Friday: II & IV

Lauds: “Earlier Hymnal” 7-8^th Centuries

 

Walpole: this poetical hymn is not mentioned by Caesarius or Aurelian, but early became the office hymn for Mattins on Sunday. Probably the first four stanzas are addressed to God the Father, the direct invocation of Christ not coming until stanza V, But, sator in verse 2 may be vocative, in which case the address to Christ begins at that point.

 Deus, qui cæli lumen es

satórque lucis, qui polum (1)

patérno fultum brácchio (2)

præclára pandis déxtera, (3)

 

Auróra stellas iam tegit (4)

rubrum sustóllens gúrgitem,

uméctis atque flátibus

terram baptízans róribus.

 

Iam noctis umbra línquitur,

polum calígo déserit,

typúsque Christi, lúcifer

diem sopítum súscitat.

 

Dies diérum tu, Deus, (5)

lucísque lumen ipse es,

Unum potens per ómnia,

potens in unum Trínitas.

 

Te nunc, Salvátor, quæsumus

tibíque genu fléctimus,

Patrem cum Sancto Spíritu

te notis laudántes vócibus. Amen .

 

1.      sator] 'creator,' or 'father,' lit. 'sower.' Perhaps the word is chosen, because light and fire were thought to spring from seeds.

However, like inventor and other similar

Words never lost its special meaning

2.       fultum] 'firmly set.' The firmament was supposed to be solid and propped upon mountains at either end.

3.       ' The arm of the Lord ' is a metaphor frequently found in the O.T., as at Exod. vi. 6. li. 13, Jer. x. 12; pandis seems to denote the opening of the curtain to give light ; cp. 46. 4, 1. 43. 5 f.

4.        ' Dawn now shrouds the stars, uplifting her ruddy flood, for with damp blasts she bedews the earth.' Aurora is personified, as generally in the Latin poets. And just as the darkness is regarded as a material substance.

5.       Dies dierum = ‘the holy one’

 

O God, you are the light of heaven, sower of light, the sky is firmly set upon your fatherly arm and spread out by your illustrious right hand. Now the dawn covers the stars, bearing up its ruddy stream, and the breeze wet with dew baptizes the earth. Now the shadow of night is left behind, darkness deserts the sky and the type of Christ, the morning star, awakes the day from sleep. You, O God, are the Day of days, the Light of light, one powerful in all things, powerful in one Trinity.  Now, O Savior, we beseech you and bend the knee to you, Father with the Holy Spirit, praising you with familial voices.  Amen.

 

Office of Readings:  before the 6^th century

This hymn is made up of verses 4, 5, and 6 of the hymn Lucis largitor splendide

 

Adésto, rerum cónditor,

patérnæ lucis glória,

cuius amóta grátia

nostra pavéscunt péctora,

 

Tuóque plena Spíritu,

secum Deum gestántia,

nil rapiéntis pérfidi

diris patéscant fráudibus,

 

Ut inter actus sæculi,

vitæ quos usus éxigit,

omni caréntes crímine

tuis vivámus légibus.

 

Be present, O Creator of all things, the Glory of the Father’s light, without your grace our hearts begin to fear. Filled with the Spirit and bearing God within us, may our hearts not be exposed to the dangerous deceptions of the thieving unfaithful one.  That in the midst of worldly tasks, which life requires, free from all sin, we may live by your laws.

 

 

Vespers

Mozarabic Hymn

 

Horis peráctis úndecim

ruit dies in vésperum;

solvámus omnes débitum

mentis libénter cánticum.

 

Labor diúrnus tránsiit

quo, Christe, nos condúxeras;

da iam colónis víneæ

promíssa dona glóriæ.

 

Mercéde quos nunc ádvocas,

quos ad futúrum múneras,

nos in labóre ádiuva

et post labórem récrea.

 

The eleventh hour now completed, day rushes into night; we all gladly offer the hymn, which is due.  Finished is our daily work to which, you O Christ, have led us; grant to vineyard workers the promised gift of glory. Reward now those whom you have called to future gifts: help us in our work and afterwards refresh us.

---

Hymn for Vespers: St. Philip Neri

Pangamus Nerio debita cantica, Quem supra nitidi sidera verticis, Virtus, et meritum sustulit inclytum Carpturum pia gaudia.

Sicuri subitis dum videt ignibus Aedes, quas habitat, fletibus abstinet, Flammas cum penitus quiverit horridas Paucis vincere lacrymis.

Oblatum patrui munus, et aureos Nummos magnanimus calcat, et impiger Romam digreditur, quam magis omnibus Illustrem facit urbibus.

