Collects for the Second Week of Easter

[stignatius]

I wasn’t sure where I could ask this question, but thought I would present it here to see if anyone had any idea. This came up this morning when I was doing Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours. As we know, the English translation of the Mass was updated in 2011. However, it seems that in the process, they totally changed the collects for some days this week. It seems like a totally different composition that has nothing to do with the original Latin. Does anyone know why this is?

Example: Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
Latin
Concéde, miséricors Deus, ut, quod paschálibus exséquimur institútis, fructíferum nobis omni témpore sentiámus. Per Dóminum.

Old Translation
God of mercy,
may the Easter mystery we celebrate
be effective through our lives
Grant this through…

New Translation (2011)
O God, who for the salvation of the world
brought about the paschal sacrifice,
be favorable to the supplications of your people,
so that Christ our High Priest, interceding on our behalf,
may by his likeness to ourselves
bring us reconciliation,
and by his equality with you
free us from our sins.
Through…

Example 2: Friday of the Second Week of Easter
Latin
Deus, qui pro nobis Fílium tuum crucis patíbulum subíre voluísti, ut inimíci a nobis expélleres potestátem, concéde nobis fámulis tuis, ut resurrectiónis grátiam consequámur. Per Dóminum.

Old Translation
Father,
in your plan of salvation
your Son Jesus Christ accepted the cross
and freed us from the power of the enemy.
May we come to share the glory of his resurrection
for he…

New Translation (2011)
O God, hope and light of the sincere,
we humbly entreat you to dispose our hearts
to offer you worthy prayer
and ever to extol you
by dutiful proclamation of your praise.
Through…

As you can see, the old translation, while not perfect, is clearly a translation of the Latin. The new translation appears to be a new composition altogether. Does anyone know why this is?

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

Where are you getting your Latin from? It seems to be the part that’s incorrect.

Here’s Thursday’s Latin Collect:
Deus, qui pro salúte mundi sacrifícium paschále effecísti,
propitiáre supplicatiónibus pópuli tui,
ut interpéllans pro nobis Christus Póntifex noster,
nos per id quod nostri est símilis reconcíliet,
per id quod tibi est æquális absólvat.
Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum,
qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus,
per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
Amen.

And here’s Friday’s:
Deus, spes et lumen sincerórum méntium,
da córdibus nostris, te súpplices deprecámur,
et dignam tibi oratiónem persólvere,
et te semper præconiórum múnere collaudáre.
Per Dóminum nostrum Iesum Christum, Fílium tuum,
qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus,
per ómnia sǽcula sæculórum.
Amen.

Matches pretty closely to the English you provided.

 

[stignatius]

Interesting! It appears that while the prayer of the LOTH normally correlates to the Collect at Mass in the Proper of Seasons, there are some days where it doesn’t match up.

In the LOTH, the prayer for Thursday of the Second Week of Easter is as I shared (proof). However, in the Missal, this is actually the Collect for Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter (proof).

So then what happens in the LOTH for Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter? The prayer repeats (proof)! Incredibly, in the ICEL English translation of the LOTH, this prayer was translated differently both times.

Thursday Week 2
God of mercy,
may the Easter mystery we celebrate
be effective through our lives
Grant this through…

Monday Week 6
God of mercy,
may our celebration of your Son’s resurrection
help us to experience its effect in our lives.
We ask this…

I believe this second LOTH translation was the one used in the old translation of the Missal.

Was this corrected in a later revision of the LOTH? That might explain why online breviaries (iBreviary, this other one) that use the new collect translations all have the LOTH match the collect from Mass.

Would anyone happen to have any more information on this?

 

[stignatius]

Example 2: Friday of the Second Week of Easter
Latin
Deus, qui pro nobis Fílium tuum crucis patíbulum subíre voluísti, ut inimíci a nobis expélleres potestátem, concéde nobis fámulis tuis, ut resurrectiónis grátiam consequámur. Per Dóminum.

Here’s another interesting tidbit I found. Like you’ve mentioned, this prayer doesn’t match the one given in the Missal. This is actually the collect for Wednesday of Holy Week for some reason.

 

[Cor_ad_Cor]

The LOTH has not had a revision since the 3rd edition of the Roman Missal, so as you noted, not all Collects match. My experience has been that they usually align but are slightly different. That is set to be rectified “soon” (whatever soon means in liturgical publishing).

You are free to use either for the LOTH, and app/online versions lean toward the ‘updated’.