Online Encyclopedia
Make a correction
Your email address will not appear on the site. Note, comments may take some time to be approved.
Back to article:
MISERERE (the imperative of Lat. misereri, to have mercy or pity)
Your email:
Article name:
Article content:
MISERERE (the imperative of Lat. misereri, to have mercy or pity), the name of one of the penitential psalms (li.), from its opening words, Miserere mei, Deus. The word is frequently used in English as equivalent to "Misericord" (Lat. misericordia, pity, compassion) for various forms in which the rules of a monastic order, or general discipline of the clergy might be relaxed; thus it is applied to a special chamber in a monastery for those members who were allowed special food, drink, &c., and to a small bracket on the under side of the seat in a stall of a church made to turn up and afford support to a person in a position between sitting and standing. " Misericord " and " miserere " are also used of a small dagger, the " dagger of mercy," capable of passing between the joints of armour, with which the coup de grace might be given to a wounded man.