Latin Hymns of the Paris Breviary - Sunday Lauds
We are continuing to look at the ferial hymns listed in the Paris Breviary, beginning with Sunday.
In these posts I take a Latin hymn from the Paris Breviary and translate it literally, without trying to make it sound like rhyming verse, so we can understand its meaning.
Ad templa nos rursus vocat
Surgentis auroræ nitor,
Novasque pro læto monet
Referre grates munere.
*
At victor auroram suo
Fulgore Christus obruit :
Huic, magna cujus pars sumus,
Juvat triumpho plaudere.
*
Quod evolutus fasciis
Repente mundus extitit,
Puro renidens lumine,
Virtutis hoc quantæ fuit!
*
Quod traditum neci Pater,
Ut sontibus vitam daret,
Vitæ redonat Filium,
Amoris hoc quanti fuit!
*
Æternus ut rerum Sator
Aspexit orbem, protinus,
Colore depictum suo,
Probavit excellens opus.
*
At lætius quanto obtulit
Sese Patri spectaculum
Cœlestis Agni candido
Ablutus orbis sanguine!
*
Cum luce nobis redditur
Mundi renascentis decor,
Occulta per quem Numinis
Mens surgit ad magnalia.
*
At splendor æterni Patris,
Lumenque Christus cordium,
Deum dat in se, quantus est,
Sub nube carnis cernere.
*
Præsta, beata Trinitas,
Ut legis ad facem tuæ
Vitemus omne quod vetas,
Sectemur omne quod jubes.
***
The brightness of the rising dawn
Calls us again to the temple,
And reminds us
To give new thanks for this joyful gift.
*
But Christ, the victor, overwhelms
The dawn with His own splendour:
For this victory, of which we are a great part,
It is pleasing to rejoice.
*
He, unwrapped from his swaddling bands,
Suddenly appeared to the world,
Shining with pure light,
What power this showed!
*
That the Father handed Him over to death
In order give life to the guilty,
And then restored the Son to life,
What love this showed!
*
When the eternal Maker of all things
Looked upon the world,
Painted in its beauty,
He immediately approved it as a marvellous work.
*
Yet how much more joyful was the sight
Of what He himself offered to the Father:
A world washed clean in the bright
Blood of the heavenly Lamb!
*
As the beauty of a reborn world
Is returned to us with the light,
Through it the hidden mind of God
Rises to wondrous deeds.
*
But the radiance of the eternal Father,
And Christ, the light of hearts,
Reveals God in Himself, as He is,
Seen beneath the veil of flesh.
*
Grant, O Blessed Trinity,
That, by the light of Your law,
We may avoid all You forbid
And follow all You command.
***
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