Chapter V: Various Forms of Prayer

Though every true prayer is a prayer “in spirit and in truth,” the use of set forms or formulas in conversing with God is by no means forbidden. On the contrary, the Old Testament contains at least the rudiments of several such formulas,¹ and in the New, Christ Himself gave us a model in the Our Father.² That this and other forms of prayer were employed by the early Christians is evident from the Acts of the Apostles.³

¹ Deut. XXVI, 5 sqq., 13–15.

² Matt. VI, 9 sqq.; Luke XI, 2 sqq.

³ Acts I, 24; IV, 24–30.

The use of set forms of prayer corresponds to a deep-rooted need of human nature. Most men could not comply with the duty of praying and satisfy their spiritual needs without employing definite sets of words.

We proceed to a brief consideration of some of the most important formulas in use in the Catholic Church, such as the Lord’s Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Rosary, the Creed, etc.

1. THE LORD’S PRAYER.—The Pater Noster (Our Father) was inculcated by Our Divine Lord Himself and is therefore fittingly called the Lord’s Prayer (oratio dominica or dominicalis).⁴ It is the most beautiful and the most sacred of all known prayers, because of its origin and because it includes all the various objects of prayer (praise, thanksgiving, propitiation, and intercession) and the necessities of the Christian wayfarer; is replete with the true spirit of devotion (consciousness of being one with God, reverence for Him as the Ruler of Heaven and earth, resignation to His will, unselfish participation in the prosperity of the entire human race, the feeling of guilt) and, finally, combines a wealth of sublime ideas with brevity and simplicity of diction.⁵

⁴ Matt. VI, 9–13; Luke XI, 1–4.

⁵ The Latin term oratio dominica is of early date. The phrase Lord’s Prayer, according to Fr. Thurston (Cath. Encycl., IX, 356), “does not seem to have been generally familiar in England before the Reformation. During the Middle Ages the ‘Our Father’ was always said in Latin, even by the uneducated. Hence it was then most commonly known as the Pater noster.” With regard to the English text now in use among Catholics, the same author says: “We may note that this is derived not from the Rheims Testament but from a version imposed upon England in the reign of Henry VIII, and employed in the 1549 and 1552 editions of the ‘Book of Common Prayer.’ From this our present Catholic text differs only in two very slight particulars: ‘which art’ has been modernized into ‘who art,’ and ‘in earth’ into ‘on earth.’ The version itself, which accords pretty closely with the translation in Tyndale’s New Testament, no doubt owed its general acceptance to an ordinance of 1541, according to which ‘His Grace perceiving now the great diversity of the translations [of the Pater noster etc.] hath willed them all to be taken up, and instead of them hath caused an uniform translation of the said Pater noster, Ave, Creed, etc., to be set forth, willing all his loving subjects to learn and use the same and straitly commanding all parsons, vicars, and curates to read and teach the same to their parishioners.’ As a result the version in question became universally familiar to the nation, and though the Rheims Testament, in 1581, and King James’s translators, in 1611, provided somewhat different renderings of Matt. VI, 9–13, the older form was retained for their prayers both by Protestants and Catholics alike” (l. c.).—Tertullian, De Orat., c. 1: “Jesus Christ, our Lord, determined for us, the disciples of the New Testament, a new form of prayer. . . . And what is not heavenly that belongs to Christ the Lord, as also this discipline of praying? Let us consider, therefore, O blessed ones, His heavenly wisdom, first of all in the precept of praying secretly, by which He both demanded the faith of man, so that he might trust that both the sight and the hearing of Almighty God are present under roofs and even in hidden places, and desired the modesty of faith, so that he who trusted Him to hear and see everywhere would offer his religion to Him alone. Wisdom follows in the next precept: although this likewise pertains to faith and the modesty of faith, if we think that the Lord, whom we are certain provides of His own accord for His own, is not to be approached with a host of words. Yet this brevity, insofar as it makes for the third degree of wisdom, is supported by the substance of a great and blessed interpretation, and as much as it is compressed in words, so much is it diffused in meanings. For it has embraced not only the proper offices of prayer, the veneration of God or the petition of man, but almost every discourse of the Lord, every remembrance of discipline, so that truly a summary of the whole Gospel is comprehended in the prayer.”—IDEM, ibid., c. 9: “In the compendia of a few words how many edicts of the prophets, the evangelists, and the apostles are touched upon, how many discourses of the Lord, parables, examples, precepts! How many duties are discharged at the same time! The honor of God in the Father, the testimony of faith in the name, the offering of obedience in the will, the commemoration of hope in the kingdom, the petition of life in the bread, the confession of debts in the deprecation, anxiety about temptations in the request for protection. What wonder? God alone could teach how He wished to be prayed to. Therefore the religion of prayer, ordained by Him and animated by His spirit even then, when it was brought forth from the divine mouth, ascended by its own privilege into heaven, commending to the Father what the Son taught.” (Ed. E. F. Leopold, P. II, pp. 1 sq., 6).—St. Cyprian, De Dominica Orat., c. 9: “What mysteries of the Lord’s Prayer there are, how many, how great, briefly collected in speech but spiritually abundant in power, so that nothing at all is omitted which is not comprehended in our petitions and prayers by a summary of heavenly doctrine.” (Corpus Script. Eccles. Lat., Vol. III, 1, 272).—Innocent III, Expositio Orat. Domin., n. 1: “This prayer is privileged in three things: in dignity, because composed by Christ; in brevity, so that it may be learned more quickly, retained better, and said more frequently; in fecundity, because it contains all petitions and embraces the necessities of both lives.”—St. Bonaventure, De Sacro Altaris Mysterio, l. V, c. 16 (Opera Omnia, VII, 652): “This prayer excels other prayers for many reasons: by the authority of the teacher, the brevity of the discourse, the sufficiency of the petitions, and the fecundity of the mysteries. By the authority of the teacher, because it was uttered from His own mouth (Is. i, 20). By brevity of discourse, because it is easily said and pronounced (Mt. vi, 7). By the sufficiency of the petitions, because it contains the necessities of both lives (1 Tim. iv, 8). By the fecundity of the mysteries, because it contains immense mysteries (Deut. xii, 4).” (Migne, P. L., CCXVII, 897).—Cfr. Tillmann, Das Gebet, II, 18 sqq.

