Mozarabic Hymns: The Fourth and Fifth Sundays of Lent: Vespers

Spanish book art in the early Middle Ages was of a singular order. Its unmistakable look derived principally from the Islamic conquest: in the 8th century, the highly advanced culture of the Arab world was disseminated over more than half of the Iberian peninsula, and, through contact with the native aesthetic elements of West Gothic early Christianity, a distinctive cross-over Mozarabic style evolved. The illustrated commentaries on the Revelation of St. John by Beatus Liébana clearly signifies Spain's role as a fascinating crucible of the most diverse of influences. Oriental, Mozarabic and West Gothic influences can be detected.

First and second Vespers

Verbum Patris, quod prodiit factum caro;

Agnus Dei peccata mundi auferens:

Ad te venimus cernui, ut inclytum

Bibamus almæ passionis sanguinem.

Ostende vulnerum sacrorum stigmata:

Exurgat insignis Crucis fortissimum

Signum, quod in vigore perpetim

Manens, credentibus salvationem conferat.

Arundo, clavi, sputa, potus myrrheus,

Corona spinarum, flagella, lancea,

Impressa sunt damnationis verbera:

Iam nostra pro his cuncta dele crimina.

Fons vulneris Sacri riget præcordia,

Lavet cruor, malitiæque contagia:

Sit vita præsens absque omni crimine;

Futura detur in beato munere.

Ut, cum resurgendi dies effulserit,

Orbique regni claritas inluxerit,

Sequamur ætheris viam, quæ nos trahat

In se receptos jam perennes incolas.

Honor sit Æterno Deo, sit gloria

Uni Patri, ejusque soli Filio

Cum Spiritu; quæ Trinitas perenniter

Vivit potens in sæculorum sæculis.

   Amen.

The Word of the Father, who comes forth as the Word made flesh; the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world: humbly we come to you that we might drink the glorious blood of your loving passion. Show to us the signs of your holy wounds: May the most mighty sign of the noble cross arise, which retains  its power forever and gives salvation to believers.  The reed, the nails, the spittle, the drink of myrrh, the crown of thorns, the whip, the lance, the marks of the punishing lashes: now these blot out all our sins.  May the fount of your holy wounding water our dry hearts, may your blood wash away the sickness of evil: may our present life be free from sin and in the world to come may we be given the blessed reward. That when the day of the resurrection shine forth and the brightness of the kingdom illumines the world, may we follow the path to heaven, which leads us to the place where those who have already been received dwell forever.  Honor be to the eternal God, to the one Father and to his only Son with the Spirit, the Trinity, who forever lives in power, to the ages of ages. Amen.

Mozarabic Hymn: Holy Wednesday: Vespers

The Pazzi Crucifixion is a circa 1495 fresco of the Crucifixion of Christ by Perugino in the chapter house of the Cistercian monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi in Florence. It is his most notable work in Florence, forming part of the sacred conversation style. It was a commission from the Pucci family - Antonio Billi's account book reports Dionigi and Giovanna Pucci commissioning a work from "Master Piero della Pieve a Chastello, a Perugian" on 20 November 1493 and paying 55 gold ducats on its completion on 20 April 1496.

The central panel shows Mary Magdalene (to whom the monastery church was dedicated in 1257) in prayer at the foot of the cross. The left panel shows the Virgin Mary with Saint Bernard (a major leader in the reform of Benedictine monasticism that caused the formation of the Cistercian order) and the right one shows John the Apostle with Saint Benedict. The three tall trees behind St Bernard may symbolize the Holy Trinity. A fourth panel on the north wall (the others are on the east wall) shows Christ lowering himself from the cross to hold the hands of St Bernard.

Jam legis umbra clauditur,

Novumque Phasse * prodiit,

Cum vera lux in vesperum

Mundi suborta promicat.

Hinc Christe rex post biduum

Coenae litas convivium,

Quo pascha pridem mysticum

In pascha nostrum vertitur.

 Audi fidelium preces,

Qui traditorem passus es;

Hac nocte nos inlumina,

Carnem lava, cor praepara.

Ardor tuae dulcedinis

Interna nostra concremet;

Fides paratos innovet,

Opusque ad regnum vocet.

 Ut, suavitate gratiae

Hinc advocati, in crastinum

Inebriemur poculis

Tui sacrati sanguinis.

Deo Patri sit gloria,

Ejusque soli Filio,

Cum Spiritu Paraclito,

Regnans per omne saeculum.