Noctes sub specubus, corpora martyrum Quas implent, vigilat sedulus integras ; Ex ipsis satagens discere mortuis Normam, qua bene viveret.

Almae sit Triadi gloria perpetim, Quam caelum, barathrum, terraque suscipit : Quae nobis Nerii det prece iugia Dulcis gaudia Patriae. Amen 

Hymn

 1. Due praises sing in Philip's sight, Who now 'mid heaven's stars so bright There dwells in sweet delight; Reward for virtue famed.

 2. While home he sees consumed by flame, From weeping, heedless, yet refrains, E'en through few tears would serve to tame The menace of the blaze.

 3. He spurns, for such his noble heart, His uncle's wealth and swift departs To Rome, whose name he sets apart: A city of renown.

 4. Whole nights of prayer in catacombs, Amid the martyrs' many tombs He learns from those who've met their doom The art of living well.

 5. To loving Trinity e'er be praise, Whom heaven, abyss and earth upraise, Whose gift Heaven's joy for all our days, Bestowed on Philip's prayer. Amen.

Wednesday: Weeks II & IV: Spe nos fidéque dívites

 

 

 

Lauds: 5^th-6^th Century

Appointed by Caesarius for Prime but later at Matins on Wednesday, e.g. Mozarabic  breviary.

Fulgéntis auctor ǽtheris,

qui lunam lumen nóctibus, (1)

solem diérum cúrsibus

certo fundásti trámite, (2)

 

Nox atra iam depéllitur,

mundi nitor renáscitur, (3)

novúsque iam mentis vigor (4)

dulces in actus érigit. (5)

 

Laudes sonáre iam tuas

dies relátus ádmonet,

vultúsque cæli blándior (6)

nostra serénat péctora. (7)

 

Vitémus omne lúbricum, (8)

declínet prava spíritus, (9)

vitam facta non ínquinent,

linguam culpa non ímplicet; (10)

 

Sed, sol diem dum cónficit, (11)

fides profúnda férveat,

spes ad promíssa próvocet,

Christo coniúngat caritas

 

1.       Genesis 1.16: ‘who hast set the moon to lighten the night, the sun with fixed orbit to lighten the day’s course.’ 2. tramite = an orbit; 3. nitor = brightness of dawn; 4. novus: revived by sleep;

5. dulces actus: sweet acts because done with more ease in the day than in the night; blandior

= more pleasant than the dark; 7. serénat = brightens, illuminates; 8. Lúbricum; slippery,  so sin or danger, connotes danger; 9. declínet: turn away, go aside; 10. implicet: entangle; 11. cónficit: completes.

Author of the glittering sky, you established in a secure orbit the moon as light for night, the sun for the course of day. Dark night now is driven away, the brightness of the world is reborn, now new strength of mind directs us in pleasing deeds. Day returned admonishes us to sing your praises and the countenance of the more pleasant sky brightens our hearts. Let us shun all deceit, the spirit decline crooked things, our actions not indict our life, faults not entangle the tongue. But, while the sun makes the day, may deep faith burn, hope call us to the divine promises, love join us to Christ. 

 

When the Office of Readings is said in the daytime: 10^th Century

Christe, lux vera, bónitas et vita,

gáudium mundi, píetas imménsa,

qui nos a morte vívido salvásti

sánguine tuo,

 

Insere tuum, pétimus, amórem

méntibus nostris, fídei refúnde

lumen ætérnum, caritátis auge

dilectiónem.

 

Procul a nobis pérfidus absístat

Satan, a tuis víribus confráctus;

Sanctus assístat Spíritus, a tua

sede demíssus. Amen

O Christ, the true light, goodness and life, the joy of the world, immense love, who saves us from living death by your blood. Put love in our souls, pour out the eternal light of faith, increase our love of charity. May envious Satan, broken by your strength, be far from us; May the Holy Spirit, sent down from your throne, come to our aid. Amen.

 

Vespers:  novus

Sol, ecce, lentus óccidens

montes et arva et ǽquora

mæstus relínquit, ínnovat

sed lucis omen crástinæ,

 

Mirántibus mortálibus

sic te, Creátor próvide,

leges vicésque témporum

umbris dedísse et lúmini.

 

Ac dum, ténebris ǽthera

siléntio preméntibus,

vigor labórum déficit,

quies cupíta quǽritur,

 

Spe nos fidéque dívites

tui beámur lúmine

Verbi, quod est a sǽculis

splendor patérnæ glóriæ.

 

Est ille sol qui nésciat

ortum vel umquam vésperum;

quo terra gestit cóntegi,

quo cæli in ævum iúbilant.

