Christmas
NATO NOBIS SALVATORE
By Adam of St. Victor. A native of either Britain or Brittany, probably the latter; educated at Paris; became, about 1130, a monk in the Abbey of St. Victor, then in the suburbs, afterwards absorbed in the city of Paris; there he passed the remainder of his life, and died somewhere between the years 1172 and 1192. In liturgical services the Gradual or Antiphon, sung between the Epistle and Gospel, ended on festival days with the word Alleluia. The final syllable of this vocable was prolonged in a number of musical notes called sequentia, and by the ninth century it became common to adapt words to these notes, which words are now called “sequences.” Adam of St. Victor was one of the most voluminous composers of this kind of sacred Latin verse.
I
Let us tune our hearts and voices —
All creation wide rejoices,
For a Saviour has been born;
Given to man, his weakness wearing,
Dwelling with the sad despairing,
Light and health our life adorn.
II
From the midst of Eden’s gladness
Came the dower of death and sadness,
But the Saviour’s life is ours.
Banished now are death and sorrow;
Life and joy from Christ we borrow,
More dwelt in Eden’s bowers.
III
From the height of heaven above us,
God looked down on earth to love us,
And He sent His only Son.
Now no more His face concealing,
Bridegroom like, His grace revealing,
Came He forth His work begun.
IV
Swift and strong, a giant glorious,
O’er our death He came victorious,
Girt with power His course to run.
Came he forth salvation willing,
Law and prophecy fulfilling,
Till the task assayed is done.
V
Jesus, who hast brought salvation,
Healing balm for every nation,
Thou our glory art and peace.
Praise Thy glorious deeds shall mention,
Who in humble condescension,
Cam’st Thy servants to release.
PUER NATUS IN BETHLEHEM
The oldest form of this Christmas carol is found in a Benedictine Processional belonging to the beginning of the fourteenth century.
I
Zion is glad this glorious morn:
A babe in Bethlehem is born.
II
See where He lies in manger low,
Whose kingly reign no end shall know.
III
The ox and ass that filled the stall,
Knew that the babe was Lord of all.
IV
Out from the east the sages bring
Their treasures for an offering.
V
They humbly seek the lowly place,
And worship there the King of grace:
VI
The Son of God, who made the earth,
A virgin mother gave Him birth.
VII
No poison from the serpent stains
The human blood that fills His veins;
VIII
And though our flesh He meekly wears,
No mark of sin His nature bears;
IX
That He might man to God restore,
And give the grace that once He wore.
X
Come while our hearts are full of mirth
And bless the Lord of lowly birth.
XI
The Holy Trinity we’ll praise,
And give our thanks to God always.
HEU! QUID JACES STABULO, OMNIUM CREATOR?
By Jean Momboir, with Johannes Mauburnus for the Latin, and John Mauburn for the English form of his name. Born in 1460 at Brussels; a Canon Regular of the Brethren of the Common Life in the Low Countries; died Abbot of the Cloister of Livry, not far from Paris, in 1502 or 1503. In his large work, the “Spiritual Rose-garden,” there is a rosary on the birth of Christ, consisting of thirteen stanzas, which commence, Eja, mea anima, Bethlehem eamus. The hymn beginning as above consists of three stanzas taken from that poem. The detached stanzas passed into many of the older German hymn-books, met with great favour in the early Reformed Churches, so long as the practice of singing Latin compositions survived among them, and still retain a place in some German hymnals in an old translation, with for opening line, Warum liegt im Krippelein.
I
(Loquitur peccator)
Wherefore in the lowly stall,
O Thou great Creator,
Dost Thou raise Thine infant call,
Glorious Renovator?
Where Thy purple if a King?
Where the shouts Thy subjects bring?
Where Thy royal castle?
Here is want with all her train,
Poverty proclaims her reign —
These Thy court and vassal.
II
(Jesus respondit)
Hither, by My love impelled,
Have I come to save thee;
Sin has long thy nature held,
Powerful to enslave thee.
By My emptiness and woe,
By the grace that I bestow,
Do I seek to fill thee.
By My humble, lowly birth,
By this sacrifice on earth,
Blessing great I will thee.
III
(Laudant fideles)
Songs of praise, ten thousand songs,
Sing I will and laud Thee;
For such grace my spirit longs,
Ever to applaud Thee.
