Ash Wednesday: Immutemur habitu and Emendemus in melius

Immutemur habitu and Emendemus in melius are an antiphon and responsory sung during the imposition of ashes at the Ash Wednesday Liturgy.

First, here's Immutemur habitu:



Here's the full chant score:

Divinum Officum provides, in addition to its Daily Office texts, the mass texts for everything from "Trident 1570" to "1960 NewCalendar" (which to me is just plain amazing!). This text doesn't show up in this form until "Rubrics 1960," so I'm not quite sure where it might have come from.

I've read in several places - including on the DO site - that this text come from Joel 2:13 (and  another section, not used here, from Joel 2:17) - but I disagree!  Joel 2:13 is the famous "Rend your hearts and not your garments,"  which has really nothing to do with the text here:

Immutemur habitu in cinere et cilicio; jejunemus, et ploremus ante Dominum; quia multum misericors est dimittere peccata nostra Deus noster. 

Let us change our garments for ashes and sackcloth; let us fast and lament before the Lord; for our God is plentious in mercy to forgive our sins.

(Translation supplied by The St. Ann Choir, directed by William Mahrt)

In fact, I've written on "let us change our garments for ashes and sackcloth" before.  This citation actually originates, I believe, in Jerusalem, Surge, the second of the Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday (which itself is an "answer" to the Advent 2 Communion song of the same name).    It's a constructed text, which CPDL says originates in Jonah 3:6 and Lamentations of Jeremiah 2:18.  Here's that Tenebrae Jerusalem, surge; as you can see, "the changing of garments" and  cinere et cilicio make the same appearance, in the same order:

Jerusalem, surge, et exue te vestibus
jucunditatis; induere te cinere et cilicio:
quia in te occisus est Salvator Israel.
Deduc quasi torrentem lacrimas per diem et noctem,
et non taceat pupilla oculi tui.

Arise, O Jerusalem, and put off thy garments
of joy; put on ashes and sackcloth:
For in thee was slain the Saviour of Israel.
Shed thy tears like a torrent, day and night,
and let not the apple of thine eye be dry.

There is a second antiphon prescribed for this part of the service (it's not included here - see the chant score above) that does come from  Joel 2:17:

Juxta vestibulum et altare plorabunt sacerdotes et levitae, ministri Domini, dicentes: Parce Domine, parce populo tuo; et ne dissipes ora clamantium ad te, Domine.

Near the porch and the altar the priests and levites shall weep, the Lord's ministers, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare thy people; and do not scatter the mouths of those crying to thee, O Lord. 

As mentioned, this verse is not included in this version of the antiphon but Cristobal Morales (for one) set this text and did include it.  This is mysterious, to me; where and how was the text originally used?  I don't know, at the moment, but am definitely on the hunt.

José Maurício Nunes García (1767 - 1830) set the text, and didn't include the second part, though:





I can tell you more about Emendemus in melius; it has, for a very long time (Divinum Officum cites it as "pre-Trident monastic"), been the verse-response that follows the fourth reading of Matins on the First Sunday in Lent.   (I believe that Ash Wednesday as "the first day of Lent" is a rather later development, which may explain this Responsory showing up in both places now; I'll try to work this out and will return to this page to post what I find.)

Here's an mp3 of this Responsory from the Brazilian Benedictines.


The texts come from Esther 13 and Joel 2, according to this page at CPDL.   I'm not exactly clear on what "Esther 13" actually is; apparently some of Esther appeared two centuries after the rest of the book, and not in Hebrew but in Greek.  This extra material was found in, I believe, the Septuagint and then the Latin Vulgate, but was expunged - or perhaps included with the Apocrypha - after the Reformation.  I am going to have to go through these extra chapters to see if I can find the text cited.

Emendemus in melius quae ignoranter peccavimus;
ne subito praeoccupati die mortis,
quaeramus spatium poenitentiae,
et invenire non possimus.

Attende, Domine, et miserere;
quia peccavimus tibi.

Adjuva nos,
Deus salutaris noster,
et propter honorem nominis tui libera nos.

Let us amend for the better in those things in which we have sinned through ignorance;
lest suddenly overtaken by the day of death,
we seek space for repentance,
and be not able to find it.

