April 30, 2014

Poem: Marina

Living To Live In A World Of Time Beyond Me

Marina is by T.S. Eliot. It was first published in 1930 as part of a series called the Ariel Poems. They were composed by a selection of English writers and poets between 1927 and 1931, and are based on the play: Pericles, Prince of Tyre, which involves a father's separation and eventual reunion with his daughter, Marina. Most scholars consider the second half of the play to be by Shakespeare. Marina is included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974).


Reading

April 29, 2014

Poem: The Windhover

How He Rung Upon The Rein Of A Wimpling Wing In His Ecstasy 

The Windhover is a sonnet by the English poet and Jesuit Priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889). It was composed on May 30, 1877, but was not published until 1918. Windhover is another name for the Common Kestrel, a type of Falcon. It is used here as a metaphor for Christ. Hopkins considered it his best work. The Windhover is included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974).


Reading

THE WINDHOVER by Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1877 (Public Domain)

To Christ, Our Lord

I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
          dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon,
                    in his riding
          Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding

High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
          As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the
                    hurl and gliding Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
          Buckle! And the fire that breaks from thee then, a
                    billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

          No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
          Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.

April 28, 2014

Poem: To Keep a True Lent

12th Century Icon - Courtesy of Wikipedia

To Keep a True Lent is a poem by the Anglican Vicar and poet, Robert Herrick (1591-1674). It is included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974).


Reading and commentary by Fr. James Kubicki.

TO KEEP A TRUE LENT. by Robert Herrick (Public Domain)

Is this a fast, to keep
The larder lean?
And clean
From fat of veals and sheep?

Is it to quit the dish Of flesh, yet still
To fill
The platter high with fish?

Is it to fast an hour,
Or ragg’d to go,
Or show
A downcast look and sour?

No; ‘tis a fast to dole
Thy sheaf of wheat,
And meat,
Unto the hungry soul.

It is to fast from strife,
From old debate
And hate;
To circumcise thy life.

To show a heart grief-rent;
To starve thy sin,
Not bin;
And that’s to keep thy Lent.

Poem: De Profundis (Out of My Soul's Depths)

De Profundis by Horatio Walker - Courtesy of Wikipedia

De Profundis is by the English composer, poet, and physician: Thomas Campion (1567-1620). It is a paraphrase of Psalm 130 (129) and takes it's Latin title from the opening line of the Vulgate translation of that same penitential psalm. De Profundis was first published in Campion's Two Bookes of Ayres (1613?). It is included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974).

DE PROFUNDIS by Thomas Campion, 1613? (Public Domain)

Out of my soul's depths to thee my cries have sounded;
Let thine ears my plaints receive, on just fear grounded.
Lord, should'st thou weigh our faults, who' not confounded?

But with grace thou censur'st thine when they have erred,
Therefore shall thy blessed name be loved and feared.
E'en to thy throne my thoughts and eyes are reared.

Thee alone my hopes attend, on thee relying;
In thy sacred word I'll trust, to thee fast flying,
Long ere the watch shall break, the morn decrying.

In the mercies of our God who live securéd,
May of full redemption rest in him assuréd,
Their sin-sick souls by him shall be recuréd.

April 27, 2014

Poem: A Hymn to God the Father

By Laszlo Mednyanszky - Courtesy Wikipedia

A Hymn to God the Father (Hear Me, O God) is a poem by the English playwright, poet, and essayist Ben Jonson (c.1572-1637). It is included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974).


By Alfonso Ferrabosco II (1572-1628), Performed by Concerto delle Viole

HEAR ME, O GOD! by Ben Jonson (Public Domain)

Hear me, O God!
A broken heart
Is my best part.
Use still thy rod,
That I may prove
Therein thy Love. 

If thou hadst not
Been stern to me,
But left me free,
I had forgot
Myself and thee.

For sin's so sweet,
As minds ill-bent
Rarely repent,
Until they meet
Their punishment.

Who more can crave
Than thou hast done?
That gav'st a Son,
To free a slave,
First made of nought;
With all since bought.