Glory, glory let there be,
Lover of mankind to Thee,
In the heaven supernal.
Let this testimony fly
Over earth, and sea, and sky,
Borne by songs eternal.
QUICUMQUE CHRISTUM QUÆRITIS
This hymn for the Epiphany forms part of a larger one of very complex authorship, known as A solis ortûs cardine, Et usque terræ limitem. This portion of that Christmas hymn has by some been assigned to St. Ambrose, but by a majority of judges to Prudentius, “the Horace and Virgil of the Christians,” in the estimate of the scholarly Bentley. Aurelius Prudentius, Clemens, or the Merciful, was born in 348, somewhere in the north of Spain. After filling various secular offices he retired, in his fifty-seventh year, into private life, and devoted himself to the composition of sacred verse. He died circa 413, but where we are not told.
I
O ye who seek the Lord, come nigh,
To heaven uplift your reverent eyes,
The Royal Banner of our God
Is blazoned on the midnight skies.
II
Brighter than when the sun at noon
Pours forth its radiance on the earth,
See yonder star its glory sheds,
And tells to man the Saviour’s birth.
III
O wisdom seeks the lowly stall,
And takes the guidance of the star,
To worship where the Incarnate lies,
And offer gifts from lands afar:
IV
With incense, worships the Divine,
With gold, a kingly tribute pays,
And at the feet of God made Man,
The myrrh in sweet profusion lays.
V
O Bethlehem, city ever blest!
What honour more could come to thee?
The cradle of the Incarnate God,
Who came to set His Israel free!
VI
O Jesus, to the world revealed!
To Thee let glory ever be,
To Father and to Holy Ghost,
From age to age eternally.
Epiphany
JESU, NOSTRA REDEMPTIO
Probably of the seventh or eighth century. Found in three MSS. of the eleventh century in the British Museum Library; also in the old Roman, Sarum, York, and Aberdeen Breviaries. Chandler’s rendering of this fine hymn – “O Christ, our hope, our heart’s desire,” and which is to be found in most collections, is the hymn for Evensong on Ascension Day in that author’s “Hymns of the Primitive Church.”
I
Thou our Redeemer art, O Christ,
Our heart’s desire, our fervent love;
Creator of the worlds, Thou cam’st
To wear our flesh, from heaven above.
II
’Twas love that brought Thee to our aid,
To bear the burden of our woe,
To bow the head in shameful death,
And life, immortal life, bestow.
III
Asunder burst the bands of hell,
The captives hailed the glorious day;
And by Thy mighty triumph crowned,
Thou art at God’s right hand for aye.
IV
O may Thy mercy still abound,
That, by the goodness of Thy grace,
We daily o’er our sin may rise,
And see the beauty of Thy face.
V
Spring of our joy, be Thou, O Christ;
Our great reward, hereafter be;
And while the endless ages run,
Our praises shall be all of Thee.
EI CANAMUS GLORIAM
By C. Coffin. (See p. 3.)
I
Now let us tune our hearts to sing
The glory of the Almighty King;
His hand unrolled the spacious skies,
Whose beauty lures our wondering eyes.
II
There are the clouds with treasure rare,
Slow floating in the higher air,
Whence come the soft refreshing showers,
To bless the springing of the flowers.
III
Rich is the treasure of Thy grace,
Prepared for us who seek Thy face;
It falls from clouds that earthward roll,
And penetrates the inmost soul.
IV
And faithful hearts that thirsting pine,
Drink deeply of the draught divine,
And with an heavenly impulse rise,
To greet the sunlight in the skies.
V
O happy souls that evermore
Drink of the bliss Thou hast in store;
May grateful love responsive flow
To all the love Thou dost bestow.
VI
Now, glory to the Three in One,
To God the Father, God the Son,
And to the Spirit, one in Three,
From age to age eternally.
DEUS-HOMO, REX CŒLORUM
By Bishop Marbodus. Born in Anjou, 1035; successively Archdeacon of Angers and Bishop of Rennes; died in 1125. Was author of a poem De Gemmis, which gives a mystical explanation of precious stones much in favour in the Middle Ages.