 

Hac nos seréna pérpetim

da luce tandem pérfrui,

cum Nato et almo Spíritu

tibi novántes cántica. Amen.

 

Behold the sun slowly setting, now sadly abandons mountains, fields and streams but makes anew a sign of tomorrow’s light. To astonished mortals, you, the Creator providentially give the rules and changes of time, shadows and light. And while, the darkness remains in the silent sky, strength for work declines, quiet is desired and sought. May we be blessed by the light of your Word, made rich with hope and faith, the eternal brightness of the Father’s glory. This is the Sun, which knows no rising, no evening, by which the earth hastens to be covered, by which the heavens rejoice forever. By this peaceful light grant that we may at last enjoy, with the Son and Holy Spirit, singing to you a new hymn.. Amen.

 

Tuesday: Weeks II & IV

Lauds: 6^th -7^th Centuries

Ætérne lucis cónditor,

lux ipse totus et dies,

noctem nec ullam séntiens

natúra lucis pérpeti, (1)

Iam cedit pallens próximo

diéi nox advéntui,

obtúndens lumen síderum (2)

adest et clarus lúcifer.

Iam stratis læti súrgimus

grates canéntes et tuas,

quod cæcam noctem vícerit

revéctans rursus sol diem.

Te nunc, ne carnis gáudia

blandis subrépant ǽstibus, (3)

dolis ne cedat sǽculi

mens nostra, sancte, quǽsumus.

Ira ne rixas próvocet,

gulam ne venter íncitet,(4)

opum pervértat ne famis,(5)

turpis ne luxus óccupet, (6)

Sed firma mente sóbrii,

casto manéntes córpore

totum fidéli spíritu

Christo ducámus hunc diem. (7)

Sed firma mente sóbrii,
casto manéntes córpore
totum fidéli spíritu
Christo ducámus hunc diem. Amen. 

Eternal Creator of light, light itself and wholly day, you know nothing of night, by virtue of being perpetual light. Now colorless night surrenders to coming day, the bright morning star is here and shrouding the solid light of the stars. Now we rise joyfully from our beds and sing our thanks to you, for the sun returns again the day, which conquers blind night. Now we pray you, O holy Christ, that joys of the flesh not catch us unaware with worldly allurements  and our minds not fall to secular deceits. That anger not provoke strife, that the stomach not incite gluttony, lest hunger for wealth pervert and base wealth consume us. But sober and with firm intent, our bodies chaste, let us pass this whole day faithful to the spirit of Christ. 

1. Walpole: 1 John 1:5: there is no darkness in God's everlasting nature of light; 2. Walpole prefers obtendens = 'shrouding as with a veil' to obtúndens = 'dulling';  3. blandis = 'alluring';  subrépant = 'evil stealing on us unawares'; ǽstibus = 'burning heat' , 'the undue heat of passion'; 4. gulam = 'the gullet' hence 'gluttony'; 5. opum...famis = 'hunger for riches'; 6. occupet: Job 3:5: 7. Walpole: Christe instead of Christo

When the Office of Readings is said in the daytime: 10^th Century

Ad preces nostras deitátis aures,

Deus, inclína pietáte sola;

súpplicum vota súscipe, precámur

fámuli tui.

 Réspice clemens sólio de sancto

vultu seréno, lámpadas illústra

ólei nostri, ténebras depélle

péctore cunctas.

Crímina laxa pietáte multa,

áblue sordes, víncula disrúmpe,

parce peccátis, réleva iacéntes

déxtera tua.

Glória sit ætérno Patri,
sit tibi semper, Genitóris Nate,
cum quo per cuncta Spíritus æquális
sæcula regnat. Amen.

By your singular love. O God, incline your ears to our prayers; we ask you to receive the humble petitions of thy Servants. Mercifully look down from your heavenly throne with a peaceful countenance: light our lamps with oil and drive away darkness from all hearts. Of your love loosen us from our many sins, wash our uncleanness, break our chains, spare sinners, and lift up with your right hand the fallen.

Vespers: 7^th – 8^th Centuries

Sator princépsque témporum,

clarum diem labóribus

noctémque qui sopóribus

fixo distínguis órdine,

 Mentem tu castam dírige,

obscúra ne siléntia

ad dira cordis vúlnera

telis patéscant ínvidi.

Vacent ardóre péctora,

faces nec ullas pérferant,

quæ nostro hæréntes sénsui

mentis vigórem sáucient.

Præsta, Pater piísime,
Patríque compare Unice,
cum Spíritu Paráclito
regnans per omne saéculum. Amen.

