Latin source for a) Fatima end-of-decade prayer and b) Divine Mercy chaplet
  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    What would be the original / best / most official / historical source for the following in Latin:

    a) the Fatima end-of-decade prayer "O my Jesus, forgive us our sins..."
    b) the Divine Mercy chaplet

    These are two prayers of which the original was in the vernacular; however there is Latin out there for them, and I am wondering what the origin of this is.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,116
    I am not aware of any official Latin source for the first. You might be interested in the discussion here, with a proximate sourcing for the Portuguese original:

    http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/05/quaeritur-fatima-prayer-in-latin/

    I am not familiar with the sourcing of the second, either.
    Thanked by 1JonathanKK
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,189
    The Chaplet of Divine Mercy was published by the Marian Fathers in many vernaculars beginning already in the late 1940's. But Bl. Michał Sopoćko's book De Misericordia Dei, translated from Polish to Latin and published in 1940 has it. (ref. Ciereszko, Działałność naukowa dydaktyczna ks. Michała Sopoćkiego, p 22) I can't find a scan of that, though, so cannot be certain Bl. Michał's version is the same as the familiar one. (Google, get the lead out!)

    Thanked by 3JonathanKK CHGiffen eft94530
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,092
    I've seen several Latin versions of the Fatima prayer. This is the version I chose to set:
    O mi Jesu, dimitte nobis debita nostra, libera nos ab igne inferni, conduc in caelo omnes animas praesertim illas quae maxime indigent misericordia tua.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 10,848
    It is not well known, but the actual words given do not include the words, 'of thy mercy' at the end.

    The proper words actually given to us are:

    "...Lead all souls to heaven, especially those who have most need."

    Here is another reference to the same concern I just found on Fr. Z's website that has references.

    PMcGrath says:
    20 May 2008 at 10:50 AM
    I am lucky enough to possess a copy of Our Lady of Fatima by William Thomas Walsh (Macmillan, 1947), which has an interview by the author with Sr. Lucia in its back pages. On page 225 of that work, Sr. Lucia tells the author, “The correct form is the one I have written in my account of the apparition of July 13: ‘O my Jesus, pardon us, and save us from the fire of hell; draw all souls to heaven, especially those most in need.'”

    It also gives the original Portuguese in a footnote (no accents here): “O meu Jesus, perdoai-nos e livrai nos do fogo do inferno; levai as alminhas todas para o Ceu, principalmente aquelas que mais precisarem.”

    Note that the version does not have the commonly-added phrase “of thy mercy” to the end of it.

    So, given that these come directly from Sr. Lucia, you may want to make your translations directly from them.


    Thanked by 3MichaelDickson CharlesW eft94530
  • MichaelDickson
    Posts: 419
    That's an interesting bit of history, francis. Thanks for sharing.

    It is true, as well, that the text of many traditional prayers appears to have evolved over the decades and centuries. One would like to believe that in at least many cases, the guidance of the Holy Spirit was at work in these evolutions, especially in cases where the alterations seem natural rather than contrived for silly human purposes, and well within the original intention of the prayer.
    Thanked by 1francis
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