God's Messenger, Theresa / Regis Superni Nuotai

Painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) - Courtesy of Wikipedia

PROPER OF SAINTS - God's Messenger, Theresa is a translation by poet Daniel Joseph Donahoe (1853-1930) of Regis Superni Nuntia by Pope Urban VIII (1568-1644).  In the Roman Breviary Regis Superni Nuntia is traditionally sung at Vespers and Matins on October 15th, the Memorial of the Spanish Mystic and reformer of the Carmelite Order, St. Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582). God's Messenger, Theresa can be sung to the hymn tune: Christus Der Ist Mein Leben, as featured in the following video.


Tune: Christus Der Ist Mein Leben (with introduction) - Begins at 00:45

GOD'S MESSENGER, THERESA by D. J. Donahue

1. God's messenger, Theresa,
Thou leav'st Thy father's home
To bring mankind to Jesus,
Or gain sweet Martyrdom.

2. But milder death awaits thee,
And fonder pains are thine,
God's blessed angel wounds thee
With fire of love divine.

 3. Sweet virgin, love's pure victim,
 So fire our souls with love,
 And lead thy trusting people
 Safe to the realms above.

4. Give glory to the Father,
The Spirit and the Son,
One Trinity, one Godhead,
While endless ages run.


Contemporary Version by the Carmelite youth choir: Twoje Niebo

REGIS SUPERNI NUNTIA by Pope Urban VIII

1. Regis superni nuotai
domum paternam deserts,
terris, Teresa, barbaris
Christum datura aut sanguine.

2. Sed te manet suavior
mors, pœna poscit dulcior:
divini amoris cuspide
in vulnus icta concedes.

3. O caritátis víctima,
tu corda nostra concreta,
tibique gentes creditas
inferni ab igne libera.

4. Sit laus Patri cum Filio
Et Spiritu Paraclito,
Tibique sancta Trinitas,
Nunc, et per orne saeculum.

Liturgical Guide: Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

PROPER OF SAINTS - The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated every October 7, the anniversary of the 1571 Battle of Lepanto, which saw the Holy League, a coalition of European Catholic maritime states arranged by Pope Pius V win a pivotal and decisive navel victory over the Ottoman fleet. The victory is associated with Our Lady because Pius V  had led a special Rosary procession through Rome and called on the all the faithful to pray the Rosary for victory. Originally called the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, the Feast Day was eventually extended to the General Roman Calendar in 1716.

The Rosary has a special relationship with the Liturgy of the Hours. Sometimes referred to as 'Our Lady’s Psalter', the 150 Hail Marys of the traditional 15 decade Rosary correspond to the 150 Psalms of the Psalter. Beginning in the late Middle Ages, the devotion was encouraged by the Church especially among the laity and illiterate as a means of uniting themselves in the daily prayer life of the Church.

Paragraph #971 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains why the Church honours the Blessed Virgin with such devotion: "This very special devotion differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration. The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary (an epitome of the whole Gospel), express this devotion to the Virgin Mary." John Paul II in his 2002 encylical Rosarium Virginis Mariae further expounds: "the Rosary, though clearly Marian in character, is at heart a Christocentric prayer". It is "a compendium of the Gospel" in which we are "praying to Christ with Mary".

LITURGY OF THE HOURS (1975)
73. Virgin-Born, We Bow Before You
79. Joy to You
80. O Mary, of All Women
156. Mary, Crowned with Living Light
157. Mary Immaculate, Star of the Morning
158. Holy Mary, Now We Crown You
159. Mother of Christ
160. Hail, This Festival Day
161. Rejoice, O Virgin Mary
162. Hail, Holy Queen (Deiss)
163. The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky
164. Mother of Holy Hope
165. Mary the Dawn
166. Praise to Mary, Heaven's Gate
167. Queen of Heaven

DIVINE OFFICE (1974)
42. Star of Sea and Ocean
43. Maiden Yet a Mother
44. Mary Crowned with Living Light
45. Hail Queen of Heaven the Ocean Star
46. God Who Made the Earth and Sky
47. Queen on WhoseStarry Brow DothRest

ROMAN BREVIARY
Caelestis Aulae Nuntius
In Monte Olivis Consito
Iam Morte, Victor, Obruta
Te Gestientem Gaudiis

Reflection by the Apostleship of Prayer

The Gladness of Thy Motherhood / Te Gestientem Gaudiis

Painting by Bernardo Cavallino, 1640 - Wikipedia

PROPER OF SAINTS - The Gladness of Thy Motherhood is a translation by the Abbot of Fort Augustus Abbey, Scotland Oswald Hunter-Blair (1853-1939) of Te Gestientem Gaudiis by Fr. Augustine Thomas Ricchini, OP (1695-1779). In 1757, Fr. Ricchini composed this hymn along with 3 others for the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary. Originally included only in the Dominican Breviary, they were added to the Roman Breviary in 1888. The four hymns are essentially one work: the first 3 hymns are comprised of 5 stanzas each (plus doxology) which correspond to the 15 mysteries of the traditional Rosary. The final hymn: Te Gestientem Gaudiis (the only one in use today) is a recapitulation of the first three hymns. In the Roman Breviary it was traditionally sung at 2nd Vespers on the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary (Oct. 7). The Gladness of Thy Motherhood can be sung to any hymn tune with 8.8.8.8 metre such as the 7th century Latin hymn: Creator Alme Siderum, as featured in the following video.

