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From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.
On the same day, in the Roman martyrology, the commemoration of our Lady of Victory, established under the circumstances mentioned on the first Sunday of this month. Although the Virgin of virgins gave to the youthful martyr Justina a share in the triumph of Lepanto, nevertheless the chief honour of the day redounds to Mary herself. It behoves us, then, to renew our homage to the Queen of the holy rosary, on the exact anniversary of her deliverance of Christendom under that title. Let us do so by offering her the three hymns of her Office, which recall the joyful, sorrowful, and glorious mysteries of the rosary, and which are epitomized in that of second Vespers given on the feast.[2]
Hymn of First Vespers
Cœlestis aulæ nuntius,
Arcana pandens Numinis,
Plenam salutat gratia
Dei Parentem Virginem.
Virgo propinquam sanguine
Matrem Joannis visitat,
Qui clausus alvo gestiens
Adesse Christum nuntiat.
Verbum, quod ante sæcula
E mente Patris prodiit,
E Matris alvo Virginis
Mortalia infans nascitur.
Tempio puellus sistitur,
Legique paret Legifer,
Hic se Redemptor paupere
Pretio redemptus immolat.
Quem jam dolebat perditum,
Mox læta Mater invenit
Ignota doctis mentibus
Edisserentem Filium.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.
The messenger of the heavenly court,
disclosing the hidden myateries of the Divinity,
hails as full of grace
the Virgin about to become Mother of God.
The Virgin visits her relative,
the mother of John, who,
though yet a captive in the womb,
leaps with joy announcing the presence of Christ.
The Word that before all ages
had proceeded from the Father’s Intellect,
is born a mortal Babe
of a Virgin Mother.
The little One is presented in the temple,
the Legislator obeys the Law,
the Redeemer offers himself in sacrifice,
and is redeemed at a pauper’s price.
And now the joyful Mother finds her Son,
whom she had mourned as lost;
finds him expounding to learned minds
things unknown to them.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.
Amen.
Hymn of Matins
In monte Olivis consito
Redemptor orans, procidit,
Mœret, pavescit, deficit,
Sudore manans sanguinis.
A proditore traditus
Raptatur in pœnas Deus,
Durisque vinctus nexibus
Flagris cruentis cæditur.
Intexta acutis sentibus,
Corona contumeliæ,
Squallenti amictum purpura,
Regem coronat gloriæ.
Molis crucem ter arduæ,
Sudans, anhelans, concidens,
Ad montis usque verticem
Gustare vi compellitur.
Confixus atro stipite
Inter scelestos innocens,
Orando pro tortoribus,
Exsanguis efflat spiritum.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.
On the mount with olives planted,
prostrate the Redeemer prays;
he grieves, he fears, he well-nigh faints,
pouring forth a sweat of blood.
God, delivered up by a traitor,
is dragged away to punishment;
bound with tight bonds,
he bleeds beneath the cruel scourges.
A crown of ignominy,
woven of sharp thorns,
adorns the King of glory
clothed with purple tatters.
Labouring, breathless,
thrice falling beneath the heavy cross,
he is compelled by force
to bear it to the mountain-top.
Nailed to the awful gibbet,
the Innocent hangs between two criminals;
till, praying for his torturers,
he yields up his Spirit with the last drop of his Blood.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.
Amen.
Hymn of Lauds
Jam morte victor obruta
Ab inferis Christus redit,
Fractisque culpæ vinculis,
Cœli recludit limina.
Visus satis mortalibus
Ascendit ad cœlestia,
Dextræque Patris assidet
Consors paternæ gloriæ.
Quem jam suis promiserat,
Sanctum daturus Spiritum,
Linguis amoris igneis
Mœstis alumnis impluit.
Soluta carnis pondere
Ad astra Virgo tollitur,
Excepta cœli jubilo,
Et angelorum canticis.
Bis sena cingunt sidera
Almæ parentis verticem:
Throno propinqua Filii
Cunctis creatis imperat.
Jesu tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.
Amen.
Death overthrown,
Christ rises victorious from limbo,
and breaking the bonds of sin,
throws open heaven’s gate.
Having appeared long enough to men,
he ascends to the heavenly dwellings,
and is enthroned at his Father’s right hand,
a partner in his glory.
The holy Spirit,
whom he had promised to give them,
he sends down upon his sorrowing disciples
in fiery tongues of love.
With her body set free from earthly weight,
the Virgin is raised above the stars;
she is welcomed with heaven’s jubilant delight,
and with the songs of angels.
Twelve stars now crown
the lovely Mother’s brow;
and from her throne beside her Son,
she reigns over all creation.
Glory be to thee, O Jesus
born of the Virgin;
together with the Father and the holy Spirit,
through everlasting ages.
Amen.
[1] De Rossi. Inscript. Christ. ii. 108.
[2] The four hymns arc of the eighteenth century. Though now slightly modified, the three here given were composed by Thomas Ricchini, Master of the sacred Palace, and that of second Vespers by the Dominican Eustace Sirena. |