From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

THE star foretold by Balaam having risen in the East, the three Magi, whose hearts were full of the expectation of the promised Redeemer, are immediately inflamed with the desire of going in search of him. The announcement of the glad coming of the King of the Jews is made to these holy Kings in a mysterious and silent manner; and hereby it differs from that made to the Shepherds of Bethlehem, who were invited to Jesus’s Crib by the voice of an Angel. But the mute language of the star was explained to them by God himself, for he revealed his Son to them; and this made their Vocation superior in dignity to that of the Jewish Shepherds, who, according to the dispensation of the Old Law, could know nothing save by the ministry of Angels.

The divine grace which spoke, directly and by itself, to the souls of the Magi, met with a faithful and unhesitating correspondence. St Luke says of the Shepherds, that they came with haste to Bethlehem;[1] and the Magi show their simple and fervent eagerness by the words they addressed to Herod: We have seen his star in the East, they say, and we are come to adore him.[2]

When Abraham received the command from God to go out of the land of Chaldea, which was the land of his fathers and kindred, and go into a strange country, he obeyed with such faithful promptitude as to merit being made the Father of all them that believe.[3] so, likewise, the Magi, by reason of their equally docile and admirable faith, have been judged worthy to be called the Fathers of the Gentile Church.

They too, or at least one or more of them, went out from Chaldea, if we are to believe St Justin and Tertullian. Several of the Fathers, among whom are the two just mentioned, assert that one, if not two, of these holy Kings was from Arabia. A popular tradition, now for centuries admitted into Christian Art, tells us that one of the three was from Ethiopia; and certainly, as regards this last opinion, we have David and other Prophets telling us that the coloured inhabitants of the banks of the Nile were to be objects of God's special mercy.

The term Magi implies that they gave themselves to the study of the heavenly bodies, and that, too, for the special intention of finding that glorious star whose rising had been prophesied. They were of the number of those Gentiles who, like the centurion Cornelius, feared God, had not been defiled by the worship of idols, and maintained, in spite of all the ignorance which surrounded them, the sacred traditions of the religion that was practised by Abraham and the Patriarchs.

The Gospel does not say that they were Kings, but the Church applies to them those verses of the Psalm, where David speaks of the Kings of Arabia and Saba, that should hereafter come to the Messias bringing their offerings of gold. The tradition of their being Kings rests on the testimony of St Hilary of Poitiers, of St Jerome, of the poet Juvencus, of St Leo, and several others; and it would be impossible to controvert it by any well-grounded arguments. Of course, we are not to suppose them to have been Monarchs, whose kingdoms were as great as those of the Roman Empire; but we know that the Scripture frequently applies this name of King to petty princes, and even to mere governors of provinces. The Magi, therefore, would be called Kings if they exercised authority over a considerable number of people; and that they were persons of great importance, we have a strong proof in the consideration and attention showed them by Herod, into whose palace they enter, telling him that they are come to pay their homage to the new-born King of the Jews. The city of Jerusalem is thrown into a state of excitement by their arrival, which would scarce have occurred had not the three strangers, who came for a purpose which few heeded, been attended by a numerous retinue, or had they not attracted attention by their imposing appearance.

These Kings, then, docile to the divine inspiration, suddenly leave their country, their riches, their quiet, in order to follow a star: the power of that God, who had called them, unites them in the same path, as they were already one in faith. The star goes on before them, marking out the route they were to follow: the dangers of such a journey, the fatigues of a pilgrimage which might last for weeks or months, the fear of awakening suspicions in the Roman Empire towards which they were evidently tending—all this was nothing to them; they were told to go, and they went.

Their first stay is at Jerusalem, for the star halts there. They, Gentiles, come into this Holy City, which is soon to have God's curse upon it, and they come to announce that Jesus Christ is come! With all the simple courage and all the calm conviction of Apostles and Martyrs, they declare their firm resolution of going to him and adoring him. Their earnest inquiries constrain Israel, who was the guardian of the divine prophecies, to confess one of the chief marks of the Messias—his Birth in Bethlehem. The Jewish Priesthood fulfils, though with a sinful ignorance, its sacred ministry, and Herod sits restlessly on his throne, plotting murder. The Magi leave the faithless City, which has turned the presence of the Magi into a mark of its own reprobation. The Star reappears in the heavens, and invites them to resume their journey. Yet a few hours, and they will be at Bethlehem, at the feet of the King of whom they are in search.

O dear Jesus! we also are following thee; we are walking in thy light, for thou hast said, in the Prophecy of thy beloved Disciple: I am the bright and morning Star.[4] The meteor that guides the Magi is but thy symbol, O divine Star! Thou art the morning Star; for thy Birth proclaims that the darkness of error and sin is at an end. Thou art the morning Star; for, after submitting to death and the tomb, thou wilt suddenly arise from that night of humiliation to the bright morning of thy glorious Resurrection. Thou art the morning Star; for by thy Birth and the Mysteries which are to follow, thou announcest unto us the cloudless day of eternity. May thy light ever beam upon us! May we, like the Magi, be obedient to its guidance, and ready to leave all things in order to follow it! We were sitting in darkness when thou didst call us to thy grace, by making this thy light shine upon us. We were fond of our darkness, and thou gavest us a love for the Light! Dear Jesus! keep up this love within us. Let not sin, which is darkness, ever approach us. Preserve us from the delusion of a false conscience. Avert from us that blindness into which fell the City of Jerusalem and her king, and which prevented them from seeing the Star. May thy Star guide us through life, and bring us to thee, our King, our Peace, our Love!

We salute thee, too, O Mary, thou Star of the Sea that shinest on the waters of this life, giving calm and protection to thy tempest-tossed children who invoke thee! Thou didst pray for the Magi as they traversed the desert; guide also our steps, and bring us to Him who is thy Child and thy Light eternal.

Let us close this day with the expressions of divine praise offered us by the ancient Liturgies. Let us begin with the continuation of the Hymn of Prudentius, on the vocation of the Gentiles. The following are the concluding stanzas.

Hymn

O sola magnarum urbium
Major Bethlem: cui contigit
Ducem salutis cœlitus
Incorporatum gignere.

Altrice te, summo Patri
Hæres creatur unicus.
Homo ex Tonantis Spiritu,
Idemque sub membris Deus.

Hunc et Prophetis testibus,
Iisdemque signatoribus,
Testator et Sator jubet
Adire regnum, et cernere.

Regnum, quod ambit omnia,
Dia, et marina, et terrea,
A solis ortu ad exitum,
Et tartara, et cœlum supra.

Hic Rex priorum judicum,
Rexere qui Jacob genus,
Dominæque Rex ecclesiæ,
Templi et novelli et pristini.

Hunc posteri Ephraim colunt,
Hunc sancta Manasse domus,
Omnesque suscipiunt tribus,
Bissena fratrum semina.

Quin et propago degener,
Ritum secuta inconditum,
Quæcumque dirum fervidis
Baal caminis coxerat:

Fumosa avorum numina,
Saxum, metallum, stipitem,
Rasum, dolatum, sectile,
In Christi honorem deserit.

Gaudete quidquid gentium est,
Judæa, Roma et Græcia,
Ægypte, Thrax, Persa, Scytha,
Rex unus omnes possidet.

Laudate vestrum Principem,
Omnes beati ac perditi,
Vivi, imbecilli, ac mortui:
Jam nemo posthac mortuus.

O Bethlehem! greater than the greatest of cities!
'Twas thy happy lot to give birth
to the Prince of our salvation,
who had become incarnate by the heavenly mystery.

'Twas thou didst nurse him who is the Only-Begotten Son
and Heir of the eternal Father;
he was made Man by the power of the Spirit of the God who darts the thunderbolts;
and this same Jesus is God under human flesh.

His eternal Father, who bears witness to him,
bids him enter on his kingdom and inherit it.
The Prophets, who are his witnesses and vouchers,
were the proclaimers of the Father’s will.

This kingdom of Jesus includes all things
—the firmament, the sea, the earth
from where the sun rises to where he sets,
and hell and heaven.

He is the King of those ancient judges
who ruled the race of Jacob:
he is the King of the Church, the Mistress of the earth:
he is King of both temples, the new and old.

The children of Ephraim
and the holy family of Manasses worship him;
the tribes of the twelve Brethren,
sons of Jacob, also receive him as their God.

The degenerate race too,
which, observing the rites of idolatrous worship,
had framed in hot furnaces
the statue of the cruel Baal,

Now turns to worship Christ,
leaving for his sake the smokegrimed gods of their fathers,
stones and metals and stocks,
planed, hewn and chiselled by the hands of man.

Rejoice, all ye nations of the earth!
Judea, Rome and Greece,
Egypt, Thrace, Persia, Scythia!
Ye are now all under the one same King!

Praise your King,
O all ye people! just and sinners,
living, weak and dead, give him praise.
None must die henceforth!

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The following beautiful prayer from the Mozarabic Missal will assist us to celebrate in a becoming manner the triple Mystery of the Epiphany.

Oratio

Deus qui nobis ad relevandos istius vitæ labores, diversadonorumtuorum solatia et gaudia contulisti, quibus insignes annuis recursibus dies agimus, ut Ecclesiæ tuæ vota solemnia præsenti festivitate celebremus: unde et proxime Natalem Domini Salvatoris peregimus, qui nobis natus in tempore est, qui de te natus sine tempore, omnium sæculorum et temporum est antecessor et œ: deinde subsecutum diem Circumcisionis octavum, Unigeniti luce signatum, pari observantia recolentes, sacrificiis solemnibus honoravimus: nunc Epiphaniæ diem, revelante in homine divinitate, excolimus, diversa Domini nostri Jesu Christi Filii tui in hoc mundo suum adventum manifestantia insignia prædicantes, sive quod stellam ortus sui nunciam misit e cœlo, quam stupentibus Magis usque ad cunabula suæ carnalis infantiæ præviam fecit: sive quod aquas baptismate suo, ad omnium gentiumlavationem, Jordanis alveum sanctificaturus intravit: ubi ipsum esse Filium unigenitum dilectum, Spiritu, columbæ specie, advolante, monstrasti, et paterna insuper voce docuisti: sive quod primum in Cana Galilææ prodidit signum, cum in connubio nuptiali, aquas in vinum convertit, alto et admirabili Sacramento docens, quod a sæculis sponsæ sibi jungendus Ecclesiæ advenerat, ac in vinum prudentiæ spiritualis saporis fidem veritatis esse mutandum: itaque in his tribus mirabilium tuorum causis fide hodiernæ solemnitatis edita, Dominus noster Jesus Christus, Filius tuus, nihilominus tuæ virtutis operatio et nostræ salutis præparatio est. Propterea, Domine, secundum hæctria magna mirabilia,maneat in nobis gratiæ spiritualis integritas, sapiat in cordibus nostris vinum prudentiæ,fulgeatin operibus Stella justitiæ. Amen.