Sin, Death, and Hell
His glorious name
Quite overcame,
Yet I rebel
And slight the same.

But I'll come in
Before my loss
Me farther toss,
As sure to win
Under His cross.

April 26, 2014

Poem: Oh, To Vex Me Contraries Meet In One



Oh, To Vex Me Contraries Meet In One is a sonnet by the English poet, John Donne (1572–1631). It is one of his 19 Holy Sonnets or Divine Meditations which were published posthumously in 1633. It is believed that most of the poems in the collection date from 1609/10, a period in Donne's life in which he experienced a great deal of personal hardship, setbacks, and turmoil. Oh, To Vex Me Contraries Meet In One is one of 3 sonnets from that collection included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974). The other poems are: Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God and At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners.


Reading

OH, TO VEX ME, CONTRARIES MEET IN ONE by John Donne (Public Domain)

Oh, to vex me, contraries meet in one:
Inconstancy unnaturally hath begot
A constant habit; that when I would not
I change in vows, and in devotion.
As humorous is my contrition
As my profane love, and as soon forgot:
As riddlingly distempered, cold and hot,
As praying, as mute; as infinite, as none.
I durst not view heaven yesterday; and today
In prayers and flattering speeches I court God:
Tomorrow I quake with true fear of his rod.
So my devout fits come and go away
Like a fantastic ague; save that here
Those are my best days, when I shake with fear.

Poem: Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God


Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God is a sonnet by the English poet, John Donne (1572–1631). It is one of his 19 Holy Sonnets or Divine Meditations which were published posthumously in 1633. It is believed that most of the poems in the collection date from 1609/10, a period in Donne's life in which he experienced a great deal of personal hardship, setbacks, and turmoil. Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God is one of 3 sonnets from that collection included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974). The other poems are: At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners and Oh, To Vex Me Contraries Meet In One.



BATTER MY HEART, THREE-PERSON'D GOD by John Donne (Public Domain)

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.


Choral setting by Richard Nance

Poem: At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners


At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners is a sonnet by the English poet, John Donne (1572–1631). It is one of his 19 Holy Sonnets or Divine Meditations which were published posthumously in 1633. It is believed that most of the poems in the collection date from 1609/10, a period in Donne's life in which he experienced a great deal of personal hardship, setbacks, and turmoil. At the Round Earth's Imagined Corners is one of 3 sonnets from that collection included in the Religious Poetry Appendix for Lent and Easter of the Divine Office (1974). The other poems are: Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God and Oh, To Vex Me Contraries Meet In One.


Read by Richard Burton

AT THE EARTH'S IMAGINED CORNERS by John Donne (Public Domain)

At the round earth's imagined corners, blow
Your trumpets, Angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go,
All whom the flood did, and fire shall overthrow,
All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance, hath slain, and you whose eyes,
Shall behold God, and never taste death's woe.
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space,
For, if above all these, my sins abound,
'Tis late to ask abundance of thy grace,
When we are there; here on this lowly ground,
Teach me how to repent; for that's as good
As if thou hadst seal'd my pardon, with thy blood.

Choral setting by Hubert Parry (1848-1918)

April 25, 2014

Poem: Easter (Most Glorious Lord of Lyfe!)

Stained Glass - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Easter is a sonnet by the 16th century English poet: Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599). Composed on Easter Sunday 1594, it is Sonnet 68 of Spenser's Amoretti: a sonnet cycle which chronicles his courtship and eventual marriage to Elizabeth Boyle within a liturgical context. It's 89 sonnets correspond to the sequential order of scriptual readings in the Book of Common Prayer from January 23 to May 17 of that year, each poem a meditation upon that day's particular theme; in this case: divine love. Spenser and his betrothed were married in June of that year. In the Divine Office (1974), Easter is included in the Religious Poems Appendix for Lent and Easter.


Reading

EASTER (Amoretti 68) by Edmund Spenser, 1594 (Public Domain)

Most glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,
     Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin;
     And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away
     Captivity thence captive, us to win:
This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin;
     And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye,
     Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
     May live for ever in felicity!
And that Thy love we weighing worthily,
     May likewise love Thee for the same againe;
     And for Thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy,
     With love may one another entertain!
So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought,
Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.