   Amen.

*Blume & John Mason Neale: phase for Phasse.

Now the shadow of the law is concluded and a new time comes forth, when the true light shines as the light of the world declines into evening.  After the next two days, O Christ the King, you will sacrifice at the banquet of the Cenacle, when the old Passover becomes our mystical Easter. Hear the prayers of the faithful, you who have suffered betrayal, on that night enlighten us, purify our bodies, prepare our hearts. May the ardor of our goodness make us burn within; renew in us ready faith and may our work call us to heaven, that called on the approaching day by your pleasing grace we may be inebriated by the cup of your holy blood.

Hebd. Sancta - D - II - III - IV – V: notanda

1537: This is the only identified religious painting by Peter Gertner, who was best known as a portrait artist. Here he uses the skills he honed as a portraitist to introduce distinctive details of costumes, facial expressions, and gestures for both the historical and contemporary figures gathered beneath the Cross. The crowd includes men of many origins: Jewish, Turkish, German, and African. This diversity would both intrigue the viewer and remind him or her of the universal message of the scene. Gertner's monogram consists of a spade with his initials. It is a play on his name, a variation on "gardener" in German.

NB: Since it is likely that most of us will not be able to attend the Holy Week liturgies, one way to meditate on the mysteries of the Lord's death is to say, sing or read  the hymns appropriate to the hours and days. 

In the older breviaries the Fifth Sunday of Lent was Passion Sunday or First Passion Sunday. A practical result of this was that the Church spent this week singing the great Passion hymns of Holy Week before Holy Week. The Liturgica Horarum does not continue this tradition. But those who are not canonically bound to saying the current office might want to begin using the Passion hymns this coming Sunday. These are so rich in theological insight, so beautiful, and also in some ways rather difficult in Latin. It is good to get a head start on them and also to have two rather than one week to spend in the company of these powerful hymns.

W = A.S. Walpole, Early Latin Hymns

C = Joseph Connelly, Hymns of the Roman Liturgy

WH = Peter G. Walsh and Christopher Husch, One Hundred Latin Hymns

M = Inge B. Milfull, The Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church



Hymns of Holy Week: Vespers



Ad Vesperas I & II: Fortunatus

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.

Vexílla regis pródeunt, (1)

fulget crucis mystérium,

quo carne carnis cónditor (2)

suspénsus est patíbulo; (3)



Quo, vulnerátus ínsuper (4)

mucróne diro lánceæ, (5)

ut nos laváret crímine, (6)

manávit unda et sánguine.



Arbor decóra et fúlgida, (7)

ornáta regis púrpura, (8)

elécta digno stípite

tam sancta membra tángere!



Beáta, cuius brácchiis (9)

sæcli pepéndit prétium; (10)

statéra facta est córporis (11)

prædam tulítque tártari. (12)



Salve, ara, salve, víctima,

de passiónis glória,

qua Vita mortem pértulit

et morte vitam réddidit!



O crux, ave, spes única! (13)

hoc passiónis témpore

piis adáuge grátiam

reísque dele crímina.



Te, fons salútis, Trínitas, (14)

colláudet omnis spíritus;

quos per crucis mystérium

salvas, fove per sæcula. Amen.

 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 10^th 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 us 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.

Pange, lingua, gloriósi (1)

prœlium certáminis, (2)

et super crucis tropæo

dic triúmphum nóbilem,

quáliter redémptor orbis (3)

immolátus vícerit. (4)



De paréntis protoplásti

fraude factor cóndolens, (5)

quando pomi noxiális

morte morsu córruit,

ipse lignum tunc notávit,

damna ligni ut sólveret.



Hoc opus nostræ salútis (6)

ordo depopóscerat, (7)

multifórmis perditóris

arte ut artem fálleret, (8)

et medélam ferret inde, (9)

hostis unde læserat.



Quando venit ergo sacri

plenitúdo témporis, (10)

missus est ab arce Patris

Natus, orbis cónditor,

atque ventre virgináli

carne factus pródiit.



Lustra sex qui iam perácta (11)

tempus implens córporis, (12)

se volénte, natus ad hoc,

passióni déditus,

agnus in crucis levátur

immolándus stípite. (13)



Æqua Patri Filióque,

ínclito Paráclito,

sempitérna sit beátæ

Trinitáti glória,

cuius alma nos redémit

atque servat grátia. Amen.



