Maundy Thursday: St. Anselm: Meditation III

 

O Christian soul, soul raised from a sad death, soul which the blood of a God has redeemed from a miserable slavery, stir up your thoughts, remember your restoration from death, meditate on your deliverance, ask yourself by what power you were saved.

O hidden force! A man — Christ — hung on the cross, raised up all the human race which was crushed by an everlasting death; a man nailed to wood broke the bonds which bound the world to an endless death. O hidden strength! One man, condemned with two thieves, saved all men, condemned with the devils; a man stretched on a gibbet drew all things to himself. O mysterious virtue! The life which one man lost in torments snatches innumerable multitudes from hell; one man, in submitting to the death of the body, annulled the power of death over souls!

But why, good Master, tender Redeemer, powerful Savior, why have you hidden such power under such abasement? Is there any necessity that obliged the Almighty to humble himself in this way and to impose such toil on himself?

No, he only acted thus through free will and since he only wanted what was good, he did it solely out of pure kindness. He who had no need to suffer this death and might have avoided it without any violation of justice, willingly underwent it for justice' sake when inflicted on himself. No necessity obliged him to suffer. He did not succumb to violence, but out of a spontaneous goodness for the honor of God and the benefit of other men, gloriously and mercifully, he bore all the malice of men. He did not act under compulsion: he obeyed a disposition of the all-powerful wisdom. For the Father did not compel him to die by an express order; it was he himself, who, freely, did what he knew would please his Father and profit mankind. How could the Father impose upon him by force what he could not exact from him by right? But also, how could the Father not receive with joy this incomparable honor freely given him by his Son with such love? This was the way he showed a willing obedience to his Father; was obedient to the Father even unto death, conformed to the commandment of his Father; and thus he drank the chalice which the Father gave him.

Such is, indeed, for human nature, perfect and supremely free obedience: to submit voluntarily our free will to the will of God, to translate this good disposition of the will into action and to bring it to its full effect, with entire and continual liberty.

Behold, O Christian soul, the power which has saved thee; this is the cause of thy freedom, this is the price of thy redemption. You were a captive, but you have been redeemed. You were a slave and behold you are made free; you were an exile and now you have returned home; lost, you have been found; dead, you are restored to life! O man, let thy heart meditate, taste and ponder over these thoughts, when your lips receive the body and blood of your Redeemer.

Grant, Lord, that I taste them, not only by thought but also by love.

 

WEDNESDAY IN HOLY WEEK: Sermon of St. Bonaventure

 

 

When Christ underwent his passion on the cross to cleanse and purge us and work our redemption, the blessed Virgin was there, accepting it all and consenting to God's will; and she was content that the treasure of her womb should be offered on the cross for us.

What enabled her to pay that price was her strength and her piety. Piety because it finds expression in the worship of God. As we read in the book of Proverbs: Vain are the winning ways, beauty is a snare; it is the woman who fears the Lord that will achieve renown.  Anna was praised for offering Samuel; but whereas she offered her son to God for his service, the blessed Virgin offered hers to God as a sacrifice. Abraham, though ready to offer his son, in fact offered a ram instead; but the glorious Virgin really did offer her Son. The widow woman was praised for offering all she had; but this other woman—the glorious Virgin—so merciful was she, so pious, so devoted to God, offered what was dearer to her than her own self. 

Yes, it was strength and piety that enabled the glorious Virgin to pay the price. Piety also finds expression in sympathy—in this case, it was sympathy with Christ. As we are told in John's gospel, a woman in childbirth feels distress, because now her time has come. The blessed Virgin had nothing to suffer before her delivery, because she did not conceive in sin, as Eve did, on whom the curse of painful childbirth was laid. Mary had her pains afterwards: it was when she stood by the cross that she felt the birth pangs. Other women have the pains in their bodies: she had them in her heart. In ordinary women it is a physical change that causes suffering: in her it was sympathy and love.