Choral setting by William Henry Harris (1883-1973)

April 23, 2014

Poem: O King of the Friday

Whose Limbs Were Stretched On The Cross

O King of the Friday is an ancient Irish hymn of unknown origin. An early printing of the text appeared in The Religious Song of Connacht (1906) in which it's author, Douglas Hyde set down the words as he remembered them from the oral tradition. In the Divine Office (1974), it is included in the Religious Poems Appendix for Lent and Easter.

O KING OF THE FRIDAY

O King of the Friday
Whose limbs were stretched on the Cross,
O Lord who did suffer The bruises, the wounds, the loss,
We stretch ourselves
Beneath the shield of thy might,
Some fruit from the tree of thy pass
Fall on us this night!

April 22, 2014

Poem: Corpus Christi Carol

13th Century Illustration - Courtesy of Wikipedia 

The Corpus Christi Carol is an anonymous poem first found in a manuscript believed to have been written around 1504. Scholars have speculated (among other things) that the text may be an allegorical portrayal of the suffering Christ as a wounded knight. In 1933 Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) used it in the fifth variation of his choral composition: A Boy was Born, a version of which is featured in the following video. In the Divine Office (1974), Corpus Christi Carol is included in the Hymns and Religious Poems (Lent and Eastertide) Appendix.


Performed by Voces8

CORPUS CHRISTI CAROL - Anonymous, 1504 (Public Domain)

Lully, lullay, lully, lullay, 
The faucon hath borne my make away.

He bare him up, he bare him down,
He bare him into an orchard brown.

In that orchard ther was an hall
That was hanged with purple and pall.

And in that hall ther was a bed:
It was hanged with gold so red.

And in that bed ther lith a knight,
His woundes bleeding by day and night.

By that beddes side ther kneeleth a may,
And she weepeth both night and day.

And by that beddes side ther standeth a stoon:
Corpus Christi writen thereon.

April 21, 2014

Poem: Love Bade Me Welcome

Love Bade Me Welcome, Yet My Soul Drew Back

Love is a poem by George Herbert (1593–1633). It was published posthumously in 1633 as part of the collection, The Temple. None of his poems were published during his lifetime and much of his other writings are believed to have been lost as a result of the English Civil War (1642–1651). In 1911, the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) published Five Mystical Songs, a setting of five of Herbert's poems from The Temple. Williams' Love Bade Me Welcome (featured in the following video), along with two other of Herbert's poems from Five Mystical Songs: The Call (Come, My Way), and Easter are included in the Hymns and Religious Poems (Eastertide) Appendix of the Divine Office (1974).
 

Sung by baritone, Shreyas Patel

LOVE by George Herbert, 1633 (Public Domain)

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
          Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
          From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
          If I lack'd anything.

'A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here';
          Love said, 'You shall be he.'
'I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
          I cannot look on thee.'
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
          'Who made the eyes but I?'

'Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
          Go where it doth deserve.'
'And know you not,' says Love, "who bore the blame?'
          'My dear, then I will serve.'
'You must sit down,' says Love, "and taste my meat.'
          So I did sit and eat.


Reading by Edmund Matyjaszek

Poem: Easter (Ride Heart, Thy Lord is Risen)

Awake My Lute, And Struggle For Thy Part With All Thy Art.

Easter is a poem by George Herbert (1593–1633). It was published posthumously in 1633 as part of the collection, The Temple. None of his poems were published during his lifetime and much of his other writings are believed to have been lost as a result of the English Civil War (1642–1651). In 1911, the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) published Five Mystical Songs, a setting of five of Herbert's poems from The Temple. Williams' Easter (featured in the following video), along with two other of Herbert's poems from Five Mystical Songs: The Call (Come, My Way), and Love are included in the Hymns and Religious Poems (Eastertide) Appendix of the Divine Office (1974).