W = A.S. Walpole, Early Latin Hymns

C = Joseph Connelly, Hymns of the Roman Liturgy

WH = Peter G. Walsh and Christopher Husch, One Hundred Latin Hymns

M = Inge B. Milfull, The Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church

 1.   C: Pange: tell, relate, sing; 2. W,C: commenting on the Urban VIII text substituting laurem certaminis for proelium certaminis: the poet was thinking of the struggle, not its result; W: quotes John Mason Neale: ‘it is not to the glory of the termination of our Lord’s conflict with the devil that the pet would have us look but to the glory of the struggle itself.”  3.  Super = de, ‘about’  with the ablative tropæo; 3.  C: quáliter = ‘how, in what way’; W: ‘one of Fortunatus’s favorite words;  4. W: immolátus vícerit: ‘placed side by side form a sharp contrast. The victim was the conqueror’; WH: cite Augustine, Confessions 10: 43-69: ideo victor quia victim; also WH: protoplásti fraude: the reference is to Satan’s hoodwinking of [the first  formed] Adam; m 6. W: hoc opus: the reparation by means of the cross of the bane wrought by the tree of knowledge;  7. ordo = plan; depopóscerat = had demanded in the everlasting counsel of the Father;  8. Arte = craft: ‘that by craft He might foil the craft of the many-shaped destroyer.' Satan appeared to Eve as a serpent, and ' fashioneth himself into an angel of light,' 2 Cor. xi. 14: ipse enim Satanas transfigurat se in angelum lucis; 9. inde…unde: C: cf. Preface of the Cross: ut unde mors oriebatur, inde resurgeret; et qui in lingo vincebat, in lingo quoque vinceretur; 10. plenitúdo témporis: Galatian 4.4; Ephesians 1.10; 11. W: ‘when thirty years were now accomplished’; 12. W: tempus corpus = ‘his life on earth’; 13. W: the altar being the Cross, where the Lamb is offered.

Sing, O tongue, of the glorious battle strife, and tell of the noble triumph upon the trophy of the Cross, how the Redeemer of the world was sacrificed and conquered. Because of our first parent’s deceit the Creator mourned, when Adam bit that baneful apple and fell to death, then he chose the wood that would restore the wood’s harm. The plan of our salvation demanded that the craftiness of the multiform destroyer be stopped by divine craftiness and that healing might come from where the enemy had struck.  When therefore the fullness of sacred time had come, the Son, the Creator of the world,  was sent from the Father’s fortress and from a virginal womb he made flesh went forth. When he had completed thirty years, finishing the time of his body, by his own will, born for this, given to the passion, the Lamb raised up and sacrificed on the tree of the cross. Equal and eternal glory to the Father and the Son, the glorious Paraclete , to the blessed Trinity, whose nourishing grace redeems and preserves us. Amen.

Holy Week: Ad Laudes matutinas: Fortunatus



En acétum, fel, arúndo, (1)

sputa, clavi, láncea;

mite corpus perforátur,

sanguis, unda prófluit; (2)

terra, pontus, astra, mundus (3)

quo lavántur flúmine!



Crux fidélis, inter omnes (4)

arbor una nóbilis!

Nulla talem silva profert (5)

flore, fronde, gérmine.

Dulce lignum, dulci clavo

dulce pondus sústinens!



Flecte ramos, arbor alta, (6)

tensa laxa víscera,

et rigor lentéscat ille

quem dedit natívitas,

ut supérni membra regis

miti tendas stípite.



Sola digna tu fuísti

ferre sæcli prétium, (7)

atque portum præparáre (8)

nauta mundo náufrago, (9)

quem sacer cruor perúnxit

fusus Agni córpore.



Æqua Patri Filióque,

ínclito Paráclito,

sempitérna sit beátæ

Trinitáti glória,

cuius alma nos redémit

atque servat grátia. Amen.