If the blessed Virgin was able to pay the price because she was strong and pious, it was also because piety involves pity for the world and especially for the people of Christ. Can a woman forget her child that is still unweaned, pity no longer the son she bore in her womb? The text can be understood to mean that the entire Christian people is the fruit of the glorious Virgin's womb.

Such is our mother's piety. We should do well to imitate it and try to become like her ourselves. So busy was she pitying men's souls that she regarded temporal hardship and physical suffering as trifles. Can we not bring ourselves, then, to crucify our bodies for our souls' sake? A great price was paid to ransom us. Let us not enslave ourselves to human masters; no, nor to evil spirits either, nor to sin.

Roman Breviary: Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. 50th Tract on John: Holy Monday

 

 

There they made Him a supper and Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table lest men should deem that it was but by an ocular delusion that they had seen him arise from the dead. He lived therefore, spoke, and ate; to the manifestation of the truth, and the confusion of the unbelieving Jews. Jesus, then, sat down to meat with Lazarus and others, and Martha, being one of Lazarus' sisters, served. But Mary, Lazarus' other sister, took a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the Feet of Jesus, and wiped His Feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. We have now heard that which was done; let us search out the mystic meaning thereof.

 Whatsoever thou art that would be a faithful soul, seek with Mary to anoint the Feet of the Lord with costly ointment. This ointment was a figure of justice, and therefore is there said to have been a pound thereof, a pound being a weight used in scales. The word pistikes used by the Evangelist as the name of this ointment, we must believe to be that of some place, from which this costly perfume was imported. Neither is this name meaningless for us, but agrees well with our mystic interpretation, since Pistis is the Greek word which signifies Faith, and whosoever will do justice must know that: The just shall live by faith. Rom. i. 17; Hab. ii. 4. Anoint therefore the Feet of Jesus by thy good life, following in the marks which those Feet of the Lord have traced. Wipe His Feet likewise with thy hair; that is, if thou have aught which is not needful to thee, give it to the poor; and then thou hast wiped the Feet of Jesus with thy hair, that is, with that which thou needs not, and which is therefore to thee as is hair, being a needless out-growth to the body. Here thou hast what to do with that which thou needs not. To thee it is needless, but the Lord's Feet have need of it; yea, the Feet which the Lord hath on earth are sorely needy.

For of whom save of His members, will He say at the latter day: Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Matth. xxv. 40. That is, you have spent nothing save that which you needed not, but you have ministered unto My Feet. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. That is, the fragrance of your good example fills the world; for this odor is a figure of reputation. They which are called Christians, and yet live bad lives, cast a slur on Christ and it is even such as they unto whom it is said: The Name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you. Rom. ii. 24; Ezek. xxxvi. 20, 23. But if, through such, the Name of God be blasphemed, through the godly is praise ascribed to the Same His Holy Name, as the Apostle does likewise say: In every place we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish. 2 Cor. ii. 14, 15.

Holy Week Collects

 

Palm Sunday

 

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, qui humáno géneri, ad imitándum humilitátis exémplum, Salvatórem nostrum carnem súmere et crucem subíre fecísti, concéde propítius, ut et patiéntiæ ipsíus habére documénta et resurrectiónis consórtia mereámur.

 

Almighty eternal God, who in order to give the human race an example of humility to imitate, has caused our Savior to take flesh and to endure the cross, graciously grant that we may be worthy to follow the example of his patience and share in his resurrection.

The following notes are taken from Lauren Pristas, Collects of the Roman Missals and she follows the commentary of Sr. Mary Gonzaga Haessly, Rhetoric in the Sunday Collects of the Roman Missal.

Not only is the Palm Sunday collect the same in the 1962 and 1970/2002 missals but the collect has been unchanged since the eighth century.  This collect is in the 1962 missal the first of the Sunday collects since Lent II to have a laudatory qui clause. Notice also the unusual length of the collect.

