The Tomb of St Bede, Durham Cathedral
Some Prayers of St Bede
In his day, St Bede (?672-735) was one of Europe’s most celebrated scholars, and was the first Englishman to write a history of our nation. These prayers, translated from the Latin, may be found among the works traditionally attributed to him.
Of Christ.
CHRIST is that Morning Star which, when the night of this age shall be past, bringeth unto his saints the promised light of life, and openeth everlasting Day.*
* From Bede’s Commentary on the Revelation of St John the Divine, at Revelation 2:28: “And I will give him the morning star”.
A Prayer After Reading the Scriptures.
AND I pray thee, merciful Jesus, that as Thou hast graciously granted me sweet draughts from the Word which tells of Thee, so wilt Thou, of Thy goodness, grant that I may come at length to Thee, the fount of all wisdom, and stand before Thy face for ever.*
* From the close of Bede’s ‘Ecclesiastical History’, Book V.
A Prayer After Singing the Psalms.
O THOU who settest souls at liberty, redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ, eternal God, immortal king, I, even I a sinner, implore thy immeasurable clemency, that by thy great pity, and by the intoning of Psalms which I an unworthy sinner have chanted, thou wilt set my soul at liberty from sin. Turn my heart aside from all evil, crooked, treacherous thoughts; set my body at liberty from slavery to sin, drive far from me fleshly lust, deliver me from every hindrance of satan, and of his visible and invisible ministers, thy faithless enemies who seek after my soul. Preserve me from these and all evils, O Saviour of the world, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, and hast the dominion, God throughout endless ages of ages. Amen.*
* From the close of Bede’s ‘Song of Degrees’, a short poem summarising Psalms 120-134. See also The Abbreviated Psalter of St Bede.
The Same. For Guidance.
ALMIGHTY God, open thou my heart, and enlighten me with the grace of the Holy Spirit, to see those things which are well-pleasing to thy will. Direct my thoughts and understanding* to those things which it is proper to meditate upon and to take in hand; in such fashion as by fitting character and deeds, I might be found worthy of the eternal joy of heavenly life. Direct my acts to thy commandments, that I might by labour so unbrokenly study to bring them to fulfilment, as to attain to an everlasting reward.
* In Latin, ‘cogitates meas et sensus.’ In the Latin Vulgate, ‘sensus’ translates a variety of Greek words including νοῦς, αἴσθησις and φρόνημα, all of which loosely indicate ‘mind’ but all of which have quite different shades of meaning. ‘Understanding’ has been chosen to reflect 2 Esdras 10:31: ‘What aileth thee? and why art thou so disquieted? and why is thine understanding troubled, and the thoughts of thine heart?’ In this passage, Ezra is being taught trust in God by the Archangel Uriel. ‘Sensus’ translates νοῦς in Philippians 4:7, which is rendered ‘understanding’ in the KJV.
For Faith, Hope, and Charity.
O COME to me, my only hope, O Lord my God. Come to me, true light, Father, almighty God. Come, light from light, both Word and Son of God, God almighty. Come Holy Spirit, concord of Father and Son,* God almighty. Come one almighty God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit.
Teach faith, stir up hope, pour out love. The will is present with me (yet not from me, but from thee) to quit the world and the earth, and to seek the heavens. But this will is a feeble feather without thy help. Give wings of faith, that I might fly on high to thee.
* In Latin, ‘Patris et Filii concordia.’ Perhaps best understood as an agreement of witnesses. See 1 John 5:5-8, John 15:26.
For Betterment.
O GOD and King, by whose hand the frame of our measureless world is fitted together, through Christ I implore thee: of thy grace be merciful, for I am wretched. Give a watchful understanding, O King of kings, governor of all things; give, I pray, natural quickness, give a comely light of mind. May faith be right within me, fit to face false sects; above all, may there be timely amendment of habits. May I be loving, humble, truthful, wise with the moment; never speaking of a secret, ever chary of the tongue’s thunderbolt. Give a faithful companion, and a fast friend forever.*
* This prayer is placed by Bede immediately after a hymn on ‘The Day of Judgement’. Bede has extracted and slightly altered it from a longer prayer written by Eugenius II, Bishop of Toledo (in office 647-657). An English translation of Eugenius’s prayer can be found in ‘Early Christian Hymns’ (1908) by Daniel Donahoe (1853-1930). Bede’s shortened prayer recalls The Prayer of St Ephraim that is recited throughout Great Lent.
Freely translated. Based on the Latin prayers collected in The Writings of the Venerable Bede, Vol. 1 (in eight volumes) at the Online Library of Liberty.