1.WH: ‘the catalogue of indignities’  is assembled from Matt: 27.30, arúndo; Matt: 27:34, fel; Matt: 27.48, acetum; and John 19:34: láncea; John 19:34: clavi; 2. W: sanguis, unda: In this Fortunatus  is thinking of the consecration of baptism by the cross; 3.  W: terra, pontus, astra: the  threefold division of the universe;  mundus: ' the universe ' ; the whole, of which the three preceding words are the component parts ; all things, whether with or without life, ar included, as by St Paul, Col. 1. 20;  4. W: fidelis:  'faithful,' in that this tree did its duty, accomplished what was expected of it. Or it may mean that it was faithful as opposed to the tree of knowledge in Eden, which was treacherous; WH: perhaps also implying “on which our faith depends”; 5. W:nulla silva: i.e. no ordinary forest : this tree came from Paradise; The thought works backwards from blossom to leaf and from leaf to bud ; and the fruit comes in the next line (pondus); 6. W: flecte ramos: 'bend,' that the ascent may be the easier; WH: ‘the personification of the cross reaches its noble climax; 7. W: pretilum saeculi:  the ransom of the world ' was the death of Christ ; here by an easy transition it is applied to the body which suffered death; 8. WH: portum praepare: ‘to pave the way for the harbor of heaven, which the shipwrecked world attains through Christ’s death on the cross. 9. W: nauta: the cross itself floating over the waves of this troublesome world The metaphor is mixed, but Fortunatus is given to combining incongruous notions, of set purpose; WH: the sailor in the barque of the Church under the mast that is the cross.

Behold the vinegar, the gall, the reed, the spit, the nails, and the lance; his tender body pierced through, blood, water flow. Earth, sea, stars and the world washed clean by this river. Faithful Cross, only noble tree above all others, such as no other forest produces, in fruit, leaf or seed; sweet the wood, sweet the nails, sweet the weight it holds.  Bend your branches, lofty tree, relax your inward tension, may your hardness become soft, which nature gives, that your gentle trunk may  bear the limbs of  the King of heaven. You alone were worthy to bear the ransom of the world and provide a safe port for the sailor in a shipwrecked world, you whom the sacred blood anointed, poured forth from the body of the Lamb.  Equal and eternal glory to the Father and the Son, the glorious Paraclete , to the blessed Trinity, whose nourishing grace redeems and preserves us. Amen.

Ad Horam mediam: saec. X



Celsæ salútis gáudia

mundus fidélis iúbilet:

Iesus, redémptor ómnium,

mortis perémit príncipem.



Palmæ et olívæ súrculos

cœtus viándo déferens,

«Hosánna David fílio»

claris frequéntat vócibus.



Nos ergo summo príncipi

currámus omnes óbviam;

melos canéntes glóriæ,

palmas gerámus gáudii.



Cursúsque nostros lúbricos

donis beátis súblevet,

grates ut omni témpore

ipsi ferámus débitas.



Deo Patri sit glória

eiúsque soli Fílio

cum Spíritu Paráclito

in sempitérna sæcula. Amen.

Let the faithful of the world sing the joys of heavenly salvation; Jesus, the redeemer of all, has overcome the prince of death. The crowd on the road carrying palms and olive branches repeat with loud voices: “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Let us all therefore run to meet the highest King, singing sweet songs of glory, bearing palms of gladness. May he with gifts of grace keep us from straying on dangerous paths, that we may give him due thanks at all times. Glory to God the Father and to us only Son with the Spirit Paraclete for eternal ages. Amen.

Homily by S. Augustine, Bishop Hom. 49 on John

The Raising of Lazarus

IN the former lesson, ye remember, the Lord escaped from the hands of them who wished to stone him: and went away beyond Jordan, where John was once baptizing. Well, the Lord being there, Lazarus was taken sick at Bethany which was a town very near Jerusalem. It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore, the sisters sent unto him, saying—We already understand to what place they sent, the place where the Lord was: because he was absent, beyond Jordan, to wit. They sent to the Lord, to announce the illness of their brother: in order that, if he should vouchsafe, he should come and release him of his sickness. The Lord delayed to heal, that he might raise to life again.

WELL, what was the message the sisters sent? Lord, behold he whom thou lovest is sick. They said not, Come: to one that loved, it needed but to send tidings. They did not say, Command there, and it shall be done here. For why should not these women have said this, if the faith of that centurion is praised on this very account? For he said, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. Nothing of the sort did these women say, but only, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. Enough that thou know it: for thou dost not love and forsake.

SOME man will say, How should it be that by Lazarus a sinner was denoted, and yet he was so loved by the Lord? Let him hear him saying, I am not come to call the just, but sinners. For if God loved not sinners, he had not descended from heaven to earth. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. That he should be thus glorified was no gain to him, but only for our good. That he saith then, Is not unto death, is this, that the death itself was not for death, but rather for a miracle, which being wrought, men should believe in Christ, and avoid the true death. See, withal, how, by a kind of side hint, the Lord hath intimated that he is God: because of certain who deny the Son to be God.