Tune: Creator Alme Siderum

THE GLADNESS OF THE MOTHERHOOD by Oswald Hunter-Blair

1. The gladness of thy Motherhood,
The anguish of thy suffering,
The glory now that crowns thy brow,
O Virgin Mother, we would sing.

2. Hail, blessed Mother, full of joy
In thy consent, thy visit too;
Joy in the birth of Christ on earth,
Joy in Him lost and found anew.

3. Hail, sorrowing in His agony
The blows, the thorns that pierced His brow;
The heavy wood, the shameful Rood
Yea! Queen and chief of Martyrs thou.

4. Hail, in the triumph of thy Son,
The quickening flames of Pentecost;
Shining a Queen in light serene,
When all the world is tempest-tost.

5. O come, ye nations, roses bring,
culled from these mysteries divine,
and for the Mother of your King
with loving hands your chaplets twine.

6. All honor, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.



TE GESTIENTEM GAUDIIS by Augustine Thomas Ricchini

1. Te gestientem gaudiis,
Te sauciam doloribus,
Te iugi amictam gloria,
O Virgo Mater, pangimus.

2. Ave, redundans gaudio
Dum concipis, dum visitas;
Et edis, offers, invenis,
Mater beata, Filium.

3. Ave, dolens, et intimo
In corde agonem, verbera,
Spinas crucemque Filii perpessa,
Princeps martyrum.

4. Ave, in triumphis Filii,
In ignibus Paracliti,
in regni honore et lumine,
Regina fulgens gloria.

5. Venite, gentes, carpite
Ex his rosas mysteriis,
Et pulchri amoris inclitae
Matri coronas nectite.

6. Iesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre, et almo Spiritu,
In sempiterna saecula.

Now Hell is Vanquished / Iam Morte, Victor, Obruta

Painting by Luca Giordano (1634-1705) - Courtesy of Wikipedia

PROPER OF SAINTS - Now Hell is Vanquished is a translation by the Anglican Priest Winfred Douglas (1867-1944) of Iam Morte, Victor, Obruta by Fr. Augustine Thomas Ricchini, OP (1695-1779). In 1757, Fr. Ricchini composed this hymn along with 3 others for the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary. Originally included only in the Dominican Breviary, they were added to the Roman Breviary in 1888. The four hymns are essentially one work: the first 3 hymns are comprised of 5 stanzas each (plus doxology) which correspond to the 15 mysteries of the traditional Rosary. The final hymn: Te Gestientem Gaudiis (the only one in use today) is a recapitulation of the first three hymns. In the Roman Breviary, Iam Morte, Victor, Obruta (which has as it's theme: the Glorious Mysteries) was traditionally sung at Lauds on the Feast of the Most Holy Rosary (Oct. 7). Now Hell is Vanquished can be sung to any hymn tune with 8.8.8.8 metre such as the 7th century Latin hymn: Creator Alme Siderum, as featured in the following video.

Tune: Creator Alme Siderum

NOW HELL IS VANQUISHED by Winfred Douglas

1. Now Hell is vanquished; every chain
Of sin is broken; Christ again
Returning, victor over death,
The gates of heaven openeth.

 2. We mortals saw Him, till He passed
Into the heavens, where at last,
Partaker of God's glory bright,
He sitteth on the Father's right.

 3. From thence He sheds the promised boon,
The Holy Spirit, on His own
In fiery tongues of love, o'erspread
Above each sad disciple's head.

 4. The Virgin, from the flesh set free,
Is borne beyond the stars; where she
Receives from heaven's joyous throngs
The welcome of angelic songs.

 5. Twice six the stars that crown her brow;
The gracious Mother reigneth now
Beside her Son's eternal throne
O'er all creation as her own.

 6. All honor, laud, and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.


IAM MORTE, VICTOR, OBRUTA by Augustine Thomas Ricchini

 1. Iam morte, victor, obruta,
Ab inferis Christus redit,
Fractisque culpae vinculis,
Caeli recludit limina.

2. Visus satis mortalibus
Ascendit ad caelestia,
Dextraeque Patris assidet
Consors Paternae gloriae. 

3.  Quem iam suis promiserat,
Sanctum daturus Spiritum,
Linguis amoris igneis
Maestis alumnis impluit.

4. Soluta carnis pondere
Ad astra Virgo tollitur,
Excepta caeli iubilo,
Et Angelorum canticis.

5. Bis sena cingunt sidera
Almae parentis verticem:
Throno propinqua Filii
Cunctis creatis imperat.

6. Iesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre, et almo Spiritu,
In sempiterna saecula.