Sung by baritone, Malcolm J. Merriweather

EASTER by George Herbert, 1633 (Public Domain)

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise
          Without delayes,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
          With him mayst rise:
That, as his death calcined thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much more, just.
Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
          With all thy art.
The crosse taught all wood to resound his name,
          Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.

Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song
          Pleasant and long:
Or, since all musick is but three parts vied
          And multiplied,
O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with his sweet art.

I got me flowers to straw thy way;
I got me boughs off many a tree:
But thou wast up by break of day,
And brought’st thy sweets along with thee.

The Sunne arising in the East,
Though he give light, and th’ East perfume;
If they should offer to contest
With thy arising, they presume.

Can there be any day but this,
Though many sunnes to shine endeavour?
We count three hundred, but we miss:
There is but one, and that one ever.

Reading

Hic Est Dies Verus Dei

Painting by Duccio di Buoninsegna - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Hic Est Dies Virus Dei is an anonymous Ambrosian hymn which is sung at Matins (Office of Readings) throughout the Easter season in the Roman Breviary.



HIC EST DIES VERUS DEI

1. Hic est dies verus Dei,
sancto serénus lúmine,
quo díluit sanguis sacer
probrósa mundi crímina.

2. Fidem refúndit pérditis
cæcósque visu illúminat;
quem non gravi solvit metu
latrónis absolútio?

3. Opus stupent et ángeli,
pœnam vidéntes córporis
Christóque adhæréntem reum
vitam beátam cárpere.

4. Mystérium mirábile,
ut ábluat mundi luem,
peccáta tollat ómnium
carnis vítia mundans caro,

5. Quid hoc potest sublímius,
ut culpa quærat grátiam,
metúmque solvat cáritas
reddátque mors vitam novam?

6. Esto perénne méntibus
paschále, Iesu, gáudium
et nos renátos grátiæ tuis
triúmphis ággrega.

7. Iesu, tibi sit glória,
qui morte victa prǽnites,
cum Patre et almo Spíritu,
in sempitérna sǽcula. Amen.

April 20, 2014

Aurora Lucis Rutilat

15th Century Fresco, Florence - Courtesy of Wikipedia 

Aurora Lucis Rutilat is an anonymous Ambrosian hymn dating back to the 4th or 5th century. The original 11 stanza hymn (at bottom of post) has been revised and divided into a number of smaller hymns for specific liturgical uses during the Easter season. In the Roman Breviary, the following extract remains in use as the hymn for Lauds (Morning Prayer) during Eastertide.

AURORA LUCIS RUTILAT - from the Roman Breviary

1. Auróra lucis rútilat,
cælum resúltat láudibus,
mundus exsúltans iúbilat,
gemens inférnus úlulat,

2. Cum rex ille fortíssimus,
mortis confráctis víribus,
pede concúlcans tártara
solvit caténa míseros. 

3. Ille, quem clausum lápide
miles custódit ácriter,
triúmphans pompa nóbili,
victor surgit de fúnere.

4. Inférni iam gemítibus
solútis et dolóribus,
quia surréxit Dóminus
respléndens clamat ángelus.

5. Esto perénne méntibus
paschále, Iesu, gáudium
et nos renátos grátiæ
tuis triúmphis ággrega.

6. Iesu, tibi sit glória,
qui morte victa prǽnites,
cum Patre et almo Spíritu,
in sempitérna sǽcula. Amen.

Motet by Orlande de Lassus (1532-1594)

AURORA LUCIS RUTILAT - Adapted by Orlande de Lassus (1532-1594)

1. Aurora lucis rutilat,
caelum laudibus intonat,
mundus exultans iubilat,
gemens infernus ululat!

2. Cum rex ille fortissimus,
mortis confractis viribus,
pede conculcans tartara
solvit catena miseros! 

3. Ille, qui clausus lapide
custoditur sub milite,
triumphans pompa nobile
victor surgit de funere.

4. Solutis iam gemitibus
et inferni doloribus,
quia surrexit Dominus!
resplendens clamat angelus.

5. Gloria tibi Domine,
qui surrexisti a mortuis,
cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu,
in sempiterna saecula.
Amen.