St. Peter Chrysologus: SERMON 142: Second> on the Annunciation of the Lord

YOU HAVE HEARD TODAY, brothers, an angel having a discussion with a woman concerning the repair of the human being. You have heard that the purpose was for the human being to return to life by the same course by which he had fallen to his death. An angel has dealings, yes, has dealings with Mary concerning salvation, because an angel had had dealings with Eve concerning destruction. You have heard about an angel constructing from the mud of our flesh a temple of divine majesty with ineffable skill. You have heard that in a mystery that exceeds our understanding God was placed on earth, and the human being was placed in heaven. You have heard that in an unheard-of manner God and man were mingled in one body. You have heard that the frail nature of our flesh was strengthened by the angel's exhortation to bear God in all his glory.

2. And so, in order that the fine sand of our body in Mary not give way under the excessive weight of the construction from heaven, and that in the Virgin the thin twig not be broken which was about to bear fruit for the benefit of the whole human race, the voice of the angel spoke out right awav so as to banish fear with these words: Do not be afraid, Mary (Lk 1.30). Before the matter at hand, the Virgin's dignity is made known from her name, for Mary in the Hebrew language is translated "Lady." Therefore, the angel calls her "Lady," so that any trepidation coming from being a servant may depart from the Lord's mother, since the very authority of her offspring caused and mandated that she be born and called a Lady.

3. Do not be afraid, Mary: you have found grace. It is true: the one who has found grace knows no fear. You have found grace. Before whom? Before God. Blessed is she who alone among human beings has been counted worthy to hear these words as applied to her ahead of everyone else: You have found grace. How much? As much as he had said just previously: the full amount. And it truly is the full amount which rains down and over all creation in a drenching shower.

4. You have found grace before God. When he says this, even the angel himself is amazed either that the woman has found so much, or that all human beings have found life through the woman. The angel marvels that God has come in his entirety within the confines of the Virgin's womb, God, for whom creation, even when considered together in its entirety, is confining. This is why the angel lingers, this is why he mentions her merit when he calls the Virgin, mentions grace when he summons her, and has difficulty explaining the situation to her as she listens; it stands to reason that it is only with difficulty and a fair bit of anxiety that he finds the right words to help her to understand this. Consider, brothers, with what reverence and fear it is right and proper for us to take part in so great a mystery, when the angel does not dispel the fear of his listener without fear himself.

IN ANNUNTIATIONE DOMINI

Ad I Vesperas: saec VII-VIII

Walpole argues that this text is from Fortunatus but, because it is not found  in that poet’s collected works, Walsh and Husch think this can only be ‘an attractive possibility’.

Agnóscat omne sæculum

venísse vitæ præmium; (1)

post hostis ásperi iugum

appáruit redémptio.

Isaías quæ præcinit (2)

compléta sunt in Vírgine;

annuntiávit Angelus,

Sanctus replévit Spíritus.

María ventre cóncipit

verbi fidélis sémine;

quem totus orbis non capit,

portant puéllæ víscera.

Adam vetus quod pólluit, (3)

Adam novus hoc ábluit;

tumens quod ille déicit, (4)

humíllimus hic érigit.

Christo sit omnis glória,

Dei Paréntis Fílio,

quem Virgo felix cóncipit

Sancti sub umbra Spíritus. Amen.

1.       WH: Christ is himself our life, bestowed as reward by the Father through the redemptive suffering of the Son. 2. Is. 7:14: ‘Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a child’.  3. What the old Adam corrupted, the new Adam washed away. 4. tumens  = swollen with pride.

May every age know the reward of life has come; after the yoke of the harsh enemy redemption appeared. What things Isaiah proclaimed have been accomplished in the Virgin; the Angel announced, the Holy Spirit fulfilled. Mary conceived in her womb by the seed of the faithful word; what the whole world could not hold a young’s womb carried. What the old Adam corrupted the new Adam washed clean; what prideful one cast down the humble one raised up. All glory be to Christ, the Son of God the Father, whom the blessed Virgin conceived by the over shadowing of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Ad Officium lectionis: Prudentius

Taken from the Cathemerinon, Cantus XI, 33-60. The whole section of XI dealing with the birth of Christ. The hymn does not mention the Virgin Mary, the doxology is simply the standard doxology for feasts of Our Lady and forms no part of the original hymn.

