Te deprecante, corporum

When thou dost pray thy might prayer

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

Te deprecante, corporum
Lues recedit, improbi
Morbi fugantur, pristina
Redeunt salutis munera.
Phthisi, febrique, et ulcere
Diram redactos ad necem,
Sacratas morti victimas,
Ejus rapis e faucibus.
Te deprecante, tumido
Merces abactæ flumine,
Tractæ Dei potentia
Sursum fluunt retrogradeæ.
Cum tanta possis, sedibus
Coeli locatus, poscimus:
Responde votis supplicum,
Et invocatus subveni.
O una semper Trinitas,
O trina semper Unitas:
Da, supplicante Cantio,
Æterna nobis præmia.

When thou dost pray thy might prayer,
Disorders flee, and plagues abate,
And bodies, wasting in disease,
Regain at once their healthful state.
When phthisis, fevers, ulcers dire,
Have brought men to their latest breath,
When they are mourned as victims doomed,
Thou tak’st them from the jaws of death.
Thou pray’st; and goods, which down the stream
Are hurried on at headlong pace,
Drawn by the mighty hand of God,
Float upwards, and their source retrace.
Do thou, who canst such wonders work,
Now from thy throne in heaven deign
To listen to our suppliant prayers,
That we may answering help obtain.
O Trinity forever One,
O Unity forever Trine,
That we may gain eternal joys,
To Cantius’ prayer Thine ear incline.

Author: Unknown, 18^th cent. Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation by Archbishop Bagshawe; this is a good specimen of Bagshawe’s style. There are five translations. Liturgical Use: Hymn for Lauds on the Feast of St. John Cantius.

“At thy prayer bodily sickness departs, dreadful plagues are put to flight, former blessings of health return.”
“Thou dost snatch from his very jaws the victims devoted to death—those brought nigh to a dire death by consumption, fever, and ulcer.”
“At thy prayer, goods carried away by a swollen stream, are, by the mighty hand of God, drawn backwards, floating up the stream.”
“Since thou, now dwelling in the mansions of heaven, art able to do such wonders, we ask that thou give heed to the prayers of thy suppliants, and aid them when invoked.”
“O Trinity forever One, O Unity forever Three: grant us through the intercession of Cantius an eternal reward.”