Hearken, O Lord, and have mercy:
for we have sinned against thee.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
and for the honour of thy name deliver us.

(English translation by William Mahrt)

(Ps. 78:9; Distribution of Ashes, Ash Wednesday; First Sunday of Lent, Matins Responsory; cf. Esther 13, Joel 2)

They sure like citing Joel 2 for these propers, don't they?  Again, I demur.  I'm not certain yet about the first half of the text - but as you can clearly see, the second part of this Responsory is nothing more than the refrain of "The Lent Prose"!  That is:

Attende Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi.

Hear us O Lord, have mercy upon us,
For we have sinned against thee.

William Byrd (among others) set this text; here's his version, sung (according to notes at the YouTube page) :

Deller Consort directed by Mark Deller singing a cappella:
Rosemary Hardy, Elizabeth Lane - soprano
Mark Deller, Christopher Royall - countertenor
Paul Elliott, Rogers Covey-Crump - tenor
Maurice Bevan - baritone
Michael George - bass

Here's the Ash Wednesday entry from the Catholic Encyclopedia 1913:

Ash Wednesday

The Wednesday after Quinquagesima Sunday, which is the first day of the Lenten fast.

The name dies cinerum (day of ashes) which it bears in the Roman Missal is found in the earliest existing copies of the Gregorian Sacramentary and probably dates from at least the eighth century. On this day all the faithful according to ancient custom are exhorted to approach the altar before the beginning of Mass, and there the priest, dipping his thumb into ashes previously blessed, marks the forehead — or in case of clerics upon the place of the tonsure — of each the sign of the cross, saying the words: "Remember man that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return." The ashes used in this ceremony are made by burning the remains of the palms blessed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. In the blessing of the ashes four prayers are used, all of them ancient. The ashes are sprinkled with holy water and fumigated with incense. The celebrant himself, be he bishop or cardinal, receives, either standing or seated, the ashes from some other priest, usually the highest in dignity of those present. In earlier ages a penitential procession often followed the rite of the distribution of the ashes, but this is not now prescribed.

There can be no doubt that the custom of distributing the ashes to all the faithful arose from a devotional imitation of the practice observed in the case of public penitents. But this devotional usage, the reception of a sacramental which is full of the symbolism of penance (cf. the cor contritum quasi cinis of the "Dies Irae") is of earlier date than was formerly supposed. It is mentioned as of general observance for both clerics and faithful in the Synod of Beneventum, 1091 (Mansi, XX, 739), but nearly a hundred years earlier than this the Anglo-Saxon homilist Ælfric assumes that it applies to all classes of men. "We read", he says,

in the books both in the Old Law and in the New that the men who repented of their sins bestrewed themselves with ashes and clothed their bodies with sackcloth. Now let us do this little at the beginning of our Lent that we strew ashes upon our heads to signify that we ought to repent of our sins during the Lenten fast.

And then he enforces this recommendation by the terrible example of a man who refused to go to church for the ashes on Ash Wednesday and who a few days after was accidentally killed in a boar hunt (Ælfric, Lives of Saints, ed. Skeat, I, 262-266). It is possible that the notion of penance which was suggested by the rite of Ash Wednesday was was reinforced by the figurative exclusion from the sacred mysteries symbolized by the hanging of the Lenten veil before the sanctuary. But on this and the practice of beginning the fast on Ash Wednesday see LENT.  

Here are all the propers for Ash Wednesday, from the Brazilian Benedictines:

Tempus quadragesimæ
Feria quarta cinerum
Ad ritus initiales et liturgiam verbi
Introitus: Sap. 11, 24-25.27; Ps. 56 Misereris omnium (3m44.9s - 3516 kb) 
Graduale: Ps. 56, 2. V. 4 Miserere mei, Deus (3m15.9s - 3064 kb) 
Tractus: Ps. 102, 10 et 78, 8 et 9 Domine, non secundum peccata nostra (3m27.7s - 3248 kb) 