Iam cæca vis mortálium

vénerans inánes nænias,

vel æra vel saxa álgida

vel ligna credébat Deum.

Hæc dum sequúntur pérfidi,

prædónis in ius vénerant

et mancipátam fúmido

vitam baráthro immérserant.

Stragem sed istam non tulit

Christus cadéntum géntium;

impúne ne forsan sui

Patris períret fábrica,

Mortále corpus índuit

ut, excitáto córpore,

mortis caténam frángeret

hominémque portáret Patri.

Hic ille natális dies,

quo te Creátor árduus

spirávit et limo índidit,

Sermóne carnem glútinans.

O quanta rerum gáudia

alvus pudíca cóntinet,

ex qua novéllum sæculum

procédit et lux áurea!

Iesu, tibi sit glória,

qui natus es de Vírgine,

cum Patre et almo Spíritu,

in sempitérna sæcula. Amen.

When mortal men were blind, they worshipped empty myths, they trusted in a god made of bronze or cold stone or wood.  While the faithless followed these things, they came under the rule of the devil and lived the life of a slave, plunged down into a dark abyss. But Christ could not bear this slaughter of fallen nations; he would not let the work of his Father perish with impunity. He put on a mortal body that, when the body had been raised, he might break the chains of death and carry man to the Father. This is the birthday, when the Creator breathed on you and from the mud caused the flesh to be joined to the Word. O what joys for all things the pure womb contains, from which comes forth a new world and golden light.  To you, O Jesus, be glory, born of the Virgin, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for eternal ages. Amen.

Ad Laudes matutinas: Source Unknown

O lux, salútis núntia,

qua Vírgini fert Angelus

complénda mox orácula

et cara terris gáudia.

Qui Patris ætérno sinu

ætérna Proles náscitur,

obnóxius fit témpori

matrémque in orbe séligit.

Nobis piándis víctima

nostros se in artus cólligit,

ut innocénti sánguine

scelus nocéntum díluat.

Concépta carne Véritas,

umbráta velo Vírginis,

puris vidénda méntibus,

imple tuo nos lúmine.

Et quæ modésto péctore

te dicis ancíllam Dei,

regína nunc cæléstium,

patróna sis fidélium.

Iesu, tibi sit glória,

qui natus es de Vírgine,

cum Patre et almo Spíritu,

in sempitérna sæcula. Amen.

O Light, O tidings of salvation, which the Angel bore to the Virgin, the prophecies soon to be fulfilled and dear joys upon the earth.  The eternal Son who rests forever in the Father’s bosom is born, becomes subject to time and chooses a mother in this world. Victim for our atonement, he joins himself to our bodies that by innocent blood he might wash away the wickedness of our sins.  O truth conceived in the flesh and shaded by the Virgin’s veil, but seen by pure minds, fill us with your light. And you who humbly call yourself the handmaid of God, now the Queen of the saints in heaven, be the patron of the faithful. To you, O Jesus, be glory, born of the Virgin, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for eternal ages. Amen.

Ad II Vesperas: Ave, maris stella: See Vespers: Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary

WH: Probably from Carolingian period.

Ave, maris stella,

Dei mater alma,

atque semper virgo,

felix cæli porta.

Sumens illud «Ave»

Gabriélis ore,

funda nos in pace,

mutans Evæ nomen.

Solve vincla reis,

profer lumen cæcis,

mala nostra pelle,

bona cuncta posce.

Monstra te esse matrem,

sumat per te precem

qui pro nobis natus

tulit esse tuus.

Virgo singuláris,

inter omnes mitis,

nos culpis solútos

mites fac et castos.

Vitam præsta puram,

iter para tutum,

ut vidéntes Iesum

semper collætémur.

Sit laus Deo Patri,

summo Christo decus,

Spirítui Sancto

honor, tribus unus. Amen.

Hail, Star of the Sea, loving Mother of God and ever virgin, fair gate of heaven. You who received the “Ave’ from the mouth of Gabriel, establish us in peace, reversing the name of “Eva”. Break the chains of sin, give light to the blind, drive away our evil, ask for us all that is good. Show yourself a mother, may he who was born for us and humbled himself to be your Son, receive our prayer through you.  Virgin alone, meek beyond all others, cause our sins to be absolved, make us meek and chaste. Make our life unsullied, our journey safe, that we may see Jesus and with you praise him forever. Amen.

