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Author Topic: My Guardian Angel Prayer  (Read 5199 times)

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Online Mat183

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My Guardian Angel Prayer
« on: January 14, 2025, 10:31:50 AM »
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  • Which is correct in the first sentence -- ""commits me here" or "commits thee here"?  I think the latter is correct because it seems to make logical sense, although even in some trad prayer books including one put out by the SSPX (Watch and Pray on p.32) you see the former.

    Offline Ladislaus

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    Re: My Guardian Angel Prayer
    « Reply #1 on: January 14, 2025, 11:04:13 AM »
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  • "me" would be correct, at least in the English translation everyone's gotten used to.  Obviously, both are true, where God commits us to our angel and our angel to us, but given the English phraseology, "me" makes more sense as the antecedent of "to whom".

    Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here ...

    It would be very awkward to consider the "to whom" to refer to the me in "my".

    Bit the Latin is the opposite ...
    Quote
    Angele Dei, qui custos es mei, me tibi commissum pietate superna; hodie (hac nocte) illumina, custodi, rege, et guberna. Amen.

    Literally, "Angel of God, who are my guardian, illuminate, guard, rule, and govern me this day [or night], [who has been] committed to you by the piety from above".  Obviously, that literal translation is pretty crummy and completely loses the rhyme.

    So, you can see how the Latin rhymes very nicely, but the English translator cleverly also tries to make it rhyme, but in order to do that, he has to invert the "commits", since the "to whom" only makes sense as having the guardian angel as its antecedent.

    You could try your hand at a new translation if it bothers you that much, where it's more like "Angel of God, who art the guardian of me, to whom God's love has committed thee ..." (and continue)

    Again, in the interests of keeping a nice rhyme in translation, the usual English translation necessities flipping the "me being committed to thee" to "thee being committed to me".  Same difference IMO, and I wouldn't bother retranslating it even if I could somehow do a little better, since the typical translation is so common that it's largely "traditional" in English speaking countries.


    Offline Ladislaus

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    Re: My Guardian Angel Prayer
    « Reply #2 on: January 14, 2025, 11:27:58 AM »
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  • Here might be a quick start closer to the Latin:

    "Angel of God, who art guardian of me,
    committed to you by divine piety ..."

    good luck with the rest ...

    illumine/illuminate/enlighten/light
    guard/protect
    rule
    govern/regulate/guide
    this day, this night

    There is this contrast between "this night" and "illumine" that makes me wonder if this wasn't primarily intended for just an evening prayer, especially since there's been an association elsewhere with the notion of "if I die before I wake".

    Pull out the old Thesaurus and have a go at it.

    :laugh1:

    Offline Ladislaus

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    Re: My Guardian Angel Prayer
    « Reply #3 on: January 14, 2025, 11:39:26 AM »
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  • "Angel of God, who art guardian of me,
    committed to you by divine piety ..."

    You could do worse than to just reuse the last part of the original ...

    Angel of God, who art guardian of me,
    committed to you by divine piety,
    ever this day [night] be at my side,
    to light and guard, to rule and guide.
    From stain of sin do keep me free,
    at the hour of death my helper be.

    Offline Plenus Venter

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    Re: My Guardian Angel Prayer
    « Reply #4 on: January 17, 2025, 10:16:58 PM »
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  • You could do worse than to just reuse the last part of the original ...

    Angel of God, who art guardian of me,
    committed to you by divine piety,
    ever this day [night] be at my side,
    to light and guard, to rule and guide.
    From stain of sin do keep me free,
    at the hour of death my helper be.
    Thanks Ladislaus, I had not seen that before. I will add it from now on.