In prescribing this prayer, however, our Lord did not mean to forbid the use of others. If this were not evident from Sacred Scripture, it could be legitimately concluded from the practice of the Apostles and the Apostolic Fathers, who employed other prayers besides the Pater Noster.⁶ Nevertheless, it is true that the Lord’s Prayer is preëminently the prayer of Christians and constitutes both the norm and the basis of all others.⁷

⁶ Acts I, 24–30; IV, 24; Eph. III, 14–21.—St. Justin Martyr, Apol., I, c. 65; Dial. c. Tryph., c. 35 (ed. de Otto, Vol. I, 2nd ed., p. 155).—Cfr. Constit. Apost., l. VII, c. 24 sqq., 33 sqq., 47 sqq. (ed. Funk, I, 408 sqq.).—St. Chrysostom, Hom. in Matth., 55 (Migne, P. G., LVIII, 561).

⁷ Matt. VI, 9 sqq.; Luke XI, 1 sqq.—St. Augustine, Epist., 130 (al. 121), c. 12, n. 22: “Whatever other words we may say, which the affection of the one praying forms beforehand so that it may be clear, or attends to afterward so that it may increase, we say nothing other than what has been set down in this Lord’s Prayer, if we pray rightly and fittingly. . . . If you run through all the words of holy petitions, as far as I judge, you will find nothing which is not contained in this Lord’s Prayer. Hence it is free to say the same things in prayer in these and in other words, but it ought not to be free to say other things.” (Migne, P. L., XXXIII, 502 sq.).—IDEM, Serm., 56 (al. 48 de Div.), c. 3, n. 4: “The words which our Lord Jesus Christ taught in prayer are the form of desires. Thou art not permitted to ask anything other than what is written there.” (P. L., XXXVIII, 379).

“In the Lord’s Prayer,” says Aquinas, “we pray not only for all the things we may licitly desire, but also in the order in which we must desire them,” and consequently this prayer is the standard and rule of human conduct.⁸

⁸ Summa Theol., 2a 2ae, qu. 83, art. 9: “In the Lord’s Prayer not only are all the things which we can rightly desire asked, but also in the order in which they are to be desired; so that this prayer not only instructs us to ask, but is also formative of our entire affection. Now it is manifest that first in our desire comes the end, and then those things which are directed to the end. But our end is God, toward whom our affection tends in two ways: in one way, insofar as we desire the glory of God; in another way, insofar as we desire to enjoy His glory; the first of these pertains to the love by which we love God in Himself; the second pertains to the love by which we love ourselves in God. And therefore the first petition is placed: ‘Hallowed be Thy name,’ by which we ask the glory of God; but the second is placed: ‘Thy kingdom come,’ by which we ask to arrive at the glory of His kingdom. Now something orders us to the aforesaid end in two ways: in one way through itself, in another way accidentally; through itself, in- deed, the good which is useful for the end. Now something is useful for the end of beatitude in two ways: in one way directly and principally, according to the merit by which we merit beatitude by obeying God; and to this pertains: ‘Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ In another way instrumentally, and as if assisting us to merit; and to this pertains what is said: ‘Give us this day our daily bread’: whether this is understood of the sacramental bread, the daily use of which benefits man, and in which all other sacraments are also understood; or it is understood of bodily bread, so that by bread is understood every sufficiency of food, as Augustine says to Proba, because both the Eucharist is the principal sacrament and bread is the principal food; hence in the Gospel of Matthew is written ‘supersubstantial,’ that is, ‘principal,’ as Jerome explains, superior. Accidentally, however, we are ordered to beatitude by the removal of what hinders it. Now there are three things which hinder us from beatitude; first, indeed, sin, which directly excludes us from the kingdom, according to 1 Cor. 6, 9: ‘Neither fornicators nor servants of idols, etc., shall possess the kingdom of God’; and to this pertains what is said: ‘And forgive us our debts.’ Secondly, temptation hinders us, which especially prevents the observance of the divine will; and to this pertains: ‘And lead us not into temptation,’ by which we do not ask that we not be tempted, but that we not be conquered by temptation, which is to be led into temptation. Thirdly, the present penal condition, insofar as it hinders the sufficiency of life; and as to this it is said: ‘Deliver us from evil.’”

St. Augustine taught us to distinguish in the Lord’s Prayer seven petitions, three of which are directed to the glory of God, while the remaining four have reference to our own salvation.⁹

⁹ For an elaborate commentary upon the Lord’s Prayer see the Catechism of the Council of Trent (English tr. by J. Donovan, Dublin, 1908, which we use throughout this work wherever we quote from the Cat. Rom.). This quasi-official commentary, as Fr. Thurston points out (Cath. Encycl., IX, 356), forms the basis of the analysis of the Our Father found in all Catholic catechisms. “Many points worthy of notice are there emphasized, as, for example, the fact that the words ‘on earth as it is in Heaven’ should be understood to qualify, not only the petition ‘Thy will be done,’ but also the two preceding, ‘hallowed be Thy name,’ and ‘Thy kingdom come.’ The meaning of this last petition is also very fully dealt with. The most conspicuous difficulty in the original text of the Our Father concerns the interpretation of the words ἄρτος ἐπιούσιος, which in accordance with the Vulgate in St. Luke, we translate ‘our daily bread.’ St. Jerome, by a strange inconsistency, changed the pre-existing word quotidianum into supersubstantialem in St. Matthew, but left quotidianum in St. Luke. The opinion of modern scholars upon the point is sufficiently indicated by the fact that the Revised Version still prints ‘daily’ in the text, but suggests in the margin ‘our bread for the coming day,’ while the American Committee wished to add ‘our needful bread.’ Lastly may be noted the generally received opinion that the rendering of the last clause should be ‘deliver us from the evil one,’ a change which justifies the use of ‘but’ instead of ‘and’ and practically converts the two last clauses into one and the same petition.” The doxology, “for Thine is the Kingdom,” etc., which appears in the Greek textus receptus and has been adopted into the later editions of the “Book of Common Prayer,” is an interpolation of ancient but uncertain origin. The words “because Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory” are found in many ancient codices, both Greek and Latin, of St. Matthew’s Gospel, in the writings of St. John Chrysostom, and in those of St. Gregory of Nyssa. Hence, if there is an interpolation, it cannot be charged against the editors of the King James or any other Protestant version, because the incriminated passage antedates Protestantism by more than a thousand years. Our best authorities hold that the phrase is a liturgical addition, which at an early period slipped into the sacred text through some copyist’s error. Such doxologies were recited in the early days after every prayer and sermon. Knabenbauer (Comment. in Matt., Vol. I, ed. alt., p. 280, Paris 1903) traces this custom to St. Paul. The meaning attached to the phrase, “Thine is the kingdom,” etc., by the Fathers was: “Thou, O Lord, art able to grant us the things we have asked for in this prayer, because thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.” “Kingdom,” St. Thomas explains, refers to the first and second petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, “power” to the third, and “glory” to the rest. (Quoted by Knabenbauer, l. c.). (Cfr. the Catholic Fortnightly Review, St. Louis, Mo., Vol. XXII [1915], pp. 494 sq.).