The qui clause is elaborate: with a purpose clause ad imitándum humilitátis exemplum and two infinitive clauses governed by one verb: carnem súmere et crucem subíre fecísti.

Haessly says that this the only collect Tridentine Missal which the Savior is presented as our model.

Holy Monday

Da, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut, qui ex nostra infirmitate deficimus, intercedente Unigeniti Filii tui passione, respiremus.

Pre 1970 Collect

Da, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus: ut, qui in tot adversis ex nostra infirmitate deficimus: intercedente unigeniti Filii tui passione respiremus.

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who fail through infirmity in our many difficulties, may be relieved through the merits of the passion of Thine only-begotten Son.

Monsignor Knox’s translation:

Fainting, thou seest us, Almighty God; so many perils about us, and we so frail! Let but the Passion of thy only-begotten Son come between, to grant us breathing space: who with thee in the bond of the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth and is God, world without end.

 

Holy Tuesday

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, da nobis ita dominicae passionis sacramenta peragere, ut indulgentiam percipere mereamur.

Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Almighty everlasting God, grant us so to celebrate the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion, that we may merit to receive pardon.

This prayer was in the 1962MR on Tuesday of Holy Week. It was in the Hadrianum and Paduenese of the ancient Gregorian Sacramentary for the same day, when the Station is at Santa Prisca. So, it seems that today we have a prayer which The Redactors of theNovus Ordo didn’t fiddle around with. They left it on the same day as it had always been, and didn’t change or cut out any words.

The verb perago means, according to the dark blue bound Lewis & Short Dictionary, in its fundamental sense “to thrust through, pierce through, transfix”. It can then come to mean by logical extension “to drive about, harass, disturb, disquiet, agitate, annoy a person or thing”. However, in our context here, it is probably “to carry through, go through with, execute, finish, accomplish, complete. . . .

The verb percipiois “to take wholly, to seize entirely”. Often when you see a prepositional prefix per on verbs, you get an intensification of the concept of the verb. At the same time percipio is “to perceive, observe” and “to feel” and “to learn, know, conceive, comprehend, understand, perceive”. Blaise/Dumas gives us “recevoir (l’eucharistie)”. I think this gets us close to the meaning for our prayer.

 

Holy Wednesday

Deus, qui pro nobis Filium tuum crucis patibulum subire voluisti, ut inimici a nobis expelleres potestatem, concede nobis famulis tuis, ut resurrectionis gratiam consequamur.

©copyrighted by Michael Martin: Thesaurus Precum Latinarum.

This ancient prayer from the first millennium is found in the 1970 Missal as the collect for Holy Wednesday, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross (Sept 14), and votive Masses of the Holy Cross. In the 1962 Roman Missal it is used as the collect for Holy Wednesday and for votive Masses of the Holy Cross during Pascal time.

O GOD, who for our sake didst will Thy Son to undergo the torments of the Cross, that Thou mightest drive far from us the power of the enemy; grant unto us Thy servants that we may attain to the grace of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Maundy Thursday: Lauds

Deus, quem diligere et amare iustitia est, ineffäbilis grätiæ tuæ in nobis dona multiplica, et, qui fecisti nos in morte Filii tui speräre quæ crédimus, fac nos, eödem resurgénte, pervenire quo téndimus. Qui tecum.

This collect was previously used in the Blessing of the Palms on Palm Sunday.

O God, whom it is right to cherish and love, multiply upon us the gifts of your ineffable grave and in as much as you have caused by the death of your Son to hope for what we believe, make us through his resurrection to attain the end we seek.

 

Maundy Thurday: Vespers

Deus, qui ad gloriam tuam et generis humani salutem Christum voluisti, summum aeternumque constituere sacerdotem, praesta, ut populus, quem sanguine suo tibi acquisvit, ex eius memorialis participatione, virtutem crucis ipsius capiat et resurrectionis.

