A prayer for driving away a storm

Here’s a draft translation of a prayer for driving away a storm (or a ‘Wettersegen’ in German), from a tenth-century manuscript, Munich clm 6426, which a recent catalogue has described as the ‘pastoral handbook’ of Bishop Abraham of Freising (d. 994).

This prayer may be intended for recitation by a local priest, and if so it offers a rare insight into religious practice at the local level. Of particular interest are the selection of biblical passages, the combination of Old and New Testament figures and the reference to the demon Mermeunt.

For more details about the manuscript, see Anna Dorofeeva, ‘Reading early medieval miscellanies’, in Scribes and the Presentation of Texts, ed. C.W. Dutschke and B.A. Shailor, Bibliologia (Brepols, forthcoming in 2021). This draft English translation is based on Anna’s careful transcription of the Latin. An edition by Adolf Franz is also available, online, though the base text is from a different manuscript.

Translation

First a litany.

Kyrie Eleison, three times.

Christe Eleison, three times.

Christ, hear us, three times.

Holy Mary, pray for us.

Holy Michael, pray for us.

Holy Gabriel, pray for us.

Holy Raphael, pray for us.

Holy Matthew, pray for us.

Holy Isaiah, pray for us.

Holy Mark and holy Jeremiah, pray for us.

Holy Luke and holy Ezekiel, pray for us.

Holy John and holy Daniel, pray for us.

All the saints, pray for us.

Three times: may the cross of Christ be a cool refuge for us.

May the cross of Christ be an aid for us.

May the cross of Christ be always our salvation.

O cross of Christ which we always venerate, may you deign always to be with us against all our enemies.

Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison.

Then

Our Father.

I spoke, O Lord, have mercy upon me.

Be our aid in the Lord’s name.

O Lord, hear my prayer.

Have mercy on me O Lord according to your glory.

Save your people O Lord, and bless them.

May the Lord keep us from all harm and preserve us in all goodness, and lead us to eternal life.

O Lord, hear my prayer.

Rise up O Lord and help us.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who through the great power of prayer and his raised right arm bound you, o devil, and redeemed the whole world from you, and cast you down, o most impious satan, into the depths of the abyss: may he through his power and raised right arm keep your ministers in confusion. Through him I adjure you, that in this place and this parish you are not able to do harm or injure through evil waters or through ice or through storm or through murmured incantation. Depart this place of God and of his ministers and this sanctuary of God.

When the 11 disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ went out to the sea and boarded a boat, the devils came together and raised up the wind and gales of the sea and a strong storm against them. Then the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ were saddened, afraid that they would drown in the waves. They prayed to the Lord with one voice, ‘Save us Christ our teacher, save us son of the living God, restrain the devil and this wind’, and so forth. Then the prayer of the disciples was heard, and the Lord approached them on the boat, and the disciples saw him walking on the water. And when they recognised that he was the Lord, they were overjoyed with a very great joy, and at once a great calm came over the waters.

I adjure you, angels of Satan, through the Lord of heaven and earth, through Him who first shaped Adam the first man in the beginning, through him who saved Noah in the Flood, I adjure you through him who saved Ananias and Azaria and Misael in the fiery furnace, I adjure you through Him who led the sons of Israel through the Red Sea by means of His servant Moses, I adjure you through Him who redeemed the whole world through His precious blood, that you shall not be able to come and do harm to this place and this parish, neither through a storm nor through evil waters nor through any lightning nor through any other means.

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who will come to judge the living and the dead and you, the enemy, through fire. I mark you, clouds of Christ, in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. I mark you. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.

Then

Sing the whole of Psalm 147.

The Our Father and the creed.

Holy God, holy and powerful, holy and immortal, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us, You who reign in all eternity.

Another prayer against a storm

Remember O Lord God what you swore to our fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob on Mount Sinai, that you would turn your anger away from these lands.

We command you, all the angels of hell, that you may hold back your rainfall for the calm waters where the Saviour was baptised, and where the holy Mary mother of the Lord carried him in her shining womb. I order and I command you not to throw the stones of your tempest within these boundaries but send them into dry and deserted places. So that on the Day of Judgement you cannot say that it was not forbidden to you. And I forbid it to you through Him who descended a thousand feet into the Red Sea. Aios Aios Aios Eli Eli Lama Sabachthani. This means: My God, why have you forsaken me? Jesus Christ who hung in Golgotha, tell the angel striking with the sword to hold back his hand over these fields, and let the anger which has gathered upon this city or this region cease.

I adjure you, Mermeunt, who is in charge of this storm. I adjure you through the name of Him who in the beginning made heaven and earth, and established everything in the foundations of his power, that you shall not permit the storm to pass this boundary. I adjure you, Mermeunt, through the right hand of Him who formed Adam the first man in His own image, that you shall not permit the storm to pass this boundary. I adjure you, Mermeunt, through Jesus Christ our Lord, the only son of God, who was born from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, whose feet walked upon the sea and who commanded the blowing winds, who gave light to the eyes of the blind, and who called Lazarus forth from the tomb after four days, that you shall not permit the storm to pass this boundary, in these: Ager, Alsrarius, Tuthos, Tuthones, Seruc, Celuc, Lacam. *

When Jesus climbed aboard the boat, the disciples followed him. And behold, the sea was greatly disturbed, and the boat was struggling in the waves, while he slept. And they approached him and woke him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us from these dangers’. And he said to them, ‘What are you afraid of, you of little faith?’ Then he stood up and commanded the winds and the sea, and a great calm descended. At once the men were astonished, and said ‘Who is this, whom the winds and sea obey?’

* It is unclear whether these are local place names, as used to be thought, or names of different parts of heaven, as has recently been suggested.