Ad benedictionem et impositionem cinerum
Antiphona: Cf. Ioel 2, 13 Immutemur habitu (1m21.5s - 1276 kb) 
Responsorium: Cf. Bar. 3,2. V. Ps. 78,9 Emendemus in melius (2m24.7s - 2264 kb) 

Ad liturgiam eucharisticam
Offertorium: Ps. 29, 2.3 Exaltabo te (1m37.7s - 1528 kb) 
Communio: Ps. 1, 2b.3b Qui meditabitur (45.3s - 710 kb) 

Here are posts on this site about other propers on the day:

The Ash Wednesday Introit: Misereris omnium
Ash Wednesday: Miserere Mei Deus (The Gradual)
Des Prez' Domine, non secundum (The Tract)
Exaltabo Te, Domine (The Offertory)

Ash Wednesday: Miserere nostri (Thomas Tallis)

Here sung by Stile Antico.

Have mercy on us Lord, have mercy on us.

From CPDL:

Miserere nostri is an astoundingly ingenious canon. Most obvious is the canon between the two top voices (mentioned at the foot of page 1), which sing the same line throughout but half a bar apart. Meanwhile, however, a different and less audible canon is in progress between four of the five lower voices: all start singing the same melody at the same time but at four different speeds, two of them in inversion. By bar 6, the Second Bass has already sung the whole of the part assigned to the slowest singer, the First Bass. Amazingly, this fiendish process not only works but produces convincing harmonies which sound as if they are the very raison d’être of this understandably short piece. To enjoy them to the maximum, the music should be taken fairly slowly, so as not to skate over the passing dissonances.

(from the score of CPDL #6605): Original key: F major. Pitch in 16th century England was likely very high and this key is probably closer to the actual performance pitch. This likely earlier work was probably part of a full setting of the Psalm [122/123], but this section is all that remains of this setting. It demonstrates surprising rhythmic complexity. Note values and barring have been adjusted for modern notation. It is particularly important in this antiphon to sing through the barlines, allowing the rhythmic and natural accent of the text to guide phrasing.

Links to Stile Antico sites at YouTube:

http://www.stileantico.co.uk/
http://www.harmoniamundi.com/artists?view=bio&id=2173

Des Prez' Domine, non secundum

Saturday Chorale offers another great post today: "Josquin Des Prez (±1450-1521): – Domine, non secundum".

This is from the post at SC:

Of all his music it's Josquin Desprez' motets that I find the most intriguing and satisfying. This particular motet is one those published by Ottaviano Petrucci in 1503 in his anthology of sacred motets »Motetti de Passione, de Cruce, de Sacramento, de Beata Virgine et huiusmodi B«. Petrucci included several motets by Josquin in his anthology of which Domine, non secundum is the most elaborate. At first it was thought by musicologists that Josquin composed it in his youth in Milan. However the conventional wisdom now is that in fact he composed it sometime between 1489 and 1495 while he was a singer in the papal choir.

It's based upon plainchant and is relatively florid with the chant's influence being especially keenly felt in the top line. Part of the motet's appeal is how Josquin progressively simplifies the music as the motet progresses – it starts relatively elaborately with a duet for the top voices which Josquin contrasts with a duet for the lower voices. For me the musical highpoint of the motet is at the line 'Quia paupers facti sumus nimis' (Because we beggars have become as nothing) followed a gentle let-down as Josquin ends the motet. It's performed in the music video below by Edward Wickham & The Clerks Group. Enjoy :-)

Domine, non secundum is the Tract for Ash Wednesday (and is also listed as being used at Ember Friday in that week). Here are the words in Latin, with translation to English from CPDL:

Domine, non secundum peccata nostra, quæ fecimus nos: neque secundum iniquitates nostras retribuas nobis.
Domine, ne memineris iniquitatum patrum nostrorum, cito anticipent nos misericordiæ tuæ, quia pauperes facti sumus nimis.
Adiuvanos, Deus salutaris nostri, propter gloriam nominis tui et liberanos; et propitius esto peccatis nostris propter nomen tuum.

Lord, do not repay us according to our sins or our iniquities.
Lord, do not hold our old sins against us;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.
Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name;
Lord, deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.

The Brazilian Benedictines have recorded the plainchant of the tract, but I couldn't find it anywhere else. Here's their mp3, and below is the chant score.