St. Augustine: The marriage of Mary and Joseph: De Nuptiis Et Concupiscentia, 1. I, c. XI

It was not misleading of the angel to say to Joseph: Do not be afraid to take thy wife Mary to thyseIf. Although she had not known his bed and never would, Joseph could still call her his wife because at her betrothal she had pledged herself to be his wife. The term had not become obsolete or deceptive, merely there had been no carnal union in the past and there would be none in the future, She was more of a joy to her husband as a virgin, and the relationship was a more sacred and wonderful thing. As her Fruit came to her without her husband's help, their partnership did not extend to the realm of childbearing, but they were partners all the same because they had pledged their word to each other.

Because this resting on plighted troth was a true marriage, they were deservedly called Christ's parents. It was not simply that Mary was called his mother but that Joseph was called his father, just as he was called the husband of Christ's mother. He was both these things spiritually, not physically. But whether we envisage Joseph as Christ's father spiritually or Mary as his mother both spiritually and physically, we have to admit that both of them were the parents of the lowly element in him, not of the exalted: they were the parents of his weak human nature, not of his divinity and his strength. The gospel is not misrepresenting the situation when it says: His mother said to him, My Son, why hast thou treated us so? Think, what anguish of mind thy father and I have endured, searching for thee. As he wanted to make it clear that they were not his only parents, and that he also had a Father who had begotten him without his mother's aid, he answered: What reason had you to search for me? Could you not tell that I must needs be in the place which belongs to my Father?

Fearing that this question might give a false impression, and that people might think Christ meant that Mary and Joseph were not his parents at all, the evangelist goes on to say: These words which he spoke to them were beyond their understanding; but he went down with them on their journey to Nazareth, and lived there in subjection to them.  Thus, if we ask who he was subject to, the answer is: his parents. And if we ask who was subject to his parents, the answer is: that same Jesus Christ, who though his nature is, from the first, divine, yet did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted. If, then, he lived in subjection to Mary and Joseph, who were far below the rank of Godhead, it must have been because he dispossessed himself, and took the nature of a slave, which was his parents' nature. But since when Mary bore him she was not reaping a harvest sown by Joseph, it is clear that they could not both have been the parents of his servile nature unless they actually were husband and wife, even though they had had no carnal knowledge of each other.

It was right, too, that when the lists of Christ's ancestors came to be drawn up, the series of generations should be made to center on Joseph, as in fact it was. Otherwise, an injustice would have been done to the male partner in the marriage, the more prominent of the two. This did not involve tampering with the truth. Joseph too, as well as Mary, belonged to the line which the prophets had said would produce the Christ—they were both of the line of David.

S. IOSEPH, SPONSI BEATÆ MARIÆ VIRGINIS: Notanda

Oratio

Præsta, quæsumus, omnípotens Deus, ut humánæ salútis mystéria, cuius primórdia beáti Ioseph fidéli custódiæ commisísti, Ecclésia tua, ipso intercedénte, iúgiter servet implénda. Per Dóminum.

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the mysteries of human salvation, whose first beginning you committed to the faithful care of blessed Joseph, by his intercession, may always preserve fully your Church..

All hymns for the Solemnity of St. Joseph are now attributed to Cardinal Jerome Casanate, OP.

Ad I & II Vesperas

Te, Ioseph, célebrent ágmina cælitum,

te cuncti résonent christíanum chori,

qui, clarus méritis, iunctus es ínclitæ (1)

  casto fœdere Vírgini.

Almo cum túmidam gérmine cóniugem

admírans, dúbio tángeris ánxius,

afflátu súperi Fláminis ángelus

  concéptum púerum docet.

Tu natum Dóminum stringis, ad éxteras

Ægýpti prófugum tu séqueris plagas; (2)

amíssum Sólymis quæris et ínvenis,

  miscens gáudia flétibus.

Eléctos réliquos mors pia cónsecrat (3)

palmámque eméritos glória súscipit;

tu vivens, súperis par, frúeris Deo,

  mira sorte beátior.

Nobis, summa Trias, parce precántibus;

da Ioseph méritis sídera scándere,

ut tandem líceat nos tibi pérpetim

  gratum prómere cánticum. Amen.