 
AURORA LUCIS RUTILAT - Ambrosian Chant (5th Century)

1. Aurora lucis rutilat,
caelum laudibus intonat,
mundus exultans iubilat,
gemens infernus ululat,

2. Cum rex ille fortissimus,
mortis confractis viribus,
pede conculcans tartara
solvit catena miseros ! 

3. Ille, qui clausus lapide
custoditur sub milite,
triumphans pompa nobile
victor surgit de funere.

4. Solutis iam gemitibus
et inferni doloribus,
"Quia surrexit Dominus!"
resplendens clamat angelus. 

5. Tristes erant apostoli
de nece sui Domini,
quem poena mortis crudeli
servi damnarant impii.

6. Sermone blando angelus
praedixit mulieribus,
"In Galilaea Dominus
videndus est quantocius"

7. Illae dum pergunt concite
apostolis hoc dicere,
videntes eum vivere
osculant pedes Domini.

8. Quo agnito discipuli
in Galilaeam propere
pergunt videre faciem
desideratam Domini.

9. Claro Paschali gaudio
sol mundo nitet radio,
cum Christum iam apostoli
visu cernunt corporeo. 

10. Ostensa sibi vulnera
in Christi carne fulgida,
resurrexisse Dominum
voce fatentur publica.

11. Rex Christe clementissime,
tu corda nostra pisside,
ut tibi laudes debitas
reddamus omni tempore!

April 19, 2014

Tibi, Redemptor Omnium

15th Century Icon - Courtesy of Wikipedia

In the Roman Breviary, Tibi, Redemptor Omnium is traditionally sung at Lauds (Morning Prayer) on Holy Saturday. An audio recording can be found here.

TIBI, REDEMPTOR OMNIUM

1. Tibi, Redémptor ómnium,
hymnum defléntes cánimus;
ignósce nobis, Dómine,
ignósce confiténtibus.

2. Qui vires hostis véteris
per crucem mortis cónteris,
qua nos vexíllum fídei,
fronte signáti, férimus,

3. Illum a nobis iúgiter
repéllere dignáveris,
ne possit umquam lǽdere
redémptos tuo sánguine.

4. Qui propter nos ad ínferos
descéndere dignátus es,
ut mortis debitóribus
vitæ donáres múnera,

5. Tu es qui certo témpore
datúrus finem sǽculo,
iustus cunctórum mérita
remunerátor státues.

6. Te ergo, Christe, quǽsumus,
ut nostra cures vúlnera,
qui es cum Patre et Spíritu
laudándus in perpétuum. Amen.

April 18, 2014

En Acetum, Fel, Arundo

14th Century French Carving - Courtesy of Wikipedia

En Acetum, Fel, Arundo is an extract from the 6th century Latin hymn: Pange Lingua Gloriosi Proelium Certaminis by Venantius Fortunatus (c.530-c.600/609). In the Roman Breviary it is sung at Lauds (Morning Prayer) on Good Friday. An audio recording can be found here.


EN ACETUM, FEL, ARUNDO

1. En acetum, fel, arundo,
sputa, clavi, lancea:
mite corpus perforatur,
Sanguis, unda profluit
terra, pontus, astra, mundis,
quo lavantur flumine!

2. Crux fidelis,
inter omnes
arbor una nobilis;
nulla talem silva profert,
flore, fronde, germine.
Dulce lignum, dulci clavo,
dulce pondus sustinens!

3. Flecte ramos, arbor alta,
tensa laxa viscera,
et rigor lentescat ille,
quem dedit nativas,
ut superni membra Regis
miti tendas stipite.

4. Sola digna tu fuisti
ferre saeculi pretium,
atque portum praeparare
nauta mundo naufrago,
quem sacer cruor perunxit,
fusus Agni corpore.

5. Aequa Patri Filioque,
inclito Paraclito,
sempiterna sit beatae
Trinitati gloria,
cuius alma nos redemit
atque servat gratia. Amen.