O God, who for your glory and the salvation of the human race, desired that Christ be made an eternal high priest, grant that, the people he acquired by his blood, by partaking in his memorial, might receive the power of his cross and resurrection.

This collect is now used in the restored Mass of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Eternal High Priest.

 

Good Friday: Lauds

Respice, quaesumus, Domine, super hanc familiam tuam, pro qua Dominus noster Jesus Christus non dubitavit minibus tradi nocentium, et cruces subire tormentum

This is taken from the Prayer over the People at the end of Good Friday Liturgy.

Watch over, we beseech you, O Lord, this your family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed and to be delivered into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer the torment of the cross.

 

Holy Saturday: Lauds

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, cuius Unigenitus ad inferiora terrae descendit, unde et gloriosus ascendit, concede propitious, ut fideles tui, cum eo conseptuli in baptismate, ipso resurgente, ad vitam proficiant sempiternam. Qui tecum.

 

Almighty, eternal God, whose only-begotten Son descended to the realm of the dead, and from there he also ascended gloriously, graciously grant that your faithful, having been buried with him in Baptism, by his rising, may attain to everlasting life. who with. 

SACRUM TRIDUUM PASCHALE

 

 

Feria Quinta in Cena Domini: Ad Vesperas: Thomas aquinatis

 

O memoriále mortis Dómini,

panis vivus vitam præstans hómini,

præsta meæ menti de te vívere

et te illi semper dulce sápere.

 

Pie pelicáne, Iesu Dómine,

me immúndum munda tuo sánguine,

cuius una stilla salvum fácere

totum mundum quit ab omni scélere.

 

Te cum reveláta cernam fácie

visu tandem lætus tuæ glóriæ,

Patri, tibi laudes et Spirítui

dicam beatórum iunctus cœtui. Amen.

 

O memorial of the Lord’s death, living bread giving life to man, grant that my soul may live by you and ever taste your sweetness. O loving Pelican, Lord Jesus, cleanse my uncleanness with your blood, a single drop of which can save the whole world from all sin. When I see your face revealed, at last I will rejoice in your glory, joined to the blessed hosts, I will sing praises to the Father, to you and the Spirit. Amen.

 

Feria Sexta in Passione Domini

 

Ad Tertiam: saec. X

 

Salva,Redémptor, plasma tuum nóbile,

signátum sancto vultus tui lúmine,

ne lacerári sinas fraude dæmonum,

propter quod mortis exsolvísti prétium.

 

Dole captívos esse tuos sérvulos,

absólve reos, compedítos érige,

et quos cruóre redemísti próprio,

rex bone, tecum fac gaudére pérpetim. Amen.

 

Save, O Redeemer, your noble creature, signed by the holy light of your countenance, do not allow it to wounded by deceit of the demons, since for the sake of man you have paid the price of death.  Have pity on your servants taken captive, absolve the guilty, deliver those bound in chains, and all those whom you have redeemed with your own blood, good King, make them to rejoice with you forever. Amen.

 

Ad Sextam: Petrus Damianus

 

Crux, mundi benedíctio,

spes cértaque redémptio,

olim gehénnæ báiula,

nunc clara cæli iánua,

 

 

In te levátur hóstia

ad se qui traxit ómnia,

quam mundi princeps ímpetit

suúmque nihil ínvenit.

 

Patri, tibi, Paráclito

sit æqua, Iesu, glória,

qui nos crucis victória

concédis usque pérfrui. Amen.

 

O blessed Cross, hope of the world and sure redemption, once you endured hell, now you are the bright gate of heaven. On you the sacrifice was raised, upon you was laid he who draws all to himself, the prince of this world attacked but found nothing he could seize. To the Father, to you, to the Paraclete, O Jesus, equal glory, who grants us to enjoy forever the victory of the Cross. Amen.