As the Pater noster comprises everything for which man may and should pray, and the arrangement of its petitions indicates the correct order in which these blessings should be asked for, this prayer has from the earliest days, according to the testimony of Tertullian, been regarded as “the legitimate and ordinary prayer,” “the public and common prayer” of the faithful.¹⁰

¹⁰ St. Augustine, De Sermone Domini in Monte, l. II, c. 4–11 (Migne, P. L., XXXIV, 1275 sqq.); IDEM, Serm., 56 (al. 48 de Div.), c. 4–14 (P. L., XXXVIII, 379 sqq.); Tertullian, De Orat., c. 9; St. Cyprian, De Dominica Orat., c. 8; cfr. O. Rottmanner, O. S. B., Predigten und Ansprachen, Vol. I, 2nd ed., pp. 3 sqq.

2. THE HAIL MARY.—The Hail Mary, or Ave Maria, also called the “Angelical Salutation,” is as a rule recited immediately after the Our Father. It is the most familiar of all the prayers used by the Universal Church in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and consists of three parts.

The first, “Hail [Mary], full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women,” embodies the salutation of the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation.¹¹ The second, “and blessed is the fruit of thy womb [Jesus],” is borrowed from the divinely inspired greeting of St. Elizabeth.¹² The third is a petition: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, Amen.” This petition dates no farther back than the fifteenth century.¹³

¹¹ Luke I, 28.

¹² Luke I, 42.

¹³ “At the close of the fifteenth century,” says Fr. Herbert Thurston, S.J., “there was not any officially approved conclusion, though a form closely resembling our present one was sometimes designated as ‘the prayer of Pope Alexander VI’ (see Der Katholik, April, 1903, p. 334), and was engraved separately on bells (Beissel, Verehrung Marias, p. 460). But for liturgical purposes the Ave down to the year 1568 ended with ‘Jesus, Amen,’ and an observation in the Myroure of Our Lady, written for the Bridgettine nuns of Syon, clearly indicates the general feeling. ‘Some saye at the begynnyng of this salutacyon Ave benigne Jesu and some saye after ‘Maria mater Dei,’ with other addycyons at the ende also. And such thinges may be saide when folke saye their Aves of theyr own devocyon. But in the servyce of the chyrche, I trowe it to be moste sewer and moste medeful [i. e., meritorious] to obey the comon use of saying, as the chyrche hath set, without all such addicions.’ We meet the Ave as we know it now, printed in the breviary of the Camaldolese monks, and in that of the Order de Mercede, c. 1514. Probably this, the current form of Ave, came from Italy, and Esser asserts that it is to be found, written exactly as we say it now, in the handwriting of St. Antoninus of Florence, who died in 1459. This, however, is doubtful. What is certain is that an Ave Maria identical with our own, except for the omission of the single word nostrae, stands printed at the head of a little work of Savonarola’s issued in 1495, of which there is a copy in the British Museum. Even earlier than this, in a French edition of the ‘Calendar of Shepherds,’ which appeared in 1493, a third part is added to the Hail Mary, which is repeated in Pynson’s English translation a few years later in the form: ‘Holy Mary moder of God praye for us synners. Amen.’ . . . The official recognition of the Ave Maria in its complete form, though foreshadowed in the words of the Catechism of the Council of Trent, . . . was finally given in the Roman Breviary of 1568.” (Cath. Encycl., VII, 112). The custom of engraving the Ave Maria on bells, referred to by Fr. Thurston, arose from its connection with the Angelus.

By adding the Hail Mary to the Our Father we intimate that we expect God to hear our prayers through the powerful intercession of His Blessed Mother.¹⁴

¹⁴ In the Middle Ages the Ave Maria often became so closely connected with the Pater noster, that it was treated as a sort of farsura, or insertion, before the words et ne nos inducas in tentationem, when the Pater noster was said secreto. (See H. Thurston, S.J., in The Month, Nov., 1901, p. 490).

3. THE ANGELUS.—A triple Hail Mary recited in the evening was the origin of our modern Angelus, which is closely associated with the ringing of a bell.¹⁵

¹⁵ See H. Thurston, S.J., in the Catholic Encyclopedia, I, 487. The tolling of the Ave bell was not identical with the ringing of the curfew, as has been asserted. The former took place at the end of the ecclesiastical office of Compline and perhaps coincided with the prayers for peace, said in choir; whereas the curfew was the signal for the close of day and for the general bedtime. (Thurston, ibid.).