O God, who to lighten the labours of this present life hast conferred upon us the various consolations and joys of thy gifts which we commemorate in the yearly recurrence of the festivals: thou grantest us now, on this present solemnity, to unite in the mysteries celebrated by thy Church. Having kept, a few days past, the feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour, who was born unto us in time and yet was born of thee from eternity, and preceded and created all ages and time; having, eight days after that, with like devotion and with the same solemn sacrifice, honoured the Circumcision, that feast resplendent with the light of thine Only Begotten Son; we now on this day worship the Epiphany, which revealed unto us the divinity of him who had assumed our Humanity. We proclaim those various manifestations, whereby our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son made known his having come into this world. We proclaim his having sent from the heavens that Star which announced his own rising, and by whose guidance he led the wondering Magi to the cradle where helay in his assumed Infant Flesh. We proclaim his sanctifying, unto the cleansing of all nations, the waters by his own Baptism, when he entered the bed of the Jordan, and where by thy Spirit hovering in the shape of a dove over him, thou didst show and by thy paternal voice didst declare that he was thy beloved Only-Begotten Son. We proclaim his first miracle wrought in Cana of Galilee, when, at the marriage-feast, he changed the water into wine, teaching us, by a sublime and admirable mystery, that he had come in order to be united to the Church, the Spouse he had, for ages, chosen to himself, and that the faith in the promises was henceforth to be changed into the wine of sweet spiritual wisdom. Thus it is, that in the three wonders which are the object of our faith on thisday’s solemnity, our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, achieves both the operation of thy power, and the preparation of our salvation. Wherefore, we beseech thee, O Lord, grant us, agreeably to these three prodigies, that there may abide in us the soundness of spiritual grace, that our hearts may relish the wine of prudence, and that the star of justice may shine forth in our works. Amen.

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The ancient Paris Missal of 1584 contains the following Sequence for one of the days during this Octave. It is full of unction.

Sequence

Orto crucis sidere,
Quæramus summopere
Regem regum omnium.

Quæramus humiliter,
Non panditur aliter
Cordibus quærentium.

Jacet in præsepio.
Spreto regum solio,
Degens in penuria.

Formam dans quærentibus,
Calcatis terrestribus,
Amare cœlestia.

Herode postposito,
Magos cultu debito
Sequamur celeriter.

Stella duce cursitant
Ad Regem quem prædicant
Regnare perenniter.

Offeramus typice,
Quod illi magnifice
Tulerunt realiter.

Thus superno Numini,
Myrrham vero homini,
Aurum Regi pariter.

His donis, o lilium,
Placa nobis Filium
Repletum dulcedine.

Ut possimus libere
Secum semper vivere
Paradisi culmine.

Amen.

The Star of the Cross has risen;
let us most earnestly seek
the King of kings.

Let us seek him in humility,
for it is to humble hearts alone
that he shows himself.

He lies in a crib,
for he scorns a regal couch,
and lives in poverty.

He thus teaches them that seek him
to despise the things of earth,
and love those of heaven.

Let us turn away from Herod,
and follow without delay, the Magi,
and pay our homage to Jesus.

They are led by the Star,
and hasten to the King, whom they proclaim
as the everlasting Ruler.

Let us mystically offer the gifts,
which they really offered him
so magnificently:

Let us offer Incense to Jesus, as our God;
our Myrrh to him, as Man;
our Gold to him, as King.

Do thou, O Mary, pure Lily!
pray for us to thy Son, who is full of sweetness,
that these our gifts may render him propitious;

That so, being freed from this world,
we may live with him for ever
in the heavenly land above.

Amen.

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We here insert a few stanzas from the exquisite Hymn composed by St Ephrem for the Syrian Church.

Hymn

Quam mitis es Puer, quam vehemens judiciorum tuorum vis omnipotens, et ineluctabilis est, suavis et dulcis est amor tuus; quis tibi obsistet?

In sublimi habitat Pater tuus, tua Mater humi jacet; undenam tui notitiam quis capiat? Si quis terrenus homo tuam disquirat naturam ab humanis remotam sensibus, hæc supereminet cœlo in magnum divinitatis retrusa sinum.

Si rursus quispiam corpus cognoscere cupiat oculi expositum, en humi jacet, teque ab angusto Mariæ gremio præbet aspectabilem. Errat incertus animus, neque sibi constat mens tuas, o dives, rationes supputans.

Congeminatis seris clauditur tua divinitas; pelagus es tamen immensum, cedo, qui ejus fundum attingat, etiam postquam magnitudinem tuam ad nostram parvitatem deduxisti. Cum tuum conspectum petimus, hominem videmus, visuros nos Deum sperantes; si hominem videre velimus, inde statim in oculos incurrit hebetatque aciem coruscans divinitatis splendor.

Jam quis credat hæredem te esse Davidici throni, cui ex lauta ejus supellectile præsepe duntaxat relictum est, et ex amplissimis ædibus, spelunca, deque ejus equitatu vix vilem asellum cernere aliquando continget?

Attamen quam benignus es, puer, qui te omnibus indulges, et obviis quibusque arrides! talis nempe tuus amor est, qualem credibile est futurum fuisse ejus, quihomines desideraret, ut panem quilibet esuriens.

Parentes ab externis non discernís, nec genitricem ab ancillis, nec virginem te lactantem ab impuris prostitutæ pudicitiæ feminis. Quid? Num tui ingenii naturalis facilitas huc te demisit, an caritas, qui nihil od isti eorum quæ fecisti?

Quidistuc quod te movet, ut ad omnes descendas, ad locupletes ac tenues, et ad eos accurras etiam non vocatus? Unde tibi istud inditum, ut homines tantopere cupias?

Quæ hæc tua caritas est, ut si quis te objurgat, non succenseas, si minis terret, non trepides, si duriter tecum agit, frontem non contrahas? Tua nimirum caritas antecellit legem illorum, qui suas persequebantur injurias et vindicabant.

How gentle art thou, dear Babe! How mighty is the omnipotent and irresistible power of thy judgements I How sweet and amiable is thy love! Who can withstand thee?

Thy Father dwells in the high heavens; thy Mother stands on the lowly earth; who can understand thee? If the earthly man investigate thy nature, which surpasses the ken of mortals, it is found in the highest heavens, hid in the vast bosom of the divinity.

If, again, one wish to see thy Body made visible to the eye of man, lo! it lies upon the earth: it has issued from the narrow womb of Mary, and all may see it. The soul knows not what to think, and the mind grows bewildered in the calculation of thy ways, O Jesus! rich Lord and God!

Thy divinity is shut beneath a twofold barrier; yet art thou, and I confess it, an immeasurable ocean to him who attempts to fathom thee, even now that thou hast humbled thy greatness to our littleness. When we seek for a sight of thee, we see thee a Man, having hoped to see thee as the great God: and when we wish to look upon thee as Man, then straightway is our eye struck and dazzled by the bright splendour of thy Divinity.

And who would think thee to be the Heir of David’s throne? Instead of costly furniture, thou hast but a Crib: instead of the regal palaces, thou hast but a Cave: instead of the richly caparisoned steeds, there stands near thee one poor ass.

Yet, dear Babe, how lovely art thou! accessible to all, and meeting with thy smile all who come to thee! Thy love is verily the love of one who longeth after men, as a hungry man that longeth after bread.

Thou welcomest to thee, with a like affection, strangers and thy kindred, women and thy Mother, impure prostitutes and the Virgin that feeds thee at her Breast. And how is this? Is it the sweet condescension of thy heart, or is it the love wherewith thou lovest all things thou hast made, that has brought thee to this excess of affection?

What is it that induces thee to stoop thus towards all, rich and poor, and run even to them that ask thee not to come? Whence hast thou this inclination to love us men so much?

What charity is this, that if a man insult thee, thou art not indignant? or if he threaten thee, thou fearest not to go to him? or if he treat thee with cruelty, there is not a wrinkle on thy brow? Ah! thy charity is of another sort from theirs who persecute them that do them wrong and who seek revenge upon their enemies.

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Let us honour the Virgin-Mother by addressing to her these stanzas of a Hymn composed by St Joseph the Hymnographer. It is in the Menæa of the Greek Church.

Die IV Januarii

Divinum Regis palatium honoremus, in quo quemadmodum ipse voluit, habitavit, innuptam ac solam Deiparam, per quam deificati sumus, collaudemus.

Casta ante partum, in partu, et post partum, vere, o Virgo mater, apparuisti: Deum enim peperisti, quem Apostolorum collegium manifeste prædicavit.

Beatissimus olim Prophetarum chorus sacris vaticiniis in Spiritu divinitus te, o castissima, Portam et Montem umbrosum nominavit.

Illumina, o Virgo, oculos cordis mei, effulge super me pœnitentiæ radio; a tenebris perennibus libera me; o Porta lucis, Refugium omnium christianorum te fideliter laudantium.

Laudo te, o sola digna omni laude; glorifico te, o semper a Deo glorificatissima; et beatifico te, o Virgo, divina beatitudine felicissima, quam generationes generationum beatam appellant.

Expiatorium facta es, o purissima, eorum qui assidue delinquunt, supra naturæ ordinem enixa Christum, qui tollit peccata mundi, ad quem clamamus; Dominus ac Deus patrum, benedictus es.

O miraculum, quod omnia miracula transcendit; quomodo paris et permanes virgo, o castissima sponsa Dei! nimirum Verbum Patri coæternum genuisti, cui omnes psallimus: Laudate omnia opera, et superexaltate Dominum in omnia sæcula.

Jubar fulgoris partus tui eflulsit, atque universum terrarum orbem lætissimo lumine perfudit, actenebrarum principem perdidit, o Dei Genitrix castissima, Angelorum gloriatio, atque omnium hominum salus, qui incessantibus vocibus te concelebrant.

Let us honour the divine Palace of the King, in which it was his will to dwell: the virgin and incomparable Mother of God: let us sing our praises to Her by whom we were raised up to God.

Thou, O truly Virgin-Mother, wast pure before thy delivery, and in thy delivery, and after thy delivery; for thou didst give birth to that God whom the Apostolic College made known to the world by their preaching.

The most blessed choir of the Prophets of old, divinely inspired by the Spirit, did, in their sacred prophecies, call thee, O most chaste one, the Gate and the Mountain o’ershadowed.

Enlighten, O Virgin! the eyes of my heart, and send within me the bright ray of compunction; deliver me from eternal darkness; O thou Gate of Light, and Refuge of all Christians faithfully praising thee.

I praise thee, the creature alone worthy of all praise; I glorify thee, O thou that hast ever been glorified by God; and I bless thee, O Virgin, thou most happy in a divine blessedness, who art called Blessed by all generations.

O most pure one! thou hast been made the propitiatory of them that sin often, for thou didst miraculously bring forth Christ, who taketh away the sins of the world, and to whom we cry: Blessed art thou, O Lord and God of our fathers!

