Friday, February 13, 2009

Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare

The Dominican motto Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare (to praise, to bless, to preach) actually derives from the Preface of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Dominican Missal, as shown for the Feast of the Assumption below:
Vere dignum et justum est, aequum salutare: Nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere, Domine, sancte, Pater omnipotens, aeterne Deus. Et te in Assumptione beatae Maria semper Virginis exultantibus animis *** laudare, benedicere, et praedicare ***. Quae et unigenitum tuum Sancti Spiritus obumbratione concepit, et virginitatis gloria permanente, mundo lumen aeternum effudit, Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Per quem maiestatem tuam laudant angeli, adorant dominationes, tremunt potestates: caeli caelorumque virtutes ac beata seraphim socia exultatione concelebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti iubeas, deprecamur, supplici confessione dicentes: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, etc...
Fr. Augustine Thompson O.P., a Dominican Rite scholar, notes on Lauren's blog that the Dominican preface is a medieval, northern French variation on the Roman, which uses collaudare.

The same phrase can also be found in the Preface for the Prophet Elias in the Carmelite Missal:
Vere dignum et justum est, aequum et salutare, nos tibi semper et ubique gratias agere: Domine sancte Pater omnipotens aeterne Deus: Et te in Solemnitate (Veneratione) beati Eliae, Prophetae tui et Patris nostri, exsultantibus animis *** laudare, benedicere et praedicare ***...
Most likely from a similar variant of the Roman missal. Anyone know the history behind the Carmelite preface?

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