The Church does not oblige her children to say the Angelus, but merely expresses the wish that they should recite the usual prayer when they hear the bell ringing in the morning, at noon, and at night. This is a pious and salutary custom, calculated to sanctify the workaday life of the Christian in its three principal stages,—the beginning, the continuation, and the end. Thrice daily the Angelus bell calls upon man amid his cares and worries to raise his heart to God, thereby sanctifying his daily life. “Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare, and he shall hear my voice.”¹⁶ The Angelus bell reminds us of the magnum pietatis mysterium, the Incarnation of the Son of God, and exhorts us to honor with a grateful heart the Saviour and His Blessed Mother, that they may protect us from the dangers that threaten us,—in the morning, from “the arrow that flieth in the day”;¹⁷ at noon, from the “invasion of the midday devil,”¹⁸ and in the evening, from the danger that lurks in the dark.¹⁹

¹⁶ Ps. LIV, 18.

¹⁷ “A sagitta volante in die” (Ps. XC, 6).

¹⁸ “Ab incursu et daemonio meridiano” (ibid.).

¹⁹ “A negotio perambulante in tenebris” (ibid.).

4. THE ROSARY.—The Rosary (Rosarium, Psalterium Marianum) is a form of prayer consisting in the recitation of fifteen decades of Hail Marys with an Our Father between each ten, while at each of the fifteen decades we recall successively in pious meditation one of the mysteries of our Redemption.²⁰ The characteristic mark or essence of this form of prayer lies in the meditations. Oral prayer and meditation are here combined like matter and form.

²⁰ Breviarium Romanum.

The name Rosary originated in the idea that the sacred mysteries of the Redemption constitute for the Blessed Virgin Mary a constantly new source of honor and happiness, symbolized in ancient times by the rose. The frequent repetition of the Angelical Salutation resembles a wreath wound about the head of the glorious Queen, who crushed the head of the serpent. The meditations are as roses inserted in this wreath.

The connection of the so-called mysteries with the Hail Mary arose from the consideration that the graces which Christ merited for us by His life, Passion, and death are communicated most effectively through the intercession of His Virgin Mother, who is to be thought of as coöperating in all these mysteries. Through this association of ideas the Rosary becomes perfectly in- telligible for the unlearned layman, while, on the other hand, even the most learned theologian cannot exhaust its mysteries. The Rosary is a devotion that is suitable for all conditions of life, and satisfies all needs of the human heart. It is a most excellent accompaniment for the ecclesiastical seasons. The ease with which it leads the faithful to meditate, and the necessity of meditation for spiritual progress, render it invaluable for all. The frequent repetition of the same prayer does not weary the mind, because the mysteries meditated upon bring variety into what might otherwise be a monotonous practice. On the contrary, by repeating the Hail Mary, we increase and intensify our devotion.

These considerations explain the popularity of this beautiful devotion.²¹ There can be no doubt that the Rosary, rightly recited, is a veritable wellspring of pious aspirations.

²¹ Kirchen-Lexikon, Vol. X, col. 1275 sq.—Cfr. Leo XIII’s Encyclical letters: “Supremi Apostolatus,” Sept. 1, 1883; “Octobris mense adventante,” Sept. 22, 1891; “Adiutricem populi christiani,” Sept. 5, 1895; “Fidentem piumque animum,” Sept. 20, 1896.

We do not, of course, mean to deny that this devotion involves the danger of thoughtlessness and routine, but to condemn the Rosary because of the real or possible abuses to which it gives rise, would be unjust. The danger of its becoming a matter of mechanical routine can be easily averted by proper instruction on the nature of prayer and the meaning of the sacred mysteries.

It was long a pious belief among the faithful that when the Albigensian heresy was devastating the country of Toulouse, St. Dominic earnestly besought the help of Our Lady and was instructed by her to preach the Rosary among the people as an antidote to heresy and sin. From this time forward, the Breviary informs us,²² this manner of prayer “was most wonderfully published abroad and developed by St. Dominic, whom [different] supreme pontiffs have in various passages of their Apostolic letters declared to be the institutor and author of the same devotion.” In matter of fact neither the thirteenth nor the fourteenth century knew anything of St. Dominic’s alleged relation to the Rosary. Not a single authentic passage can be cited from the historical, ascetical, or homiletic writings of Dominican authors during these two centuries that could be construed into a reference to the Rosary, whereas since the beginning of the fifteenth century whole cycles of Rosary sermons occur. “It would be difficult to understand,” says a learned Franciscan historian, Fr. Heribert Holzapfel, “why the Rosary is never even mentioned in the most ancient constitutions and decrees of the Dominican Order in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, if it were really a form of devotion recommended and inculcated by the holy founder. The Constitutiones Primae of 1228 contain so many detailed instructions regarding prayers and devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, that one is compelled to assume that the Rosary would surely have been mentioned had it been a part of the regular practice of the Order.”²³

²² Office for the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary, Oct. 7, second nocturn.

²³ Heribert Holzapfel, O. F. M., St. Dominikus und der Rosenkranz, Munich 1903, pp. 11 sq., 14, 26; see, however, R. Devas, O. P., in Am. Cath. Quarterly Rev., Jan. 1916 and Cath. Fortnightly Review, 1920, Vol. XXVII, No. 23.

“The Bollandists, on trying to trace to its source the origin of the current tradition,” says Fr. Thurston, “found that all the clues converged upon one point, the preaching of the Dominican Alan de Rupe, about the years 1470–75. He it undoubtedly was who first suggested the idea that the devotion of ‘Our Lady’s Psalter’ was instituted or revived by St. Dominic. Alan was a very earnest and devout man, but, as the highest au- thorities admit, he was full of delusions, and based his revelations on the imaginary testimony of writers that never existed.²⁴ His preaching, however, was attended with much success. The Rosary confraternities, organized by him and his colleagues at Douai, Cologne, and elsewhere,²⁵ had great vogue, and led to the printing of many books, all more or less impregnated with the ideas of Alan. Indulgences were granted for the good work that was thus being done, and the documents conceding these indulgences accepted and repeated, as was natural in that uncritical age, the historical data which had been inspired by Alan’s writings and which were submitted according to the usual practice by the promoters of the confraternities themselves. It was in this way that the tradition of Dominican authorship grew up. The first Bulls speak of this authorship with some reserve: ‘Prout in historiis legitur,’ says Leo X in the earliest of all, ‘Pastoris aeterni,’ 1520; but many of the later popes were less guarded.”²⁶

²⁴ Quétif and Echard, Script. O. P., I, 849.