Others have set the text as well. Here's a lovely version from Spain's Juan de Anchieta:

And here, the Warsaw Boys Choir sings Cesar Franck's setting:

Exaltabo Te, Domine

Here's an mp3 from JoguesChant of the Ash Wednesday Offertory, Exaltabo Te, Domine; below is the chant score.

The text comes from Psalm 30; here's JoguesChant's translation:

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up, and have not allowed my enemies to rejoice over me; O Lord, I called out unto you, and you healed me.

Here's another version, from the Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis:



The Collect for the day echoes the portion of Wisdom in today's Introit:

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Scarlatti (1685–1757) composed a setting of this text; here's one version of that:



Here's something really gorgeous, though! It's another version of Exaltabo Te from Psalm 30 (although not this text precisely; I'm trying to find the text itself and will come back and post it when I do) by Michel-Richard Delalande (1657-1726), in the glorious Grands Motets style:



And there's a Taizé version of Exaltabo Te, too; the Coral Corpus Christi, of the church of Corpus Christi de Málaga, sings this one:



Here's the last part of Eliot's poem, Ash Wednesday; I've loved this particular section since I first read it when I was 18 years old (and many years from joining the church):

Blessed sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated
And let my cry come unto Thee.

A holy Lent to all.

"Ash Wednesday: 'it is by this that the Church on earth stands'"

From catholicity and covenant today:

In the order of the Creed, after the mention of the Holy Church is placed the remission of sins. For it is by this that the Church on earth stands: it is through this that what had been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again. For, setting aside the grace of baptism, which is given as an antidote to original sin, so that what our birth imposes upon us, our new birth relieves us from (this grace, however, takes away all the actual sins also that have been committed in thought, word, and deed): setting aside, then, this great act of favor, whence commences man's restoration, and in which all our guilt, both original and actual, is washed away, the rest of our life from the time that we have the use of reason provides constant occasion for the remission of sins, however great may be our advance in righteousness. For the sons of God, as long as they live in this body of death, are in conflict with death. And although it is truly said of them, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God", yet they are led by the Spirit of God, and as the sons of God advance towards God under this drawback, that they are led also by their own spirit, weighted as it is by the corruptible body; and that, as the sons of men, under the influence of human affections, they fall back to their old level, and so sin ...

Even crimes themselves, however great, may be remitted in the Holy Church; and the mercy of God is never to be despaired of by men who truly repent, each according to the measure of his sin. And in the act of repentance, where a crime has been committed of such a nature as to cut off the sinner from the body of Christ, we are not to take account so much of the measure of time as of the measure of sorrow; for a broken and a contrite heart God does not despise. But as the grief of one heart is frequently hid from another, and is not made known to others by words or other signs, when it is manifest to Him of whom it is said, "My groaning is not hid from You", those who govern the Church have rightly appointed times of penitence, that the Church in which the sins are remitted may be satisfied.

From St. Augustine's Enchiridion (64-65).

Ash Wednesday: Miserere Mei Deus

A lovely version of Allegri's very famous Miserere Mei Deus below, sung by "The Sixteen."  (Great name!)    It's thought that the piece was written sometime during the 1630s.



Here's Psalm 51 in its entirety, in Latin first (from CPDL) and then in English, from the Coverdale (1662) Psalter:

Miserére mei, Deus: secúndum magnam misericórdiam tuam.
Et secúndum multitúdinem miseratiónum tuárum: dele iniquitátem meam.
Ámplius lava me ab iniquitáte mea: et a peccáto meo munda me.
Quóniam iniquitátem meam ego cognósco: et peccátum meum contra me est semper.
Tibi soli peccávi, et malum coram te feci: ut justificéris in sermónibus tuis, et vincas cum judicáris.
Ecce enim in iniquitátibus concéptus sum: et in peccátis concépit me mater mea.
Ecce enim veritátem dilexísti: incérta et occúlta sapiéntiæ tuæ manifestásti mihi.
Aspérges me hyssópo, et mundábor: lavábis me, et super nivem dealbábor.
Audítui meo dabis gáudium et lætítiam: et exsultábunt ossa humiliáta.
Avérte fáciem tuam a peccátis meis: et omnes iniquitátes meas dele.
Cor mundum crea in me, Deus: et spíritum rectum ínnova in viscéribus meis.
Ne projícias me a fácie tua: et spíritum sanctum tuum ne áuferas a me.
Redde mihi lætítiam salutáris tui: et spíritu principáli confírma me.
Docébo iníquos vias tuas: et ímpii ad te converténtur.
Líbera me de sangúinibus, Deus, Deus salútis meæ: et exsultábit lingua mea justítiam tuam.
Dómine, lábia mea apéries: et os meum annuntiábit laudem tuam.
Quóniam si voluísses sacrifícium, dedíssem utique: holocáustis non delectáberis.
Sacrifícium Deo spíritus contribulátus: cor contrítum et humiliátum, Deus, non despícies.
Benígne fac, Dómine, in bona voluntáte tua Sion: ut ædificéntur muri Jerúsalem.
Tunc acceptábis sacrifícium justítiæ, oblatiónes et holocáusta: tunc impónent super altáre tuum vítulos.

Have mercy upon me, O God, after thy great goodness *
according to the multitude of thy mercies do away mine offences.
Wash me throughly from my wickedness *
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my faults *
and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight *
that thou mightest be justified in thy saying, and clear when thou art judged.
Behold, I was shapen in wickedness *
and in sin hath my mother conceived me.
But lo, thou requirest truth in the inward parts *
and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly.
Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean *
thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Thou shalt make me hear of joy and gladness *
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Turn thy face from my sins *
and put out all my misdeeds.
Make me a clean heart, O God *
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence *
and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
O give me the comfort of thy help again *
and stablish me with thy free Spirit.
Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked *
and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou that art the God of my health *
and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.
Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord *
and my mouth shall shew thy praise.
For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it thee *
but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.
The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit *
a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise.
O be favourable and gracious unto Sion *
build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifice of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations *
then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar.

What's interesting to me about this piece is that it uses the Tonus Peregrinus for the plainchant melody!  I'm not aware of another sung alternatim with the plainchant/polyphony structure that uses the TP.  Something else to keep in mind is that Allegri wrote this piece for use during Holy Week - and specifically, I believe, for services of Tenebrae on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of that week.  (Tenebrae ends with Psalm 51 and its plea for forgiveness after the reading of the Lamentations.)

Here's part of Wikipedia's entry about the piece:

The Miserere is written for two choirs, one of five and one of four voices, and is an example of Renaissance polyphony surviving to the present day. One of the choirs sings a simple version of the original Miserere chant; the other, spatially separated, sings an ornamented "commentary" on this.

The Tenebrae service where the Miserere would be sung normally began at around 3am. During the ritual, candles would be extinguished one by one, save for the last candle which remained alight and was then hidden. Allegri composed his setting of the Miserere for the final act within the first lesson of the Tenebrae service.

It was the last of twelve falsobordone Miserere settings composed and chanted at the service since 1514 and is the most popular: at some point, it became forbidden to transcribe the music and it was allowed to be performed only at those particular services, thus adding to the mystery surrounding it. Writing it down or performing it elsewhere was punishable by excommunication.^[1] The setting that escaped from the Vatican is actually a conflation of verses set by Gregorio Allegri around 1638 and Tommaso Bai (also spelled "Baj"; 1650–1718) in 1714.

Three authorized copies of the work were distributed prior to 1770 – to the Holy Roman Emperor, Leopold I, to the King of Portugal, and to Padre (Giovanni Battista) Martini.^[1] However, none of them succeeded in capturing the beauty of the Miserere as performed annually in the Sistine Chapel.^{[citation needed]} According to the popular story (backed up by family letters), the fourteen-year-old Mozart was visiting Rome, when he first heard the piece during the Wednesday service. Later that day, he wrote it down entirely from memory, returning to the Chapel that Friday to make minor corrections. Some time during his travels, he met the British historian Dr Charles Burney, who obtained the piece from him and took it to London, where it was published in 1771. Once the piece was published, the ban was lifted; Mozart was summoned to Rome by the Pope, only instead of excommunicating the boy, the Pope showered praises on him for his feat of musical genius. The work was also transcribed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1831 and Franz Liszt, and various other 18th and 19th century sources survive. Since the lifting of the ban, Allegri's Miserere has become one of the most popular a cappella choral works now performed.^{[citation needed]}

