Walpole: This hymn, which bears every mark of
great antiquity, is of universal diffusion. Blume, Analecta LI p. 90 remarks that (except the hymns of St Ambrose)
this and Christe qui lux es et dies are
the only two hymns which are found alike in the ancient Irish hymnaries and in
those other than Irish, It is appointed for Lauds on Easter Day and through- out
the season ; but it was soon broken up into portions, one of which was used at
Terce, and one at Sext. Walsh & Husch: in the revised Breviary, stanzas
1-4, supplemented by two stanzas of later date, form the hymn sung at Lauds on
Easter Sunday. The patterning of rhymes within each stanza should be noted; the
fact that it is incomplete perhaps suggests a date in the fifth century, when
the rhyming technique was still in its infancy. The hymn faithfully summarizes the gospel
accounts of the Resurrection.
1. Byrnes:
"The dawn of day is shining, the heaven resounds with praises, the
exulting world rejoices, groaning hell is weeping"; Aurora, Reference to daybreak is unusual in a hymn for Matins.
Probably the hymn was originally intended as a hymn for Lauds, and is so used
in the Roman rite. With different sentiments, the dawn of Easter is greeted.
Heaven rejoices in the triumph of its King. earth in the triumph of its Savior.
hell admits the triumph of its Conqueror, "Let the heavens rejoice and let
the earth be glad" (Ps. 95: 11). Lucis,
day; 2. "When He, the mighty King.
after breaking the powers of death, releases the unhappy ones from their
punishment, trampling underfoot the infernal regions." Rex, "I am appointed King"
(Ps. 2:6); . Mortis, etc. Ancient Christian
art pictures Christ's descent into Limbo as that of a conqueror coming to take
over by force a fortress that long held out against him. "Death is
swallowed up in victory" (I Cor. 15:54). Miseros, i.e., the souls detained in Limbo. "Thou hast led
captivity captive" (Ps. 67: 19). 3. "He who, enclosed by the stone,
is guarded by the soldier, rises with noble pomp from the grave, a triumphant
victor." Custodit. "And
they departing, made the sepulcher sure, seal- ing the stone and setting guards"
(Matt. 27:66). Pompa nobiliis, a
Christian use of a pagan phrase. The return to Rome of a victorious general was
celebrated with a parade in which were displayed the captives of the conquered
region. Christ, returning from His victory over the grave, brings with Him the
souls of Limbo. 4. The Dominican text has solutis
iam gemitibus/et inferni doloribus; "The groans and sorrows of hell
having now been loosed, the resplendent angel announces that the Lord is
risen." Solutis, "Whom God
raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell" (Acts 2:24), i.e., Christ
had overcome the grievous pains of death and all the power of hell. Angelus. "An angel of the Lord descended
from heaven ... his countenance as the lightning ... and said to the women: He
is risen" (Matt. 28:2-6). The angel of the Resurrection was probably
Gabriel (Cornelius a Lapide); The fifth verse and doxology are probably new.
The dawn of light glows red, heaven resounds with
praise, the world exults with a loud shout, hell groans and mourns. When the
most mighty king, the powers of death broken, crushing Hell under his feet, he
freed the wretched from their chains. He, who was enclosed by a rock, the
soldiers closely guarded him, triumphant in noble procession, a victor rose
from the dead. When the groans and sorrows of death had been loosened, the
resplendent angel cries, “ the Lord is risen.” Be, O Jesus to our souls forever
our paschal joy, gather those reborn by grace to your victory. O Jesus, to you
be glory, shining by your victory over death, with the Father and loving
Spirit, in eternal ages. Amen.
Walpole: The great antiquity of this hymn is
proved by the mention of it in the Rule of Caesarius ad virgines, whose direction-is quem hymnum totum pascha et ad matutinos et ad
uesperam psallere debetis. The Rule of Aurelian is to the same effect,
except that for ad uesperam he writes
ad lucernarium. The sense of Easter must
not be unduly restricted. The present hymn is as much on the Passion as on the Resurrection.
In early times the Passion, the Death, and the Resurrection of Christ were
regarded as one great celebration. Easter was the chief season for Baptism, and
the thought of this underlies the hymn, especially the first two stanzas. Walpole
seems to accept Ambrose as the author of this hymn.
