Universal Intercessory Prayer, a prayer for Queen Victoria and the United Kingdom by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1837)

Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license

Date: 2023-05-19

Last Updated: 2025-02-18

Categories: Government & Country, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Tags: 19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., British Empire, British Jewry, English vernacular prayer, Queen Victoria, teḥinot in English, תחינות teḥinot

Excerpt: "Universal intercessory prayer" by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 76-77. It is not found in the US edition. . . .

Content:

Contribute a translation	Source (English)
	Universal intercessory prayer.
	Almighty God, Creator of all things, Father of all worlds, King of kings, and Lord of lords; may it please Thee, to bless, preserve, guard, assist, exalt, and highly aggrandize our most gracious sovereign, Queen Victoria, and all the royal family.
	May it please Thee, to bless and have mercy upon all kings, princes, magistrates, and all men in power, more particularly those of this nation, that they may all serve Thee in truth and love, and fear Thy Name.
	Have mercy on this nation in which Thy people Israel dwell in peace and concord; and remove from it the many scourges our manifold sins may deserve, and guide our wandering steps in Thy Truth.
	Have mercy on my parents, brothers, relations, friends, benefactors, and all for whom I am particularly bound to pray, whether for soul or body; on my superiors, and on all those whom I may have injured, or given scandal to, by word, deed, or ill-example.
	Have mercy also on my enemies, and fill their hearts and mine with Thy charity.
	Comfort, O Lord, all who are in affliction, whether bodily or mental, in sickness or pain.
	Assist all those who are in slavery and captivity.
	Pour Thy Spirit, O my God, on all those who live in guilt and sin, that they may turn from their wicked ways, and be forgiven ere they die.
	Bless all nations, and all religions, from the misguided heathen to Thy chosen people, the children of Israel; and in Thy neverceasing mercy, O Eternal, have compassion on their blindness, and grant that the prayers of all nations and all faiths may be offered up in Thy Spirit, and accepted through Thine infinite goodness and mercy.
	O have regard unto this humble petition, O my God, for the welfare, body and soul, of my fellow creatures, and hearken, O Eternal and all-creating God, for Thy Name’s sake.
	Blessed be Thy Holy Name! Amen.

“Universal intercessory prayer” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 76-77. It is not found in the US edition.

Source(s)

Contributor: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Co-authors:

Name: Grace Aguilar
Bio: Grace Aguilar (2 June 1816 – 16 September 1847) was an English novelist, poet and writer on Jewish history and religion. Although she had been writing since childhood, much of her work was published posthumously. Among those are her best known works, the novels Home Influence and A Mother's Recompense. Aguilar was the eldest child of Sephardic Jewish refugees from Portugal who settled in the London Borough of Hackney. An early illness resulted in her being educated by her parents, especially her mother, who taught her the tenets of Judaism. Later, her father taught the history of Spanish and Portuguese Jews during his own bout with tuberculosis which had led the family to move to the English coast. After surviving the measles at the age of 19, she began to embark on a serious writing career, even though her physical health never completely recovered. Aguilar's debut was an anonymous collection of poems, The Magic Wreath of Hidden Flowers. Three years later she translated Isaac Orobio de Castro's Israel Defended into English at her father's behest. Later her The Spirit of Judaism drew interest and sales in both Britain and the United States after being published in Philadelphia by Isaac Leeser. He added a preface to the work elucidating his differences with her, the first of many clashes her work would have with mainstream Jewish thought. In the 1840s her novels began to attract regular readers, and Aguilar moved back to London with her parents. Despite her success, she and her mother still had to operate a boys' Hebrew school to stay solvent, which she resented for the time and energy it took from her writing. In 1847, she became ill again with a spinal paralysis which she did not let prevent her from visiting her brother in Frankfurt. Her health worsened and she died there that September.
Website: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/aguilar-grace
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/grace-aguilar

Name: Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Bio: Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)
Website: https://aharon.varady.net
Profile Link: https://opensiddur.org/profile/aharon-varady-transcription

Featured Image:

Title: Coronation of Queen Victoria (George Hayter)
Caption: Coronation of Queen Victoria (George Hayter)