The original ornamentation that made the work famous were Renaissance techniques that preceded the composition itself, and it was these techniques that were closely guarded by the Vatican. Few written sources (not even Burney's) showed the ornamentation, and it was this that created the legend of the work's mystery. However, the Roman priest Pietro Alfieri published an edition in 1840 with the intent of preserving the performance practice of the Sistine choir in the Allegri and Bai compositions, including ornamentation.

There's also a long article about this piece at "Ancient Groove Music," a site I've just discovered. 

The traditional Gradual for Ash Wednesday is also Miserere Mei Deus - this one from Psalm 57:1-4 below. Here's the mp3 from the Brazilian Benedictines, and the chant score:

1 Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee *
and under the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge, until this tyranny be over-past.
2 I will call unto the most high God *
even unto the God that shall perform the cause which I have in hand.
3 He shall send from heaven *
and save me from the reproof of him that would eat me up.
4 God shall send forth his mercy and truth *
my soul is among lions.
5 And I lie even among the children of men, that are set on fire *
whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
6 Set up thyself, O God, above the heavens *
and thy glory above all the earth.
7 They have laid a net for my feet, and pressed down my soul *
they have digged a pit before me, and are fallen into the midst of it themselves.
8 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed *
I will sing, and give praise.
9 Awake up, my glory; awake, lute and harp *
I myself will awake right early.
10 I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the people *
and I will sing unto thee among the nations.
11 For the greatness of thy mercy reacheth unto the heavens *
and thy truth unto the clouds.
12 Set up thyself, O God, above the heavens *
and thy glory above all the earth.

The Ash Wednesday Introit: Misereris omnium

Misereris omnium is the traditional Introit for Ash Wednesday; here's an mp3 of this beautiful piece from JoguesChant.

Here's the chant score, from the Brazilian Benedictines:

The text is from Wisdom 11:24-25,27, and from Psalm 57.

JoguesChant offers this translation:

Your mercy extends to all things, O Lord, and you despise none of the things you have made. You overlook the sins of men for the sake of repentance. You grant them your pardon, because you are the Lord our God. Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for my soul confides in you.

Here's a video labeled "Feria IV Cinerum 1 - Introitus - Traditional Latin Mass" (i.e., the "Extraordinary Form"); it's labeled "Miserere Mei," but I think that's just an error:





The Collect for the day echoes the portion of Wisdom in this Introit:

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Hatchett's Commentary has this about the collect:

The Sarum collect for Ash Wednesday can be traced to the Gelasian sacramentary where it is the inital collect for the fall ember days (no. 1037). In the Gregorian sacramentary it is used on the Wednesday before the first Sunday in Lent (no. 154). It might be translated:

Grant, we beseech, Lord, to your faithful people, that they may undertake the sacred solemnities of the fasts with fitting piety, and that they see them through with undisturbed devotion.

Cranmer's new collect for the 1549 Book places the emphasis on penitence rather than upon the fast. His preamble is similar to that of the form for the blessing of the ashes and to the introit appointed for that day in the Sarum missal. The petition is obviously inspired by Psalm 51 which has traditionally been used on this day. We pray for "remission and forgiveness." The word "remission" normally refers to debst, and "forgiveness" to offenses.

The rubric following the collect was inserted in the 1892 revision to insure that the proper of Ash Wednesday rather than that of the preceeding Sunday would be used on the follow THursday, Friday, and Saturday. Such a rubric is also found in the Scottish Book of 1637. From 1662 until the 1928 revision the Ash Wednesday collect was to be repeated throughout Lent daily, a custom analogous to the use of memorials after the collect of the day late in the medieval period. The 1928 Book qualified this by adding "until Palm Sunday."

The rubric referred to above is this:

"This Collect, with the corresponding Psalm and Lessons, also serves for
the weekdays which follow, except as otherwise appointed. "