Author Topic: Prayer Request for the Eternal Repose of Rev. Fr. Martin Stepanich (Read 1046 times)

Hobbledehoy · « **on:** November 19, 2012, 12:42:04 PM »

Several reports have come to my attention that Rev. Father Martin Stepanich has passed away on the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of the Apostles Sts. Peter and Paul.

Please pray for the eternal repose of this worthy son of the great Seraphic Patriarch, Saint Francis.

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #1 on:** November 19, 2012, 12:42:39 PM »

The Præmonstratensians had some of the most beautiful prayers for the faithful departed in their liturgical books. From the tome In Paradisum deducant te Angeli: Suffragia Praemonstratensia pro Defunctis (West de Pere, WI: St. Norbert College Press, 1953), here are the Latin texts of some of the prayers recited by the Præmonstratensians for their departed. The English text is a loose translation.

To Thee, O Lord, we commend the soul of Thy servant N. (or, of Thy handmaid N.) and the souls of Thy servants and handmaids and of all the faithful departed, that dead to this world they may live unto Thee; and those sins which they committed by the frailty of worldly conversation, do Thou blot out by the pardon of most merciful loving-kindness. Through Christ, our Lord. ℣. Amen.

Thy mercy, O holy Lord, Father almighty, eternal God, in the affection of kindness for others we pray, who are not sufficient to pray for our sins, yet confiding in Thy gratuitous loving-kindness and wonted benignity, we implore Thy clemency, that Thou mayest receive with compassion the soul of Thy servant N. (or, of Thy handmaid N.) and the souls of Thy servants and handmaids and of all the faithful departed returning unto Thee. May Michael the Angel of Thy Testament be with them, and by the hands of Thy holy Angels do Thou vouchsafe to place them in the bosoms of Thy Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; so that, freed from the princes of darkness and from the places of pains, they may now be confounded by no errors of primeval nativity or ignorance [original sin], or of their own iniquity or frailty; but rather, acknowledged by Thy Saints, they may joy in the repose of holy beatitude: so that, when the day of the great judgment will have come, they may, resurrected amongst Thy Saints and Elect, be perpetually satiated with the glory of Thy manifested contemplation. Through Christ, our Lord. ℣.Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, Who hast vouchsafed to breathe unto the human body a soul according to Thy similitude; whilst dust is returned unto dust according to Thy mandate, do Thou command Thine image to be associated with Thy Saints and Elect amidst eternal thrones, and do Thou kindly and mildly receive her returning unto Thee from the parts of [the terrestrial] Egypt, and do Thou send Thy holy Angels to meet her, and do Thou show unto her the way of justice, and the gates of thy glory do Thou open. Repel from her, we pray, O Lord, all the princes of darkness, and faithfully acknowledge the deposit which is Thine. Receive, O Lord, Thy creature, not created by strange gods, but by Thee, the only living and true God; for there is no other God but Thee, O Lord, and none other according to Thy works. Do Thou gladden the soul of Thy servant N. (or, of Thy handmaid N.) and the souls of Thy servants and handmaids and of all the faithful departed, and glorify them in the multitude of Thy mercy. Be not mindful, we pray, of their ancient iniquities: for as they did sin so also they denied Thee not, but signed with the sign of faith, they faithfully adored Thee, Who all things and them amidst all things didst thou make: Who livest and reignest throughout ages of ages. ℣. Amen.

Here is a very touching Responsory that was chanted at the obsequies of the departed Præmonstratensians.

℟. Before I was born Thou didst know me, and unto Thine imagine, O Lord, didst Thou form me. * Now do I return Thee, O Creator, my soul. ℣. By my sins, O Lord, am I terrified, and before Thee I am confounded, when Thou shalt come to judge, do not Thou condemn me. * Now do I return Thee, O Creator, my soul.

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #2 on:** November 19, 2012, 12:43:09 PM »

Hobbledehoy · « **Reply #3 on:** November 19, 2012, 12:44:34 PM »

From the 1950 typical edition of the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, popularly known as The Raccolta (New York: Benziger Brothers, Inc., 1957), here are some devotions and prayer in suffrage for the faithful departed.

ServusSpiritusSancti · « **Reply #4 on:** November 19, 2012, 12:58:08 PM »

Prayers for the repose of his soul.

Sigismund · « **Reply #5 on:** November 19, 2012, 08:42:04 PM »

Catholic Samurai · « **Reply #6 on:** November 20, 2012, 12:17:24 AM »