O miracle that surpasseth all miracles! How is it, O most chaste Spouse of God, that thou bearest a Child, yet remainest a Virgin? Thou hast given birth to the Word, coeternal with the Father, to whom we all thus sing: Praise him, all ye his works, and magnify the Lord above all for ever.

The bright splendour of thy delivery has shone forth, and has shed a most joyful light over the whole earth, and has destroyed the prince of darkness, O most chaste Mother of God, thou joy of the Angels, and protectress of all who honour thee with their unceasing praises.

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[1] St Luke ii 16.
[2] St Matt. ii 2.
[3] Rom. iv 11.
[4] Apoc. xxii 16.

 

 

 

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

A SOLEMNITY of such importance as the Epiphany could not be without an Octave. The only Octaves during the year that are superior to this of the Epiphany, are those of Easter and Pentecost. It has a privilege which the Octave of Christmas has not; for no Feast can be kept during the Octave of the Epiphany, unless it be that of a principal Patron; whereas Feasts of double and semi-double rite are admitted during the Christmas Octave. It would even seem, judging from the ancient Sacramentaries, that anciently the two days immediately following the Epiphany were Days of Obligation, as were the Monday and Tuesday of Easter and Whitsuntide. The names of the Stational Churches are given, where the Clergy and Faithful of Rome assembled on these two days.

In order that we may the more fully enter into the spirit of the Church during this glorious Octave, we will contemplate, each day, the Mystery of the Vocation of the Magi, and we will enter, together with them, into the holy Cave of Bethlehem, there to offer our gifts to the Divine Infant, to whom the star has led the Wise Men.

These Magi are the harbingers of the conversion of all nations to the Lord their God; they are the Fathers of the Gentiles in the faith of the Redeemer that is come; they are the Patriarchs of the human race regenerated. They arrive at Bethlehem, according to the tradition of the Church, three in number; and this tradition is handed down by St Leo, by St Maximus of Turin, by St Cesarius of Arles, and by the Christian paintings in the Catacombs of Rome, which paintings belong to the period of the Persecutions.

Thus is continued in the Magi the Mystery prefigured by the three just men at the very commencement of the world: Abel, who, by his death, was the figure of Christ; Seth, who was the father of the children of God, as distinct from the family of Cain; and Enos, who had the honour of regulating the ceremonies and solemnity to be observed in man's worship of his Creator.

The Magi also continued, in their own person, that other Mystery of the three new parents of the human family, after the Deluge, and from whom all races have sprung: Sem, Cham, and Japheth, the Sons of Noe.

And, thirdly, we behold in the Magi that third Mystery of the three fathers of God's chosen people: Abraham, the Father of believers; Isaac, another figure of Christ immolated; and Jacob, who was strong against God,[1] and was the father of the twelve Patriarchs of Israel.

All these were but the receivers of the Promise, although the hope of mankind, both according to nature and grace, rested on them; they, as the Apostle says of them, saluted the accomplishment of that Promise afar off.[2] The nations did not follow them, by serving the true God; nay, the greater the light that shone on Israel, the greater seemed the blindness of the Gentile world. The three Magi, on the contrary, come to Bethlehem, and they are followed by countless generations. In them the figure becomes the grand reality, thanks to the mercy of our Lord, who having come to find what was lost, vouchsafed to stretch out his arms to the whole human race, for the whole was lost.

These happy Magi were also invested with regal power, as we shall see further on; as such, they were prefigured by those three faithful Kings who were the glory of the throne of Juda, the earnest maintainers among the chosen people of the traditions regarding the future Deliverer, and the strenuous opponents of idolatry: David, the sublime type of the Messias; Ezechias, whose courageous zeal destroyed the idols; and Josias, who reestablished the Law of the Lord, which the people had forgotten.

And if we would have another type of these holy pilgrims, who come from a far distant country of the Gentiles to adore the King of Peace, and offer him their rich presents, the sacred Scripture puts before us the Queen of Saba, also a Gentile, who hearing of the fame of the wisdom of Solomon, whose name means the Peaceful, visits Jerusalem, taking with her the most magnificent gifts—camels laden with gold, spices, and precious stones—and venerates, under one of the sublimest of his types, the kingly character of the Messias.

Thus, O Jesus! during the long and dark night, in which the justice of thy Father left this sinful world, did the gleams of grace appear in the heavens, portending the rising of that Sun of thine own Justice, which would dissipate the shadows of death, and establish the reign of Light and Day. But now all these shadows have passed away; we no longer need the imperfect light of types: it is thyself we now possess; and though we wear not royal crowns upon our heads, like the Magi and the Queen of Saba, yet thou receivest us with love. The very first to be invited to thy Crib, there to receive thy teachings, were simple Shepherds. Every member of the human family is called to form part of thy court. Having become a Child, thou hast opened the treasures of thine infinite wisdom to all men. What gratitude do we not owe for this gift of the light of Faith, without which we should know nothing, even whilst flattering ourselves that we know all things! How narrow and uncertain and deceitful is human science, compared with that which has its source in thee! May we ever prize this immense gift of Faith, this Light, O Jesus! which thou makest to shine upon us, after having softened it under the veil of thy humble Infancy. Preserve us from pride, which darkens the soul’s vision and dries up the heart. Confide us to the keeping of thy Blessed Mother; and may our love attach us for ever to thee, and her maternal eye ever watch over us lest we should leave thee, O thou the God of our hearts!

Let us now listen to the Hymns and Prayers of the several Churches in praise of the Mysteries of the glorious Epiphany. We will begin with this of Prudentius, in which he celebrates that never-setting Star, of which the other was but a figure.

Hymn

Quicumque Christura quæritis,
Oculos in altum tollite:
Illic licebit visere
Signum perennis gloriæ.

Hæc stella, quæ solis rotam
Vincit decore ac lumine,
Venisse terris nuntiat
Cum carne terrestri Deum.

Non illa servit noctibus,
Secuta lunam menstruam:
Sed solam cœlum possidens
Cursum dierum temperat.

Arctoa quamvis sidera
In se retortis motibus
Obire nolint; attamen
Plerumque sub nimbis latent.

Hoc sidus æternum manet:
Hæc stella numquam mergitur:
Nec nubis occursu abdita
Obumbrat obductam facem.

Tristis cometa intercidat,
Et si quod astrum
Sirio Fervet vapore, jam
Dei Sub luce destructum cadet.

O ye, that are in search of Jesus,
raise up your eyes aloft:
there shall you see
the sign of his eternal glory.

This Star, which surpasseth
the sun’s disc in beauty and light,
announces that God has come
upon the earth clothed in human flesh.

It is not a Star that is made to serve the night,
following the monthly changes of the moon;
but it seems to preside over the heavens
and mark the course of the day.

’Tis true, that Polar Stars
are lights that never set;
yet are they often hid
beneath the clouds.

But this Star is never dimmed;
this Star is never extinguished;
nor does a coming cloud
o'ershadow her blaze of light.

Let comet, the harbinger of ill,
and meteors formed by Dogstar’s vaporous heat,
now fade away
before this God’s own light.

---

We take the three following solemn Prayers from the Gregorian Sacramentary.

Prayers

 

Deus, illuminator omnium gentium, da populis tuis perpetua pace gaudere, et illud lumen splendidum infunde cordibus nostris, quod trium Magorum mentibus aspirasti.

Omnipotens et sempiterne Deus, fidelium splendor animarum, qui hanc solemnitatem electionis gentium primitiis consecrasti; imple mundum gloria tua, et subditis tibi populis per luminis tui appare claritatem.

Concede nobis, omnipotens Deus, ut Salutare tuum nova cœlorum luce mirabile, quod ad salutem mundi hodierna festivitate processit, nostris semper innovandis cordibus oriatur. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

O God, the enlightener of all nations, give thy people to enjoy perpetual peace, and infuse into our hearts that shining light which thou didst enkindle in the minds of the three Magi.

Almighty and eternal God, the light of faithful souls, who hast consecrated this solemnity by the first-fruits of the vocation of the Gentiles; fill this world with thy glory, and manifest thyself to thy devoted people by the brightness of thy light.

Grant unto us, O Almighty God, that the Saviour sent by thee, who was made known by a new light in the heavens, and comes down for the salvation of the world on this day’s solemnity, may arise in our hearts and give them a perpetual renovation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

---

The following Sequence is found in the ancient Roman-French Missals.

Sequence

Epiphaniam Domino canamus gloriosam,
Qua prolem Dei vere Magi adorant:
Immensam Chaldæi cujus Persæque venerantur potentiam.
Quem cuncti Prophetæ cecinere venturum, gentes ad salvandas:
Cujus Majestas ita est inclinata, ut assumeret servi formam.
Ante sæcula qui Deus, et tempora, homo factus est in Maria:
Balaam de quo vaticinans: Exhibit et Jacob rutilans, inquit, stella,
Et confringet ducum agmina regionis Moab, maxima potentia.
Huic Magi munera deferunt præclara: aurum, simul thus et myrrham.
Thure Deum prsedicant, auro Regem magnum, hominem mortalem myrrha.
In somnis hos monet Angelus, ne redeant ad regem commotum propter regna;
Pavebat etenim nimium Regem natum, verens amittere regni jura.
Magi, stella sibi micante prævia, pergunt alacres itinera, patriam quæ eos ducebat ad propriam, liquentes Herodis mandata.
Qui percussus corde nimium præ ira, extemplo mandat eludia magica non linqui taliter impunita, sed mox privari eos vita.
Omnis nunc caterva tinnulum jungat laudibus organi pneuma,
Mystice offerens Regi regum Christo munera, pretiosa,
Poscens ut per orbem regna omnia protegat in sæcula sempiterna. Amen.

Let us sing to the Lord the glorious Epiphany,
Wherein the Magi adore the true Son of God.
The Chaldeans and Persians offer homage to his infinite power.
All the Prophets had foretold that he would come to save the nations.
His Majesty so far humbled itself, as to assume the form of a servant.
He that was God before all ages and time, was made Man in Mary's womb.
Balaam thus prophesied concerning him: There shall go forth a bright star from Jacob,
And with exceeding power he shall break the armies of the chiefs of Moab.
The Magi bring him rich presents, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
By the frankincense they confess him to be God; by the gold, the great King; by the myrrh, a mortal Man.
An Angel warns them in their sleep, that they return not to King Herod, who feared to lose his kingdom.
For he was exceedingly troubled at the birth of the new King, and trembled lest he should be deprived of his throne.
The Magi, guided by a Star that went before them, set out on their journey with joy. The Star guided them to their own country, and Herod's commands were not heeded.
This prince, struck to the heart with exceeding wrath, straightway commands that the disobedience of the Magi be chastised, and that they be speedily put to death.
Now, therefore, let this assembly sing its songs of praise accompanied by the organ's shrill sounding notes.
And offer to Christ, the King of kings, its precious mystic gifts,
Beseeching him that he protect all the kingdoms of the universe for ever and ever. Amen.

