Author's Note - I had intended to keep with the whole theme of sevens with updating this story. But I had this installment ready early and thought the election of a new pope was a worthy enough occasion to update the simple story of a humble priest.
The Latin prayers are from a 1962 missal and the translated text can be found by searching online. I decided not to provide the translations in order to keep with the Pre-Vatican air of mystery.
The next installment (planned for a week from today) will show some of the young John Mulcahy's personality, for those anxiously awaiting that.
Scientia – Exodus
The smell of incense hung heavy in the air as it always did, infusing the small church with the scent of tradition and a thousand Masses already celebrated. The priest, his black cassock overlaid with his white and violet vestments, extended his hands out toward the tiny infant clothed in a long white gown.
"Preces nostras, quaesumus, Domine, clementer exaudi," the priest intoned, the Latin words falling softly on their ears, "et hunc electum tuum, Ioannes Francis Patrick cruces Domincicae impressione signatum, perpetua cirtute custody; ut magnitudinis gloriae tuae rudimenta servans, per custodiam mandatorum, ad regenerationis gloriam pervenire mereatur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen."
In the pews, the older Mulcahy children fidgeted as they watched the priest conduct the ceremony that would induct their newest sibling into the faith. The older children had been through this several times already and were anxiously awaiting the joyful family gathering they knew to come afterwards. The younger children, with no firsthand memory of the small feast that followed, had long ago lost their attention with the long, solemn service they could not understand.
Ann fixed them all with a stern gaze from the front, near the altar, as she held the one child who was behaving properly. The fidgeting quieted for a moment, then Mark reached out to pull the end of Kathy's braid, only to be slapped away by a vigilant Mary.
"Omnipotens sempiterne Deus," the service went on,"Pater Domini nostri Iesu Christi, respice dignare super hunc famulum tuum, Ioannes Francis Patrick, quem ad rudimenta fidei covare dignatus es: omnem caecitatem cordi ab eo expelle: disrumpe omnes laqueos Satanae, quibus fuerat colligatus; aperi ei, domine ianuam pietatis tuae imbutus, omnium cupiditatum foetoribus careat, et ad suavem odorem praeceptorum tuorum laetus tibi in Ecclesia tua deserviat, et proficiat de die in diem Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen."
Only a week old, tiny John Francis Patrick Mulcahy had been given a share of an impressive heritage. His name stretched back generations, across not only the Mulcahy family tree, but also the history of the Church. Three saints had lent their names to the future of the sleeping infant.
"Ioannes Francis Patrick Mulcahy, ego te baptizo in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti."