When the Office of
Readings is said in the daytime: The Venerable Bede
Used
in the Mozarabic Breviary.
Adésto,
Christe, córdibus,
celsa
redémptis cáritas;
infúnde
nostris férvidos
fletus,
rogámus, vócibus.
Ad
te preces, piíssime
Iesu,
fide profúndimus;
dimítte,
Christe, quæsumus,
factis
malum quod fécimus.
Sanctæ
crucis signáculo,
tuo
sacráto córpore,
defénde
nos ut fílios
omnes,
rogámus, úndique.
NB: alliteration between Christe and cordibus
in the first line, between celsa and caritas in the second,
between in-funde and fervidos in the third, and between fletus
and vocibus. Manuel pratique de latin médiéval by Dag Norberg
(Paris, 1980)
O Christ, the heavenly love which redeems, be
present in our hearts; fill our voices, we pray, with fervent tears. Most holy
Jesus, to you we faithfully pour forth prayers; forgive, O Christ, we beseech
you, the evil deeds we have done. By the sign of the holy Cross, by sacred
body, we ask, defend us all as sons in very circumstance.
Lauds: The 7th-8th
Century:
Walpole: This is the hymn for Lauds on Fridays at
ferial seasons. This hymn is alphabetic. Notice that the C-stanza is duplicated
and that the alphabetic sequence does not go beyond T ; The Latin alphabet
contained 23 letters and the redoubling of particular lines is common in these
acrostic hymns. The revised version does not entirely preserve the acrostic
pattern.
Ætérna
cæli glória, (1)
beáta
spes mortálium,
celsi
Paréntis Unice
castæque
proles Vírginis,
Da
déxteram surgéntibus,
exsúrgat
et mens sóbria
flagrans
et in laudem Dei
grates
repéndat débitas.
Ortus
refúlget lúcifer (2)
ipsámque
lucem núntiat,
cadit
calígo nóctium, (3)
lux
sancta nos illúminet, (4)
Manénsque
nostris sénsibus
noctem
repéllat sæculi (5)
omníque
fine témporis (6)
purgáta
servet péctora.
Quæsíta
iam primum fides (7)
radícet
altis sénsibus, (8)
secúnda
spes congáudeat;
tunc
maior exstat cáritas.
1. The hymn is addressed to Christ;
gloria and spes are vocatives. The thought in this line
seems to be that of Christ as the subject of the
praises sung by the heavenly choirs.
2. Lucifer morning star, not sun, as is usually the case.
3. Noctem ‘of night’ not ‘of the night just past’.
4. Here begins the spiritual
application of the hymn.
5. ‘the night of the world’
the darkness of sin.
6. ‘preserve from any close
of day’
7. The three theological
virtues.
8. Radicet ‘take root’
Eternal
glory of heaven, blest hope of mortal men, Only-begotten of the Father,
offspring of a chaste Virgin: give your right hand to those who are rising, let
a sober mind arise, anxious to praise God and give him the thanks he is due.
The morning star rising and shining announces the Light himself, the cloud of
night falls, may holy light shine upon us. Abiding upon our senses may this
light drive away the night of the world and until the end of time purify and
preserve our hearts. Seek first the faith which is rooted in our minds; second
let hope rejoice; then stands love, the greater virtue.
Vespers: St. Gregory the
Great ?
Appointed
for Vespers on Friday, based on Gen. i. 24-31, the sixth day of creation.
Plasmátor
hóminis, Deus, (1)
qui,
cuncta solus órdinans,
humum
iubes prodúcere
reptántis
et feræ genus; (2)
Qui
magna rerum córpora, (3)
dictu
iubéntis vívida, (4)
ut
sérviant per órdinem
subdens
dedísti hómini:
Repélle
a servis tuis
quicquid
per immundítiam (5)
aut
móribus se súggerit,
aut
áctibus se intérserit.
Da
gaudiórum præmia,
da
gratiárum múnera; (6)
dissólve
litis víncula, (7)
astrínge
pacis fœdera.
1. Plasmator ‘creator’ ‘maker’.
2. ‘the race of the creeping
thing and of the beast’
3. Contrasts the great bulk
of beasts with their subservience to men.
4. Dictu ‘at the bidding’
5. This hymn rather unkindly
views these creatures as unclean.
6. Gratiarum ‘of grace’ as often plural for singular.
7. ‘Free from the power of strife’.
O God, the fashioner of man, who alone orders all things, you command the earth to bring forth creeping things and wild beasts. By word of your command the huge animals have life that you might subdue and give them to man to serve him according to their order. Drive from your servants whatever is unclean, which either seduces our habits or inserts itself in our actions, grant the rewards of gladness, give the gift of grace, loosen the chains of strife, strengthen the bonds of peace.
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