---

St Ephrem gives us the following beautiful Hymn upon the Nativity of our Lord.

Hymn

Nascente Filio, altis resonat clamoribus Bethlehem. Cœlo delapsi Vigiles canunt vocibus tonitruum imitantibus. Concentu exciti novo convenere silentes, silentium rupere laudes nascentis Filii Dei.

Plaudamus, aiebant, Infanti qui Evæ Adæque juventutis restituit annos. Confluxere pastores, gregum suorum proventum portantes, dulcis lactis copiam, mundas carnes, et decoram laudem.

Distinxere munera, carnes Josepho, Mariæ lac, Filio laudem. Obtulere agnum lactentem paschali Agno, primum Primo, hostiam Hostiæ, agnum caduci temporis Agno veritatis sempiternæ.

Decorum sane spectaculum! agnus oblatus Agno! balavit agnus Unigenito præsentatus, agnus Agno acceptam referebat gratiam, quod suo adventu greges et armenta mactationi subtraxisset, et novum a veteri Paschata traductum Pascha Filii introduxisset.

Illum adoravere pastores, et prophetantes Pastorum Principem salutarunt. Mosaica virga, aiebant, tuum, universalis Pastor, sceptrum commendat, quique illam gestavit Moses te magnum prædicat, dolens gregum suorum mutatas formas, et agnos in lupos transiisse, ac oves evasisse dracones, et ferocissimas bestias. Scilicet et istæ in illa horribili solitudine passæ fuerant malum, quando furentes rabidæ in suum incubuere Pastorem.

Divine Puer, hanc tibi acceptam profitentur gratiam pastores, quod lupos et agnos in easdem caulas congregaveris: Puer Noe antiquior, et Noe recentior, qui intra arcam, pelago fremente, pacem dissidentibus vectoribus sanxisti.

David proavus tuus agni necem leonis cæde vindicavit: tu vero, fili David, occultum peremisti lupum, a quo interfectus fuerat Adamus, agnus ille simplex, qui in Paradiso pastus est et balavit.

The Son being born, Bethlehem resounds with loud shouts of joy. The ever wakeful Angels come down from heaven, singing their hymn with voices loud as thunder. Men that were in still silence ran to the cave, aroused by the strange music: they too broke the silence with their praises of the new-born Son of God.

'Let us,’ said they, 'give praise to the Infant, who has restored to Adam and Eve the years of their youth.' These Shepherds came bringing with them the produce of their flocks, abundance of sweet milk, clean meats, and songs of praise.

Thus did they divide the gifts: the meats to Joseph; the milk to Mary; their praise to Jesus. They offered a lambkin to the paschal Lamb, a first-born to the First-Born, a victim to the Victim, a mortal lamb to the true eternal Lamb.

Fair sight indeed! A lamb offered to the Lamb! The lamb bleated, thus offered to the Only Begotten Son of God; it thanked him for that his coming would save the flocks and herds from being immolated, and that a new Pasch, that of the Son of God, would be brought in in place of the Pasch of old.

The Shepherds adored him, and prophesying, saluted him as the Prince of Shepherds. They said: 'Thy sceptre, O universal Shepherd! is prefigured by the rod of Moses; and Moses, who held it in his hand, declares thy greatness. But he grieves over the change that befell his flock: he grieves to see his lambs changed into wolves, and his sheep transformed into dragons and savage beasts. This evil happened to them in that terrible desert, where this flock, grown mad with rage, attacked their Shepherd.

‘O Divine Child! the Shepherds give thee thanks, for that thou hast united into the one fold both wolves and lambs. O Child! that art older and younger than Noe! ’twas thou didst establish peace among them that sailed in the ark on the stormy sea, and were enemies.

'Thy ancestor David avenged the massacre of a lamb by slaying the lion: but thou, O Son of David! didst slay the invisible lion, who murdered that simple lamb, who fed and bleated in Eden—our first parent Adam.'

---

The Greek Church gives us, in honour of the VirginMother, this beautiful song of Saint Joseph the Hymnographer.

Ut inferiores superioribus ac cœlestibus conjungeret solus omnium Deus, virginalem uterum ingressus est, cumquein similitudine carnis apparuisset, intermedio inimicitiæ pariete sublato, pacem interposuit, vitamque ac divinam redemptionem largitus est.

Virgo casta post partum permansisti, O sanctissima: Deum enim Verbum genuisti similem nobis factum sine peccato.

Sana vulnera cordis mei, o puella, et motus animæ meæ recta ac felici tramite dirige, o Virgo, ad Dei voluntatem faciendam.

Salve, o unica Genitrix illius qui carnem emendicavit. Salve collapsi mundi erectio, o immaculatissima: salve, mœroris dissolutio; salve, salus fidelium; salve, throne Dei altissime.

Mente revolventes divineloqui Prophetæ mysterii tui profunditatem, o Virgo, prophetice prænunciaverunt illud divino Spiritu illustrati. Nos vero cum illorum vaticinia opere completa nunc læti intueamur, credimus.

O Puella omnibus miraculis admirabilior; illum genuisti qui est ante omnia sæcula, nobis similem factum propter summam misericordiam suam, ut salvos faceret eos qui canunt: Benedictus es Deus Patrum nostrorum.

Divinis verbis tuis hominum generationes inhærentes, beatam te dicunt, o semper beatissima, suaviter concinentes: Benedicite omnia opera Dominum.

O Virgo bonorum amatrix, bonam effice animam meam, peccati malitia depravatam: tu enim bonum Deum ac Dominum peperisti.

Horrescunt Cherubim atque universa cœlestis natura ob reverentiam venerandæ Prolis tuæ incomprehensibilis, o immaculatissima, quæ similis facta est nobis propterineffabilem misericordiam suam, et secundum carnem baptizata est, cujus divinam Apparitionem nunc omnes exsultantes celebramus.

The one only God of all, wishing to unite the inferior creation with the superior and heavenly, entered the womb of the Virgin; ,and when he had appeared in the likeness of the flesh, he established peace between God and man, having taken away the wall of enmity that had stood between them; he also bestowed on us life and divine redemption,

Thou, O most holy Mary! didst remain a pure Virgin after thy delivery; for thou didst give birth to God the Word, made like unto us in all save sin.

Heal the wounds of my heart, O Virgin! and direct the movements of my soul in a bright and happy path, so that I may fulfil God’s will.

Hail, incomparable Mother of Him who deigned to take our flesh! Hail. O most Immaculate Mary, that didst bring the fallen world its resurrection! Hail, thou dispeller of sorrow! Hail, thou that givest the faithful their Saviour! Hail, most high throne of God!

The divinely-speaking Prophets, revolving in their minds the depth of thy mystery, O Virgin! prophetically foretold it, for they were enlightened by the divine Spirit. We that now joyfully behold their prophecies fulfilled, we believe.

O Virgin! thou that art more admirable than all miracles! thou didst give birth to Him who was before all ages, and who was made like unto us through his great mercy, for he came that he might save them that sing: Blessed art thou, the God of our Fathers!

All generations of men, keeping to thy most sacred words, call thee Blessed, O most Blessed Mother! and sweetly sing in choral hymns: All ye works of the Lord, bless the Lord!

O Virgin, that lovest holy souls! make mine holy, for it is depraved by the evil of sin: make it good, for thou hast given birth to the good God and Lord,

The Cherubim and the whole heavenly kingdom tremble in reverence before the incomprehensible majesty of thy Son, O most Immaculate Mother! He was made like unto us, through his ineffable mercy, and was baptized according to the flesh: and now do we all exultingly celebrate his divine Apparition.

---

 

 

 

[1] Gen. xxxii 28.

[2] Heb. xi 13.

 

 

 

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

THE great Mystery of the Alliance of the Son of God with the universal Church, which is represented in the Epiphany by the Magi, was looked forward to by the world in every age previous to the coming of our Emmanuel. The Patriarchs and Prophets had propagated the tradition; and the Gentile world gave frequent proofs that the tradition prevailed even with them.

When Adam in Eden first beheld her whom God had formed from one of his ribs, and whom he called Eve, because she was the Mother of all the living.[1] he exclaimed: 'This is the bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. Man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall be two in one flesh.'[2] In uttering these words, the soul of our first Parent was enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and, as we are told by the most profound interpreters of the Sacred Scriptures (such as Tertullian, St Augustine, St Jerome, etc.), he foretold the alliance of the Son of God with his Church, which issued from his Side, when opened by the spear, on the Cross; for the love of which Spouse he left the right hand of his Father, and the heavenly Jerusalem, his mother, that he might dwell with us in this our earthly abode.

The second father of the human race, Noe, after he had seen the Rainbow in the heavens, announcing that now God’s anger was appeased, prophesied to his three Sons their own respective future, and in theirs, that of the world. Cham had drawn upon himself his father’s curse; Sem seemed to be the favoured son, for from his race there should come the Saviour of the world; but, the Patriarch immediately adds: 'May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Sem.'[3] In the course of time, the ancient alliance that had been made between God and the people of Israel was broken; the Semitic race fluctuated in its religion, and finally fell into infidelity; and at length God adopts the family of Japheth, that is, the Gentiles of the West, as his own people; for ages, they had been without God, and now the very Seat of religion is established in their midst, and they are put at the head of the whole human race.

Later on it is the great God himself that speaks to Abraham, promising him that he shall be the father of a countless family. ‘I will bless thee,' says the Lord, 'and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven.'[4] As the Apostle tells us, more numerous was to be the family of Abraham according to the faith than that which should be born to him of Sara. All they that have received the faith of a Mediator to come, and all they that, being warned by the Star, have come to Jesus as their God—all are the children of Abraham.

The Mystery is again expressed in Rebecca, the wife of Isaac. She feels that there are two children struggling within her womb;[5] and this is the answer she received from God, when she consulted him: ‘Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be divided out of thy womb; and one people shall overcome the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.'[6] Now, who is this ‘younger’ child that overcomes the elder, but the Gentiles, who struggle with Juda for the light, and who, though but the child of the promise, supplants him who was son according to the flesh? Such is the teaching of St Leo and St Augustine.

Next it is Jacob, who, when dying, calls his twelve sons, the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel, around his bed, and prophetically assigns to each of them the career they were to run. Juda is put before the rest; he is to be the king of his brethren, and from his royal race shall come the Messias. But the prophecy concludes with the prediction of Israel's humiliation, which humiliation is to be the glory of the rest of the human race. 'The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a Ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the Expectation of the Nations.'[7]

When Israel had gone out of Egypt, and was in possession of the Promised Land, Balaam cried out, setting his face towards the desert where Israel was encamped: 'I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not near. A Star shall rise out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel. . . . Who shall live when God shall do these things? They shall come in galleys from Italy; they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish.'[8] And what kingdom shall succeed this? The kingdom of Christ, who is the Star, and the King that shall rule for ever.

