The prostitution of language

An innocent perusal of an article on Scriptural exegesis prompted an arousal of interest which is summarised in the lines which follow.

I am a subscriber to the excellent Kolbe Centre site's newsletter. The latest issue touches on a number of subjects, including the interpretation of the following text from the Book of Genesis:

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius : ipsa conteret caput tuum, et tu insidiaberis calcaneo ejus. [Gen. iii. 15]

The relevant text of the newsletter may be found at the end of this post (see The Symphony of Catholic Scriptural Exegesis). For the moment, I invite readers to note the pronouns she and ipsa highlighted above. Of this text, the Kolbe article states:

Genesis contains a grammatical feature that cannot be found anywhere in the Old Testament except in the first five books of the Bible—the epicene personal pronoun [emphasis added]. This is a pronoun that has no gender so that the correct gender is determined by the verb—a feature that would surely be present in some other part of the Old Testament if the consensus view in Catholic academia were correct and the first five books of the Bible were produced one thousand years after the time of Moses. One of the places where the epicene personal pronoun appears has a special significance for all Catholics but most especially for those who strive to defend the traditional reading of Genesis. It is in Genesis iii. 15, the protoevangelium, where God says to Satan, “I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” But should the next sentence read “He,” “She” or “It” “will crush your head”?

To read the answer to that question, please see the Addendum below.

I looked up the word epicene in the OED and was quite surprised to discover that its etymology is traced through epicœnus / epicœnos all the way back to the ancient Greek ἐπῐ́κοινος, meaning:

promiscuous, sluttish...

I wonder whether the epicene pronoun might not address the ever-wakeful (wokeful?) sensitivities of the wandering word-crawlers who patrol our language nowadays? Or does the promiscuous and sluttish etymology render the epi-cene too ob*-cene...?

Methinks Nigel Molesworth would have had great fun with all this...

Latin master declining an epicene pronoun.

"If latin masters are slo starters, once they get a latin ex. they go like a rocket...

...as any fule kno."

With grateful acknowledgements (and apologies) to Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle. 

Requiescant In Pace.

 

Addendum : The Symphony of Catholic Scriptural Exegesis

    For many decades the consensus view in Catholic academia has been that Moses did not write or redact the sacred history of Genesis and that the text was cobbled together by scribes around the time of the Babylonian Captivity. One of the many reasons why the Kolbe Center has never abandoned the patristic view that Moses was the author/redactor of Genesis is that Genesis contains a grammatical feature that cannot be found anywhere in the Old Testament except in the first five books of the Bible—the epicene personal pronoun. This is a pronoun that has no gender so that the correct gender is determined by the verb—a feature that would surely be present in some other part of the Old Testament if the consensus view in Catholic academia were correct and the first five books of the Bible were produced one thousand years after the time of Moses. One of the places where the epicene personal pronoun appears has a special significance for all Catholics but most especially for those who strive to defend the traditional reading of Genesis. It is in Genesis iii. 15, the protoevangelium, where God says to Satan, “I will put enmities between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed.” But should the next sentence read “He,” “She” or “It” “will crush your head”?
    Readers of this newsletter know that St. Lawrence of Brindisi is the last Doctor of the Church to have written a detailed commentary on Genesis. He knew the whole Bible by heart, knew all the Biblical languages and was familiar with all of the greatest commentators in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. Readers also know that Cornelius a Lapide was commissioned by the Pope to devote his life to preparing a commentary on the Holy Bible. He, too, mastered all the Biblical languages and was familiar with the greatest commentators on the Bible in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. These two giants in the field of Biblical commentary agree that none of the three readings of the epicene personal pronoun in Genesis 3:15 should be rejected. Lapide writes:
Note first that none of these three readings [of Genesis 3:15] is to be rejected. No, indeed: All [the masculine, the feminine and the neuter] are true readings. For in this verse, when God sets the two against each other as if they were opponents in a contest — the woman with her seed against the serpent with its seed — He consequently wishes to say that the woman with her seed will crush the head of the serpent, just as, on the other hand, the serpent lies in wait for the heel of both the woman and her seed. And therefore in this verse Moses seems to have mixed the masculine verb with the feminine pronoun, saying ישוף היא, hî’ yəšūp̄, she shall crush, in order to signify both the woman and her seed; or rather, the woman through her seed, namely through Christ, shall crush the head of the serpent. 
    It is interesting to note that St. Jerome in at least one of his writings took the view that “He” and not “She” (“Ipsa,” as in the Latin Vulgate) was the correct translation of the pronoun in that verse. However, He Who Is Truth Itself saw to it that the Vulgate became the official version of the Bible for the Church of Rome and that "ipsa" emerged as the primary reading in the Vulgate ("She" in the Douai-Rheims English translation of the Vulgate), even if that was not the original preference of St. Jerome himself. 

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The intoxication of words

Noe's drunkenness. J-J Tissot. 1896-1902. The Jewish Collection online.

When comparing Challoner's Douay-Rheims Gospel of St Luke with the original version of 1582, I was surprised to come across an unusual English word:  ſicer (sicer):

15. For he shall be great before the Lord; and shall drink no wine nor strong drink: and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

[Luc. i. 15, Challoner]

15. For he ſhal be great before our Lord; and wine and ſicer he ſhal not drinke ; and he ſhal be repleniſhed with the Holy Ghoſt euen from his mothers womb. [1582 version]

Here is the verse in the Latin Vulgate...

15. erit enim magnus coram Domino : et vinum et siceram non bibet, et Spiritu Sancto replebitur adhuc ex utero matris suæ :

and the Greek...

15. ἔσται γὰρ μέγας ἐνώπιον ⸀τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ οἶνον καὶ σίκερα οὐ μὴ πίῃ, καὶ πνεύματος ἁγίου πλησθήσεται ἔτι ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ,

The OED says of sicer:

a1400–1609. sicer, n. Intoxicating liquor, strong drink.A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin sicera.

Lewis Short (on Logeion) says:

sīcĕra, n., = σίκερα [from the Heb. ],a kind of spirituous, intoxicating drink (eccl. Lat.). There are seven instances of the word siceram in the Latin Vulgate, all from the Old testament except one, which is in chapter xv of St Luke's Gospel. The word is always written paired with vinum (wine). [See: Deuteronomy xiv. 26, Deuteronomy xxix. 6, Judges xiii. 4, Judges xiii. 7, [Judges xiii.14 & Luke i.15].

There are many Hebrew sources which explain sicer actually refers to beer... Here is one excerpt:

The importance of beer in the ancient Near East can be seen by the fact that, in time,

the word for beer came to designate the state of drunkenness. The word for beer

became synonymous with inebriation in Akkadian, Aramaic, Ugaritic and Arabic.

Similarly in the Egyptian language, “beer” (hnqt) was used for general drunkenness.

And in the Bible, shekhar is often a verb that means “to get drunk” (e.g., Genesis ix. 21;

Isaiah xxix.9), a parallel linguistic usage that furthers the case for shekhar as “beer.”

(This parallel usage has also survived in modern Hebrew: A drunk is a shekhor (שכור),

and shekhar (שכר) means beer, although beer is also commonly called simply beera.)

[Taken from Beer in the Bible, arranged by Rabbi Drew Kaplan]

It seems that this beer would have been much stronger and sweeter than the northern European variety, perhaps more akin to "amber nectar." 

For a selection of Jewish interpretations of the word shekar, see Shekhar: Is it Wine or Beer? by Dr.Elaine Goodfriend. 

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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

On the Feast of Christ the King

 The Holy Infant of Prague.
Fotobanka ČTK, René Fluger.

Today, on the great feast of Christ the King, we launch the first of a new series of posts on the life of Christ according to the Gospel of St Luke. You can read this Life (and others in the series) by clicking here: 👉 The Life of Christ Our Lord.

The Life includes the Douay-Rheims [1] and Vulgate texts of the Gospel, followed by annotations which make extensive use of the commentary by Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide (1567-1637). The illustrations are by Jacques-Joseph Tissot (1836-1902), except where otherwise stated.

[1] With revisions by Bishop Richard Challoner, 1749-52. Taken from a hardcopy of the 1899 Edition by the John Murphy Company. See here for DRBO site.

The Holy Infant of Prague

👈This is the original statue of the Holy Infant, Lord Jesus Christ our King.   It was given by Princess Polyxena von Lobkowicz to the Discalced Carmelites in 1628 and is now located in the Discalced Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victories in Prague. The author is blessed to have a statue of the Holy Infant received as a gift from the late Fr Dodd, parish priest of Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane (Covent Garden).

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The Icon of Vladimir. ?12th century.
  Church of St. Nicholas, Moscow.

I offer our work on St Luke's Gospel as a gift to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son so that He, in His mercy, may heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins.

