The Thalbach Segen for the Mass
The
first half of this Segen –
which I posted about last week –
establishes its logic through enclosure, accumulation, and analogy:
the devotee commends herself into sacred realities, borrows the
authority of the Mass, and maps Christ’s body onto her own as a
form of protection. Part 2 intensifies this same logic, shifting from
verbal placement to embodied action. What was established through
words is now reinforced through gesture, orientation, and repetition,
as the sign of the cross is deployed to surround the body, bind
danger, and authorize protection in motion.
PART
TWO OF THE SEGEN, "HErr ich bevilch mich dir in
alle die heillige wortt die alle Priieſter
ſprech" ÖNB
Cod. 11750,
fols.
21r-22v
(Part 1 is transcribed and translated here).
Division into segments reflects editorial assessments; bold is added to highlight structural repetition. Transcription
and translation are CC-BY Cynthia Cyrus.
Beth ein vatter
vnser vn̅ ein Aue mar[ia]
Pray an Our Father and a Hail Mary.
Das
heïllig Gottes Creütz [REDCROSS] Jhesu christi seẏ heutt vor
mir. [REDCROSS] Vnsers herrn creutz seẏ heutt hinder mir. Vnſers
herrn creutz. [REDCROSS] ſei ob mir Vnſers herrn creutz
[REDCROSS] sey heut zuͦ den ſeittenn neben mir. Ach Gott gesegne
mich heut vnd Jmer bei dem heilligenn fron [REDCROSS] Creütz dagott
die marter an leidt durch mich vund aller Chriſtenhait ·
The holy cross
of God [REDCROSS] of Jesus Christ be before me today. [REDCROSS] Our
Lord's cross be behind me today. Our Lord's cross [REDCROSS] be above
me. Our Lord's cross [REDCROSS] be on my sides next to me today. Oh
God, bless me today and forever by the holy [REDCROSS] cross, where
God endured the suffering for me and all of Christendom.
Nur můs ich als wol geſegnet ſein
als der Kelch unnd der wein den ein ieder Priester muß es das er
die mass volbringen kan. [REDCROSS] Nur můs ich als war gesegnet
sein, als des gutten hern Tobias ſun, do er in frembden landenn
was [REDCROSS] Nur mus ich als war geſegnet sein, als dir
heillige drei nagell / die Gott durch hend vnnd füess würden
geſchlagen
I must be as
well blessed as the chalice and the wine that every priest must have
so that he can perform the Mass. I must be as truly blessed as the
son of the good Lord Tobias, when he was in foreign lands. I must be
as truly blessed as the three holy nails that God was struck with
through his hands and feet.
Ich beüilch mich in die krafft
vnd in die krafft wortt / da gott mensch inn ward.
Ich beüilch mich in die fliessende bach vnd schwayss vnnd
bluts, so vnnser lieber herr vergossenn hat. Ich beuil mich heut
in die seligkeit ich armer sunder, vnd durch die krafft seines
Lebendigen Sons gebe nedeiten tods. / Ich beuilch mich heutt
in die seligkeit seines heilligen sacraments Ich fleuch heut vnder
den schult vnnd vnder den frid, vnnd vnder dz heillig Creitz [22r] Das
ſelber durch mich vnnd alle menſchen zuͦ einem Creutz gemacht hat
Jch beuil mich heüt vnd allweg in die heillige Driualtigkeit
vnſers herrnn Jeſu chriſti vnd in die heilige Senfftmuettigkeit
Barmhertzigteit keuschheitt vnser lieben frawen Maria, vnd in die
gemainſame aller heiligen.
I commend myself
to the power and the word in which God became man. I commend myself
to the flowing stream of sweat and blood that our dear Lord shed. I
commend myself today to salvation, I poor sinner, and through the
power of his living Son, grant me a blessed death. I commend myself
today to the salvation of his holy sacrament. I flee today under the
protection and under the peace, and under the holy cross which he
himself has made into a cross for me and all people. I commend myself
today and always to the Holy Trinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and to
the holy gentleness, mercy, and chastity of our dear Lady Mary, and
to the communion of all saints.
Dz
creutz [REDCROSS] vnſers
herrn Jeſu chriſti ſei heut mit mir Das
[REDCROSS] Creutz vnsers
lieben herrn verbind mir aller meiner feinden ſchwert. Das
[REDCROSS] Creutz vnsers
herrn eroffne mir alles güts Dz
[REDCROSS] Creutz vnsers
herrn neme von mir alles vbell vnd alle pein des ewigen tods. Nur
[REDCROSS] geſegne mich der heillig ſegenn den gott vber sich ynnd
alle menschen hatt gebem da gott ſelbs inn beſchaffenn wz.
The cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with me today. The cross of our dear Lord
bind the sword of all my enemies. The cross of our Lord open to
me all good things. The cross of our Lord take from me all evil and
all the pain of eternal death. May the holy blessing that God gave
over himself and all people, in which God himself was created, bless
me.