I
King of heaven, our nature wearing,
Pity lend the sad despairing;
’Neath the sway of sin repining,
Formed from dust, to dust declining —
Tottering in our ruined state,
Strengthen by Thy goodness great.
II
What is man from sin descending?
Child of death, all woes attending.
What is man? a worm that clingeth
To the earth from which he springeth.
Wilt Thou forth Thine anger bring,
On a weak, defenceless thing?
III
Shall not man, who earthward tendeth,
Look to God, who mercy sendeth?
’Twere a task most unbefitting,
God o’er man in judgment sitting —
Yet should God in judgment speak,
Where shall man an answer seek?
IV
As the shadow quickly flying,
Faint our life and sure our dying;
As the cloud by tempest driven,
As the grass cut down at even; —
King of heaven, in mercy great,
Pity the disconsolate.
Passion Week
VEXILLA REGIS PRODEUNT
By Venantius Fortunatus. Born in the district of Treviso, Italy, about 530. In 565 he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Martin at Tours, and spent the remainder of his years in Gaul. Through the influence of his friend Queen Rhadegunda, Fortunatus became Bishop of Poitiers in 597. Some place his death in the year 609. Fortunatus must have been an author of great industry and versatility. He wrote the life of St. Martin in four books, containing 2245 hexameter lines; he threw off in profusion vers de societé when wandering from castle to cloister in Gaul; and he composed a volume of hymns for all the festivals of the Christian year, which is now unhappily lost. This is his best known hymn, Dr. Neale’s translation of which is inserted for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, otherwise called Palm Sunday, in “Hymns Ancient and Modern” (No. 84).
I
See the Royal banners
Wave across the sky,
Bright the mystic radiance,
For the Cross is nigh;
And He who came our flesh to wear,
The Christ of God, was wounded there.
II
Deep the cruel spear thrust,
By the soldier given;
Blood and water mingle,
Where the flesh is riven;
To cleanse our souls the crimson tide
Leapt from the Saviour’s riven side.
III
In the distant ages
Zion’s harp was strung,
And the faithful saw Him,
While the prophet sung;
Now Israel’s Hope the nations see,
For Christ is reigning from the tree.
IV
Tree of wondrous beauty,
Tree of grace and light,
Royal throne to rest on,
Decked with purple bright;
The choice of God, this royal throne
Whence Christ, the King, should rule His own.
V
See the branches drooping!
Laden, see they sway!
For the price of heaven
On those branches lay;
Ah! great the price, that price was paid,
By Him on whom the debt was laid.
PANGE, LINGUA, GLORIOSI, PRŒLIUM CERTAMINIS
This, “one of the first of the Latin mediæval hymns,” has been credited to St. Hilary. It has also been ascribed to Claudianus Mamertus, who died in 474. But by the majority of authorities it is regarded as the composition of Fortunatus, and ranks next to the Vexilla Regis prodeunt in their estimate. A rendering of it by Keble will be found in his “Miscellaneous Poems,” beginning, “Sing, my tongue, of glorious warfare,” which is Dr. Neale’s “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,” in a somewhat altered form.
I
Tell, my tongue, the glorious conflict,
Crowned with victory nobly won; —
More than all the spoil of battle,
Praise the triumph of God’s Son;
How by death the crown of conquest
Graced Him when the strife was done.
II
Grieving sore o’er Eden’s sorrow
When our race in Adam fell;
And the fatal fruit he tasted,
Welcomed sin, and death, and hell;
God ordained a tree in Zion,
Eden’s poison to dispel.
III
In the work of our Redemption
Wisdom met the tempter’s foils; —
On the ground he claimed, the Victor
Fought, and bore away the spoils;
And the bane became the blessing,
Freedom sprang amid his toils.
IV
From the bosom of the Father,
Where He shared the regal crown,
At the time by God appointed,
Came the world’s Creator down —
God incarnate, born of Virgin,
Shorn of glory and renown.
V
List! the voice of infant weeping,
Cradled where the oxen stand,
And the Virgin mother watches,
Tending Him with loving hand, —
Hands and feet of God she bindeth,
Folding them in swaddling band.
VI
Blessing, blessing everlasting,
To the glorious Trinity;
To the Father, Son, and Spirit,
Equal glory let there be;
Universal praise be given,
To the Blessed One in Three.