O Sower and Ruler of time, in an established order, you designate the bright day for work and the night for sleep. Direct the chaste mind that the dark and silent night not expose us to the attacks of the Invidious One,  wounding the heart. May hearts be free from the passions that they may not have to endure any dangerous heat, which clinging to our senses wounds strength of mind.

A Bundle of Saints

 

Saint Gregory VII, Pope

Lauds: Non vos estis qui loquímini, sed Spíritus Patris vestri, qui lóquitur in vobis.

It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of the Father, who speaks in you.

Da Ecclésiæ tuæ, quǽsumus, Dómine, spíritum fortitúdinis zelúmque iustítiæ, quibus beátum Gregórium, papam, claréscere voluísti, ut, iniquitátem réprobans, quæcúmque recta sunt líbera exérceat caritáte.

Grant to your Church, we bessech you, O Lord, the spirit of strength and zeal for justice, by which you desired blessed Pope Gregory to shine, that rejecting iniquity, she will freely exercise charity.

Vespers: Iste est fidélis et prudens dispensátor, quem constítuit Dóminus super famíliam suam, ut daret illis in témpore trítici mensúram.

This is the wise steward, whom the Lord has set over his family, that he might give to them their food in due season

Saint Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi, Virgin

Lauds: Ecce prudens virgo migrávit ad Christum, fulgens inter choros vírginum sicut sol in virtúte cælésti.

Behold the wise virgin who came to Christ, shining among the choir of virgins as the sun in the strength of heaven

Deus, virginitátis amátor, qui beátam Maríam Magdalénam, vírginem, tuo amóre succénsam donis cæléstibus decorásti, da, ut, quam hódie venerámur, eius puritátis caritatísque imitémur exémpla.

O God, the lover of virginity, who enkindled the blessed virgin, Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, with love of you and crowned her with heavenly gifts, grant that we who venerate her this day may imitate her example of purity and charity.

Vespers: Veni, sponsa Christi, áccipe corónam, quam tibi Dóminus præparávit in ætérnum.

Come, bride of Christ, receive the crown, which the Lord has prepared for you forever.

Saint Bede the Venerable, Priest, Doctor

Lauds: Qui docti fúerint, fulgébunt quasi splendor firmaménti et, qui ad iustítiam erúdiunt multos, quasi stellæ in perpétuas æternitátes.

Those who are learned will shine as splendor of the firmament, and those who instruct many in righteousness will shine as a star forever.

Deus, qui Ecclésiam tuam beáti Bedæ, presbýteri, eruditióne claríficas, fámulis tuis concéde propítius, et eius semper illustrári sapiéntia, et méritis adiuvári.

O God, who enlightened your Church by the erudition  of blessed Bede, graciously grant to your servants that they may ever be intructed by his wisdom and helped by his merits. 

Vespers: O doctor óptime, Ecclésiæ sanctæ lumen, beáte N., divínæ legis amátor, deprecáre pro nobis Fílium Dei.

O excellent teacher, light of holy Church, blessed lover of divine law, pray for us to the Son of God.

Mater Ecclesiae

 

Mater Ecclesiae

St. Augustine

"But plainly (Mary) is, in spirit, Mother of us who are His members, because by love she has cooperated so that the faithful, who are the members of that Head might be born in the Church.  In body, indeed, she is mother of that very Head."  

On Holy Virginity, 6,6

Hugo Rahner

This is the fundamental doctrine, that Mary is the type or symbol of the Church, and everything we find in the Gospel about Mary can be understood in a proper biblical sense of the mystery of the Church

Our Lady and the Church, p. 13

Henri de Lubac

Everywhere the Church finds in [Mary] her type and model, her point of origin and perfection: ‘the form of our Mother the Church is according to the form of his Mother.’  Our Lady speaks and acts in the name of the Church at every moment of her existence . . . because she already carries the Church within her, so to speak, and contains her in her wholeness, in her own person.

The Splendor of the Church, p. 320

Lumen Gentium

She [Mary] is hailed both as a pre-eminent, and wholly unique member of the Church and as its type and outstanding model in faith and charity…

By reason of the gift and role of divine Maternity by which she is united with her Son, the Redeemer, and with His singular graces and functions, the Blessed Virgin is also intimately united with the Church. As St. Ambrose taught, the Mother of God is a type of the Church in the order of faith, charity, and perfect union with Christ. For, in the mystery of the Church which, itself, is rightly called mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion as exemplar of both virgin and mother…

The Church indeed—contemplating her hidden sanctify, imitating her charity, and faithfully fulfilling the Father’s will by receiving the word of God in faith—becomes a mother herself. By her preaching, she brings forth to a new and immortal life, the sons who are born to her in Baptism, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of God. She, herself, is a virgin who keeps, whole and entire, the Faith given to her by her Spouse. Imitating the Mother of her Lord, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, she maintains integral faith, firm hope, and genuine charity with virginal purity… The Mother of Jesus, in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven, is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise, she shines forth on earth until the day of the Lord shall come (cf. 2 Pet. 3:10), assign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God.