 

Ad Nonam: Petrus Damianus

 

Per crucem, Christe, quæsumus,

ad vitæ transfer præmium

quos ligni fixus stípite

dignátus es redímere.

 

Tuæ legis artículus

vetus cassat chirógraphum;

antíqua perit sérvitus,

vera libértas rédditur.

 

Patri, tibi, Paráclito

sit æqua, Iesu, glória,

qui nos crucis victória

concédis usque pérfrui. Amen.

 

Through the Cross, we beseech you, O Christ, lead to the reward of life those you have vouchsafed to redeem by being fixed upon wood of the tree. The provision of your law brings down the old condemnation: the old servitude ceases and true freedom is restored.  To the Father, to you, to the Paraclete, O Jesus, equal glory, who grants us to enjoy forever the victory of the Cross. Amen.

 

Sabbato Sancto

 

Ad Officium lectionis: saec. V-VI

 

Walpole: “This fine if rugged hymn continually reminds us of the Te Deum, upon which it is based, and phrases of which it incorporates…. In the old series the hymn was appointed for Mattins on Friday”.

 

Christe, cælórum Dómine,

mundi salvátor máxime,

qui crucis omnes múnere

mortis solvísti légibus,

 

Te nunc orántes póscimus, (1)

tua consérves múnera,

quæ sacra per mystéria (2)

cunctis donásti géntibus.

 

Tu agnus mitis, ínnocens, (3)

oblátus terræ víctima,

sanctórum vestes ómnium

tuo lavásti sánguine.

 

Quos redemísti prétio (4)

tui sacráti córporis,

cælo resúrgens ádvehis

ubi te laudant pérpetim.

 

Quorum nos addas número,

te deprecámur, Dómine, (5)

qui Patri nos ex omnibus (6)

fecísti regnum pópulis. Amen.

 

1.   W: based on Acts 2:4; quem Deus suscitavit, solutis doloribus inferni, juxta quod impossibile erat teneri illum ab eo;  Romans 8:2: Lex enim spiritus vitæ in Christo Jesu liberavit me a lege peccati et mortis; 2. W reads: quae per legem catholica; the catholic law is opposed to the law of death; 3. W reads: tu agnus inmaculatus/ datus es terrae uictima,/qui sanctorum uestimenta/ tuo lauisti sanguine; 4. Not in W; 5. W: te deprecámur, Dómine: from the Te Deum?; r. W: last two lines: una uoce te sonamus, /uno laudamus carmine.

 

O Christ, Lord of the heavens, highest Savior of the world, who by the gift of the cross loosen all from the law of death. Now we pray you that you preserve the gifts which through the sacred mysteries you have given to all nations. You the gentle, innocent Lamb offered as a sacrificial victim for the world have washed the robes of all the saints in your blood. Rising lead to heaven those whom you have redeemed at the cost of your holy body that they may praise you forever.  Add us to their number, we ask you, O Lord, you who have made us for your Father a kingdom from all peoples. Amen.

 

Ad Laudes matutinas: saec. V-VI

 

I have been unable to attain any information about this hymn. It was chosen for Holy Saturday presumably because of the references to Baptism in the second stanza and the harrowing of hell in

the fourth stanza.

 

Tibi, Redémptor ómnium,

hymnum defléntes cánimus;

ignósce nobis, Dómine,

ignósce confiténtibus.

 

Qui vires hostis véteris

per crucem mortis cónteris,

qua nos vexíllum fídei,

fronte signáti, férimus,

 

Illum a nobis iúgiter

repéllere dignáveris,

ne possit umquam lædere

redémptos tuo sánguine.

 

Qui propter nos ad ínferos

descéndere dignátus es,

ut mortis debitóribus

vitæ donáres múnera,

 

Tu es qui certo témpore

datúrus finem sæculo,

iustus cunctórum mérita

remunerátor státues.

 

Te ergo, Christe, quæsumus,

ut nostra cures vúlnera,

qui es cum Patre et Spíritu

laudándus in perpétuum. Amen.

