St. Peter Chrysologus: The Holy Name of Mary

THE dignity of the Virgin is announced by her name, before the cause; for the Hebrew word, Mary, is the Latin title, Marian (regal). Therefore, the Angel calls her regal, so that the disquietude pertaining to a servile state may depart from the Mother of the Ruler, for the authority of her Offspring caused and brought to pass that she should be born and called regal. Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace. That is true, because one who has found grace knows not fear: Thou hast found grace.

Friday: Weeks 2 & 4

Lauds: “Earlier Hymnal” 7-8^th Centuries

Walpole: this poetical hymn is not mentioned by Caesarius or Aurelian, but early became the office hymn for Mattins on Sunday. Probably the first four stanzas are addressed to God the Father, the direct invocation of Christ not coming until stanza V, But, sator in verse 2 may be vocative, in which case the address to Christ begins at that point.

Deus, qui cæli lumen es

satórque lucis, qui polum (1)

patérno fultum brácchio (2)

præclára pandis déxtera, (3)

Auróra stellas iam tegit (4)

rubrum sustóllens gúrgitem,

uméctis atque flátibus

terram baptízans róribus.

Iam noctis umbra línquitur,

polum calígo déserit,

typúsque Christi, lúcifer

diem sopítum súscitat.

Dies diérum tu, Deus, (5)

lucísque lumen ipse es,

Unum potens per ómnia,

potens in unum Trínitas.

Te nunc, Salvátor, quæsumus

tibíque genu fléctimus,

Patrem cum Sancto Spíritu

te notis laudántes vócibus. Amen.

1.      sator] 'creator,' or 'father,' lit. 'sower.' Perhaps the word is chosen, because light and fire were thought to spring from seeds.

However, like inventor and other similar

Words never lost its special meaning

2.       fultum] 'firmly set.' The firmament was supposed to be solid and propped upon mountains at either end.

3.       ' The arm of the Lord ' is a metaphor frequently found in the O.T., as at Exod. vi. 6. li. 13, Jer. x. 12; pandis seems to denote the opening of the curtain to give light ; cp. 46. 4, 1. 43. 5 f.

4.        ' Dawn now shrouds the stars, uplifting her ruddy flood, for with damp blasts she bedews the earth.' Aurora is personified, as generally in the Latin poets. And just as the darkness is regarded as a material substance.

5.       Dies dierum = ‘the holy one’

O God, you are the light of heaven, sower of light, the sky is firmly set upon your fatherly arm and spread out by your illustrious right hand. Now the dawn covers the stars, bearing up its ruddy stream, and the breeze wet with dew baptizes the earth. Now the shadow of night is left behind, darkness deserts the sky and the type of Christ, the morning star, awakes the day from sleep. You, O God, are the Day of days, the Light of light, one powerful in all things, powerful in one Trinity.  Now, O Savior, we beseech you and bend the knee to you, Father with the Holy Spirit, praising you with familial voices.  Amen.

Office of Readings:  before the 6^th century

This hymn is made up of verses 4, 5, and 6 of the hymn Lucis largitor splendide

Adésto, rerum cónditor,

patérnæ lucis glória,

cuius amóta grátia

nostra pavéscunt péctora,

Tuóque plena Spíritu,

secum Deum gestántia,

nil rapiéntis pérfidi

diris patéscant fráudibus,

Ut inter actus sæculi,

vitæ quos usus éxigit,

omni caréntes crímine

tuis vivámus légibus.

Be present, O Creator of all things, the Glory of the Father’s light, without your grace our hearts begin to fear. Filled with the Spirit and bearing God within us, may our hearts not be exposed to the dangerous deceptions of the thieving unfaithful one.  That in the midst of worldly tasks, which life requires, free from all sin, we may live by your laws.

Vespers

Mozarabic Hymn

Horis peráctis úndecim

ruit dies in vésperum;

solvámus omnes débitum

mentis libénter cánticum.