²⁵ Cath. Encyclopedia, XIII, 188 sq.

²⁶ H. Thurston, S.J., in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. XIII, p. 184.

“That the Rosary is preëminently the prayer of the people,” says the same writer, “adapted alike for the use of simple and learned, is proved not only by the long series of papal utterances by which it has been commended to the faithful, but by the daily experience of all who are familiar with it. The objection so often made against its ‘vain repetition,’ is felt by none but those who have failed to realize how entirely the spirit of the exercise lies in the meditation upon the fundamental mysteries of our faith.²⁷ To the initiated the words of the Angelical Salutation form only a sort of half-conscious accompaniment, a bourdon which we may liken to the ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’ of the heavenly choirs and surely not in itself meaningless. Neither can it be necessary to urge that the freest criticism of the historical origin of the devotion, which involves no point of doctrine, is compatible with a full appreciation of the devotional treasures which this pious exercise brings within the reach of all.”²⁸

²⁷ Cfr. J. H. Newman, “Vain Repetitions,” reprinted from The Rambler, Vol. IV, No. 21 (Sept. 1855), St. Louis 1910.

²⁸ Thurston in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. XIII, p. 187.

5. THE SALVE REGINA.—The Salve Regina, the most celebrated of the four Breviary anthems in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is usually ascribed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, but is probably the work of Hermannus Contractus.²⁹ The use of this anthem at Compline was begun by the Dominicans about 1221, and before the middle of the thirteenth century the Salve Regina was incorporated with the other anthems of the Blessed Virgin in the “modernized” Franciscan Breviary, whence it made its way into the Roman Breviary. The Salve Regina figured largely in the evening devotions of the confraternities and guilds which were formed about the beginning of the thirteenth century. In France it was known as Salut, in the Netherlands as the Lof, in England and Germany simply as the Salve. Fr. Thurston has made it seem certain that our present Benediction service has resulted from the general adoption of this evening singing of canticles before the statue of Our Lady.³⁰

²⁹ On Hermannus Contractus see H. P. Schlager in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, p. 266.

³⁰ Cfr. H. T. Henry in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. XIII, pp. 40 sqq., with bibliography.

6. THE CREED.—The so-called Apostles’ Creed is a formula containing in brief statements or “articles” the fundamental doctrines of Christian belief. Tradition ascribes it to the Twelve Apostles; hence the name. The legend dates back to the sixth century and is foreshadowed still earlier in a sermon attributed to St. Ambrose.³¹ About the year 400 Rufinus gives a detailed account of the composition of the Creed, which he professes to have received from earlier ages.³² Recently Harnack and other Protestant critics have assigned to the Creed an origin much later than the Apostolic age. Semeria, Battifol, Thurston and other Catholic authorities hold that while the Apostolic composition of the Creed cannot be proved, to deny the possibility of such origin is to go further than our data at present warrant.³³

³¹ Migne, P. L., XVII, 671.

³² Migne, P. L., XXI, 337.

³³ Thurston in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 631.

While the recitation of the Creed is essentially an act of latreutic worship, namely, confession and adoration, it also partakes of the character of an impetration, and consequently is really and truly a prayer.³⁴ For as faith itself is a gift of divine grace, and can be professed only with the help of God, so the act of faith which consists in the devout recitation of the Creed undoubtedly is a means of obtaining additional graces.

³⁴ St. Augustine, Enchiridion, c. 7: “Behold, thou hast the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. What is heard and read more briefly? What is more easily committed to memory? For since the human race was oppressed by the grave misery of sin and needed the divine mercy, the prophet, foretelling the time of God’s grace, said: ‘And it shall be: everyone who shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Joel ii, 32); on account of this, the prayer. But the Apostle, when he had recalled this prophetic testimony in order to commend that grace itself, immediately added: ‘How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?’ (Rom. x, 14); on account of this, the Creed. In these two behold those three things: faith believes, hope and charity pray.” (Migne, P. L., XL, 243).

As the so-called Apostles’ Creed has a place in the canonical hours, and in the rites of the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Orders, so the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed is used in the ritual of the Mass, and the so-called Athanasian Creed in the Roman Breviary.

The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed is substantially the symbolum of Nicaea as approved in amplified form by the Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381. The Council of Chalcedon (451) designated it as “The Creed of the Council of Constantinople of 381” and inserted it in its acts. It is the profession of Christian faith common to the Catholic Church, to all the Eastern churches separated from Rome, and to most Protestant denominations.³⁵ The schismatic Greeks cherish it with almost superstitious reverence as their inviolable and sole norm of faith.³⁶

³⁵ J. Wilhelm in the Cath. Encyclopaedia, Vol. XI, pp. 49 sq.

³⁶ Cfr. Pohle-Preuss, The Divine Trinity, 3rd ed., St. Louis 1919, pp. 129 sq.

The Athanasian Creed (“Quicunque”), so called because its authorship was attributed to St. Athanasius, is of uncertain origin, but was probably compiled in the fourth century under Atha- nasian influences. It not only states clearly what the Catholic faith is concerning the important doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, but asserts with equal plainness and precision what will happen to those who do not faithfully and steadfastly believe these truths.³⁷

³⁷ Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. II, pp. 33 sq.

7. THE ORATIO COMMUNIS.—The general prayers said publicly in many churches on Sundays and holydays of obligation for the peace and prosperity of Christendom are based upon the admonition of St. Paul “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in high station: that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all piety and chastity; for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”³⁸ This common prayer corresponds to the idea of the Church of Christ as the one institution destined to lead all men without distinction of nationality to Heaven, and is therefore believed to have special power. “If the prayer of one or two of us has such might,” says St. Ignatius of Antioch, “how much more has that of the bishop and of the whole Church?”³⁹

³⁸ 1 Tim. II, 1–4; cfr. Acts II, 42; Rom. X, 12.