David has this great day continually before his mind. He is for ever celebrating, in his Psalms, the Kingship of his Son according to the flesh: he shows him to us as bearing the Sceptre, girt with the Sword, anointed by God his Father, and extending his kingdom from sea to sea: he tells us how the Kings of Tharsis and the Istlands, the Kings of the Arabians and of Saba, and the Princes of Ethiopia, shall prostrate at his feet and adore him: he mentions their gifts of gold.[9]

In his mysterious Canticle of Canticles, Solomon describes the joy of the spiritual union between the divine Spouse and his Church, and that Church is not the Synagogue. Christ invites her, in words of tenderest love, to come and be crowned; and she, to whom he addresses these words, is dwelling beyond the confines of the land where lives the people of God. 'Come from Libanus, my Spouse, come from Libanus, come! Thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.’[10] This daughter of Pharaoh confesses her unworthiness: I am black, she says; but, she immediately adds that she has been made beautiful by the grace of her Spouse.[11]

The Prophet Osee follows with his inspired prediction: 'And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, that she shall call me My Husband, and she shall call me no more Baali. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name. . . . And I will espouse thee to me for ever. . . . And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy. And I will say to that which was not my people: Thou art my people:and they shall say: Thou art my God.'[12]

The elder Tobias, whilst captive in Babylon, prophesies the same alliance. The Jerusalem which was to receive the Jews after their deliverance by Cyrus, is not the City of which he speaks in such glowing terms; it is a new and richer and lovelier Jerusalem. 'Jerusalem! City of God! bless the God eternal, that he may rebuild his tabernacle in thee, and may call back all the captives to thee. Thou shalt shine with a glorious light. Nations from afar shall come to thee, and shall bring gifts, and shall esteem thy land as holy. For they shall call upon the great Name in thee. . . . All that fear God shall return thither. And the Gentiles shall leave their idols, and shall come into Jerusalem, and shall dwell in it. And all the kings of the earth shall rejoice in it, adoring the King of Israel.'[13]

It is true, the Gentiles shall be severely chastised by God on account of their crimes; but that justice is for no other end than to prepare those very Gentiles for an eternal alliance with the great Jehovah. He thus speaks by his Prophet Sophonias: 'My judgement is to assemble the Gentiles, and to gather the kingdoms: and to pour upon them my indignation, all my fierce anger: for with the fire of my jealousy shall all the earth be devoured. Because then I will restore to the people a chosen lip, that all may call upon the name of the Lord, and may serve him with one shoulder. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia shall my suppliants, the children of my dispersed people, bring me an offering.'[14]

He promises the same mercy by his Prophet Ezechiel: ‘One King shall be over all, and they shall no more be two nations, neither shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms. Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols: and I will save them out of all the places in which they have sinned. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And they shall have One Shepherd. And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will establish them, and will multiply them, and will set my Sanctuary in the midst of them for ever.'[15]

After the prophet Daniel has described the three great Kingdoms which were successively to pass away, he says there shall be a Kingdom 'which is an everlasting Kingdom, and all kings shall serve him' (the King) 'and shall obey him.' He had previously said: ‘The power' (that was to be given to the Son of man) ‘is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away; and his Kingdom shall not be destroyed.'[16]

Aggeus thus foretells the great events which were to happen before the coming of the One Shepherd, and the establishment of that everlasting Sanctuary which was to be set up in the very midst of the Gentiles: ‘Yet one little while, and I will move the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will move all nations, and the Desired of all nations shall come.'[17]

But we should have to cite all the Prophets in order to describe in all its grandeur the glorious spectacle promised by God to the world, when, being mindful of the Gentiles, he should lead them to the feet of Jesus. The Church has quoted the Prophet Isaias in the Epistle of the Feast, and no Prophet is so explicit and so sublime as this son of Amos.

The expression of the same universal expectation and desire is found also among the Gentiles. The Sibyls kept up the hope in the heart of the people; and in Rome itself we find the Poet Virgil repeating in one of his poems the oracles they had pronounced. ‘The last age,' says he, ‘foretold by the Cumean Sibyl, is at hand; a new and glorious era is coming: a new race is being sent down to earth from heaven. At the birth of this Child, the iron age will cease, and one of gold will rise upon the whole world.... No remnants of our crimes will be left, and their removal will free the earth from its neverending fear.'[18]

If we are unwilling to accept, as did St Augustine and so many other holy Fathers, these Sibylline oracles as the expression of the ancient traditions—we have pagan philosophers and historians, such as Cicero, Tacitus, and Suetonius, testifying that in their times the world was in expectation of a Deliverer; that this Deliverer would come, not only from the East, but from Judea; and that a Kingdom was on the point of being established which would include the entire world.

O Jesus, our Emmanuel! this universal expectation was that of the holy Magi, to whom thou didst send the star. No sooner do they receive the signal of thy having come, than they set out in search of thee, asking, 'Where is he born, that is King of the Jews?' The oracles of thy Prophets were verified in them; but if they received the first-fruits of the great promise, we possess it in all its fulness. The Alliance is made, and our souls, for love of which thou didst come down from heaven, are thine. The Church is come forth from thy divine side, with the Blood and Water; and all that thou dost for this thy chosen Spouse, thou accomplishest in each of her faithful children. We are the sons of Japheth, and we have supplanted the race of Sem, which refused us the entrance of its tents; the birthright which belonged to Juda has been transferred to us. Each age do our numbers increase, for we are to become numerous as the stars of heaven. We are no longer in the anxious period of expectation; the star has risen, and the Kingdom it predicted will now for ever protect and bless us. The Kings of Tharsis and the Islands, the Kings of Arabia and Saba, the Princes of Ethiopia, are come, bringing their gifts with them; all generations have followed them. The Spouse has received all her honours, and has long since forgotten Amana, and Sanir, and Hermon, where she once dwelt in the mdist of wild beasts; she is not black, she is beautiful, with neither spot nor wrinkle upon her, but in every way is worthy of her divine Lord. Baal is forgotten for ever, and she lovingly speaks the language given her by her God. The One Shepherd feeds the one flock. The last Kingdom, the Kingdom which is to continue for ever, is faithfully fulfilling its glorious destiny.

It is thou, O Divine Infant! that bringest us all these graces, and receivest all this devoted homage of thy creatures. The time will soon come, dear Jesus! when thou wilt break the silence thou hast imposed on thyself in order that thou mightest teach us humility—thou wilt speak to us as our Master. Cæsar Augustus has long ruled over Pagan Rome, and she thinks herself the kingdom that is to have no end; but she and her Rulers must yield to the Eternal King and his eternal City: the throne of earthly power must now give place for the Throne of Christian charity, and a new Rome is to spring up, grander than the first. The Gentiles are looking for thee, their King; but the day will come when they will have no need to seek thee, but thou, in thy mercy, wilt go in search of them, by sending them apostles and missioners who will preach thy Gospel to them. Show thyself to them as he to whom all power has been given in heaven and on earth; and show them also Her whom thou hast made to be Queen of the universe. May this august Mother of thine be raised up from the poor Stable of Bethlehem, and from the humble dwelling of Nazareth, and be taken on the wings of Angels to that throne of mercy which thou hast made for her, and from which she will bless all peoples and generations with her loving protection.

We will now borrow some of those Canticles wherewith the several Churches were formerly wont to celebrate the Epiphany. Prudentius, the Prince of our Latin liturgical Poets, thus sings the Magi's journey to Bethlehem.

Hymn

 

En Persici ex orbis sinu,
Sol unde sumit januam,
Cernunt periti interpretes
Regale vexillum Magi.

Quod ut refulsit, cæteri
Cessere signorum globi:
Nec pulcher est ausus suam
Conferre formam Lucifer.

Quis iste tantus, inquiunt,
Regnator, astris imperans;
Quem sic tremunt cœlestia,
Cui lux, et æthra inserviunt?

Illustre quiddam cernimus,
Quod nesciat finem pati:
Sublime, celsum, interminum,
Antiquius cœlo, et chao.

Hic ille Rex est Gentium,
Populique Rex Judaici,
Promissus Abrahæ Patri,
Ejusque in ævum semini.

Æquanda nam stellis sua
Cognovit olim germina
Primus sapor credential,
Nati isolator unici.

Jam flos subit Davidicus,
Radice Jesse editus:
Sceptrique per virgam virens,
Rerum cacumen occupat.

Exin sequuntur perciti
Fixis in altum vultibus,
Qua stella sulcum traxerat,
Claramque signabat viam.

Sed verticem pueri supra
Signum pependit imminens,
Pronaque submissum face
Caput sacratum prodidit.

Videre quod postquam Magi,
Eoa promunt munera,
Stratique votis offerunt
Thus, myrrham, et aurum regium.

Agnosce clara insignia
Virtutis, ac regni tui,
Puer o, cui trinam
Pater Prædestinavit indolem.

Regem Deumque annuntiant
Thesaurus et fragrans odor
Thuris Sabæi: ac myrrheus
Pulvis sepulcrum prædocet.

Hoc est sepulcrum, quo Deus,
Dum corpus exstingui sinit,
Atque id sepulcrum suscitat,
Mortis refregit carcerem.

Lo! in the heart of Persia’s world,
where opens first the gate unto the rising sun,
the Magi, most wise interpreters,
perceive the standard of the King.

It shone, and the other stars of heaven
put out their lights:
not even would the lovely
DayStar show his face.

'Who, ‘say they, 'is this great King,
who commands the stars?
at whose presence the heavens tremble,
and light and air do his bidding?

‘The sign we see tells us of that great Being,
who is eternal and infinite
—the most, high, exalted, boundless One,
who existed before heaven and earth were made.

‘This is he that is King of the Gentiles,
and King of the Jews:
he was promised to our Father Abraham,
and to his seed for ever.

‘For Abraham, the first parent of believers,
and the sacrificer of his only Son,
was told that his race should become numerous
as the stars of heaven.

‘At length the Flower of David is come,
springing from Jesse's root:
blooming by his sceptre's rod,
he now rules over the universe.’

Then quickly do they follow,
with their gaze fixed aloft,
and the Star sails through the air,
pointing the bright path to be pursued.

But when the Star had reached the point
direct above the Child’s head,
it hovered there: then stooping down its torch,
it showed the sacred face they sought.

The Magi looked upon the Babe,
then opening their eastern treasures,
prostrate, and offer him the votive homage
of incense, myrrh, and kingly gold.

These, dear Babe, are the rich tokens
of thy power and kingdom,
for they mark the triple character
which thy Father would have us recognize.

The Gold proclaims him King;
the sweet-smelling Saba Incense declares him to be God;
and the Myrrh signifies that he is Man,
for it is the symbol of his future tomb;

That Tomb, whereby God
broke open the prison of Death,
after he had permitted his sacred Body to suffer death,
and the Tomb had raised it up again to life.

---

We find in the Sacramentary of the ancient Gallican Church the following beautiful prayer.