Ich
beuil mich heut in die
ſiben wort, die gott selbs ſprach an dem heilligen creütz. Ich
beuil mich heut in den
heilligen frid vnſers hern gesuchristi, der sei mir heut ein anfang
vnd einausgang in allen meinen nötten, wo ich Jn der Welltt hinkör
I commend myself
today to the seven words that God himself spoke on the holy cross. I
commend myself today to the holy peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, may
it be for me today a beginning and an end in all my needs, wherever I
go in the world.
Nur
gelegne mich heut der lieb herr Sannt
Johannes in ſeiner
keussigheitt. Nur geſegne mich der gut ſant
Benedict vor Zauberei,
diſe zwen haben gebet vnſern herrn Jeſum chriſtum, Welcher man
oder fraw ſchmertzen hat, dz in ſeinem verdiennſt er geſundt
werd. O Schmertz dich zerſtrew gott der Sun. O ſchmertz dich
zerstrew gott der Heillig Gayſt. Jn dem Namenn gott des Vatters vnnd
des Süns vnnd des heilligen Geists. Amen.
May the dear
Lord Saint John bless me today in his chastity. May the good Saint
Benedict bless me against sorcery; these two prayed to our Lord Jesus
Christ, that whoever, man or woman, has pain, may be healed through
his merit. O pain, may God the Son scatter you. O pain, may God
the Holy Spirit scatter you. In the name of God the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
ASSESSMENT
Part 2 opens with formulaic prayer – an Our Father and a Hail Mary
– and then immediately shifts register. The prayer stops
asking and starts placing. What follows is no longer a petition
addressed upward, but a sequence of directional statements that
actively organize space around the speaker. Repeated invocations of
“Das heilig Gottes Creutz … sey heut vor mir / hinder mir /
ob mir / zu den seiten neben mir” (before me, behind me, above me, and to my sides) construct a six-directional
enclosure, situating the devotee within a protective field defined by
the cross.
This language is not metaphorical. It
performs a spatial act. The cross is placed before and behind the
body, above it, and on both sides; it creates a perimeter that
surrounds rather than adorns. The red crosses marked in the
manuscript are not ornamental flourishes, but operative
cues. They prompt gesture, orientation, and repetition. They invite the
speaker to action -- to trace the cross repeatedly in space, turning the prayer
into enacted words that produce protection through kinetic
movement.
In this sense, Part 2 takes up and
extends the work already begun at the end of the first half of the
prayer. There, the speaker mapped herself onto Christ’s body as a
way of securing protection; here, that logic is expanded outward.
Protection is no longer only anatomical or analogical but locational.
The body is not simply aligned with Christ’s wounds or limbs, but
physically enclosed within the sign of the cross itself, now rendered
as a mobile defensive geometry.
This is characteristic Segen
practice. Rather than cultivating inward reassurance, the prayer
re-positions the body in sacred space. Safety is achieved not through
reflection but through placement –
through saying, marking, and standing within a configuration
that has been declared protective. Like prayers before the image of
Mary, the actions of the praying sister are integral to the prayer
itself.
AUTHORIZATION
THROUGH ANALOGY AND EQUIVALENCE
The prayer then
pivots to a striking rhetorical strategy, signaled by the repeated
formula “Nur muß ich als wol gesegnet sein als …”
Rather than petitioning for blessing, the speaker asserts a claim to
it through a series of carefully chosen comparisons. What follows is
not metaphor but equivalence: the devotee aligns herself with persons
and objects whose efficacy is already established.
Three such alignments structure this
section. First, the speaker claims to be as well blessed as the
chalice and the wine required for the priest to complete the Mass.
Here, efficacy is functional and liturgical: these objects are
blessed not because they are morally exemplary, but because without
them the sacramental action cannot occur. Second, she likens herself
to Tobias’ son, protected by the Angel Raphael while traveling in
foreign lands. This comparison draws on narrative precedent, invoking
a scriptural story in which divine protection accompanies movement,
risk, and vulnerability. Third, she claims the blessing of the three
holy nails of the Crucifixion, instruments rendered powerful through
direct contact with Christ’s suffering body.
Taken together, these comparisons
establish a logic of borrowed authority. The speaker does not present
herself as worthy in her own right, nor does she wait for blessing to
be conferred. Instead, she places herself on the same plane as
liturgical vessels, biblical travelers, and relic-like instruments –
things and figures already known to work. In doing so, the prayer
authorizes lay access to protective power by grounding it in
recognized sites of efficacy. Blessing here is not requested but
claimed, secured through alignment with what has already proven
capable of bearing and transmitting divine force.
SALVIC THINGS
The long middle section (Ich beüilch
mich…) is a catalog of efficacious media:
- the wort of the Incarnation
- sweat, blood, and flowing fluids
- the sacrament
- peace
- the cross
- the Trinity
- Marian virtues
- the community of saints
This is not redundant piety. It is
strategic stacking. Each item is something that:
- has already
worked (historically or liturgically)
- can be entered
or taken refuge under
- and can be
carried by the speaker.
The repeated ich bevilch mich
performs self-placement again and again. The speaker
repeatedly moves themselves into zones of protection,
as though tightening a net. Part one of the prayer set up her
spiritual safety; her active remembrance of these holy things thus
reinforces that zone.