O Lord Jesus Christ our King who hast said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened,"[1] through the intercession of Mary, Your Most Holy Mother, I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted.

Domine Jesu Christe, Rex noster, qui dixisti: Petite, et dabitur vobis; quærite, et invenietis; pulsate, et aperietur vobis,[1] per intercessionem Mariæ Sanctissimæ Matris Tuæ, pulso, quæro et peto ut deprecationes meas exaudias.

[1] [Luc. xi. 19]

The Icon of Vladimir

This ancient Icon of the Mother of God is said to be based on one painted by the Evangelist St Luke himself on a board taken from the table used by the Holy Family in Nazareth. In 1131, the icon was sent from Constantinople to Rus and was installed in the Devichi monastery in Vyshgorod. In 1155, it was brought to the city of Vladimir and was installed in the Dormition cathedral. It was from this time that the icon received its name of the Vladimir Icon. The icon was first brought to Moscow in 1395 where it is now housed in the Church of St. Nicholas.

Let us pray that our Blessed Mother will gather together her faithful sons from the East and the West so as to be reunited as once they were in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

WE fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God;

 despise not our petitions in our necessities,

 but deliver us always from all dangers,

O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.

 

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix.

 Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus,

sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper,

 Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Life of Christ : St Matthew

Three Archangels with Tobias. c.1471 Uffizi, Florence. 

Today, the feast of St Raphael, sees the last posting on the Life of Christ according to the Gospel of St Matthew on The Life of Christ website. I established the Life of Christ site in 2019 to provide a platform for presenting and illustrating the life of Christ. This was in response to an idea which seemed to speak from the last line of the motto I had adopted as a seal in the same year (see below and at the end of each post):

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

It also reflects the emphasis found in the opening lines of The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a Kempis:

     He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, saith Our Lord. (John viii.12). These are the words of Christ, by which we are admonished, that we must imitate His life and manners, if we would be truly enlightened, and delivered from all blindness of heart. Let it then be our chief study to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ. [From The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis (c. 1418–1427); translated by Bishop Richard Challoner (1755)]

     Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris dicit Dominus. Hæc sunt verba Christi, quibus admonemur quatenus vitam eius et mores imitemur, si volumus veraciter illuminari, et ab omni cæcitate cordis liberari. Summum igitur studium nostrum, sit in vita Jesu meditari.

     Celui qui me suit, ne marche point dans les ténèbres, dit le Seigneur. Ce sont les paroles de Jésus-Christ, par lesquelles il nous exhorte à imiter sa conduite et sa vie, si nous voulons être vraiment éclairés et délivrés de tout aveuglement du cœur. Que notre principale étude soit donc de méditer la vie de Jésus-Christ. [L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ, traduction avec des réflections par M l'Abbé F De Lamenais (1859)]

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Here is a summary of the projects completed to date:

1. The first Life followed the format of The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the remarkable artist James J. Tissot (1897). The posts began on the 14th of October 2019 and concluded on the feast of the Ascension, the 21st of May 2020.
2. The second Life followed the work of l'Abbé Constant Fouard:  La Vie de N-S Jésus-Christ (1880). The first post was published on the feast of Corpus Christi (11th of June 2020) and the series concluded on the 4th of October 2020.
3. The third Life followed the Gospel of St Mark, making use of a work by Madame Cecilia published in 1904 entitled The Gospel according to St Mark. This Life opened on the Feast of St Mark (25th April 2022) and concluded on the 26th of June 2022.
4. The fourth project featured the Acts of the Apostles and also made use of Madame Cecilia's work published in 1907 entitled The Acts of the Apostles. The series began on the 29th June 2022 and concluded on the 11th of September in the same year.
5. The most recent project featured the Gospel of St Matthew.  Making use of Madame Cecilia's commentaries published in 1906, it began on the 29th of June 2023, the feast of St Peter and St Paul, and concluded today, the 24th of October, on the feast of St Raphael.

I offer this work to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son's most Sacred Heart so that He, in His mercy, may heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins.

O Lord, graciously send Your holy Archangel Raphael to help us, that he who we know stands ever in the presence of Your Majesty, may present our humble prayers for Your blessing.

Dirigere dignáre, Dómine Deus, in adiutórium nostrum sanctum Raphaélem Archángelum: et, quem tuæ maiestáti semper assístere crédimus, tibi nostras exíguas preces benedicéndas assígnet.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

The Gospel of St Matthew

St Peter & St Paul.  El Greco. (1590-1600)
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.  

