Those In Peril

A convent of St. Martha of Bethany stands on a high peak in the Lunar Carpathians:

"...it has become a tradition that prayers be offered at St. Martha's for those who have perished in space..."

-Poul Anderson, "Kyrie" IN Anderson, Going For Infinity (New York, 2002), pp. 344-354 AT p. 344.

 

"'I watched that ship dwindling away under the racing clouds till she vanished in the brume, and something made stop by the temple of Tanith on my way back and put oil in a lamp - not for them, understand, but for all poor mariners, on whom rests the well-being of Tyre.'"

-Poul Anderson, "Ivory, and Apes, and Peacocks" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 229-331 AT p. 302.

 

"...they died and their kin mourned them, as would be the fate of seafarers for the next several thousand years...and afterward spacefarers, timefarers..."

-ibid., p. 325.

 

"The choir was more than half-way through Prayer for Travellers before he became fully aware of what they were singing:

 

"- hear us when we pray to Thee

"For those in peril on the sea.

 

"Almighty Ruler of the all

"Whose power extends to great and small,

"Who guides the stars with steadfast law,

"Whose least creation fills with awe;

"Oh, grant Thy mercy and Thy grace

"To those who venture into space."

-Robert Heinlein, "Ordeal in Space" IN Heinlein, The Green Hills Of Earth (London, 1967), pp. 115-130 AT p. 120.

 

Any comment by me would be superfluous.