The cross, of course, has a special
status, and the next unit of the Segen re-activates it, showing its
kinetic and temporal power through verb choice. It:
- binds enemies’
swords
- opens all good
- removes evil
and eternal death
The cross operates metaphorically as
weapon, key, and filter. This is apotropaic language
in its strongest form: harm is actively restrained, not merely
avoided.
COMPLETENESS IN TIME AND IN BINARIES
By invoking the seven last words spoken
from the cross, peace as both Anfang and Ausgang (beginning and end), and movement “wherever I go in the world,” the prayer works
deliberately to close all remaining gaps. Time is framed from
beginning to end, speech is completed in silence, motion is paired
with rest, pain with healing, and present vulnerability is extended
forward to encompass future death. These paired terms are not
incidental but systematic: the Segen seeks to leave no
interval, condition, or threshold unguarded. What emerges is a prayer
oriented toward completeness rather than intensity, one that aims not
at a single moment of relief but at comprehensive coverage across the
temporal and existential spectrum.
To this, she adds the saints as targeted
intercessors. John, whose chastity aligns with bodily integrity;
Benedict, who provides protection against sorcery, mark her world as
one of pragmatic sanctity. Saints are invoked for what they
do, not who they are. The direct address to pain (O
Schmertz…) completes the transition from prayer to command.
Pain is not asked to leave. It is told to disperse – twice, under
Trinitarian authority.
THE SEGEN AS PRAYER ACT
Taken together, the second half of this
prayer is neither contemplative nor primarily petitionary. It is not
oriented toward extended reflection or interior cultivation, but
toward use. The prayer functions instead as a ritual technology of
protection, assembled from spatial enclosure, authorized comparison,
accumulated salvific matter, spoken command, and repeated acts of
self-placement. What gives it force is not doctrinal exposition but
correct enactment: familiar words spoken in the right order, gestures
traced in space, and authoritative figures and objects invoked
because they are already known to work.
Read in this way, the prayer aligns
closely with recent scholarship that emphasizes the everyday,
practice-oriented character of Segen. Ulrike Wagner-Rau,
writing in Segen, characterizes blessings as rituals that are
“unverbrüchlich angesehen” not because they offer explanation,
but because they provide reliable ways of navigating ordinary life
through repeated action. Christopher Spehr’s contribution to
the same volume likewise underscores the diversity and adaptability
of late medieval blessing practices, situating Segen firmly
within lived religious routines rather than at the margins of
official devotion. To make the point more directly: for our
Thalbach sister to be enacting her Segen during
and in the presence of the Mass is every bit as standard a sacred and
parallel act as is the spoken delivery of requiem masses at a side
altar underneath the Fronmass. Simultaneity has its own kind of
sacred power.
Although he deals
with an earlier 12th to 14th century repertoire
of such Segen, Derek A. Rivard’s Blessing the World helps
clarify what is at stake. His study shows that blessings were shaped
by lay needs and aspirations and that their protective focus
complemented the Mass’s role in sustaining communal order and
integrity. I would argue that the Thalbach Segen operates in
precisely this register. Drawing on familiar narratives, liturgical
forms, and bodily practices, it translates shared Christian knowledge
into ritual action calibrated for vulnerability – illness, danger,
movement, and the prospect of death.
What emerges, then,
is not an alternative to theology, but a way of living it. This Segen
does not seek to explain suffering or risk; it offers a means of
addressing them through repeated, embodied practice. Anchored in the
Mass yet usable beyond it, the prayer extends ecclesial protection
into the rhythms of everyday life. For the Thalbach sisters, and for
others who prayed in similar ways, safety was not a matter of
abstract belief but of learned habit: something done, enacted, and
carried forward through words and gestures that had already proven
their worth. At Thalbach, such habits were cultivated collectively –
through shared prayerbooks, repeated attendance at the parish Mass,
and the parallel rhythms of memoria and devotion – so that
protection was not merely personal, but explicitly embedded in the
sisters’ communal practice.
WORKS CITED
Cynthia Cyrus,
"Praying Before the Image of Mary: Nuns’ Prayerbooks and the
Mapping of Sacred Space" Religions 16, no. 10 (2025):
1277. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16101277, https://www.mdpi.com/3532324
Martin Leuenberger (ed.) Segen.
Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.
See especially
Ulrike Wagner-Rau and her discussion of everyday rituals,
“Unverbrüchlich
angesehen – Der Segen in praktisch-theologischer Perspektive,”
187-210, here p. 194.
In the same volume,
Christopher Spehr addresses the diversity of blessings in late
medieval practice, and their re-evaluation in the Reformation;
“Sengespraxis und Segenstheologie in der Christentumsgeschickte,”
135-164.
Derek A. Rivard, Blessing the World:
Ritual and Lay Piety in Medieval Religion (Washington
DC: Catholic U of America Press, 2009)
Note:
This post
presents a working transcription, translation, and preliminary
analysis in advance of a planned journal article.
