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Chapter 127PrecesPriv.1.127

Preces Quotidianae

Opening Cry for Repentance

The soul cries out from chaos and isolation, confessing its repentance and pleading for deeper compunction.

Immeasurable chaos; a wall we cannot cross; an inconsolable cry. Let no one stand by to plead for us or set us free.1 But I repent, Lord, Lord — I repent. Help my impenitence, and still more and more pierce my heart with compunction — tear it open, crush it.2

Self-Indignation with Scripture

The speaker uses verses from 2 Corinthians, Luke, Psalms, and 1 Timothy to express self-indignation and confess harmful desires.

See, Lord: I myself am indignant at myself — 2 Corinthians.✦ 7. 11.✦3 foolish — Luke 23. 34.✦ useless; Psalm 73.4 22. a harmful desire; 1 Timothy✦5 6. 9. and dangerous.6

Abhorring My Flesh

The speaker cites a fragmentary scripture and Job 42:6 to express abhorrence of their own flesh.

s.7 26. 11. my flesh, which I myself abhor,✦8 Job.✦ 42.✦9 6.✦

Shame and Lament

The speaker confesses the absurdity and baseness of desire, exclaims shame, and cries out in lament.

the absurdity born of foul desire, and the baseness that comes with shame10 with disgrace11 That all day long my shame is against me, and my face has been covered with shame.✦ Ah! Alas, alas!12 Woe is me! How long?

Psalm Citation and Self-Judgment

After a corrupt psalm citation, the speaker judges themselves guilty of eternal punishment.

Psalm. [corrupt reading]13 15. See, Lord: I judge myself guilty of eternal punishment.✦14

Closing Petitions

The speaker acknowledges worldly hardships and mentions prayers, ending with an unreadable fragment.

Also concerning all the hardships of this world.15 And the prayers. [Unreadable source fragment]

Read the original Latin

Chaos immensurabile, Murus quem transgredi non possumus, Clamor inconsolabilis, assistat, Nullus qui 4 patrocinetur, liberet. Sed poenitet, Domine, Domine, poenitet. Adjuva impeenitentiam meam, et magis adhuc magisque Compunge, scinde, contere cor meum. Ecce, Domine, quod indignor egomet mihi, 2 Cor. vii. ll. ( stultum, | Luc. xxiii.

34. inutile, Psal. lxxin. 22. desiderium propter 4 : : nocivum, 1 Tim. vi. 9. L et periculosum.

s. xxvi. 11.

carnis mea Quod abhorreo ipse me,

Job. xhi. 6.

absurditatem propter4 turpitudinem ς- desiderii, vilitatem confusione

opprobrio

Quod tota die verecundia mea contra me est,

et confusio faciei cooperuit me. Ah! Vah, vah!

Hei mihi! usque quo?

Psal. xhv. 15.

Ecce, Domine, quod dijudico egomet me Reum zeterni supplici,

Etiam et omnium difficultatum hujus mundi.

AND, PREOES. L L

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩2Cor.7.11 — For behold, this very thing—being grieved in a godly way—what earnestness it has produced in you, but also what defense, but also indignation, but also fear, but also longing, but also zeal, but also vindication! In every way you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
  2. ↩2Cor.7.11 — For behold, this very thing—being grieved in a godly way—what earnestness it has produced in you, but also what defense, but also indignation, but also fear, but also longing, but also zeal, but also vindication! In every way you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
  3. ↩Luke.23.34 — Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided his garments by casting lots.
  4. ↩1Tim.6.9 — But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.
  5. ↩Job.42.6 — Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.
  6. ↩Job.42.6 — Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.
  7. ↩Job.42.6 — Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.
  8. ↩Job.42.6 — Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.
  9. ↩Ps.44.16 — All day long my disgrace is before me, and the shame of my face covers me.
  10. ↩1Cor.11.31 — But if we examined ourselves, we would not be judged.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The stray numeral '4' before patrocinetur looks like a typesetting or footnote marker, not part of the Latin syntax; it is omitted in the English.
  2. 2 ↩Source 'impeenitentiam' is read as impoenitentiam / impœnitentiam ('impenitence').
  3. 3 ↩Source 'll.' is most plausibly an OCR error for '11.' (verse number after 2 Cor. vii.).
  4. 4 ↩Source reads lxxin.; treated as lxxiii (73), the usual Roman-numeral Psalm chapter form in this apparatus.
  5. 5 ↩Normalized text has unreadable junk between propter and nocivum ("4 : :"); sense taken as desiderium … nocivum, 'harmful desire,' with 1 Tim. citation.
  6. 6 ↩Leading L is treated as a stray print/OCR fragment, not as Latin content; et periculosum is translated.
  7. 7 ↩Bare abbreviation "s." in a citation string; neighboring units are numbered like a biblical chapter/verse (xxvi. 11). Likely a truncated book siglum (e.g. Is., Ps., or similar), not continuous prose.
  8. 8 ↩Source Latin is fragmentary and grammatically broken (carnis mea lacks a clear head noun/construction; Quod capitalised mid-phrase). Rendered as a Job-like self-abhorrence fragment: ‘my flesh, which I myself abhor.’ Neighboring refs (Ps./s. xxvi. 11; Job xhi. 6) suggest a lection list, so this may be a corrupt scrap of Job 42:6 or a related penitential verse rather than continuous prose.
  9. 9 ↩Latin surface 'xhi.' is not a readable Latin word or standard Roman numeral as printed. Given the neighboring 'Job.' and '6.' and the previous section's self-abhorrence language, the most plausible intended reading is chapter numeral 'xlii' (42), i.e. Job 42:6. Rendered as that corrected sense, not as the corrupt surface.
  10. 10 ↩Normalized source is corrupt: 'propter4' treated as 'propter' with a footnote marker, and 'ς-' dropped as non-Latin OCR noise. Reading taken as: absurditatem propter turpitudinem desiderii, vilitatem confusione.
  11. 11 ↩Single ablative fragment (opprobrio = by/with disgrace or reproach). Neighboring sections suggest it continues a list of shame-terms (confusione … opprobrio) before the psalm-like line on verecundia; full clause structure is not present in this section alone.
  12. 12 ↩Latin Vah is a grief/distress interjection; rendered as doubled 'Alas' rather than repeating 'Ah' so it stays distinct from the preceding cry and keeps the lament force without archaism.
  13. 13 ↩Source surface 'xhv.' is not a valid Latin word or standard Roman numeral as printed; in context it is almost certainly a garbled psalm-number in a citation of the form 'Psal. … 15.' Possible intended readings include a Roman-numeral chapter (e.g. xv, xlv, cxv), but none can be restored with confidence from this witness alone.
  14. 14 ↩Normalized reading treats corrupt 'zeterni' as 'aeterni' and incomplete 'supplici' as genitive 'supplicii' (of punishment/torment), yielding the classical construction reum + genitive: 'guilty of eternal punishment.'
  15. 15 ↩Continues the genitive construction from the previous section (self-judgment as liable/guilty); difficultatum rendered as hardships rather than abstract difficulties.

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