The Prayers of the Great Cloud of Witnesses
Alcuin of Tours: A Compendium Entry
In the morning, at the height of my powers, I sowed the seed in Britain, now in the evening when my blood is growing cold I am still sowing in France, hoping both will grow, by the grace of God, giving some the honey of the holy scriptures, making others drunk on the old wine of ancient learning... -Alcuin’s Autobiographical Description
It is common these days to consider as ignorant those who lived in the “dark ages.” True, Flaccus Albinus Alcuinus was born into that world, a world of decline. In the 8th century, Germanic tribes were migrating into the ruins of the Western Roman Empire. Warfare increased as urban life declined. The turmoil of these dark ages, however, formed the backdrop for his life of deep faith and intellectual passion that restored light to the darkness.
In contrast to our time, Alcuin lived during a period when intellect and faith were closely intertwined. He joined forces, as a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher, with Charlemagne to become a leading scholar and a key architect of a liberal arts education which would be central to Western society until the 14th century. As he would later write, “the Lord was calling me to the service of King Charles.”
Education in the Carolingian Renaissance, as this period became known, focused on seven disciplines. Four of them, resurrected from Plato and the Middle Ages, were known as the quadrivium: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The other three, grammar, logic, and rhetoric, were known as the trivium. With Charlamagne, Alcuin combined these Roman and Greek inspirations with the culture of the Christian Roman Empire of the 4th century. This combination proved quite potent, producing an increase in literature, writing, visual arts, architecture, music, jurisprudence, liturgical reforms, and scriptural studies. Carolingian schools served generations of scholars, producing editions and copies of the classics, both Christian and pagan.
Alcuin’s prayer, the subject of today’s post, shares his personality. His prayer emphasizes, with words of Scripture (see the footnotes below), the mind, knowledge, and learning. The goal may be less familiar to many of us: to be ushered into the presence of God.
Eternal Light, shine into our hearts; 1
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil; 2
Eternal Power,3 be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance;
Eternal Pity, have mercy on us, 4
that with all our heart and mind and strength 5 we may seek your face 6
and be brought by your infinite mercy to your holy presence; 7
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Before his death, Alcuin wrote his own epitaph, which is well worth quoting in full:
Here, I beg thee, pause for a while, traveler,
And ponder my words in thy heart,
That thou mayest understand thy fate in my shadow:
The form of thy body will be changed as was mine.
What thou art now, famous in the world, I have been, traveler,
And what I now am, thou wilt be in the future.
I was wont to seek the joys of the world in vain desire:
Now I am ashes and dust, and food for worms.
Remember therefore to take better care of thy soul
Than of thy body, because that survives, and this perishes.
Why dost thou look for possessions? Thou see’st in what a little cavern
This tomb holds me: Thine will be equally small.
Why art thou eager to deck in Tyrian purple thy body
Which soon in the dust the hungry worm will devour?
As flowers perish when comes the menacing wind,
So also thy flesh and all thy glory perish.
Give me, I beg thee, O reader, a return for this poem,
And pray: “Grant, O Christ, forgiveness to thy servant.”
I implore thee, let no hand profane the holy rights of this tomb,
Until the angelic trumpet announces from Heaven high:
“Thou who liest in the tomb, rise from the dust of the earth,
The Mighty Judge appears to countless thousands.”
My name was Alcuin, and wisdom was always dear to me.
Pour out prayers for me when thou quietly readest this inscription.“Grant me, O Lord, a tongue of kindness, that my words may heal and not wound, and that I may speak peace into the hearts of others.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. -2 Cor. 4:6.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. -Matthew 6:13.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. -Romans 1:20.
Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured no end of contempt. -Psalm 123:3 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” -Matthew 9:27, Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”-Matthew 20:30-32.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. -Mark 12:30, “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ -Luke 10:26-27.
They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob. Psalm 24:5-6, My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. Psalm 27:8.
May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thess. 3:13.