In the eighth century, Alcuin (also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, and Alchoin; c. A.D. 735 – 804), a deacon and teacher in the diocese of York, became a leading scholar in the court of Charlemagne (A.D. 748 – 814), first Holy Roman Emperor. Alcuin wrote many theological and dogmatic treatises, as well as a few grammatical works and a number of poems. He was made Abbot of Tours in 796, where he remained until his death. According to the biographer Einhard in his Vita Karoli Magni (Life of Charlemagne; c. A.D. 817 – 833), Alcuin is considered among the most important architects of the Carolingian Renaissance, even called “the most learned man anywhere to be found.”[1] In fact, one of his great accomplishments as an advisor to Charlemagne was after he took issue with the emperor’s policy of forcing pagans to be baptized on pain of death, arguing, “Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptized, but you cannot force them to believe.” His arguments seem to have prevailed; Charlemagne abolished the death penalty for paganism in 797.[2] Through this, as the legend goes, Alcuin was able to teach the emperor on the Christian virtue of purity and penitence. Of the many great achievements—especially in liturgical collection and revision—Alcuin’s great legacy is a prayer that is said nearly every Sunday we gather together, the “Collect for Purity.”
The Collect for Purity was probably a prayer of the early Church, but interestingly enough, it was preserved almost solely by the Church of England. While Alcuin performed liturgical reforms in Latin on the European continent, these reforms also spread back to Alcuin’s home of York, and the Latin form of the prayer made it for several centuries in England, later found in the Leofric Missal (c. A.D. 1050) as well as the later Sarum Rite (c. A.D. 1078). The first English translation of the prayer is from the anonymous Cloude of Unknowyng, a fourteenth-century mystical work in Old English.
| The Leofric Missal (c. ad 1050) | The Cloud of Unknowing (c. ad late 1300s) | The Book of Common Prayer (A.D. 1549) | The Book of Common Prayer (A.D. 2019) |
| Deus, cui omne cor patet, et omnis uoluntas loquitur, et nullum latet secretum, purifica per infusionem sancti spiritus cogitationes cordis nostri, ut perfecte te diligere, et digne laudare mereamur. Per. In unitate eiusdem spiritus sancti.[3] | Ᵹod, unto ƿhom alle hertes ben open, & unto ƿhom alle ƿille ſpekiþ, & unto ƿhom no priué þing is hid: I beſeche þee ſo for to clenſe þe entent of myn hert ƿiþ þe unſpekable ᵹift of þi ᵹrace þat I may parfiteliche loue þee, & ƿorþilich preiſe þee. Amen.[4] | Almightie GOD, unto whom all hartes bee open, and all desyres knowen, and from whom no secretes are hid: clense the thoughtes of our heartes, by the inspiracion of thy holy spirite: that we may perfectly loue thee, & worthely magnifie thy holy name: Through Christ our Lorde. Amen.[5] | Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.[6] |
When Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (A.D. 1489–1556) discovered the prayer in the Sarum (Salisbury) Missal—used in southern England before the Reformation—while compiling and translating texts for his first edition of the Book of Common Prayer (A.D. 1549), it was used as part of the priest’s preparation before celebrating at the eucharistic service. Cranmer’s translation carried over unchanged (aside from modernization of spelling) in his second Book of Common Prayer (A.D. 1552) and a century later in the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer (A.D. 1662).[7] Today, the prayer has entered almost every Anglican prayer book in the world, and can be found in other modern prayer books with an ecumenical focus as well, including the Lutheran Book of Worship, the United Methodist Hymnal, and the Roman Catholic Divine Worship Missal.[8] It only occurs in the Roman rite today through a votive mass, the “Missa votiva de Spiritu Sancto.”[9]
In eucharistic services today, the Collect for Purity is a prayer of preparation, both for the priest/pastor and for the people. It comes near the beginning of the liturgy, after we have gathered as the body of Christ. The open address to Almighty God orients us immediately to the creedal declaration: “We believe in God, the Father, the Almighty…” Not merely this single prayer, but the rest of the liturgy—the work of all of the people present—will be offered to God the Father, declaring him as almighty, as creator, and claiming this time and space for the worship of him.
The next part reminds us that we cannot hide any secret from the Almighty God. The one we are here to worship knows and sees all, and because this is near the beginning of the liturgy, we simply do not continue in our worship until this recognition is present. As the author of Hebrews states, “And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13 KJV). Even the Psalmist cried out: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar…If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you” (Psalm 139:1-2, 11-12 ESV). God sees each one of us as we really are. Every thought—both good and bad—every passing fantasy, every deep longing desire, every momentary burst of anger, our every virtue and our every vice, are seen by God. He sees us better than we see ourselves, because our eyes and our hearts have been clouded by sin, and this has been the status for humanity since the fall.[10] This part of the prayer serves as a condensed confession of sin that is helpful in reminding us of the need of penitence, but also of the surety of forgiveness in Christ.
The third and final part reminds us of what we are here to do. We are here to worship—to offer ourselves as a sacrifice. From the variety of people gathered together, living and working in all sorts of settings, we are gathered in one place and with one accord. We have nothing to offer because “by [his] single offering [Jesus] has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:4 ESV). And yet we “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1 ESV) unto God—that not our wills, but his divine will may be done, and that we may participate in his plan of redemption.
Instead of asking for God’s presence, the Collect for Purity simply assumes it, and also serves as an acknowledgment by the gathered community that it is God who cleanses the heart through the Holy Spirit, and it is he who turns us toward him in worship. In other words, God is the one who turns us into worshipers, and our purpose in gathering is to worship him.
[1] Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, §25.
[2] N.R. Needham, Two Thousand Years of Christ’s Power, Part Two: The Middle Ages (Grace Publications, 2000), 52.
[3] F. E. Warren, ed., The Leofric Missal, as used in the Cathedral of Exeter during the episcopate of its first bishop, A.D. 1050-1072; together with some account of the Red Book of Derby, the Missal of Robert of Jumièges, and a few other early manuscript service books of the English Church (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1883), 177.
[4] Patrick J. Gallacher, ed., “Prologue,” The Cloude of Unknowyng (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997).
[5] The Church of England, The booke of common prayer and administracion of the Sacramentes, and other rites and ceremonies of the Churche: after the use of the Churche of England (London: Edward Whitchurche, 1549), cxxi.
[6] Anglican Church in North America, “Holy Eucharist: Anglican Standard Text,” The Book of Common Prayer and the Administration of the Sacraments with Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church According to the use of the Anglican Church in North America Together with the New Coverdale Psalter (Huntington Beach, CA: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019), 106.
[7] Joseph Ketley, ed., The Two Liturgies, A.D. 1549, and A.D. 1552: With Other Documents Set Forth by Authority in the Reign of King Edward VI (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1844), 266.
[8] Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, Lutheran Book of Worship, (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1978); The United Methodist Hymnal, (Nashville: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989), 6; Divine Worship: The Missal, Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (London: Catholic Truth Society, 2015).
[9] John Henry Blunt, ed., The Annotated Book of Common Prayer, Revised and Enlarged Edition (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1889), 371.
[10] Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiæ, I-II:Q3-A3.
Ex Vitæ Verborum 