Prayer

Deus qui dives es in omnibus misericordia, Pater gloriæ, qui posuisti Filium tuum lumen in nationibus, prædicare captivis redemptionem, cæcis visum, remissionem peccatorum, et sortem inter sanctos per fidem, qui es in Christo largus miserator indulge. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

O God, who in all thy works art rich in mercy! Father of glory! who didst set thy Son as a light to the Gentiles, that he might preach redemption to captives, and give sight to the blind; O thou that art through Christ plenteous in thy mercy! grant us the remission of our sins, and fellowship through faith with the Saints. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

---

Let us celebrate the mystery of the Birth of Jesus and his alliance with mankind, by this Sequence taken from the ancient Roman-French Missals.

Sequence

Ecce jam votiva festa recurrunt annua.
Addat se vox nostra ad Angelorum carmina.
Christus hac ut sponsus materna die processit clausula.
Exsultans ut gigas ad hujus vitæ currendas semitas.
Angelica gloriam reboant in excelsis agmina.
Pax in terra homines te~ neat, cum benevolentia.
Jam se replicat sæculi series maxima: venit etiam vatis Cumææ veridica jam ætas carminis ultima.
Virgo remeat sæcla revehens altera: adsunt tempora quo gens ferrea jam desinat, et mundo pullulet aurea.
Adauctus solis jubar die pluscula menses producere inchoat.
Nocturnas stella fugat, Magos excitat, Balaamitica tenebras.
Impleta, quæ prædixerat plebs utraque, et Gentilitas et Hebræa, oracula, Christo nascente, sunt omnia.
Sunt cuncta jam nunc scelerum recidiva et recentia et antiqua vestigia, quæque remanserant irrita.
O mira atque nova genitural fit gravida Virgo fideliter credula.
Et porta, quæ fuerat semper clausa, est reserata, Naturam dum hominis induit Deitas.
Conserva hæc, quæsumus, Christe, nobis munera tanta, a te prærogata. Amen.

Lo! the year has brought us once again the much loved Feasts.
Let our voices unite in the hymns of the Angels.
On this day, Christ, as a Bridegroom, came from his Mother’s womb.
He hath rejoiced to run, as a giant, the way of this our life.
The Angelic host make earth re-echo with their song: Glory in the highest!
Peace on earth to men of good will!
Now begins the most glorious of the eras of time; now too has come that truthful last age of the Cumæan Sibyl’s song.
Let the Virgin come, bringing new times to the world. The day is at hand for the iron age to cease, and the golden one to spring up on the earth.
The bright sun begins to lengthen out our days and months.
Balaam’s Star wakens up the Magi, and puts to flight the night’s dark gloom.
Christ is born:—all the prophecies are fulfilled which were fore-spoken by the two people, the Gentiles and the Jews.
The vestiges of crime, both new and old, are now all wiped away and destroyed.
O wonderful and unheardof Mother! A Virgin faithfully believes, and the Fruit is in her womb.
The gate, which was ever closed, is opened to the Lord, When he, the great God, assumed the nature of man.
Grant us, O Jesus! ever to hold fast these wondrous gifts, which thou hast bestowed upon us. Amen.

---

 

Hymn

Venere agrorum cultores, et vitæ sospitatorem suæ venerati sunt, lætique talia prophetabant: Ave, designatus nostrorum cultor agrorum, tu cordium nostrorum arva coles, et frumenta inde collecta in horreum vitæ congregabis.

Secuti sunt vinitores, vineamque laudarunt ex radice ramisque Jesse propagatam, quæ virginem botrum ex veneranda vite protulit, nos, quæso, refingito in vasa digna vino tuo novo innovante omnia; statum vineæ tuæ restitue, quæso; nil illa præter siliquas hucusque protulit; tuos jam insere vitibus surculos.

Ad filium Joseph propter Joseph venere fabri. Beatum natalem tuum auguramur, aiebant, artificum Princeps, qui Noeticam arcam delineasti; atque tabernaculum architectatus es illud extemporaneum, et ad tempus duraturum; nostra te laudant opificia: esto, precamur, tu gloria nostra, jugumfabricare, futurum gestaturi, leve et suave onus.

Simili instinctu salutavere natum infantem novi conjuges, ut dicerent: Salve puer, cujus mater sponsa Sancti facta est. Beatas nuptias, quibus inter futurus es, beatos sponsos, quibus, cum vinum defuerit, tuo repente nutu, illud affluere cernent.

Clamavere simul parvuli: O nos beatos, quibus contigit habere te fratrem, et in foris sodalem: felicem diem, felices pueros, quibus continget laudare te arborem vitæ, qui celsitudinem tuam ad nostram ætatulam demisisti.

Rumor pervaserat aures feminarum, fore ut virgo aliquando pareret; injecta est cuilibet illarum hujusmodi partus spes; speravere nobiles, speravere formosæ tuas se fore matres. Tibi, Altissime, benedicimus, quod pauperem matrem elegeris.

Prophetavere etiam puellæ, quibus obtigit ad ilium deferri, dicentes: Seu deformis sim, seu formosa sim, seu humilis sim, tibi ero, adhærebo tibi: mortales thalamituo numquam mihi erunt potiores.

There came the husbandmen of Bethlehem, and they paid homage to him who was the protector of their life, and thus, in their joy, did they prophesy: 'Hail! thou the appointed cultivator of our lands! Thou shalt till the soil of our hearts, and thou shalt put into the garnerhouse of life the harvests they yield.'

The vine-dressers came next. They spoke the praises of the Vine grown from the root and branch of Jesse, that bore, from its venerable stock, the virginal Fruit. 'We beseech thee,' said they, 'reform us into vessels worthy of thy new Wine, which maketh all things new. Restore thy vineyard to its former state. Hitherto, it has produced nought but wild grapes. Ingraft thine own scions on our vines.'

Then, because Joseph was a Carpenter, Carpenters approach to this his Son. ‘We greet thy happy birth,' say they: ‘ we hail thee as our Prince, for thou it was didst plan the Ark of Noe. Thou wast Architect of that tabernacle so soon built, and to last but for a time. Our works praise thee. We beseech thee, be thou our glory, and make for us that yoke of thine, which we intend to carry; for it is a light yoke, and a sweet burden.'

A like instinct brought the newly married to the new-born Babe: they saluted him, and said: 'Hail, Child! whose Mother is the Spouse of the Holy One! O blessed nuptials those, where thou art to be present! O blessed Spouses they, who shall see the Wine that had failed flow out abundantly at thy bidding!’

Little Children, too, cried out: 'O happy we, to whom it has been given to have thee for our Brother and our Companion! Happy day! and happy children who, on that day, shall be permitted to praise thee, the tree of life, who hast humbled thy immensity to the littleness of our infant age!’

The report of the prophecy that a Virgin would one day bring forth a Child, came to the women’s ears; and each one hoped that this privilege would fall to their lot. ‘Noblewomen, and beautiful women, hoped that they might be thy mother. We bless thee, O Most High God, that thou choosest for thy Mother one that was poor.'

Young Maidens, too, were presented to Jesus, and they prophesied, saying: 'I may be uncomely, or I may be beautiful, or I may be poor: but thine will I be, and to thee will I cling. I will prefer espousals with thee to those I could contract with mortal man.'

---

Let us, in honour of the Blessed Mother, sing this sweet Hymn used by some Churches in the Middle Ages.

Sequence

Verbum bonum et suave,
Personemus illudi Ave
Per quod Christi fit conclave
Virgo, mater, filia.

Per quod Ave salutata
Mox concepit fœcundata
Virgo David stirpe nata,
Inter spinas lilia.

Ave, veri Salomonis
Mater, vellus Gedeonis,
Cujus Magis tribus donis
Laudant puerperium.

Ave, solem genuisti;
Ave, solem protulisti,
Mundo lapso contulisti
Vitam et imperium.

Ave, sponsa Verbi summi,
Maris portus, signum dumi,
Aromatum virga fumi,
Angelorum Domina.

Supplicamus: nos emenda,
Emendatos nos commenda
Tuo Nato, ad habenda
Sempiterna gaudia.

Amen.

Let us sing that word, so good and sweet:
Ave—Hail! It was by that salutation
that the Virgin was made the sanctuary of Christ
—the Virgin, who was both his Mother and his Child.

Greeted by that Hail,
the Virgin, born of the family of David,
conceived the Divine Fruit in her womb
—She that was the Lily amidst the thorns.

Hail! thou Mother of the true Solomon,
thou Fleece of Gedeon!
The Magi, by their three gifts,
praise thy delivery.

Hail! thou hast given birth to the Sun!
Hail! thou hast given us to see the Sun,
and thereby hast restored life
and power to this fallen world.

Hail! thou Spouse of the Divine Word!
Haven of the sea! Burning Bush!
Cloud of sweet aromatic spices!
Queen of Angels!

We beseech thee, convert us;
and commend us, so converted,
to thy Son, that he bestow upon us
the eternal joys of heaven.

Amen.

 

 

---

 

[1] Gen. iii 20.
[2] Ibid. ii 23, 24.
[3] Gen. ix 27.
[4] Ibid. xxii 17.
[5] Ibid. xxv 22.
[6] Ibid. xxv 23.
[7] Gen. xlix 10.
[8] Num. xxiv 17, 23, 24.
[9] Ps. lxxi.
[10] Cant. iv 8.
[11] Ibid. i 4.
[12] Osee ii 16 et seq.
[13] Tob. xiii, xiv.
[14] Soph. iii. 8, 9, 10.
[15] Ezech. xxxvii 22 et seq.
[16] Dan. vii 27.
[17] Agg. ii 7, 8.
[18] Eclog. iv.

 

 

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

THE thoughts of the Church today are fixed on the Baptism of our Lord in the Jordan, which is the second of the three Mysteries of the Epiphany. The Emmanuel manifested himself to the Magi, after having shown himself to the Shepherds; but this manifestation was made within the narrow space of a stable at Bethlehem, and the world knew nothing of it. In the Mystery of the Jordan, Christ manifested himself with greater publicity. His coming is proclaimed by the Precursor; the crowd that is flocking to the river for Baptism is witness of what happens; Jesus makes this the beginning of his public life. But who could worthily explain the glorious circumstances of this second Epiphany?

It resembles the first in this, that it is for the benefit and salvation of the human race. The star has led the Magi to Christ; they had long waited for his coming, they had hoped for it; now they believe. Faith in the Messias having come into the world is beginning to take root among the Gentiles. But faith is not sufficient for salvation; the stain of sin must be washed away by water. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.[1] The time is come, then, for a new manifestation of the Son of God, whereby there shall be inaugurated the great remedy, which is to give to Faith the power of producing life eternal.

