Our Morning Offering – 3 April – Lord Jesus Christ, Have Mercy Upon Me

Our Morning Offering – 3 April – Monday in Passion Week and the Memorial of St Richard of Chichester (1197-1253)

Lord Jesus Christ,
Have Mercy Upon Me.
The Dying Prayer of
St Richard of Chichester (1197-1253)

Lord Jesus Christ,
I thank Thee
for all the blessings Thou hast given me
and for all the sufferings and shame,
Thou didst endure for me,
on which account,
that pitiable cry of sorrow was Thine:
“Behold and see, if there was any sorrow
like unto My sorrow!”
Thou knowest Lord,
how willing I should be, to bear insult
and pain, and death for Thee,
therefore, have mercy upon me,
for to Thee do I commend my spirit.
Amen

St Richard recited this prayer on his deathbed, surrounded by the Clergy of his Diocese. The words were transcribed, in Latin, by his Confessor and friend, Fr Ralph Bocking (who ultimately also became his Biographer), a Dominican Friar and were eventually published in the Acta Sanctorum, an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Saints. The British Library copy contains Fr Bocking’s transcription of the prayer:

Gratias tibi ago,
Domine Jesu Christe,
de omnibus beneficiis
quae mihi praestitisti;
pro poenis et opprobrious,
quae pro me pertulisti;
propter quae planctus ille lamentabilis
vere tibi competebat.
Non est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.

However, the first English translation is as above an not the version below, or the one more commonly known as “Day by Day” which words were never in the original and were added and used in the extremely sacrilegious and blasphemous “Godspell” – even though the common version with the rhyming “Triplet” (i.e. clearly, dearly, nearly) – is the one found commonly in Hymn and Prayer Books.
Bearing in mind that this was “The Dying Prayer ” of St Richard, it is obviously highly unlikely that he would have requested the grace of daily sanctity, “day by day!”

Thanks be to Thee,
my Lord Jesus Christ
For all the benefits
Thou hast given me,
For all the pains and insults
Thou hast borne for me.
O most merciful Redeemer,
Friend and Brother,
May I know Thee more clearly,
Love Thee more dearly,
Follow Thee more nearly.
Amen