Labor diúrnus tránsiit

quo, Christe, nos condúxeras;

da iam colónis víneæ

promíssa dona glóriæ.

Mercéde quos nunc ádvocas,

quos ad futúrum múneras,

nos in labóre ádiuva

et post labórem récrea.

The eleventh hour now completed, day rushes into night; we all gladly offer the hymn, which is due.  Finished is our daily work to which, you O Christ, have led us; grant to vineyard workers the promised gift of glory. Reward now those whom you have called to future gifts: help us in our work and afterwards refresh us.

---

 [DA1]

Thursday: II & IV

Lauds: 8^th Century? Formerly the hymn for Prime. Walpole cites an older hymn for Prime: Post Matutinis Laudibus.

Iam lucis orto sídere (1)

Deum precémur súpplices,

ut in diúrnis áctibus

nos servet a nocéntibus. (2)

Linguam refrénans témperet,

ne litis horror ínsonet; (3)

visum fovéndo cóntegat, (4)

ne vanitátes háuriat.

Sint pura cordis íntima,

absístat et vecórdia; (5)

carnis terat supérbiam

potus cibíque párcitas;

Ut, cum dies abscésserit

noctémque sors redúxerit,

mundi per abstinéntiam

ipsi canámus glóriam.

1.       Lucis . . . sidere: the sun. 2. nocéntibus: ‘from all that may hurt us’. 3. ‘that grating strife may not resound on it’. 4. ‘that his protection may screen our eyes, lest they drink in vanities.’ Averte oculos meos, ne videant vanitatem ; in via tua vivifica me – Psalm 118:37. 5. vecordia: folly, madness.

Not that the star of light has risen we humbly pray to God that in our daily work he would preserve us form what may hurt us. May he check and restrain the tongue that no fearsome strife may resound. May he favorably protect our sight that it may not drink of vanities. May our in most hearts be pure and may foolishness be gone; may moderation of food and drink wear down the pride of flesh. That when the day has departed and the lot of night has returned through abstinence of worldly things we may sing his glory.

John Mason Neale

Now that the daylight fills the sky,
We lift our hearts to God on high,
That He, in all we do or say,
Would keep us free from harm today.

May He restrain our tongues from strife,
And shield from anger’s din our life,
And guard with watchful care our eyes
From earth’s absorbing vanities.

O may our inmost hearts be pure,
From thoughts of folly kept secure,
And pride of sinful flesh subdued
Through sparing use of daily food.

So we, when this day’s work is o’er,
And shades of night return once more,
Our path of trial safely trod,
Shall give the glory to our God.

When the Office of Readings is said in the daytime: 10^th Century

Amóris sensus érige

ad te, largítor véniæ,

ut fias clemens córdibus

purgátis inde sórdibus.

Extérni huc advénimus

et éxsules ingémimus;

tu portus es et pátria,

ad vitæ duc nos átria.

Felix quæ sitit cáritas

te fontem vitæ, o Véritas;

beáti valde óculi

te speculántis pópuli.

Grandis est tibi glória

tuæ laudis memória,

quam sine fine célebrant

qui cor ab imis élevant.

Arouse in us feelings of love for you, O Giver of pardon, that you may have mercy and cleanse us from stain. We come as strangers and groan as exiles: you are the gate and fatherland: lead us to the courts of life. What happy love thirsts for is you, O truth, source of life; blessed indeed are the eyes of the people who see you.  Yours is great glory: the memorial of your praise, to whom the lowly raise their hearts without end.  

Vespers: Hélisachar:  7^th-8^th Centuries

Deus, qui claro lúmine

diem fecísti, Dómine,

tuam rogámus glóriam (1)

dum pronus dies vólvitur. (2)

Iam sol urgénte véspero (3)

occásum suum gráditur,

mundum conclúdens ténebris,

suum obsérvans órdinem.

Tu vero, excélse Dómine,

precántes tuos fámulos (4)

diúrno lassos ópere

ne sinas umbris ópprimi,

Ut non fuscátis méntibus (5)

dies abscédat sǽculi,

sed tua tecti grátia (6)

cernámus lucem prósperam.