Now the decrees of divine Wisdom had chosen Water as the instrument of this sublime regeneration of the human race. Hence, in the beginning of the world, we find the Spirit of God moving over the Waters,[2] in order that they might ‘even then conceive a principle of sanctifying power,' as the Church expresses it in her Office for Holy Saturday.[3] But before being called to fulfil the designs of God’s mercy, this element of Water had to be used by the Divine Justice for the chastisement of a sinful world. With the exception of one family, the whole human race perished, by the terrible judgement of God, in the Waters of the Deluge.

A fresh indication of the future supernatural power of this chosen element was given by the Dove, which Noe sent forth from the Ark; it returned to him, bearing in its beak an Olive-branch, the symbol that peace was given to the earth by its having been buried in Water. But this was only the announcement of the mystery; its accomplishment was not to be for long ages to come.

Meanwhile, God spoke to his people by many events, which were figurative of the future Mystery of Baptism. Thus, for example, it was by passing through the waters of the Red Sea that they entered into the Promised Land, and during the miraculous passage, a pillar of a cloud was seen covering both the Israelites and the Waters to which they owed their deliverance.

But in order that Water should have the power to purify man from his sins, it was necessary that it should be brought in contact with the Sacred Body of the Incarnate God. The Eternal Father had sent his Son into the world, not only that he might be its Lawgiver, and Redeemer, and the Victim of its salvation, but that he might also be the Sanctifier of Water; and it was in this sacred element that he would divinely bear testimony to his being his Son, and manifest him to the world a second time.

Jesus, therefore, being now thirty years of age, comes to the Jordan, a river already celebrated for the prophetic miracles which had been wrought in its waters. The Jewish people, roused by the preaching of John the Baptist, were flocking thither in order to receive a Baptism which could indeed excite a sorrow for sin, but could not effect its forgiveness. Our divine King approaches the river, not, of course, to receive sanctification, for he himself is the author of all Justice—but to impart to Water the power of bringing forth, as the Church expresses the mystery, a new and heavenly progeny.[4] He goes down into the stream, not, like Josue, to walk dry-shod through its bed, but to let its waters encompass him, and receive from him, both for itself and for the Waters of the whole earth, the sanctifying power which they would retain for ever. The saintly Baptist places his trembling hand upon the sacred head of the Redeemer, and bends it beneath the water; the Sun of Justice vivifies this his creature; he imparts to it the glow of life-giving fruitfulness; and Water thus becomes the prolific source of supernatural life.

But in this the commencement of a new creation, we look for the intervention of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. All Three are there. The heavens open; the Dove descends, not as a mere symbol, prophetic of some future grace, but as the sign of the actual presence of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of love, who gives peace to men and changes their hearts. The Dove hovers above the head of Jesus, overshadowing at one and the same time the Humanity of the Incarnate Word and the water which bathed his sacred Body.

The manifestation is not complete; the Father's voice is still to be heard speaking over the Water, and moving by its power the entire element throughout the earth. Then was fulfilled the prophecy of David: The Voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty hath thundered. The Voice of the Lord breaketh cedars, that is, the pride of the devils. The Voice of the Lord divideth the flame of fire, that is, the anger of God. The Voice of the Lord shaketh the desert, and maketh the flood to swell, that is, announces a new Deluge, the Deluge of divine Mercy.[5] And what says this Voice of the Father? This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.[6]

Thus was the Holiness of Emmanuel manifested by the presence of the Dove and by the voice of the Father, as his kingly character had been previously manifested by the mute testimony of the star. The mystery is accomplished, the Waters are invested with a spiritual purifying power, and Jesus comes from the Jordan and ascends the bank, raising up with himself the world, regenerated and sanctified, with all its crimes and defilements drowned in the stream. Such is the interpretation and language of the Holy Fathers of the Church regarding this great event of our Lord's Life.

The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates this wonderful mystery of Jesus' Baptism; and we cannot be surprised at the Eastern Church having selected this day for one of the solemn administrations of the sacrament of Baptism. The same custom was observed, as we learn from ancient documents, in certain Churches in the West. John Mosch tells us that, as regards the Oriental Church, the Font was more than once miraculously filled with water on the Feast of the Epiphany, and that immediately after having administered the Sacrament, the people saw the water disappear. The Roman Church, even so early as the time of St Leo, decreed that Easter and Pentecost should be the only two days for the solemn administration of Baptism; but the custom of blessing the baptismal water with great solemnity on the Epiphany was still retained, and is observed even now in some parts of the West.

The Eastern Church has always religiously observed it. Amidst all the pomp of sacred rites, accompanied by his Priests and Ministers, who are clothed in the richest vestments, and followed by the whole people, the Bishop repairs to the banks of a river. After reciting certain beautiful prayers, which we regret not being able to offer to our readers, the Bishop plunges into the water a Cross richly adorned with precious stones; it represents our Lord being baptized by St John. At St Petersburg, the ceremony takes place on the River Neva, and it is through a hole made on the ice that the Metropolitan dips the Cross into the Water. This same ceremony is observed by those Churches in the West which have retained the custom of blessing the baptismal water on this Feast.

The faithful are very anxious to carry home with them the water of the stream thus sanctified; and St John Chrysostom, in his twenty-fourth Homily, on the Baptism of Christ, speaks to his audience of the circumstance, which was well known by all of them, of this water never turning corrupt. The same has been often seen in the Western Church.

Let us honour our Lord in this second Manifestation of his divinity, and thank him, with the Church, for having given us both the Star of Faith which enlightens us, and the Water of Baptism which cleanses us from our iniquities. Let us lovingly appreciate the humility of our Jesus, who permits himself to be weighed down by the hand of a mortal man, in order, as he says himself, that he might fulfil all justice;[7] for having taken on himself the likeness of sin, it was requisite that he should bear its humiliation, that so he might raise us from our debasement. Let us thank him for this grace of Baptism, which has opened to us the gates of the Church both of heaven and earth; and let us renew the engagements we made at the holy Font, for they were the terms on which we were regenerated to our new life in God.

MASS

The Introit, Epistle, Gradual and Alleluia-Verse, Offertory, Preface, and Communion, are the same as on the Feast.

Introit

Ecce advenit dominator Dominus; et regnum in manu ejus, et potestas, et imperium.

Ps. Deus, judicium tuum Regi da, et justitiam tuam filio Regis. ℣. Gloria Patri.

Ecce advenit.

Behold the Lord the ruler is come; and dominion, power, and empire are in his hand.

Ps. Give to the king thy judgement, O God, and to the king’s son thy justice. ℣. Glory.

Behold.

---

In the Collect, the Church prays that her children may have the grace of becoming like to Jesus, who appeared in the Jordan, filled, indeed, with the Holy Ghost, and the object of the Heavenly Father's love, but at the same time, truly Man like us, and faithful in the fulfilment of all justice.

Collect

Deus, cujus Unigenitus in substantia nostræ carnis apparuit: præsta, quæsumus, ut per eum, quem similem nobis foris agnovimus, intus reformari mereamur. Qui tecum.

O God, whose Only Begotten Son appeared in the substance of our flesh: grant, we beseech thee, that we may be interiorly reformed by him, whom we confess to have outwardly taken our flesh on himself. Who liveth, etc.

---

Epistle

Lectio Isaiæ Prophetæ.

Cap. LX.

Surge, illuminare, Jerusalem; quia venit lumen tuum, et gloria Domini super te orta est. Quia ecce tenebra operient terram, et caligo populos; super te autem onetur Dominus, et gloria ejus in te videbitur. Et ambulabunt gentes in lumine tuo, et Reges in splendore ortus tui. Leva in circuitu oculos tuos, et vide: omnes isti congregati sunt, venerunt tibi; filli tui de longe venient, et filiæ tuæ de latere surgent. Tunc videbis et afflues, et mirabitur et dilatabitur cor tuum, quando conversa fuerit ad te multitudo maris, fortitudo gentium venerit tibi. Inundatio camelorum operiet te, dromedarii Madian et Epha. Omnes de Saba venient, aurum et thus deferentes, et laudem Domino annuntiantes.

Lesson from Isaias the Prophet.

Ch. LX.

Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in thy light, and Kings in the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they are come to thee; thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at thy side. Then shalt thou see and abound, and thy heart shall wonder and be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee, the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee. The multitude of camels shall cover thee, thedromedaries of Madian and Epha; all they from Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and showing forth praise to the Lord.

---

Gradual

Omnes de Saba venient, aurum et thus deferentes, et laudem Domino annuntiantes.

℣. Surge et illuminare, Jerusalem, quia gloria Domini super te orta est.

Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. Vidimus stellam ejus in Oriente, et venimus cum muneribus adorare Dominum. Alleluia.

All shall come from Saba, bringing gold and frankincense, and publishing the praises of the Lord.

℣. Arise, and be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Alleluia, alleluia. ℣. We saw his star in the East, and are come with our offerings to adore the Lord. Alleluia.

---

Gospel

Sequentia sancti Evangelii secundum Joannem.

Cap. I.

In illo tempore: Vidit Joannes Jesum venientem ad se, et ait: Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccatum mundi. Hic est de quo dixi: Post me venit vir, qui ante me factus est quia prior me erat. Et ego nesciebam eum; sed ut manifestetur in Isræl, propterea veni ego in aqua baptizans. Et testimonium perhibuit Joannes, dicens: Quia vidi Spiritum descendentem quasi columbam de cœlo, et mansit super eum. Et ego nesciebam eum, sed qui misit me baptizare in aqua, ille mihi dixit: Super quem videris Spiritum descendentem, et manentem super eum, hic est qui baptizat in Spiritu Sancto. Et ego vidi: et testimonium perhibui, quia hic est Filius Dei.

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to John.

Ch. I.

At that time: John saw Jesus coming to him, and he saith: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sins of the world. This is he of whom I said: After me there cometh a man who is preferred before me; because he was before me. And I knew him not; but that he may be made manifest in Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John gave testimony, saying: I saw the Spirit coming down as a dove from heaven, and he remained upon him. And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me: he upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, he it is that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw: and I gave testimony, that this is the Son of God.

---

O Lamb of God! thou didst enter into the stream to purify it, the Dove came down from heaven, for thy sweet meekness attracted the Spirit of love; and having sanctified the waters, the mystery of thy Baptism was over. But what tongue can express the prodigy of mercy effected by it! Men have gone down after thee into the stream made sacred by contact with thee; they return regenerated; they were wolves, and Baptism has transformed them into lambs. We were defiled by sin, and were unworthy to stand near thee, the spotless Lamb; but the waters of the holy Font have been poured upon us and we are made as the sheep of the Canticle, which come up from the washing fruitful, and none is barren among them;[8] or as doves upon the brooks of water, white and spotless as though they had been washed with milk, sitting near the plentiful streams![9] Preserve us, O Jesus, in this white robe which thou hast put upon us. If, alas! we have tarnished its purity, cleanse us by that second Baptism, the Baptism of Penance. Permit us, too, dear Lord, to intercede for those countries to whom thy Gospel has not yet been preached; let this river of peace,[10] the waters of Baptism, flow out upon them, and inundate the whole earth. We beseech thee, by the glory of thy manifestation at thy Baptism, forget the crimes of men, which have hitherto caused the Gospel to be kept from those unhappy countries. Thy heavenly Father bids every creature hear thee; speak, dear Jesus! to every creature.