³⁹ Epist. ad Eph., c. 5: “For if the prayer of one or two has such power, how much more that of the bishop and of the whole Church?” (Funk, Patr. Apost., Vol. I, 2nd ed., p. 216; Kirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (Loeb Classical Library), Vol. I, London 1912, p. 178).—Cfr. Tertullian, Apol., c. 39: “We assemble in a company and congregation, so that, as though with a band formed, we may surround God with petitions as we pray. This force is pleasing to God. We pray also for emperors, for their ministers and authorities, for the condition of the world, for the tranquility of affairs, for the delay of the end.” (Ed. Leopold, P. I, 110).

8. LITANIES.—The word Litany (λιτάνεια) is derived from λιτή, i. e., an entreaty, or a supplication, and designates a form of united prayer by alternate sentences, in which the clergy lead and the people respond. These sentences embody petitions directed to God, or to the Saints, chiefly for the purpose of obtaining the divine assistance in important matters affecting either the Church or the faithful, or of appeasing God’s just wrath in calamities.⁴⁰

⁴⁰ F. Mershman, O.S.B., in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 286 sq.

There are five litanies approved by the Holy See for use in public worship, viz.:

a) THE LITANY OF THE SAINTS (Litaniae Sanctorum), so called because in it Saints of every class and rank are either nominally or by implication asked for their intercession. This Litany is of great antiquity and has served as a model for all others.

Three forms of the Litany of the Saints are at present in liturgical use. The longer form, as given in the Roman Ritual, is prescribed for the laying of the cornerstone of a new church, at the blessing or reconciliation of a church or cemetery, in the rite of blessing the people and fields by virtue of a special papal indult, for the major and minor Rogation days, in the procession and prayers to obtain rain or fine weather, to avert storms and tempests, in time of famine or war, to escape mortality in time of pestilence, in any tribulation, during the translation of relics, in solemn exorcisms, and at the Forty Hours’ Devotion, on which latter occasion certain verses are added. The Roman Pontifical, besides the occasions given in the Ritual, orders the recitation of the Litany of the Saints in the conferring of major orders, in the consecration of a bishop, the benediction of an abbott or abbess, the consecration of virgins, the coronation of a king or queen, the consecration of a church, the expulsion and readmission of public sinners on Maundy Thursday, and in the “Ordo ad Synodum.”⁴¹

⁴¹ IDEM, ibid., IX, 292.

An abbreviated form of this Litany is given in the Roman Missal for Holy Saturday and the Vigil of Pentecost.

A third form occurs in the “Commendatio” of the Roman Ritual, in which the invocations and supplications are specially chosen to benefit the departing soul about to appear before its Maker.

b) THE LITANY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN, popularly known as the LITANY OF LORETO (Litaniae Lauretanae B. Mariae Virginis), in which titles expressive of the transcendent dignity and the various privileges of the Mother of God, as well as of the love, trust, and veneration of her children toward her, are woven into a chain of animated supplications which have been the subject of endless panegyrics.

This Litany came into general use from having been sung in the Holy House of Loreto, whence pilgrims carried it into all Christian lands. It was definitely approved by the Church in 1587, but a considerable portion of it is undoubtedly much older than the foundation of the Loreto sanctuary, which dates only from the thirteenth century.

“The first Marian litanies must have been composed to foster private devotion, as it is not at all probable that they were written for use in public, by reason of their drawn-out and heavy style. But once the custom grew up of reciting Marian litanies privately, and of gradually shortening the text, it was not long until the idea occurred of employing them for public devotion, especially in cases of epidemic, as had been the practice of the Church with the litanies of the Saints, which were sung in penitential processions and during public calamities.”⁴²

⁴² A. de Santis, S.J., in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, p. 288.

c) THE LITANY OF THE HOLY NAME OF JESUS (Litaniae Sanctissimi Nominis Iesu) enumerates a list of praises referring to Jesus as God and man, and begs Him to deliver us from whatever is apt to keep us from attaining our last end, i. e., from sin and the divine wrath, from the snares of the devil and the spirit of uncleanness, from eternal death and the neglect of God’s inspirations, and adjures Him by the mystery of His Incarnation, His nativity and infancy, His divine life and labors, His agony and Passion, His Cross and dereliction, His languor, His death and burial, His Resurrection and Ascension, His joys and glory, to have mercy on His children.

This Litany probably owes its origin to the two celebrated preachers of the Holy Name, SS. Bernardine of Siena and John Capistran, at the beginning of the fifteenth century. It was approved by Pius IX, in 1862, and by Leo XIII, in 1899.⁴³

⁴³ F. Mershman, O.S.B., in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 290 sq.

d) THE LITANY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS (Litaniae Sacratissimi Cordis Iesu) consists of thirty-three invocations in honor of the years of our Lord’s life upon earth, with special reference to His corporeal heart, which is most intimately united with His soul and His godhead. This Litany was approved by Leo XIII, in 1899.⁴⁴

⁴⁴ S. R. C., 27th June, 1898; April 2nd, 1899. Cfr. Ch. G. Kanders, Le Cœur de Jésus, Vol. I, Bruxelles 1926.

e) THE LITANY OF ST. JOSEPH (Litaniae in Honorem Sancti Patriarchae Ioseph), is modelled upon the Litany of Loreto. It consists of twenty-four titles in honor of the foster-father of Our Divine Lord, and was approved by Pius X, in 1909.⁴⁵

⁴⁵ S. R. C., March 18th, 1909.

These Litanies, and these only, may be recited publicly and liturgically; but the bishops may sanction the printing of others for private use.⁴⁶

⁴⁶ Addis and Arnold’s Cath. Dictionary, 9th ed., revised by T. B. Scannell, London 1917, p. 526.

The discussion of the psalms and Biblical canticles (cantica) underlying the liturgical prayers of the Church must be left to liturgiology.⁴⁷

⁴⁷ Cfr. Cardinal Wiseman, Miscellaneous Essays, On Prayers and Prayerbooks.—V. Thalhofer and P. Schmalzl, Erklärung der Psalmen und der im röm. Brevier vorkommenden biblischen Cantica, 7th ed., Ratisbon 1904.—M. Wolter, O.S.B., Psallite Sapienter, 3rd ed., Freiburg 1904.—N. Gihr, Die Sequenzen des röm. Missale, 2nd ed., Freiburg 1900.—A. Schulte, Die Hymnen des Breviers nebst den Sequenzen des Missale, 2nd ed., Paderborn 1906.

