Oratio pro Ecclesia
A Plea for the Suffering Church
The speaker cries out to Jesus to look upon the Roman Church in her current state of violent persecution and spiritual decay.
Jesus, sweet comfort and highest good of every troubled heart, look on Rome with perfect love. Ah!1 Look with pity on the storm your Bride is caught in, and at how much blood, alas! is expected among us, if your merciful hand, which always delights to forgive, doesn't bring her back to the peace she had when she was poor.2 Look again on the goodness that once moved you to take on human flesh and, for our sake, to make yourself like a worm on the earth: come to the help of your holy Roman Church, which the devil is throwing to the ground, breaking her nerves and bones, if you don't shield her from his heavy blows. Where is your ancient mercy, Lord, and the blood poured out on the earth, and the everlasting memory of your Son?3 Now every good spirit and every good counsel seems extinguished and burned away: I see nothing but swords. Jesus, forgive our iniquities.
Refuge for the Orphaned Bride
The prayer shifts to a request for divine intervention and protection, acknowledging the Church as an orphaned bride in need of her Redeemer.
Open your side at last, Lord, and let the prayer of your devout servants enter in. Jesus, do not be angry; hurry to meet such great ruin. Renew our state, since the great Shepherd has been taken from us.4 You are our Redeemer and our Father; you are our refuge, our fortress, and our firm foundation in this frail cloister, where anyone who doesn't lament these armed bands against our most holy Mother is truly blind.5 If this time your strong hand does not take up arms for her, every perfect light having gone out, it seems to me without any doubt that all your worship and every fine custom will be lost to our harm—or that Rome will remain in great distress. Turn these earthly souls of ours, my Lord, toward the kingdom where there will be peace for your holy Bride. By that merciful wood that has made her glorious on earth and in heaven, mercy is fitting for you: we are orphans, and you are our hope.6 Jesus, sweet comfort and highest good of every troubled heart, look on Rome with perfect love.
Read the original Latin
Iesù, dolce conforto e sommo bene D’ogni affannato core, Risguarda Roma cum perfetto amore. De! mira cum pietade in che procella Si trova la tua Sposa, E quanto sangue, oimè! tra nui s’aspetta, Se la tua man pietosa, Che di perdonar sempre se diletta, Non la riduce a quella Pace, che fu quand’era poverella. Risguarda la bontà che già ti mosse A prender carne umana, E per noi farti come un verme in terra: Soccurri a la Romana Tua santa Chiesa, che ’l demonio atterra, Rompendo i nervi e l’osse, Se non ripari a le sue gran percosse. Dove è, Signor, l’antica tua pietade, E ’l sangue in terra sparso, E la memoria eterna del tuo Figlio? Or par estinto et arso Ogni buon spirto et ogni buon consiglio: Non vedo altro che spade. Iesù, perdona a nostre iniquitade.
Apri, Signor, or mai il tuo costato, E lassa penetrare Di toi devoti servi l’orazione: Iesù, non ti adirare; Occurri presto a tanta destruzione: Rinova il nostro stato, Poi che è da nui il gran Pastor sotrato. Tu nostro Redentor e nostro Padre, Tu sei refugio nostro, Nostra forteza e nostro firmamento, In questo fragel chiostro, Dove è ben cieco chi non fa lamento Di queste armate squadre Contra la nostra sacrosanta Madre. Se questa volta la tua forte mano Per lei non prende l’arme, Essendo spento ogni perfetto lume, Senza alcun dubio parme Che ogni tuo culto et ogni bel costume Si perda a nostro danno, O che rimanga Roma in grande affanno. Converti, Signor mio, queste terrene Anime nostre al regno, Dove fia pace a la tua santa Sposa: Per quel pietoso legno Che in terra e in ciel l’ha fatta gloriosa, A te pietà convene: Pupilli siamo, e tu sei nostra spene. Iesù, dolce conforto, e sommo bene D’ogni affannato core, Risguarda Roma cum perfetto amore.
Notes
- 1 ↩De! is a compressed Italian interjection of distress and plea (Ah!/Oh!); rendered as a single cry of appeal rather than expanded paraphrase.
- 2 ↩poverella points to the Church's early evangelical poverty/humility, not mere material lack; rendered as 'poor' to keep that sense without archaism.
- 3 ↩Address shifts from Iesù (s1) to Signor with 'del tuo Figlio'; likely the Father, or a solemn mixed address. Rendered faithfully as Lord / your Son without resolving the addressee.
- 4 ↩"Gran Pastor" may mean Christ the Good Shepherd or the earthly pastor (the pope); "sotrato" (sottratto) = taken away/removed. Left as "great Shepherd" to keep the ambiguity.
- 5 ↩"Fragile cloister" may figure the Church, religious life, or the fragile enclosure of earthly life; kept literal as "frail cloister."
- 6 ↩"Merciful wood" = the Cross that glorified the Church (the Bride).
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