sunday ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity; We beseech thee, that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities; who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen. | Trinity Sunday Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee that thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see thee in thy one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. | |
Posts
Try the Trinity Sunday collect.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Msgr, for stopping by. The change in the Trinity collect was made in the 1979 US BCP (it seems to have been identical in the US and UK versions until that time). Perhaps this was influenced by some of the same fuzzy thinking amongst liturgists that gave us the 1973 English translation of the Roman Sacramentary that always equated "God" when addressed in prayer with "Father".
ReplyDeleteSurely the Book of Common Prayer (1662) in the collect for Advent 2 would write 'Saviour' not 'Savior'.
ReplyDeleteFr. Tomlinson, you are, of course correct. A typo on my part. The source I was copying from does indeed have the French-derived spelling at the end of the word.
ReplyDeleteI have much respect for Msgr. Edwin however, as so many in the U.K. of his and previous generations, (he would not admit this I am sure) he looks upon Americans as poor ignorant cousins across the pond. Cowboys, farmers, unschooled oafs, who know nothing of proper language. As such they have to keep inventing reasons not to use American products except TVs, radios, computers, airplanes, kitchen appliances and just about anything new from the post WW2 era. What have they contributed? Oh yes, the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Hate being snarky but I really am sick of their arrogant attitude toward US and the U.S.A. they aren't as bad as the 'Frogs'(french for those who don't know) but trying hard.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they just admit they are still angry they lost the 'colonies' and also we chose the superior Scottish BCP over their boring 1662 English one!
Now, what were you saying?
What's your problem with the French sir? Does Lafayette remind you anything?
Delete+ PAX et BONUM
One good Frenchman does not make me all fuzzy and warm. At 65 all I've ever heard out of France is how horrible we are. Just don't like it.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWell, sometimes Americans work overtime to look like "unschooled oafs". But I wouldn't be too quick to assign an attitude of British superiority over Americans as the rationale behind the English Ordinariate preferring not to have a liturgy based on the Book of Divine Worship. I think this has to do with the primary Anglican source for the BDW being the 1979 US Book of Common Prayer. If the primary source had been the 1928 BCP or the American Missal, both of which are closer (certainly in the collects) to the English original, I think we'd see more acceptance.
ReplyDeleteWhile there was a certain Catholic-minded triumph in the 1979 BCP, it was tainted with the poor ecclesiology of that time, the fad for dynamic equivalence in translation, and an over emphasis on the social Gospel which in the end, has vitiated its effects. The 1928, on the other hand, was a more cautious advance in catholicization of the BCP, and its effects, it seems to me, were much sounder.
As for choosing the Scottish BCP, while the US Episcopal Church did base its Canon on the Scottish rite, it was the insistence of the bishops of the CofE that rescued the Nicene Creed for the US (they would have refused ordination to the bishop-elects of the southern states without it); the Puritan-influenced US church had left it and the Athanasian creed on the cutting floor in their first version of a US prayerbook.
Do read the post on this same topic (SMM1 weighs in on bowdlerized collects in the Book of Divine Worship") at Deborah Gyapong's Foolishness to the World blog, which begins:
ReplyDelete"On the subject of “bowdlerized collects” in the BDW, I have not conducted a thorough investigation. But taking the collect for the Epiphany as an example, we can see that, while it is hardly “bowdlerized” (in the sense of having offensive words removed — though “peoples of the earth” is a pretty PC adaptation of “Gentiles”), the BDW’s version is at quite a distance from the Prayer Book..."
I was always taught that humility is the truthful acknowledgement and serene acceptance of the limmitations of our nature and abilities -- be they pretty notable or rather paltry.
DeleteNow, I haven't the least idea whether Msgr. Barnes is biased or not in his opinion of us, his trans-Atlantic cousins. But I will say this, if he has even the slightest sense of his own innate goodness and of his exceptional command of our common tongue, then he is a truthful and therefore humble man.
As far as the vast lot of us, Yanks, being oafs, well, let each citizen our Union take a good look at himself and at his fellow countrymen recalling the wise old American adage, "If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck!"
Peace and Good to All ---
Quack, Quack, Quack,
Dennis
P.S. I also confess to being an American francophile.
I am now reading S. & M. Chaulanges' Histoire de France (Paris, 1959)
which was written originally for 10-year-old schoolchildren and am finding myself lexically challanged at times! I love the French language, culture and people!
I'm sure my British brethren understand there was no intention to bowdlerise the Collects, nor to do anything in the BDW to grate on sensitive ears; however, it should be remembered that all this took place in the early 1980's, which was quite a different era -- both liturgically and politically in the Church. As I have said before, many of us had no desire whatsoever to use material from the 1979 Prayer Book, since it is a work we have never even used, but we were left little choice in the matter.
ReplyDeleteAmidst the criticism of the BDW, please remember that it was an effort to rescue elements of our Anglican patrimony as best we could, and it was being done at a time when there were few who were willing to do so. There is a common tendency for people to transfer present circumstances onto past events, leading a later generation to shake its collective head at how "backward" things were in the previous generation.
We did the best we could with what was at hand, and with what was allowed by those in authority -- and the BDW (for all its faults) did manage to carve out a rough path where no one else had gone. I'm sure the early explorers who set sail for the New World would be delighted to see the great cities which tower over their discoveries -- but we do need to acknowledge that those first journeys made it possible.