1.       ‘we pray to thy glory’ 

2.      pronus ‘on its downward course’

3.      vespero = Vesperus = Hesperius = the evening star

4.      ‘and thou, O most high Lord, may the night welcome into its quiet thy servants who wearied with the day’s toil now pray’

5.      ‘that this day  (the natural day almost gone)  may not depart leaving our souls darkened but that we shielded by thy grace may see a happy morrow’

6.      tecti = covered as with a shield’

God, who made the day bright with light, O Lord, we pray to your glory as the fall of day comes round.  Now the sun pressed by the evening steps to its setting, observing its order covers the world with darkness.  To you truly, most high Lord, we pray that you not permit your servants weary from daily work to be oppressed by the darkness. That this past day not leave our minds darkened but rather protected by your grace we may see happy light.

St. Gregory, The Doctor of Desire

In my opinion, which fortunately counts for nothing, St. Gregory’s Memorial ought to be a Solemnity with an octave. But as it happens Jean Leclercq, OSB, would agree with me.

St. Gregory was a great Pope, a great man of action; his Pastoral Care and his Letters have become one of the sources of Moral Theology, Canon Law, and of the medieval pastoral theology.  But he was also a great contemplative, a great doctor of the life of prayer, and it is through the writings in which he has given spiritual doctrine that he has had the most influence on monastic culture.

As a matter of fact, there can be found in St. Gregory a full and authentic theology of the Christian experience, a doctrine of Christian life and Christian prayer which, as in Origen and St. Augustine, is marked by continual recourse to experience. For this reason, St. Gregory bridges the gap between the patristic age and the monastic culture of the Middle Ages. His teaching is  much more than a simple empiricism; he devotes a profound and, as we would say today, structured reflection to the subject of Christian experience. In order to formulate it, he uses terms which are both constant and precise: the dialectics of presence and absence, possession and non-possession, certainty and uncertainty, light and darkness, faith and eternal life (The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, pp. 31-32).

St. Gregory the Great: Commentary on Job II, 1

Holy Writ is set before the eyes of the mind like a kind of mirror, that we may see our inward face in it; for therein we learn the deformities, therein we learn the beauties that we possess; there we are made sensible what progress we are making, there too how far we are from proficiency.  It relates the deeds of the Saints, and stirs the hearts of the weak to follow their example, and while it commemorates their victorious deeds, it strengthens our feebleness against the assaults of our vices; and its words have this effect, that the mind is so much the less dismayed amidst conflicts as it sees the triumphs of so many brave men set before it.  Sometimes however it not only informs us of their excellencies, but also makes known their mischances, that both in the victory of brave men we may see what we ought to seize on by imitation, and again in their falls what we ought to stand in fear of.  For, observe how Job is described as rendered greater by temptation, but David by temptation brought to the ground, that both the virtue of our predecessors may cherish our hopes, and the downfall of our predecessors may brace us to the cautiousness of humility, so that whilst we are uplifted by the former to joy, by the latter we may be kept down through fears, and that the hearer's mind, being from the one source imbued with the confidence of hope, and from the other with the humility arising from fear, may neither swell with rash pride, in that it is kept down by alarm, nor be so kept down by fear as to despair, in that it finds support for confident hope in a precedent of virtue.

St. Gregory, Pray for Pope Francis!

Homily by S. Gregory the Great: Homily 17 on Luke: From the Monastic Diurnal

WE ought to consider, that since a teacher cannot at one time admonish all with one and the same word of exhortation, he should strive to instruct men one by one, in so far as he is able, and to edify them with conferences in private. For we ought constantly to ponder what is said to the holy Apostles and through the Apostles to us, Ye are the salt of the earth. If, therefore, we are salt, we ought to season the minds of the faithful.