We will close this Section with a few words about that popular and edifying form of devotion known as Stations of the Cross.

9. THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS.—By Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis, Via Calvarii) is meant a series of images or pictures representing the different events in the Passion of Christ, each Station corresponding to a particular event. Each picture is surmounted by a cross, which is indeed the essential feature, the pictures not being necessary to gain the indulgences attached to this devotion. Usually the crosses or pictures are ranged round the church, the first placed on one side of the high altar, the last on the other.

The Stations of the Cross are among the most popular Catholic devotions and are to be found in almost every church. Sometimes they are erected in the open air, especially on roads which lead to a church or shrine standing on a hill.⁴⁸

⁴⁸ Catholic Dictionary (cfr. note 46 supra), pp. 788 sq.

The devotion of the Stations or Way of the Cross began in the Franciscan Order, but did not become general before the end of the seventeenth century. The ob- ject is to help the faithful to make in spirit, as it were, a pilgrimage to the chief scenes of Christ’s Passion and death. When the devotion is performed publicly, a stanza of the “Stabat Mater” is usually sung while passing from one Station to another. The devotion is richly endowed with indulgences.⁴⁹

⁴⁹ G. C. Alston, O.S.B., in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. XV, pp. 569 sq.

READINGS.—On the Lord’s Prayer: Origen, περὶ εὐχῆς (Migne, P.G., XI, 416 sqq.).—Tertullian, De Oratione (Migne, P.L., I and II); Engl. tr. by Alex. Souter, London 1919 (S. P. C. K.’s “Translations of Christian Literature,” Series II, pp. 1–45).—St. Cyprian, De Dominica Oratione (Migne, P.L., IV; ed. G. Hartel, Corpus Script. Eccles. Lat., III, 1–3; Vienna 1868–71).—St. Bonaventure, Breviloquium, P. V., c. 10 (ed. 2a, Vicetia, pp. 434 sqq.).—St. Thomas, Expositio in Orat. Dominicam, (H. Hurter, S.J., SS. Patr. Opuscula Selecta, Vol. II, 2nd ed., Innsbruck 1879, pp. 80 sqq.).—J. C. Vives, Doctorum Angelici, Seraphici, Melliflui, Extatici in Orationem Dominicam et Salutationem Angelicam Expositiones, Rome 1902.—F. Probst, Lehre und Gebet in den drei ersten Jahrhunderten, Tübingen 1871, pp. 175 sqq.—J. von Führich, Das Vater Unser in Bild und Wort, Ratisbon 1884.—L. Glötzle and A. Knöpfler, Das Vater Unser im Geiste der ältesten Kirchenväter in Bild und Wort, 2nd ed., Freiburg 1902.—J. M. L. Monsabré, La Prière Divine (Le “Pater”), 5th ed., Paris 1909.—Herbert Thurston, S.J., art. “Lord’s Prayer,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 356 sq.—Chase, The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church, Cambridge 1891.

On the Hail Mary: Herbert Thurston, S.J., art. “Hail Mary,” in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, pp. 110 sqq.—IDEM, in The Month, London, Nov. 1901, pp. 483–499.—“Zur Geschichte des Ave Maria,” in the Katholik, Mayence, May, 1903, pp. 333 sqq.—Waterton, Pietas Mariana Britannica, London 1879, P. I, pp. 143–169.—S. Beissel, S.J., Geschichte der Verehrung Marias in Deutschland während des Mittelalters, Freiburg 1909, pp. 228 sqq.—J. B. Wirthmüller, Die moralische Tugend der Religion, Freiburg 1881, pp. 114 sqq.

On the Angelus: Rocca, De Campanis Commentarius, Rome 1612.—Gerberon, Dissertation sur l’Angelus, Paris 1675.—Herbert Thurston, S.J., art. “Angelus” and “Angelus Bell,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. I, pp. 486 sqq.—Thos. Esser, O.P., “Das Ave Maria-Läuten und der Engel des Herrn in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung,” in the Historisches Jahrbuch, Vol. XXIII (1902), pp. 22 sqq., 247 sqq., 775 sqq.—Rock, The Church of Our Fathers, 2nd ed., London 1904, Vol. III, pp. 245 sqq.—P. Boudinhon, “L’Angelus,” in the Revue du Clergé Français, Vol. XXXI (1902), pp. 24 sqq.

On the Rosary: M. Chéry, La Théologie du Saint Rosaire, Paris 1869.—G. Patiss, Der heilige Rosenkranz, Innsbruck 1881.—Th. M. Leikes, Rosa Aurea, Dülmen 1886.—J. M. Meister, Die soziale Bedeutung des hl. Rosenkranzes, 2nd ed., Münster 1889.—Thos. Esser, O.P., Unsrer Lieben Frauen Rosenkranz, Paderborn 1889.—D. Chapotin, Quelques Notes Historiques sur le Saint Rosaire, Paris 1901.—W. Schmitz, Das Rosenkranzgebet im fünfzehnten und im Anfange des sechszehnten Jahrhunderts, Freiburg 1903.—S. Beissel, S.J., Geschichte der Verehrung Marias in Deutschland während des Mittelalters, Freiburg 1909, Ch. XIII.—H. Thurston, S.J., art. “Rosary,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. XIII, pp. 184 sqq.—Proctor, The Rosary Guide, London 1901.—H. Holzapfel, O.F.M., Der hl. Dominikus und der Rosenkranz, Munich 1903.

