House Blessing

Printer

Johann Ritter & Co.

Preview

Accession Number

PAG2004.009

Creation Date

1806

Description

Central text panel flanked by angels at top and sides with harvest motifs of corn, grapes, fruit, and wheat at bottom.

Dimensions in Inches

15 7/8 x 12 7/8

Dimensions in Centimeters

40 x 33

Materials

Watercolor and ink on paper

Technique

Drawn, Hand lettered

Print Shop Location

Reading, Pennsylvania

Associated Places

Reading, Pennsylvania

Category

House blessing (Haus Segen)

Motifs

clouds, angels, horns, birds, fruits

Rights

Please contact the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College for permissions which fall outside of educational fair use.

Source

Ursinus College Library Special Collections and the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art

Provenance

Pennsylvania Folklife Society

Script/Text

German script

Language

German

Transcription

Mein Gott und Vater segne mich;/Der Sohn erhalte gnädiglich/Was er mir hat gegeben./Der Geist erleuchte Tag und Nacht/Sein Antliz über mich mit Macht/Und schüze mir mein Leben./Nur dieses wünsch’ ich für und für,/Der Segen Gottes sey mit mir.

Laß Herr dein’n Segen auf mir ruhn,/Mich deine Wege wallen/Und lehre du mich selber thun/Nach deinem Wohlgefallen./Nimm meines Lebens gnädig wahr;/Auf dich hofft meine Seele;/Sey mir ein Retter in Gefahr/Ein Vater wann ich fehle.

Haus=Segen./In den drey allerhöchsten Namen,/Vater, Sohn, und Heil’ger Geist,/Die das Chor der Engel preißt,/Gesundheit, Ruh’ und Segen, amen.

GOtt des Vaters Schöpfers Hand/Segne dieses Haus und Land,/Daß das Futter und die Saaten/Immer mögen wohlgerathen;/Daß der Viehstand wohl gedeyhe/Und sich seines Segens freye;/Daß seine väterliche Güte/Haus und Hof und Stall und Scheur/Für Unglück und besonders Feuer/Immer gnadiglich behüte.

Auch geb’ er, daß auf jeder Wange/Die edele Gesundheit prange/Und zur Vollendung uns’rer Werke/Geb’er den Gliedern Kraft und Stärke./Er wende von uns in Gnaden/Hagel=und Gewitter=Schaden./Auch wolle er die zarten Blüthen/Für Später Kält und Frost behüten.

Mögen der Erlösers Werke/Ihre Kraft und ihre Stärke/Stets an diesem Haus beweisen;/Daß jedes darinn nach Tugend strebe/Und friedlich mit dem andern lebe/Und guten Wandels sich befleiße;/Daß Schand’ und Laster insgemein/Entfernt von diesem Hauße seyn.

Der heil’ge Geist kehr hier auch ein/und laß’ es seine Wohnung seyn,/Heil’ge unser Thun und Laßen,/ Aus=und Eingang gleichermaßen;/Heil’ge uns zum sel’gen Sterben/Und mach’ uns zu Himmels=Erben.

Reading; gedruckt und zu haben bey Johann Ritter und Comp.

Translation

My God and Father, bless me. Son preserve mercifully, what he has given to me. Spirit, illuminate day and night [with] his countenance over me with power and protect my life for me. Only this I wish for and for the blessing of God to be with me.

Lord let your Blessing on me rest, let me flow along your path, and teach me yourself to do [it] according to your pleasure. Take my life mercifully true, my soul depends on you. Be to me a rescuer in danger, a father when I fail.

House Blessing

In the three all-highest Names, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that the chorus of Angels praises, health, peace, and blessings, amen.

God the Father and Creator’s Hand, Bless this house and land, that the feed and the seeds always will be successful; that the livestock thrive well, and enjoy His blessings; that his fatherly goodness, [over] house and farm and stable and barn, from misfortune and especially fire will always mercifully protect.

Also may he grant, that on every cheek, the noble health blooms, and to the completion [of] our work, may he give strength and might to the limbs. May He mercifully avert from us, hail and thunderstorm damage. Also may he look after the tender blossoms against later cold and frost.

May the work of the Savior, their strength and their might, always in this house be proven; that everyone therein may strive after virtue, and peacefully live with the other, and cultivate good changes; that disgrace and vice in general may be kept away from this house.

The Holy Ghost stops here also and lets it his dwelling be, Blessed our deeds and restraints, comings and goings the same; Blessed may we be in a blissful death and make us heaven’s heirs.

Reading; printed and for sale by Johann Ritter and Comp.

Comment

The only imprint on a Taufschein that exactly matches the one on this Haus Segen appears on the very first edition of Ritter’s angel-type printed Taufschein, printed c. 1806. The images that Ritter used on his Haus-Segen do not appear on his Taufscheine, so it is difficult to verify the printing date.

This piece is very similar to a second Haus Segen in the collection, PAG1998.018, but has different borders around the text. The imprints are also slightly different, as this one reads “Johann Ritter” while the other is “John Ritter.”

Condition

Good

Published

Minardi, Lisa. Roots: Ursinus College and the Pennsylvania Germans (Trappe, Pa.: Historic Trappe, 2019), p. 108, fig. 3.83. Stopp, Klaus. The Printed Birth and Baptismal Certificates of the German Americans. 6 vols. (Mainz, Germany, and East Berlin, Pa.: privately published, 1997–99). vol. 4: pp. 164-165.

File Format

.jpeg

Type

image