[***This is a cross-post from the Life of Christ site.***]

Background

The Life of Christ site was established in 2019 to provide a platform for presenting and illustrating the life of Christ. This was in response to an idea which seemed to speak from the last line of the motto I had adopted in the same year (see below and at the end of each post):

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

I have, D.G.(per Mariam), so far produced three lives, followed by a study of the Acts of the Apostles:

• The first Life followed the format of The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ by the remarkable artist James J. Tissot (1897). The posts began on the 14th of October 2019 and concluded on the feast of the Ascension, the 21st of May 2020.
• The second Life followed the work of l'Abbé Constant Fouard:  La Vie de N-S Jésus-Christ (1880). The first post was published on the feast of Corpus Christi (11th of June 2020) and the series concluded on the 4th of October 2020.
• The third Life followed the Gospel of St Mark, making extensive use of a work by Madame Cecilia published in 1904 entitled The Gospel according to St Mark. This Life opened on the Feast of St Mark (25th April 2022) and concluded on the 26th of June 2022.
• The series of posts on the Acts of the Apostles also made extensive use of Madame Cecilia's work published in 1907 entitled The Acts of the Apostles. The series began on the 29th June 2022 and concluded on the 11th of September in the same year.

St Peter and St Paul

I pray that the feast of St Peter and St Paul will serve as a suitable launching point for my next project: The Gospel according to St Matthew. Once again, I shall be making extensive use of Madame Cecilia's work. Her study of St Matthew's Gospel received its imprimatur on the 8th of June 1906 and comprises two Books. Madame Cecilia was a religious of St Andrew's Convent, Streatham (London) and produced a number of volumes in her series entitled Catholic Scripture Manuals.

Dedication

Exposition in the chancel of Corpus Christi.
Andy Scott. CC BY-SA. 2018.

👈The image here shows the chancel of Corpus Christi Church in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden. The statues of St Peter and St Paul are set in elevated niches on either side of the altar. Like the rest of the interior, these statues have been extensively and richly restored since the days when I first  knew the church (in the 1980's)..

Following treatment in King’s College Hospital for an injury received in the Brixton riots in April 1981, I was making my way back home across London when I stumbled by chance upon this church. I decided to pop inside and, quite providentially, I was just in time for Mass. There was an almost palpable atmosphere of reverence and I was especially impressed by the solemn demeanour and dignity of the priest, Father Henry Dodd. I was to return many times and the church was to play an important part in my family, albeit for a tragically brief period of time.

Fr Dodd was especially impressive in his sermons where, without any notes, he displayed a powerful eloquence and an effortless erudition - so much so that some of his expressions remain with me to this day. He had a particularly strong devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Our Blessed Lady. One Saturday each month he led devotions which included all the mysteries of the most Holy Rosary, interspersed with readings and hymns, and which finished with Benediction. This devotion was nicknamed the "Mariathon."

In praying that St Peter and St Paul will, on this their feast day, extend their help to this project, I offer the work to our gentle Queen and Mother, with a petition that she present it as an act of reparation to her Divine Son so as to heal the wounds, repair the damage and undo the scandal caused by sins against His Most Sacred Heart and against the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per te, Maria.

St Peter's Complaynt : 2nd edition

Today we are posting a link to a pdf for the second edition of St Peters Complaynt by St Robert Southwell (see end of post). This revised edition incorporates a number of minor corrections to content and formatting, together with some modifications to the paraphrases. We are publishing it on the Feast of the Holy Family with a confident hope of help for our family members now but especially at the hour of our death.

👈The image on the front cover, known as The Tears of Saint Peter (1587-1596), is by El Greco (Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos) 1541-1614. Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso (Mexico City). CC BY-SA 3.0. The painting overlaps the period of St Robert Southwell’s mission and imprisonment, leading to his execution in 1595. Please pray for the soul of Esther Clark. R.I.P. She gave a framed copy of this painting to the author in the mid 1980’s.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, assist me in my last agony.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, may I breathe forth my soul in peace with you. 

Amen.

Here is the link to 👉 St Peters Complaynt

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.

St Peter's Complaynt : Lines 787-792 [Conclusion]

Please pray for the soul of Esther Clark. R.I.P. She gave a 
framed copy of this painting to the author in the 1980's.