1. W: Sancto
lumine: the light of Christ, to which might be added, particularly the
paschal candle; Serenus: from the same root as sol, hence here, ‘bright’; 2. W reads
fidem refundens perditis/ caecosque uisu inluminans; perditis
'to the lost'; 3. Illúminat: The
enlightenment is partly, but not wholly, that of Baptism; 4. pœnam vidéntes córporis: 'the bodily sufferings
' might be those of the robber, but W. thinks it more probable that it refers
to the sufferings of Christ ‘amidst which He was able
to do such miracles of grace’; 5. Christo adhaerentem is a biblical
phrase, cf. Deut. iv. 4, Jos. xxiii. 8, Ps. Ixxii. (Ixxiii.) 28; 6. 'O wondrous
mystery that flesh should....'; 7. carnis
vitia mundans caro: The use of * the flesh ' personified is common in the
N.T., especially in St Paul's epistles, e.g. Rom. iii. 20; 8. ' What can be grander than this,
that guilt should win grace?; 9. Quaerat:
'win'; 10.
mors vitam: thus, standing together
form an oxymoron. The pointed contrast of life and death is common in hymns of all ages;
This is the true day of God, peaceful with holy
light, when his sacred blood washed away the shameful sins of the world. It
restored faith to the lost, enlightened the blind with sight; whom has the
absolution of the thief not delivered from the burden of fear? Angels are astonished at this work, when they
see the punishment of his body and the guilty thief clinging to Christ and
seizing the life of the blessed. O wondrous mystery! That washes away the
pestilence of the world, takes away the sin of all, cleanses the vices of the
flesh by flesh. What is more sublime than this, that sin should seek out grace,
and love dissolve fear, and death give again new life? Be, O Jesus to our souls
forever our paschal joy, gather those reborn by grace to your victory. O Jesus,
to you be glory, shining by your victory over death, with the Father and loving
Spirit, in eternal ages. Amen
Walpole: Augustine definitely says that Ambrose
wrote this hymn ; see de Natura et Gratia 63
quem Spiritum memoratus episcopus etiam precibus impetrandum admonet, ubi in
hymno dicit : notisque praestat sedulis sanctum mereri Spiritum. Even without
his authority we might know from the style and from the treatment of the
subject- matter that it came from Ambrose. Caesarius of Arles, in his Regula ad virgines, and Aurelian both
appoint it to be sung in primo die
paschae ad tertiam, the latter adding cotidianis
. . .diebus (i.e. on week days as opposed to Sundays and festivals) ad tertiam sex psalmos dicite^antiphonam,
ymnum lamsurgit hora tertia.
1. surgit is used of time; 2. nil insolens: 'no proud thought’; the hour of Christ's humiliation
is no season for this. 3. inténdat
afféctum: appears to mean' the mind
to pray '; intendere: to apply oneself to it, to give all one's
attention to it; 4. This we are invited
to do by a reminder of what happen toke place at the third hour. 5. meréri: 'win,' ' obtain' ; Augustine quotes
these lines to shew that Ambrose held the belief that men can do nothing without
the grace of God. Clearly he had no idea that mereri could be used against him in the sense of ' to merit'; 6. Walpole does not include this verse
but Walsh and Husch have it: finem… críminis: the people before Christ ,
defaced by original sin, are now cleansed; Walsh and Husch read for the last
two lines of this stanza: mortisque
regnum diruit/ culpamque ab aevo sustulit;
Now rises the third hour, when Christ ascends the
cross; let the mind think no haughty thoughts, but be intent on the love of
prayer. He who receives Christ in his heart carries no harmful feelings, but
with watchful prayers merits the Holy Spirit.
This is the hour which put to an end the old grievous sins; now is the
blessed season, when the grace of Christ begins. O Jesus, to you be glory,
shining by your victory over death, with the Father and loving Spirit, in
eternal ages. Amen
Come, O you humble servants, with your mind and
voice, with worthy praises, with a hymn lift up the blessed name of God. For this is that season, when an unjust
sentence handed over the Judge of the world to death. And we also with the due love and the homage
of a just fear, oppose every attack with which the cruel enemy strikes us. We pray the one Father God, and the royal Son,
likewise the Holy Spirit, the Lord in Trinity. Amen.
This hour shines forth and dissolves the black
clouds of the cross, rescues the world from darkness and returns the light of
peace. This the hour when Jesus raises
the bodies from the tombs and commands that they come forth free of death and
infused again with breath. We believe in
a new world, loosened from the laws of death, the gifts of blessed life running
an eternal course. O Jesus, to you be
glory, shining by your victory over death, with the Father and loving Spirit,
in eternal ages. Amen.
1. Byrnes:
"At the supper of the Lamb, prepared and clothed in white robes after the
passage of the Red Sea, let us sing to
Christ the King." This hymn makes reference to the ancient custom
of admitting the catechumens (i.e., the unbaptized converts) to the sacraments
of baptism and Holy Eucharist. Baptism was conferred on Holy Saturday, and Holy
Communion was received for the first time at Mass on Easter morning. The hymn
is best interpreted in the mouths of the neophytes, i.e.,
the newly baptized. Ad can am, etc. The ad has the sense of apud. The cena Agni is
the Eucharistic table. "The Lamb" frequently stands for
"Christ." Here it is used in comparing our Lord with the paschal lamb
of the Old Testament, which was a figure of the Eucharist. The adjective providi is nominative plural agreeing
with nos understood, the subject of canamus. The sense of the line is that
the neophytes are prepared (providi)
by baptism or the Holy Eucharist. Stolis albis, ete. After baptism the
neophytes were clothed in white robes, or stoles. Originally these robes were long,
flowing garments and were worn by the neophytes at services from Holy Saturday
till the following Saturday or Sunday. Hence, in liturgical language, Low Sunday
is called Dominica in albis (depositis), the Sunday on which the neophytes
appeared for the first time at service without their baptismal robes. In our
present ritual, the substitute for the baptismal robe is the small white cloth which
the priest places on the head of the baptized shortly after the pouring of the
water. Post lransitum, etc. The Red
Sea was a figure of baptism. "All in Moses were baptized, in the cloud,
and in the sea" (I Cor.
