Memorare

After the Latin word beginning Memorare ( Remember ) a prayer is quoted, which is one of the basic prayers of the Roman Catholic Church and is occasionally prayed in prayer. In the canonical version of the Eucharistic liturgy before the 2nd Vatican Council it was sung as a Communion. The Memorare has largely disappeared from today's liturgical use. John Paul II has it in his homily at St.. Fair on March 25, 2000 quoted in the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth on his 91st trip abroad. The members of Opus Dei have to pray the Memorare daily habit.

Origin

Its origin is not entirely clear. It is often falsely attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux. This write-up is based, although a few verses of poetry allude to thoughts of Saint Bernard, on a confusion of names with the French people missionary Claude Bernard (1588-1641), the common prayer printed on prayer list. Bernard, also called the "poor priests," learned this prayer by its own account of his father. The prayer itself had then caused a miraculous healing at him, and he spread it further and used in particular for the conversion of prisoners and sentenced to death. He let the prayer in several languages ​​in up to 200,000 copies print and made it the center of his evangelism and his life. This meaning he describes, inter alia, in a letter to Anne of Austria, the French King Louis XIII. , which made ​​it popular at the court of woman.

The seamless combination of his person with the prayer Claude Bernard was often considered the same as a poet. In the 18 obtained copper engraved portraits in the National Library in Paris including the prayer with the heading " ORAISON DU RP BERNARD A LA VERGE " is specified. Although Bernard has undeniable as his forerunner to apply, the Memorare has already been used by St. Francis de Sales. Prayer can already be found in older manuscripts from the 15th century as part of the very long Marie hymn "Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, Dulcissima Virgo Maria ". This is demonstrated in Hortulus Animae ( 15th century), the Antidotarius Animae the Cistercian abbot Nicholas of Saliceto ( 15th century ) and the Precationum piarum Enchiridon of Verepaeus Simon ( 1570). When the Memorare was spun off as a separate prayer, is not clearly established.

Text

Since the 16th century there are several textual variants of the Memorare. In the 19th century it became a frequent replaced by a Brief of Pope Pius IX. 1846 canonized as part of the prayer Ave, Regina Pacis augustissima and connected with the granting of a temporal indulgences. The Latin text of this version is:

" Memorare, o piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem PRAESIDIA, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, eat derelictum. Ego tali Animatus Confidentia ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro; ad te Venio; coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere, sed audi Propitia et exaudi. Amen. "

" Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, you have never heard it, that someone who took refuge to you, your help phoned to implored your intercession, was left by you. Inspired by this confidence, I fly to thee, Mother, Virgin of virgins; to you I come; before you I stand, sighing as sinners. Mother of the Word, despise not my words, but listen to me merciful and answer me. Amen. "

Musical settings

• Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Memorare, o piissima, motet for choir and organ, Op 118, No. 2
• Marc- Antoine Charpentier: La Vierge à la prière du Père Bernard ( Memorare, o piissima ) Three Part Motet, list of works H367

Swell

• C. de Broqua: Claude Bernard, dit le Pauvre Pretre. Lithelleux 1913.
• The Catholic parish church - Mass and Vespers of Sundays and holidays, (...) after the Vatican edition of the Graduale and Antiphonale. Tournai (Belgium ) 1937.
• Graduale Romanum Graduale triplex seu Pauli PP.VI. Solesmes 1979.