These posts contain revised and expanded notes to St Peter's Complaynt, considered by many to be the last poem written by St Robert Southwell ("RS") before his martyrdom on the 21st of February 1595.  The original series of posts was first published in 2018 on our sister site, Mary's English Dowry. I have expanded my original notes so as to provide a more detailed critical apparatus - with fairly extensive use of quotations from the period in which RS wrote. I have also included paraphrases with the aim of making the poet's language more accessible to modern readers.

The work is offered on behalf of my family to Our Blessed Lady, Regina Martyrum et Consolatrix Afflictorum. For EEKPTEE&EA.

👈The Tears of St Peter (1587-1596) 

El Greco (Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos) 1541-1614

Museo Soumaya at Plaza Carso, Mexico.

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- 132 -

Redeeme my lapse with raunsome of Thy love,

Traverse th’inditement, rigors doome suspend;

Let frailtie favour, sorrow succour move,

Be Thou Thy selfe, though changling I offend.

Tender my suite, clense this defiled denne,

Cancell my debts, sweete Jesu, say Amen.

    Sweet Jesu:

Redeem me from the dire consequences of my sin,Thy love serving as the ransom;

Strike out the accusation against me and suspend the harsh judgement hanging over me;

Take account of my weakness and my contrition; let them count in my favour and come to my assistance;

Stay as Thou art — unchangingly steadfast — even though I changed and became unfaithful; 

Grant my petition and cleanse the soul I defiled with my sin, washing away all my iniquity.

    Sweet Jesu, Amen.

    787. Redeeme. To ransom (a person) from slavery, captivity, or punishment; to save (a person's life) by paying a ransom.

Its etymon  = classical Latin redimere to buy back, to recover by purchase. 1508   J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. xx.iiii   In his treasoure hous is rychesse innumerable, wherwith..he may redeme all ye world from the prysone & captyuyte of ye deuyll. 1557   Bible (Whittingham) Rev. v. 9   Thou wast killed, and hast redemed vs to God by thy bloude.

    raunsome.  The action or means of freeing oneself from a penalty; a sum of money paid to obtain pardon for an offence or imposed as a penalty, esp. one exacted for a significant offence; c1592   Faire Em sig. D1   Thy death should paie thy ransome of thy fault.

    lapse. A falling from rectitude. Probably used in a stronger sense: A falling into ruin. 1605   F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning i. sig. I4   His [sc. Adrian's] whole time was a very restauration of all the lapses and decayes of former times.

    788. Traverse. To deny (an allegation) formally; to dispute or challenge (an accusation, claim, finding, etc.).

1588   W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (new ed.) iv. xiii. 542   To Trauerse an Enditement..is to take issue vpon the chiefe matter therof, which is none other..then..to deny the point of the Enditement.  

    inditement.  indictment. The action of indicting or accusing, a formal accusation; 1581   W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (1588) iv. v. 484   I take an Enditement to be the Verdite of the Iurors, grounded upon the accusation of a third person. 

    rigor. rigour. Harsh inflexibility (in dealing with a person or group of people); severity, sternness; cruelty. 1555   R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. xi. f. 158   Their rygour and fiercenesse ageynst suche as stoobernly..contemned them.

    doome. doom. A judgement or decision, esp. one formally pronounced; a sentence; mostly in adverse sense, condemnation, sentence of punishment. 1596   E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene iv. v. sig. E3v   Then was that golden belt by doome of all Graunted to her.

    suspend. To put a stop to,; to intermit the use or exercise of, put in abeyance. 1540   Act 32 Hen. VIII c. 48 §1   The same rentis by longe tymes shalbe suspendid and not due to be paid.

1560   J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. clxv   The Emperour doeth suspende all suites and actions in the lawe commenced againste the Protestauntes.

    789. frailtie. Moral weakness; instability of mind; liability to err or yield to temptation. a1538   T. Starkey Dial. Pole & Lupset (1989) 13   They consydur not the fraylty of man, wych seyng the best folowyth the worst.

    favour. Propitious or friendly regard, goodwill. 1611   Bible (King James) Esther v. 8   I haue found fauour in the sight of the king.

    move. There are several possible meanings here. It may be noted that number 4. below would continue the metaphor contained in the previous line which pictures legal proceedings (Traverse th’inditement & rigors doome suspend) and which may also include tender my suite in line 791.

    1.To operate as a motive or influence on the will or belief of (a person); to prompt, actuate, impel (to an action, or to do something). c1515   Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) lii. 177   What hathe moued the thus to do?