10:2). The Israelites. under the guidance of Moses
(himself a figure of Christ). received baptism in figure by their passage through
the Red Sea (Exod. 14:21-31). Hence the sense of this line is simply:
"having been baptized." Christo
canamus, etc. After their miraculous passage through the Red Sea, the
Israelites sang what is now called the Canticle of Moses (Exod. 15: 1-19), in
gratitude for God's goodness. Likewise the neophytes, after their baptism.
would sing their thanks to Christ their
Redeemer, "who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness" (Col. 1:13).
2. "His most holy body (was) offered on the
altar of the Cross; by tasting of His roseate blood we live unto God." Cujus for ejus, a medieval usage. Torridum
(est) (literally, burned, scorched). offered in sacrifice. The word may
have been chosen deliberately because the paschal lamb, the figure of Christ.
was by precept to be "roasted at the fire" (Exod. 12:9). Cruore roseo, etc. Reference to Holy
Communion which the neophytes were to receive for the first time. Neale has an interesting
note on the use of roseo. "The
poet would tell us that, though one drop of our Lord's Blood was sufficient to
redeem the world, out of the greatness of His love
He would shed all. As everyone knows. the last drainings of life-blood are not
crimson but roseate" Vivimus, "He
that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me and I in him"
(John 6:57).
3. "They were protected on the eve of the
Pasch from the destroying angel; they were delivered from the cruel yoke of Pharaoh."
Reference again is to the Israelites of old. They were protected on the eve of
the Pasch (i.e., Passover) from death at the hands of the destroying angel by
the blood of the paschal lamb sprinkled on their door-posts (Exod., chap. 12). Also
they were delivered from the bondage of the Egyptian King (Exod., chap. 14).
The poet would imply (d. next stanza) that what was done for the Israelites in
a figurative and temporal way. is now done for the neophytes in a real and
eternal way by Christ. The blood of the paschal lamb was a shadow of the
precious blood. by the merits of which we are saved from eternal death and
freed from the eternal yoke of Satan.
4. "Now our Pasch is Christ. who is the
immolated Lamb; His flesh is offered as the unleavened bread of
sincerity." Pascha. "For
Christ our Pasch is sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7). Agnus. "The Lamb that was slain" (Apoc. 5: 12). Azyma.
Part of the ceremonial of the Jewish Passover prescribed the eating of only unleavened
bread. Ordinarily this expression is taken to symbolize sincerity. truth, moral
integrity. "Let us feast ... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth" (1 Cor. 5:8). In this hymn. however. it seems to symbolize the
reality of the flesh of Christ. "The true bread from heaven" (John
6:32).
5. "0 truly worthy Host, by whom hell was
broken, a captive people freed, and the rewards of life restored." Hostia. "Christ ... hath loved us
and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and sacrifice (hostiam) to God for an odor of
sweetness" (Eph. 5:2). Tortora,
the power acquired by Satan over the human race through Adam's fall was broken
by Christ. Plebs, all mankind.
"By whom a man is over-
come, of the same also is he made the slave"
(2 Pet. 2: 10). Vitae, heaven, opened
again by Christ, whose redemption blotted out "the handwriting of the
decree that was against us" (Col. 2: 14).
6. "Christ rises from the tomb. He returns a
victor from hell, thrusting the tyrant into chains, and opening paradise."
Victor. "Thanks be to God, who hath given us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ" (I Cor. 15:57). Barathro,
i.e., inferno, hell. Paradisium. "And the Lord sent him
(Adam) out
of the paradise of pleasure" (Gen. 3:23).
Closed against us by the sin of the first Adam. heaven is reopened to us by the
redemption of the second Adam (d. I Cor. 15:22).
Looking forward to the banquet of the Lamb, vested
in white robes of salvation, after the crossing of the Red Sea, we sing to
Christ the King. Whose most holy body tortured on the altar of the cross, but
by tasting his rosy blood we live to God.
On Easter eve we are protected from the devastating angel, rescued from
the harsh rule of Pharaoh. Now Christ our Passover, the innocent Lamb is slain,
his flesh, the unleavened bread of sincerity, is offered up. O true and worthy
sacrifice, by whom the powers of hell are broken, the captive people redeemed,
the rewards of life are given. Christ
rises from the tomb, the Victor returns from hell, thrusting the tyrant into
chains. Be, O Jesus to our souls forever our paschal joy, gather those reborn
by grace to your victory. O Jesus, to you be glory, shining by your victory
over death, with the Father and loving Spirit, in eternal ages. Amen.
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