SACRATISSIMI CORDIS IESU

 

Fr. Joseph Connelly comments negatively on the hymns for Sacred Heart (The Hymns of the Roman Liturgy). Fr. Connelly says the author is unknown, although the Liber Hymnarius attributes it to Philip Bruni. He mentions  three hymns but only two of these are in the Liturgica Horarum. The abbreviation "B" refers to Dom Matthew Britt. The lines specifically identified are not in the hymns now in use for this solemnity. 

The three hymns for this feast, usually dated eighteenth century, are 'evidently the work of the same author', B. His name is not known. B quotes from Henry, Eucharistica, p. 235, the following appreciation: 'Their play of fancy and of imagination, their rhetorical finish, their condensed phraseology, give clear intimations of a skill which has profited by the models constructed by St Ambrose. They abound,  too, in Biblical allusions, every stanza recalling some type, or ftgure, or prophecy, or fulfilment.' However true this may be in other respects, it is scarcely true in the reference to St Ambrose. A hymn is something to be sung, and a good hymn is, among other things, easily singable. St Ambrose's hymns satisfy these requirements, while these do not; and by that criterion they are not good hymns. St Ambrose would never have written lines such as 78) II or 78) 17, nor could he be claimed as a model for them.

Ad I & II Vesperas: Philippus Bruni

Auctor beáte sæculi,

Christe, Redémptor ómnium,

lumen Patris de lúmine

Deúsque verus de Deo:

Amor coégit te tuus

mortále corpus súmere,

ut, novus Adam, rédderes

quod vetus ille abstúlerat:

Ille amor, almus ártifex

terræ marísque et síderum,

erráta patrum míserans

et nostra rumpens víncula.

Non corde discédat tuo

vis illa amóris íncliti:

hoc fonte gentes háuriant

remissiónis grátiam.

Ad hoc acérbam lánceam

passúmque ad hoc est vúlnera,

ut nos laváret sórdibus

unda fluénte et sánguine.

Iesu, tibi sit glória,

qui corde fundis grátiam,

cum Patre et almo Spíritu

in sempitérna sæcula. Amen.

Blessed creator of the world,  O Christ, redeemer of all, light from the light of the Father, and true God from God.  Your love compelled you to take a mortal body that as the new Adam you might restore what the old Adam took away.  That love, O generous maker of the earth and the seas and stars,  caused you to have mercy  on our first parents’ errors and to break our chains.  May  the power of that glorious love never cease to flow; may the nations drink from that fountain the grace of the remission of sins. For this you suffered the sharp lance and for this the wounding that it might cleanse us from our sins by the flow of water and blood. To you, O Jesus, be glory, who poured grace from your heart, with the Father and strengthening Spirit, in eternal ages. Amen.

Ad Officium lectionis: Philippus Bruni

Cor, arca legem cóntinens

non servitútis véteris,

sed grátiæ, sed véniæ,

sed et misericórdiæ;

Cor, sanctuárium novi

intemerátum fœderis,

templum vetústo sánctius

velúmque scisso utílius:

Te vulnerátum cáritas

ictu paténti vóluit,

amóris invisíbilis

ut venerémur vúlnera.

Hoc sub amóris sýmbolo

passus cruénta et mýstica,

utrúmque sacrifícium

Christus sacérdos óbtulit.

Quis non amántem rédamet?

quis non redémptus díligat

et caritáte iúgiter

hærére Christo géstiat?

Iesu, tibi sit glória,

qui corde fundis grátiam,

cum Patre et almo Spíritu,

in sempitérna sæcula. Amen.

Your heart contains the law, not the of law of slavery, but the law of grace, of pardon and of mercy.  Your heart is the unsullied  sanctuary of the new covenant, a holier temple than the old one, a veil more profitable than the one that was torn. Love desired that you be wounded with a blow that reveals your heart, your invisible love,  that we might worship your wounds. Under this symbol of love, Christ suffered cruelly and mystically, so as a priest he offered a twofold sacrifice. Who would not respond in love to one who loves this way? Who redeemed would not love you and in love cleave always to Christ?  O Jesus, to you be glory, who from your heart poured out grace, with the Father and strengthening Spirit, in eternal ages. Amen.

Ad Laudes matutinas: Bernardus claravallensis?

Iesu, auctor cleméntiæ,

totíus spes lætítiæ,

dulcóris fons et grátiæ,

veræ cordis delíciæ:

Iesu, spes pæniténtibus,

quam pius es peténtibus,

quam bonus te quæréntibus;

sed quid inveniéntibus?

Tua, Iesu, diléctio,

grata mentis reféctio,

replet sine fastídio,

dans famem desidério.

O Iesu dilectíssime,

spes suspirántis ánimæ,

te quærunt piæ lácrimæ,

te clamor mentis íntimæ.

Mane nobíscum, Dómine,

Mane novum cum lúmine,

pulsa noctis calígine

mundum replens dulcédine.

Iesu, summa benígnitas,

mira cordis iucúnditas,

incomprehénsa bónitas,

tua nos stringit cáritas.

Iesu, flos Matris vírginis,

amor nostræ dulcédinis,

laus tibi sine términis,

regnum beatitúdinis. Amen.

 O Jesus, author of mercy, the hope of complete joy and source of sweet grace and the true delight of the heart. O Jesus, hope of the penitent, how loving you are to those who ask you in prayer, how good to those who seek you; but what do they find? Your love, O Jesus, pleasing refreshment of the soul, he fills without weariness,   satisfying our hunger with more desire. O most loving Jesus, hope of those who long for you, holy tears seek you, cry to you from deep inside the soul. Abide with us, O Lord, in the morning with the new light, drive away the darkness of night, filling the world with your sweetness.  O Jesus, highest kindness, wondrous joy of the heart, limitless goodness, your love compels us. O Jesus, flower of the virgin Mother, love of our sweetness, praise to you without end in the kingdom blessed. Amen.