Talk:Richard of Chichester

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[edit] Quibbles about the "Prayer"

According to the article as it currently stands, "Saint Richard is best remembered today for the popular prayer ascribed to him as his last words on his deathbed where, surrounded by the clergy of his diocese, he prayed:

   Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ
   For all the benefits Thou hast given me,
   For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.
   O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,
   May I know Thee more clearly,
   Love Thee more dearly,
   Follow Thee more nearly,
   Day by day.

This prayer was adapted for the song "Day by Day" in the musical Godspell."

There are several problems here. The two that exercise me are:

1. In the 1200s nobody wrote English that was remotely as modern as this text, which is in a style no older than the 1700s, more likely the 1800s or even the early 1900s (in the archaizing usage of those who modeled their prayer language on 18th-century recensions of the 1611 Authorized ("King James") Version of the Bible). I have yet to see anything remotely plausible that purports to be Richard's actual words. It is not clear to me whether he would have been praying (orally, mind you, on his deathbed, albeit likely with an amanuensis at hand) in English, French or Latin. But whatever the language, it would not have been in these words.
2. The prayer was indeed used, in an abbreviated form, in Godspell, but the adaptation predated the musical by several decades at least. A text almost identical to that in Godspell is in the Hymnal 1940 of the Episcopal Church, hymn number 429, set to two different tunes. Both tunes are said to have been composed in 1941, and both settings are Copyright, 1943, by The Church Pension Fund, owner of the hymnal. From the entry in the Oremus Hymnal Wiki it appears that the text goes back at least to 1931, when it appeared in Songs of Praise, Enlarged Edition, set to a third tune.

--Haruo (talk) 08:06, 16 April 2008 (UTC)