#53, 63, 64 and 68

 

 Beata Maria Virgo Imago et Mater Ecclesiae

On November 21, 1964, at the end of the third session of the Second Vatican Council, Paul VI, during the celebration of Mass, declared our Lady "Mother of the Church, that is, of the entire Christian people, both the faithful and their pastors, who call her their most loving Mother," and decreed that "from now onward the whole Christian people should give even greater honor to the Mother of God under this most loving title." (AAS 56, 1965, p.1015)

Accordingly, many particular Churches and religious families began to venerate the Blessed Virgin under the title of "Mother of the Church." In 1974, to encourage Marian celebrations during the Holy Year of Reconciliation (1975), this Mass was composed; it was shortly afterwards inserted in the second editio typica edition of The Roman Missal (Sacramentary) among the Votive Masses in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (MR, pp. 867-869)

Deus, misericordiarum Pater,

cuius Unigenitus, cruci afffxus,

beatam Mariam Virginem, Genetricem suam,

Matrem quoque nostram constituit,

concede, quaesumus, ut, eius cooperante caritate,

Ecclesia tua, in dies fecundior, prolis sanctitate exsultet

et in gremium suum cunctas attrahat familias populorum.

O God, Father of mercies, whose Only-begotten Son suspended upon the cross, made the blessed Virgin Mary, his mother, our mother as well, grant, we beseech you, that by her loving cooperation, Your Church, being more fruitful day by day, may rejoice in the holiness of her offspring, and may draw all the families of the peoples into her embrace.

At Lauds: Dom Anselmo Lentini, OSB

Quæ caritatis fulgidum

es astrum, Virgo , superis,

spei nobis mortalibus

fons vivax es et profluus.

Sic vales, celsa Domina,

in Nati cor piissimi,

ut qui fidenter postulat,

per te securus impetret.

Opem tua benignitas

non solum fert poscentibus,

sed et libenter sæpius

precantum vota prævenit.

In te misericordia,

in te magnificentia;

tu bonitatis cumulas

quicquid creata possident.

Patri sit et Paraclito

tuoque Nato gloria,

qui veste te mirabili

circumdederunt gratiæ.

Amen

What a shining star of love for those above you are, O Virgin; to us mortals a living and flowing fount of hope.

So you win, O heavenly Lady, the heart of your most holy Son that he, who faithfully asks through you, entreats confidently.

Your kindness not only grants help to those who plead but more often

anticipate freely the requests of those who pray to you.

In you is mercy, in you is generosity; you the height of whatever goodness creatures can own. 

Glory to the Father and the Paraclete and to your Son, who wondrously adorned and surrounded you with grace. Amen

Vespers: Virgo Mater Eccelesiae

Virgo mater ecclesiae,

Aeterna porta gloriae,

Esto nobis refugium

apud patrem et filium.

Gloriosa Dei mater,

cuius Natus est ac pater,

ora pro nobis omnibus,

qui mem0riam ågimus.

Stella maris. lux refülgens,

stirps regålis, sancta parens,

 roga Patrem et Filium

ut det nobis Paråclitum.

                       

Virgo clemens, virgo pia,

virgo dulcis, O Maria.

Exaudi preces omnium

Ad te pie clamantium.

Funde preces tuo Nato,

crucifixo, vulneråto,

pro nobis et flagellåto,

spinis puncto. felle potåto.

Alma mater summi regis,

lux et porta celsi cæli,

inclina te misérrimis

geméntibus cum låcrimis.

                       

Patri sit et Paråclito

tu0que Nato gloria,

cuius vocåris münere

mater beåta Ecclésiæ.

Virgin Mother of the Church,

eternal portal of glory,

be for us a refuge 

with the Father and the Son.

Glorious Mother of God,

Whose Son is also your father,

Pray for us all,

Who observe this memorial.

 Virgin merciful, Virgin holy,

Virgin sweet, O Mary.

Hear the prayers of all

those crying obediently to you.

Pour out prayers to your Son,

Crucified and wounded,

Scour also for us,

Pierced by thorns, given gall as drink.

Gracious Mother of the high King,

Light and gate of high heaven,

Incline yourself to the wretched,

Groaning and weeping.

To the Father and Paraclete

To your Son be glory,

Whose gift it is that

You be called Mother of the Church. Amen.