    2. To rouse or excite feeling in (a person); to affect with emotion, esp. with tender feeling or compassion; to stir (the feelings, etc.); 1611   Bible (King James) Mark i. 41   And Iesus mooued with compassion, put foorth his hand, and touched him.

    3. Of God or some other spiritual or supernatural force: to prompt, impel (to do something). 1549   Forme & Maner consecratyng Archebishoppes sig. C.iiii   Do you trust that you are inwardly moued by the holy ghost to take vpon you this Office and ministracion..?

    4. To propose formally in a court or deliberative assembly that something be done, or to do something.  1578   J. Rolland Seuin Seages 265   Quhen this was mufit to all the counsall thair Thair was na man the questioun culd declair.

    The compressed word order in this line may be resolved into the following two options, which almost amount to the same thing:

1. Let frailtie move favour. Let sorrow move succour. 

2. Let favour move frailtie. Let succour move sorrow. 

    790. Be Thou Thy selfe. The traditional Christian teaching is that God does not change.

“They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail.[Psalm CI 27-28]

“Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today; and the same for ever.” [Hebr. xiii. 8]

    changling. A person likely to change attitude or allegiance; a fickle or inconstant person; a turncoat. 1539   R. Morison Exhort. to styrre All Eng. Men (new ed.) sig. Dii   We become chaungelynges, and for a tryfle leaue that we haue hitherto godly folowed. 

    Peter sees his own changeable behaviour as a contrast to the unchanging steadfastness and fidelity of Christ. Consider the following examples:

“Peter saith to him: Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him: If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me. Simon Peter saith to him: Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him: He that is washed, needeth not but to wash his feet, but is clean wholly. And you are clean, but not all.” [John xiii. 8-10]

“And Peter answering, said to him: Although all shall be scandalized in thee, I will never be scandalized. [34] Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, that in this night before the cock crow, thou wilt deny me thrice. [35] Peter saith to him: Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee.”[Matt. xxvi. 33-35]

“But Peter sat without in the court: and there came to him a servant maid, saying: Thou also wast with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied before them all, saying: I know not what thou sayest. And as he went out of the gate, another maid saw him, and she saith to them that were there: This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied with an oath, I know not the man. And after a little while they came that stood by, and said to Peter: Surely thou also art one of them; for even thy speech doth discover thee. Then he began to curse and to swear that he knew not the man.”  [Matt. xxvi. 33-35 & 69-74]

    791. Tender. 1. To offer or advance (a plea, issue, averment; evidence, etc.) in due and formal terms; 1542–3   Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII c. 2 §2   If..the saide Collectoures..tendre paiement of all suche money..within the saide three monethes.

    2. An alternative, if unlikely, reading here is : kind, loving, gentle, mild, affectionate. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xxiv. [xxv.] 6 Call to remembrance, O Lorde, thy tender mercies & thy louing kindnesses. The sense is then: my suit is a loving one. . .

    suite. suit. 1. A process instituted in a court of law for the recovery or protection of a right, the enforcement of a claim, or the redress of a wrong; a prosecution before a legal tribunal; = lawsuit. 1576   A. Fleming tr. C. Plinius Novocomensis in Panoplie Epist. 252   Busily occupied in matters of suites of lawe. 

    2. The action of entreating or petitioning a person to do something; petitioning, supplication. 1592   T. Kyd Spanish Trag. iii. sig. G3v   The King sees me, and faine would heare my sute.

    clense this defiled denne. Cleanse this defiled den. The word den recalls Christ’s action in cleansing the Temple:

“And he saith to them: It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.” [Matthew xxi.13]

“And he found in the temple them that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew. And to them that sold doves he said: Take these things hence, and make not the house of my Father a house of traffic.” [John ii. 14-16] 

The image represents Peter’s soul, which should be regarded as the temple of the Holy Spirit, turned into a “defiled den,” a temple defiled by sin.

“Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own?” [1 Cor. vi. 19]

    cleanse my soul. “Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.” [Psalm L. 4] 

    792. Cancell my debts.  “debts,” is another word for “sins,” as in:

“And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” [Matthew vi. 12]

    Amen. Hebrew 'āmēn certainly, verily, surely, used as adverb of 'āmēn faithfulness, truth < 'āman to confirm, to support.

It is highly fitting that Peter, having suffered so much from his unfaithfulness, should conclude by linking the word 'āmēn (faithfulness) to Jesus.

+    +    +

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.