 

To you, O Redeemer of all, we weep and sing a hymn: forgive us, O Lord, forgive us who confess our sins. You who crush the strength of the ancient enemy through the cross of death, by which we, signed on our foreheads, bear the banners of the faith. Vouchsafe always to drive him away from us, so that he may no longer injure those redeemed by your blood. You who for our sake deigned to descend into hell you might give to those charged with death the gift of life. You, who will at the appointed time bring the world to an end, will justly acknowledge and reward the merits of all. You, therefore, we pray, O Christ, that you heal our wounds, who are with the Father  and the Spirit, ever praise-worthy. Amen.

 

Ad Vesperas: saec. X

 

This hymn is found in the Anglo-Saxon hymnals, and was used variously at Lauds and Vespers in Passiontide. Milfull: pp. 278-281. The text in the Liturgica Horarum is heavily edited and revised so I have included the original below the current text. It might be concluded that these are two different hymns but the medieval text is the basis of the modern text, if indeed it has a basis.

 

Auctor salútis únice,

mundi redémptor ínclite,

rex, Christe, nobis ánnue

crucis fecúndæ glóriam.

 

Tu morte mortem díruens

vitámque vita lárgiens,

mortis minístrum súbdolum

devíceras diábolum.

 

Piis amóris ártibus

somno sepúlcri tráditus,

sedes reclúdis ínferi

patrésque dicis líberos.

 

Nunc in Paréntis déxtera

sacráta fulgens víctima,

audi, precámur, vívido

tuo redémptos sánguine,

 

Quo te diébus ómnibus

puris sequéntes móribus,

advérsus omnes ímpetus

crucis ferámus lábarum.

 

Patri, tibi, Paráclito

sit æqua, Iesu, glória,

qui nos crucis victória

concédis usque pérfrui. Amen.

 

O only Author of our salvation, great Redeemer of the world, King, O Christ, bestow upon us the grace of the fruitful cross. You have destroyed death by death and granted life by life. You conquer  the crafty devil, the minister of death. Handed over by the skill of love to sleep in the tomb, you open up the habitations of hell and command our fathers to be set free. Now on the Father’s right hand, the resplendent holy sacrifice, hear, we pray, and see those redeemed by your blood. That following you all our days in a pure life, we may bear the standard of the cross against every attack. To the Father, to you, to the Paraclete, O Jesus, equal glory, who grants us to enjoy forever the victory of the Cross. Amen.

 

AUCTOR SALUTI UNICUS,

Mundi redemptor inclytus,

tu Christe, nobis annuam

crucis secunda gloriam.

 

Tu sputa, colaphos, vincula

& dira passus verbera

crucem volens ascenderas

nostrae salutis gratia.

                                                       

Hinc morte mortem diruens

vitamque vita largiens

mortis ministrum subdolum
deviceras, diabolum.

                                                       

Nunc in parentis dexrera

sacrata fulgens victima,

audi, precamur, vivido

tuo redemptos sanguine,

 

quo te sequentes omnibus

morum processu saeculi

adversus omne scandalum

Crucis feramus labarum.

 

Praesta, beata trinitas

 

Inge’s translation:

 

You who are the only source of salvation, glorious redeemer of the

world, Christ, make the annual celebration of the glory of the cross

propitious to us.

 

You had already endured being spat at, hit with fists and bound and

cruelly beaten and then you willingly mounted the cross for the sake

of our salvation.

 

Then by your death you destroyed death and gave life by your life

and thus you completely subdued the sly servant of death, the devil.

 

You who now shine as the holy sacrifice at the right hand of the

Father, hear those who were redeemed by your life-giving blood, we

pray,

 

so that we may follow you in all our ways, as we proceed through the

world, and bear the standard of the cross against all scandal.

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.

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 poet 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 his only Son with the Spirit Paraclete for eternal ages. Amen.