Thursday: Week I & III

When the Office of Readings is said in the daytime: 7-8^th century

Walpole provides a hymn with the same incipit, but the rest of  that hymn is entirely different. However, in #50 under a different incipit, Diei luce reddita, beginning with the fourth stanza all the verses of the hymn in the revised Breviary may be found.Caesarius adopted these verses to form a hymn for Compline.

Christe, precámur ádnuas

orántibus servis tuis,

iníquitas hæc sǽculi (1)

ne nostram captívet fidem.

Non cogitémus ímpie,

invideámus némini,

læsi non reddámus vicem,

vincámus in bono malum. (2)

Absit nostris e córdibus

ira, dolus, supérbia;

absístat avarítia,

malórum radix ómnium.

Consérvet pacis fœ́dera

non simuláta cáritas; (3)

sit illibáta cástitas

credulitáte pérpeti.

Sit, Christe, rex piíssime,

tibi Patríque glória

cum Spíritu Paráclito,

in sempitérna sǽcula. Amen.

1.      'Grant... that this iniquity of the world may not bring our faith into captivity.'

2.      Rom. xii. 21.

3.      Cf. 2 Cor vi. 6; 1 Tim i.5.

O Christ, we ask, favor your servants as they pray and let not the wickedness of the world take our faith captive. Let us not think in evil ways, let us envy no one, wounded let us not repay each other, let us conquer ill with good. May anger, deceit, and pride be absent from our hearts, may greed, the root of all evils, depart. May the bond of peace be preserved and love not be a pretense, chastity maintain purity through perpetual faith. Glory to you, O Christ, most holy King, and to the Father, with the Spirit Paraclete for eternal ages. Amen.

At Lauds: Prudentius

Sol ecce surgit ígneus: (1)

piget, pudéscit, pænitet,

nec teste quisquam lúmine

peccáre constánter potest.

Tandem facéssat cæcitas,

quæ nosmet in præceps diu

lapsos sinístris gréssibus

erróre traxit dévio.

Hæc lux serénum cónferat (2)

purósque nos præstet sibi;

nihil loquámur súbdolum,

volvámus obscúrum nihil.

Sic tota decúrrat dies,

ne lingua mendax, ne manus

oculíve peccent lúbrici,

ne noxa corpus ínquinet.

Speculátor astat désuper,

qui nos diébus ómnibus

actúsque nostros próspicit

a luce prima in vésperum.

Deo Patri sit glória

eiúsque soli Fílio

cum Spíritu Paráclito,

in sempitérna sæcula. Amen.

 1. original = Lux ecce surgit aurea. 2. Walpole: "this hymn also comes from Cathemerinon II. 2. haec lux =Christ

Behold the fiery sun arises, which grieves, shames and causes repentance and by the witness of this light no one can continue to sin. Finally blindness gives way, which for long had kept us on edge and dragged the fallen with evil steps and devious error. This Light brings peace and renders us pure; May we speak no fraud, nor hatch devious plots. So may our whole day pass with no deceit of tongue that hands and wandering eyes may not sin, no harmful things corrupt the body. The divine watchman sees from above, who observes our deeds all our days from first light to evening. To God the Father be glory and to his only Son, with th Spirit Paraclete, in eternal ages. Amen.

At Vespers: St. Gregory the Great (?):

Magnæ Deus poténtiæ,

qui ex aquis ortum genus (1)

partim remíttis gúrgiti,

partim levas in áera,

Demérsa lymphis ímprimens,

subvécta cælis irrogans,

ut, stirpe una pródita,

divérsa répleant loca:

Largíre cunctis sérvulis,

quos mundat unda sánguinis, (2)

nescíre lapsus críminum

nec ferre mortis tædium,

Ut culpa nullum déprimat,

nullum levet iactántia,

elísa mens ne cóncidat,

eláta mens ne córruat.

Præsta, Pater piíssime,

Patríque compar Unice,

cum Spíritu Paráclito

regnans per omne sæculum. Amen.

1. Genesis 1:21:  Creavitque Deus cete grandia, et omnem animam viventem atque motabilem, quam produxerant aquæ in species suas, et omne volatile secundum genus suum.

2. John 19:34: sed unus militum lancea latus ejus aperuit, et continuo exivit sanguis et aqua.

O God of great power, who of those born from the waters, part you return to the depths, part you raise up into the air. You press down those submerged in the sea and raise up to the skies from those brought from below in order that coming from one source they may fill different places. Grant to all your servants, whom the flow of blood has cleansed, to know no fall into crime, nor to bear the weariness of death. That guilt may depress none, nor haughtiness exalt any, lest the despondent mind be overcome, the proud mind be corrupted. Grant, O Father most holy, only Son equal to the Father, with the Spirit Paraclete, ruling through all time. Amen.