Hail, O Holy Cross, Hail, O Glory of the world,
our true hope, bearing true joys, the Sign of salvation, Safety in dangers,
living Wood bearing the life of all. Redeemed upon you, we ever praise you,
worship you, life-giving Cross, sweet
beauty of the ages, to you we, your servants through the wood, set free through
you, through you, ever sing. Praise to God the Father in the Cross of his Son,
equal praise to the Holy Spirit; to the citizens of heaven and the angels, to
the world honor and exaltation of the Cross. Amen.
O wondrous sign of the Cross shining through out
the world, upon whom hung the innocent Christ, the Redeemer of all. This is the
tree taller than the cedars of Lebanon, which knows not dangerous fruit but
bears the reward of life. By the sign of this Cross, O most holy King, do not
refuse to protect us every hour, at all times. That with the harmony of our
voices and devoted hearts we may always offer to you due praises. To the father, to you, O
Jesus, to the Comforter, be equal glory, who grants that we ever enjoy the
victory of the Cross. Amen.
Both
this hymn and the hymn for the Officium lectionis, Pange, lingua, gloriósi,
were written to mark the arrival in Poitiers of a relic of the true cross from
Constantinople. The Thuringian princess and Frankish queen, who founded the
Abbey of the Holy Cross at Poitiers,
Radegundis, had received the relic
from the Emperor Justin II and Fortunatus was asked to compose an ode to
celebrate the arrival of the relic. Stanzas 1, 3, 5-6, & 8 of the original
are used at Vespers during Holy Week. Cf. M for a different selection of
stanzas and arrangement.
1. W &
WH: vexilla = the military standards of the Roman army, which are seen
accompanying the relic; pródeunt/fulget: the procession advances with the relic
in a shining reliquary, shining physically and spiritually; 2. “virtue of the flesh the Creator of flesh,
i.e., by virtue of the Incarnation the Creator can be hung on the Cross. 3. C: patíbulo = literally a ‘yoke’ used here
for the Cross; W: a yoke shaped somewhat like the letter ‘Y’ placed on the back
of criminals, to the arms of which their arms were tied to carry it to the
place of execution; 4. W & C: quo =
‘whereon’ and refers to patíbulo; 5.
mucróne = sharp point; 6. W: ‘to cleanse us from guilt He shed forth water and
blood’-John 19:34: sed unus militum lancea latus ejus aperuit, et continuo
exivit sanguis et aqua; 7. W: ‘The Creator grieving at the harm wrought to (or
' by ') the first man, when by the bite of the fatal apple he fell in death.
Himself even then marked a tree, in order to undo the damage caused by a tree.' “A legend, … told how that the cross came
from the tree in the Garden of Eden, a shoot of which was brought out by Adam
and planted by Seth. The tree which grew from this was destroyed in the deluge,
but a twig of it was saved by Noah”; 8. WH: “the purple of the king is the
blood of Christ”; W: The purple is that of the blood which consecrated the tree
as a throne ; It is not of the purple hangings of the processional cross (as
Kayser suggests) that the poet is thinking” ; Cf. Paulinus of Nola: Poem 27:
89: “He renews all things under the guidance of the Word, who mounting aloft
from the gleaming cross with the purple of His precious blood reached the
heights’; 9. W: ' O blessed tree, on whose arms hung the ransom of the world
! It was made a balance for His body and
bore away the prey of hell.' 10. WH: “the Crucifixion as the ransom paid for
freeing the world from sin”; 11. C: statéra facta est córporis: “The Cross was
the scales on which the weight of human sin was counterbalanced by the weight
of Christ’s body on the other side, i.e. the Passion of Christ restored the
balance between God and man”; 12. Tártari: W: “Fortunatus freely uses the
nomenclature of classical mythology’; 13. This stanza was added in the 10th
Century and then revised in the Liturgica Horarum. 14. Doxology: novus
The banners of the King advance, the mystery of
the Cross shines forth, wherein the Creator of flesh in the flesh is suspended
from the gibbet. Where, wounded he hangs
pierced by the harsh spear, that he might wash us from sin by the shedding of
his blood. O beautiful and glimmering tree adorned with the purple of the King,
tree trunk worthily chosen to bear such holy limbs. Blessed tree from whose
branches hung the price of the world; His body weighed upon the scale took away
the booty of hell. Hail, O altar, hail, O sacrifice, from the glory of the
passion, by which life is carried away from death and by death returned us to
life. O Cross, hail, our only hope, in this Passiontide, grant to the holy
grace and wash away sins of the guilty.
You, O Trinity, source of salvation, may every spirit praise, whom
through the mystery of the Cross, may you save and cherish through the ages.
Amen.
Holy Week: ad Officium lectionis: Fortunatus: notanda
The meter, trochaic tetrameter, was used for by the
Roman legions celebrating triumphs in Rome.' The hymn very early came into extensive use and
is found in most mediaeval Breviaries and Missals. In the older Roman (Venice
1478), Paris of 1643, Sarum, York, Aberdeen, and other Breviaries, it is
appointed for use from Passion Sunday to Maundy Thursday’ (Julian, A Dictionary
of Hymnology: reflecting earlier use).
In the Liturgica Horarum stanzas 1-4 and 6 are used at the Office of
Readings from Sunday to Friday in Holy
Week; stanzas 7-10 at Lauds during the same period.
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