1.       clarus méritis: Matt 1:19: Joseph autem vir ejus cum esset Justus; 2. The phrase is taken from the chapter for Sext: Cf. Sap 10, 10: Prófugum iustum dedúxit Sapiéntia and refers to the divinity of the child with exeteras: that Joseph did not so much take the child to Egypt but followed him.  3. Cónsecrat means here ‘to put in God’s presence’;

O Joseph, the heavenly hosts celebrate you, and all the choirs of Christendom resound the praise, you who with merits bright are joined in a chaste bound with the glorious Virgin. When you were amazed at your wife pregnant with her loving child, anxiously you were seized by doubt, an angel told you that the child was conceived by the breath of the heavenly Spirit.  You took the newborn Lord that you might follow him on the journey to the far-off land of Egypt; you searched for and found him, when he was lost in Jerusalem, your joy mingled with weeping.  A holy death consecrates other chosen men and glory and palms of victory greet the deserving; but you living had a more blessed and wondrous lot, you were here with God like those in heaven. Highest Trinity, grant to us by the merits of Joseph to reach the stars that at last we may sing forever to you a canticle of thanks. Amen.

Ad Officium lectionis

Iste, quem læti cólimus, fidéles,

cuius excélsos cánimus triúmphos,

hac die Ioseph méruit perénnis

  gáudia vitæ.

O nimis felix, nimis o beátus,

cuius extrémam vígiles ad horam

Christus et Virgo simul astitérunt

  ore seréno.

Iustus insígnis, láqueo solútus (1)

carnis, ad sedes plácido sopóre

migrat ætérnas, rutilísque cingit

  témpora sertis.

Ergo regnántem flagitémus omnes,

adsit ut nobis, veniámque nostris

óbtinens culpis, tríbuat supérnæ

  múnera pacis.

Sint tibi plausus, tibi sint honóres,

trine qui regnas Deus, et corónas

áureas servo tríbuis fidéli

  omne per ævum. Amen.

1.       This line formerly read hinc stygis victor, laqueo solutus: ‘triumphant over hell’ – changed perhaps because the original was ‘mythological’ or said too much.

Joseph, whom we, the faithful, joyfully praise for his great triumphs, today was worthy of the joys of eternal life. O how happy, O how blessed, was he who at his last hour had Christ and the Virgin with peaceful countenance standing by and keeping watch. Great in justice, freed from the snare of the body, calmly and in repose he departs this world for his heavenly home, crowned with brilliant garlands. Therefore let us all implore him now ruling above that he be with us, obtain pardon for our sins, and grant us the gifts of heavenly peace. To you be praise, to you honors, O Triune God, who rules and grants a golden crown to your faithful servant, throughout the ages. Amen.

Ad Laudes matutinas

Cælitum, Ioseph, decus atque nostræ

certa spes vitæ columénque mundi, (1)

quas tibi læti cánimus, benígnus

  súscipe laudes.

Te, satum David, státuit Creátor (2)

Vírginis sponsum, voluítque Verbi

te patrem dici, dedit et minístrum

  esse salútis.

Tu Redemptórem stábulo iacéntem,

quem chorus vatum cécinit futúrum,

áspicis gaudens, sociúsque matris (3)

  primus adóras.

Rex Deus regum, dominátor orbis,

cuius ad nutum tremit inferórum

turba, cui pronus famulátur æther,

  se tibi subdit.

Laus sit excélsæ Tríadi perénnis,

quæ, tibi insígnes tríbuens honóres, (4)

det tuis nobis méritis beátæ

  gáudia vitæ. Amen.

1.       columénque mundi: ‘column or pillar’ in the4 sense that St. Joseph is the patron of the universal church;  2. Originally: te sator rerum statuit pudicae: ‘the Creator of the world appointed you the pure Virgin’s husband’;  3. Original: aspicis gaudens humilisque natum/

numen adoras: ‘rejoicing you saw him and humbly the infant God’. 4. Formerly praebens

rather than insignes;

O Joseph, the honor of those in heaven and our sure hope of life and the support of the world, kindly receive  the praises we sing joyfully sing to you. The Creator appointed you, offspring of David, as husband of the Virgin, and willed that you be called the father of the Word, and made you a minister of salvation. You rejoicing looked upon the Redeemer, whom the choir of prophets sang as the one to come, laid in the stable, and with his Mother first adored. God, the King of kings, Ruler of the world, at whose word the crowd of hell trembles, whom heaven humbly serves, submits himself to you. Eternal praise be to the most high Trinity, that gives to you great honors and give to us through your merits the joys of a blessed life. Amen.