YOU, therefore, who are pastors, reflect that you feed the flock of God. Concerning which flock it is said to God through the Psalmist, Thy congregation shall dwell therein. And often we see that a piece of rock salt is set before brute beasts, that they may lick it and be healed. As the rock salt among brute beasts, so must the priest be among his people. For the priest must take care what he says to each one, and how he admonishes each; that whosoever has contact with the priest may be seasoned with the flavor of eternal life, as with the touch of salt.

WE are not the salt of the earth, if we season not the hearts of our hearers. For he truly applies salt to his neighbor who does not withhold the word of preaching. And we do indeed preach what is right to others if we illustrate our words by our deeds and example. Beloved brethren, I believe that God suffers no greater damage from men than he does from priests: when he sees those whom he has set for the correction of others setting examples of wickedness: when we ourselves sin, who ought to correct sin. Seeking to gain no souls, every day we have leisure for our own pursuits: we lust after earthly things: with eager mind we snatch at worldly glory. And for the very reason that we have been set over others we have the greater license to do whatever we will: we turn the ministry of blessing that we have received to the ends of self-seeking. We desert the cause of God, and we are free to engage in worldly affairs. We accept the position of holiness, and we are involved in the business of the world.

St. Peter Damian: Hymn for Lauds: St Gregory the Great

Mella cor obdulcantia

Tua distillant labia,

Fragrantum vim aromatum

Tuum vincit eloquium.

Scripturæ sacræ mystica

Mire solvis ænigmata,

Theorica mysteria

Te docet ipsa Veritas.

Tu nactus apostolicam

Vicem simul et gloriam,

Nos solve culpæ nexibus,

Redde polorum sedibus.

O Pontifex egregie,

Lux et decus Ecclesiæ,

Non sinas in periculis,

Quos tot mandatis instruis.

Sit Patri laus ingenito,

Sit decus Unigenito,

Sit utriusque parili

Majestas summa Flamini. Amen.

From Thy lips there flows honey that brings sweetness to the heart. Thy words are more fragrant than the richest perfume.  Admirably dost thou solve the obscure figures of Sacred Writ. The divine mysteries are taught thee by Him that is the very Truth. O thou that hast the office and the glory of the Apostles, pray for us, that we may be loosened from the bonds of sin, and obtain the thrones prepared for us above. O excellent Pontiff! Light and ornament of the Church! Thou hast so richly instructed us,—assist us in our dangers. To the unbegotten Father, and to his Only Begotten Son, and to the Spirit of them both, be praise and highest kingship. Amen.

S. GREGORII MAGNI, PAPÆ ET ECCLESIÆ DOCTORIS

Ad Laudes matutinas & ad vesperas: Petrus Damianus

Anglórum iam apóstolus,

nunc angelórum sócius,

ut tunc, Gregóri, géntibus,

succúrre iam credéntibus.

Tu largas opum cópias

omnémque mundi glóriam

spernis, ut inops ínopem

Iesum sequáris príncipem.

Te celsus Christus póntifex

suæ præfert Ecclésiæ;

sic Petri gradum pércipis,

cuius et normam séqueris.

Scriptúræ sacræ mýstica

mire solvis ænígmata,

excélsaque mystéria

te docet ipsa Véritas.

O póntifex egrégie,

lux et decus Ecclésiæ,

non sinas in perículis

quos tot mandátis ínstruis.

Sit Patri laus ingénito,

sit decus Unigénito,

sit utriúsque párili

maiéstas summa Flámini. Amen.

Once the Apostle to the English, now the companion of the angels, as you did then, now come to help the nations of believers. You spurned abundant riches and all the glory of the world, that poor you might follow the Lord Jesus who was poor. You the heavenly Christ selected as Pontiff over his Church; so, you obeyed the way of Peter and followed his example. You wondrously unraveled the spiritual enigmas of holy Scripture and taught the great mysteries of the Truth. O great Pontiff, light and honor of the Church, do not leave in danger those whom you have instructed so well in the commandments.  Praise to the Unbegotten Father, honor to Only-begotten Son, and equal to both, majesty to the most high Spirit. Amen.