On the Salve Regina: Pseudo-Bernard, Sermones in Antiph. Salve Regina, IV (Migne, P.L., CLXXXIV, 1059).—E. Krebs, “Das Salve Regina,” in the Theol. Quartalschrift, Tübingen 1906, pp. 74 sqq.—H. T. Henry, art. “Salve Regina,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. XIII, pp. 409 sq.—S. Beissel, Geschichte der Verehrung Marias in Deutschland während des Mittelalters, Freiburg 1909, pp. 122 sqq., 202 sqq., 214, 253, 272, 290, 353, 546.—IDEM, Geschichte der Verehrung Marias im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert, Freiburg 1910, pp. 494 sqq.—P. Wagner, “Eine bisher nicht veröffentlichte Legende über die Entstehung des Salve Regina,” in the Theol. Revue, Münster, Vol. II (1903), pp. 214 sq.

On the Apostles’ Creed: S. Bäumer, O.S.B., Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis, Mayence 1893.—Cl. Blume, S.J., Das apostolische Glaubensbekenntnis, Freiburg 1893.—F. Kattenbusch (Prot.) Das apostolische Symbolum, Vol. I, Leipsic 1894; Vol. II, 1900.—B. Dörholt, Das Taufsymbolum der alten Kirche, Vol. I, Paderborn 1898.—F. Wiegand, Die Stellung des apostolischen Symbols im kirchlichen Leben des Mittelalters, Vol. I, Leipsic 1899.—V. Ermoni, Histoire du Credo, Paris 1903.—A. Vacandard, Études de Critique et d’Histoire Religieuse, 2nd ed., Paris 1910.—A. Seeberg (Prot.), Der Katechismus der Urchristenheit, Leipsic 1903, pp. 138 sqq.—H. Thurston, S.J., art. “Apostles’ Creed,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. I, pp. 629 sqq.—Batiffol and Vacant in the Dictionnaire de Théologie, s. v. “Apôtres, Symbole des.”—Burn, Introduction to the Creeds, London 1897.—Swete, Apostles’ Creed, 3rd ed., London 1889.

On the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed: G. Rietschel, Liturgik, Vol. I, Berlin 1900, pp. 371 sqq.—J. Wilhelm in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. XI, pp. 49 sq.—Lumby, History of Creeds, 2nd ed., London 1880.—Hort, Two Dissertations, Part II, Cambridge 1876.

On the Athanasian Creed: K. Künstle, Antipriscilliana, Freiburg 1905, pp. 204 sqq.—G. Morin, O. S. B., Le Symbole d’Athanase, in the Revue Bénédictine, 1901, pp. 337 sqq.—H. Brewer, Das sogenannte athanasianische Glaubensbekenntnis ein Werk des hl. Ambrosius, Paderborn 1909.—J. J. Sullivan, S.J., art. “Athanasian Creed,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. II, pp. 33 sqq.—Burn, “The Athanasian Creed,” in Robinson, Texts and Studies, Cambridge 1896.

On the Oratio Communis: St. Clement of Rome, Epist. I ad Cor., c. 59–61 (Funk, Patr. Apost., Vol. I, 2nd ed., pp. 175 sqq.).—St. Justin Martyr, Apol., l. I, c. 65 (ed. de Otto, Vol. I, 2nd ed., pp. 155 sqq.).—Constitutiones Apost., VIII, c. 6 (ed. Funk, Vol. I, pp. 478 sqq.).

On the Litanies: A. J. Binterim, Die vorzüglichsten Denkwürdigkeiten der christ-katholischen Kirche, Vol. IV, 2nd ed., Mayence 1838, I, 572 sqq.—K. A. H. Kellner, Heortology, A History of the Christian Festivals from their Origin to the Present Day, London 1908, pp. 189 sqq.—F. Mershman, O.S.B., art. “Litany,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 286 sq.

On the Litany of the Saints: H. Samson, Die Allerheiligenlitanei, Paderborn 1894.—F. Mershman, O.S.B., in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 291 sq.

On the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Decree of the S. Congr. of Rites, April 22, 1903.—J. Sauren, Die lauretanische Litanei, Kempten 1895.—A. de Santi, S. J., Le Litanie Lauretane, 2nd ed., Rome 1897 (tr. into French by Boudinhon, Les Litanies de la Sainte Vierge, Paris 1900; into German by Nörpel, Die Lauretanische Litanei, Paderborn 1900).—IDEM, art. “Litany of Loreto,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 287 sqq.—J. E. Zöllner and J. Assmann, Die lauretanische Litanei, Ratisbon 1906.—A. M. Lepicier, The Fairest Flower of Paradise: Considerations on the Litany of the Bl. Virgin, N. Y. 1922.

On the Litany of the Holy Name of Jesus: J. Rachberger, Die Litanei vom heiligsten Namen Jesus, Passau 1881.—F. Frank, Die Litanei vom süssen Namen Jesu, Paderborn 1906.—B. Maréchaux, Les Litanies du Saint Nom de Jésus, Paris 1907.—F. Mershman, O.S.B., art. “Litany of the Holy Name,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. IX, pp. 290 sq.

On the Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: Decrees of the S. Congr. of Rites, June 27, 1898, and April 2, 1899.—P. Hagg, S.J. and M. Hagen, S.J., Die Herz-Jesu-Litanei, 2nd ed., Freiburg 1905.—A. Drive, Litanies du Sacré-Coeur, Tournai 1905.—Ch. Sauvé, Les Litanies du Coeur de Jésus, Paris 1907.—J. M. Donnell, S.J., The Litany of the Sacred Heart, New York, s. a.

On the Litany of St. Joseph: Decree of the S. Congr. of Rites, March 18, 1909 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, I [1909], p. 290).—Richard, St. Joseph, sa Vie et son Culte, Lille 1896.

On the Stations of the Cross: N. Nilles, S.J., Der schmerzhafte Kreuzweg Christi, 4th ed., Innsbruck 1895.—P. W. von Keppler, Die XIV Stationen des hl. Kreuzweges, 4th ed., Freiburg 1904.—H. Thurston, S.J., The Stations of the Cross, London 1906.—G. C. Alston, O.S.B., art. “Way of the Cross,” in the Cath. Encyclopedia, Vol. XV, pp. 569 sqq.—K. A. Kneller, S.J., Geschichte der Kreuzwegandacht, Freiburg 1908.