April 13, 2014

O Memoriale Mortis Domini

Painting by A.N. Mironov - Courtesy of Wikipedia

O Memoriale Mortis Domini is an extract of the well known hymn written in honour of the Blessed Sacrament: Adoro Te Devote, by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). It is sung at Vespers (Evening Prayer) on Holy Thursday.

Motet by Palestrina (1524 - 1594)

O MEMORIALE MORTIS DOMINI

1. O memoriale mortis Domini!
panis vivus, vitam praestans homini!
praesta meae menti de te vivere
et te illi semper dulce sapere.

2. Pie pellicane, Iesu Domine,
me immundum munda tuo sanguine;
cuius una stilla salvum facere
totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.

3. Te cum revelata cernam facie,
visu tandem laetus tuae gloriae;
Patri, tibi laudes et Spiritui,
dicam beatorum iunctus coetui. Amen.

April 12, 2014

Auctor Salutis Unice

14th Century Byzantine Fresco, Istanbul - Courtesy of Wikipedia 

Auctor Salutis Unice is sung at Vespers (Evening Prayer) on Holy Saturday in the Roman Breviary. 

AUCTOR SALUTIS UNICE

1. Auctor salutis unice,
mundi redemptor inclite,
rex, Christe, nobis annue
crucis fecundæ gloriam.

2. Tu morte mortem diruens
vitamque vita largiens,
mortis ministrum subdolum
deviceras diabolum. 

3. Piis amoris artibus
somno sepulcri traditus,
sedes recludis infer
patresque dicis liberos.

4. Nunc in Parentis dextera
sacrata fulgens víctima,
audi, precamur, vivido
tuo redemptos sanguine, 

5. Quo te diebus omnibus
puris sequentes moribus,
adversus omnes impetus
crucis feramus labarum.

6. Patri, tibi, Paraclito
sit æqua, Iesu, gloria,
qui nos crucis victoria
concedis usque perfrui.

April 11, 2014

Christe, Cælorum Domine

13th Century Byzantine Icon - Courtesy of Wikipedia

Christe, Cælorum Domine is the hymn for Matins (Office of Readings) on Holy Saturday in the Roman Breviary.


Gregorian Chant

CHRISTE, CAELORUM DOMINE

1. Christe, cælórum Dómine,
mundi salvátor máxime,
qui crucis omnes múnere
mortis solvísti légibus,

2. Te nunc orántes póscimus,
tua consérves múnera,
quæ sacra per mystéria
cunctis donásti géntibus. 

3. Tu agnus mitis, ínnocens,
oblátus terræ víctima,
sanctórum vestes ómnium
tuo lavásti sánguine.

4. Quos redemísti prétio
tui sacráti córporis,
cælo resúrgens ádvehis
ubi te laudant pérpetim.

5. Quorum nos addas número,
te deprecámur, Dómine,
qui Patri nos ex ómnibus
fecísti regnum pópulis. Amen.

April 10, 2014

'The Everyday Catholic's Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours' by Daria Sockey

A great resource for learning more about the Liturgy of the Hours is the book: The Everyday Catholic's Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours by Daria Sockey. The following video features Daria on the EWTN program: Bookmark discussing her book with host Doug Keck. Also, be sure to check out her blog: Coffee and Canticles. It is informative, reflective, funny, and a great way to engage with others that pray the Divine Office. Daria is a contributing writer for Catholic Exchange, the Catholic Digest, and Our Sunday Visitor.

April 1, 2014

Christ Died But Soon Revived Again

Painting by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) - Courtesy of Wikipedia

In the Divine Office (1974), Christ Died But Soon Revived Again is sung on the Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalen (July 22). It is an adaptation of Bring All Ye Dear Bought Nations, Bring by Sir Walter Kirkham Blount (d.1717). It is set to the tune: Lasst Uns Er­freu­en, first published in the Jesuit hymnal: Ausserlesene Catlwlische Geistliche Kirchengesänge, and later adapted by Pe­ter von Brach­el, Cologne, 1623.
 

Tune: Lasst uns Erfreuen (Begins @ 1:00 min.)