Offertory

Reges Tharsis et insulæ munera offerent, Reges Arabum et Saba dona adducent: et adorabunt eum omnes Reges terræ; omnes gentes servient ei.

The Kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents, the Kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts: and all the Kings of the earth shall adore him; all nations shall serve him.

---

In the Secret, the Church once more proclaims the divine Manifestation, and begs that the Lamb, who by his Sacrifice has enabled us to offer God an acceptable oblation, may graciously receive it at our hands.

Secret

Hostias tibi, Domine, pro nati Filii tui Apparitione deferimus, suppliciter exorantes; ut sicut ipse nostrorum auctor est munerum, ita sit ipse misericors et susceptor, Jesus Christus Dominus noster. Qui tecum.

We offer sacrifice to thee, O Lord, in remembrance of the Manifestation of thy new-born Son, humbly beseeching thee; that as our Lord Jesus Christ is the author of what we offer, so he may mercifully receive the same. Who liveth, etc.

---

Communion

Vidimus stellam ejus in Oriente, et venimus cum muneribus adorare Dominum.

We have seen his star in the East, and are come with offerings to adore the Lord.

---

While giving thanks for the heavenly nourishment just received, the holy Church prays for the unceasing help of that divine Light, which has appeared to her, and which will enable her to contemplate the purity of the Lamb, and to love him as he deserves.

Postcommunion

Cœlesti lumine, quæsumus, Domine, semper et ubique nos præveni; ut mysterium, cujus nos participes esse voluisti, et puro cernamus intuitu, et digno percipiamus affectu. Per Dominum.

May thy heavenly light, we beseech thee, O Lord, go before us at all times and in all places; that we may contemplate with a clear sight, and receive with due affection, the mystery whereof thou hast been pleased we should partake. Through, etc.

---

Let us once more sing the praises of the divine Epiphany—the Theophany. Let us make a concert, as it were, of the Liturgies of all the Churches. St Hilary of Poitiers shall be our first chanter, in the Hymn he has written on the three mysteries of this great Octave.

Hymn

Jesus refulsit omnium
Pius Redemptor gentium;
Totum genus fidelium
Laudes celebret dramatum.

Quem stella naturn fulgida
Monstrat micans in æthera,
Magosque ducit prævia
Ipsius ad cunabula.

Illi cadentes parvulum
Pannis adorant obsitum
Verum fatentur ut Deum,
Munus ferendo mysticum.

Denis ter annorum cyclis,
Jam parte vivens temporis,
Lympham petit baptismatis,
Cunctis carens contagiis.

Felix Joannes mergere
Illum tremiscit flumine,
Potest suo qui sanguine
Peccata cosmi tergere.

Vox ergo Prolem de polis
Testatur excelsa Patris,
Virtus adestque Pneumatis,
Sancti datrix charismatis.

Nos, Christe, subnixa prece
Omnes, precamur, protege,
Qui præcipis rubescere
Aquas potenter hydriæ.

Laus Trinitati debita,
Honor, potestas omnium,
Perenniter sint omnia
Per sæculorum sæcula.

Amen.

Jesus, the merciful Redeemer of all nations,
shone forth on this day;
let the faithful of every race
celebrate him in their songs of praise.

A Star, shining in the heavens,
announces his Birth;
it leads the way,
and guides them to his Crib.

Prostrating, they adore the Infant
wrapped in swaddling clothes;
they confess him to be the true God,
offering him their mystic gifts.

Thirty years of his life
had passed, and he,
the infinitely pure God,
seeks the laver of baptism.

John, the favoured Baptist,
trembles as he bends the head of Jesus beneath the waters
—that Jesus whose Blood was to purify
the whole earth from its sins.

The divine voice of the Father is heard from heaven,
bearing testimony to his Son;
and the Holy Spirit, too, is present,
the giver of holy grace.

We beseech thee in humble supplication,
O Jesus! protect thy people;
we ask it of thee by the power thou didst show
when thou didst command the water to be changed into wine.

May praise,
honour, and all power
be to the Trinity
for ever and for ever.

Amen.

---

The Ambrosian Church of Milan thus celebrates the Baptism of our Lord in the beautiful Preface we take from its Missal.

Preface

Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutare, nos tibi semper hic et ubique gratias agere, Domine sáncte, Pater omnipotens, æterne Deus, qui te nobis super Jordanis alveum de cœlis in voce tonitrui præbuisti, ut Salvatorem cœli demonstrares, et te Patrem æterni iuminis ostenderes, cœlos aperuisti, ærem benedixisti, fontem purificasti: et tuum unicum Filium per speciem columbæ Sancto Spiritu declarasti. Susceperunt hodie fontes benedictionem tuam, et abstulerunt maledictionem nostram, ita ut credentibus purificationem omnium delictorum exhibeant, et Dei filios adoptione faciant ad vitam æternam. Nam quos ad temporalem vitam carnalis nativitas fuderat, quos mors per prævaricationem ceperat, hos vita æterna recipiens, ad regni cœlorum gloriam revocavit.

It is truly meet and just, right and available to salvation, that we should always, here and in all places, give thanks to thee, O Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God, who didst show thyself unto us in the river Jordan by speaking to us from heaven in the voice of thunder, whereby thou wouldst manifest unto us our heavenly Saviour, and show thyself to be the Father of eternal light; and therefore thou didst open the heavens, and bless the air, and purify the stream: and thou didst announce him to be thine Only Begotten Son by the Holy Ghost, who appeared in the form of a Dove. On this day did the waters receive thy benediction, and take away our malediction, so that they give to believers the purification of all their sins, and make them by adoption sons of God unto life everlasting. For, they that were born by the flesh unto temporal life, and made by sin subject to death, have been admitted into life everlasting, and restored to the glory of the heavenly kingdom.

---

The venerable Antiphons we now give are the precious remnants of the ancient Gallican Liturgy: they are of Oriental origin, and are still preserved in the Cistercian Breviary.

Antiphons

Veterem hominem renovans Salvator venit ad baptismum, ut naturam quæ corrupta est, per aquam recuperaret: incorruptibili veste circumamictans nos.

Te, qui in Spiritu et igne purificas humana contagia, Deum et Redemptorem omnes glorificamus.

Baptista contremuit, et non audet tangere sanctum Dei verticem; sed clamat cum tremore: Sanctifica me, Salvator.

Caput draconis Salvator contrivit in Jordane flumine, et ab ejus potestate omnes eripuit.

Magnum Mysterium declarator hodie, quia Creator omnium in Jordane expurgat nostra facinora.

Baptizat miles Regem, servus Dominum suum, Joannes Salvatorem: aqua Jordanis stupuit, columba protestabatur: paterna vox audita est: Hic est Filius meus.

Fontes aquarum sanctificati sunt, Christo apparente in gloria: orbis terrarum, haurite aquas de fonte Salvatoris: sanctifica vit enim tunc omnem creaturam Christus Deus noster.

Renewing our old man, the Saviour comes to Baptism, that he might by water restore our nature which had been corrupted: he clothed us with an incorruptible garment.

We glorify thee as our God and Redeemer, that didst purify the contagious defilements of mankind in the Spirit and in fire.

The Baptist trembled, and dares not to touch the head of God; but cries out, with fear: Sanctify me, O Saviour!

The Saviour crushed the serpent's head in the river Jordan, and delivered us all from his power.

A great Mystery is this day declared to us; for the Creator of all wipes away our sins in the Jordan.

The soldier baptizes his King, the servant his Lord, and John his Saviour: the waters of the Jordan were amazed, and testimony was borne by the Dove: the voice of the Father was heard: This is my Son.

The springs of water were sanctified when the glory of Christ was manifested: all ye countries of the earth, draw out waters from the Saviour's fountains, for on that day did Christ our God sanctify every creature.

---

Sequence

Orta lux mirifice,
Prævisa prophetice,
Nunc lucis deificæ
Monstrat ortum.

Hac Magus instruitur,
Herodes concutitur,
Ad Jesum gens ducitur,
Pacis portum.

Stella prodit Puerum,
Conditorem siderum,
Et ultorem scelerum,
Deum fortem.

Quem mystico munere
Monstrat cuncta regere
Et tandem redimere
Nos per mortem.

Hic aquis abluitur,
Et aquis infunditur
Virtus qua diluitur
Adas noxa.

Columba conspicitur,
Vox Patris complectitur
Natum, quo dignoscitur
Ejus doxa.

Joannis præconium
Profert testimonium,
Et sumit initium
Lex amoris.

Lætatur convivium
Cum facit officium
Vini, liquor fontium,
Melioris.

In Virginis clausula,
Sponsæ sine macula,
Dulci nubit copula
Verbum Patris.

Abluens piacula,
Nostra solvat vincuia,
Protegens in sæcula
Prece Matris.

Amen.

A Star has miraculously risen,
that was foretold by the Prophets:
it tells the rising
of the divine Light.

It guides the Magi,
it terrifies Herod,
it leads the Gentiles to Jesus,
the haven of peace.

It reveals the Child,
the creator of the stars,
the avenger of crime,
the Strong God.

The mystic gifts proclaim him
to be the Ruler of all things,
and the Redeemer who saved
us by his death.

He is baptized in the waters,
and the waters imbibe from him
a virtue whereby they wash away
Adam’s sins.

The Dove is seen:
the voice of the Father speaks
his love of the Son,
therefore making known his glory.

The word of John
bears also testimony;
and the law of love
is begun.

The guests are gladdened
when the spring-water is made
to do the service
of the better wine.

The Word of the Father
is espoused in sweet love
in the womb of the Virgin,
the Spouse without stain.

May he cleanse our sins,
and so loosen our chains,
protecting us for ever,
at his Mother’s prayer.

Amen.

---

Die VI Januarii, In Theophania

Conversus est olim Jordanis fluvius Elisei melota, rapto in altum Elia, et divisæ sunt aquæ hinc et inde, et ipsi sicca facta est via, et humida in typum vere baptismatis, per quod nos fiuidum vitæ transimus iter. Christus apparuit, omnem volens renovare creaturam.

Hodie aquarum sanctificata natura, scinditur Jordanis, et suorum sistit fluenta fontium, Dominum videns lavatum.

Tamquam homo in flumen venisti, Christe Rex, servile baptisma accipere; festinas, o bone, sub Præcursoris manu, propter peccata nostra, philanthrope.

Ad vocem clamantis in deserto: Præparate viam Domini, venisti, Domine, formam servi assumens, baptisma flagitans, qui peccatum nescis: viderunt te aquæ et tremuerunt; contremiscens effectus est Præcursor, et exclamavit dicens: Quomodo illuminabit lampas lumen? Quomodo imponet manus servus super Dominum? Sanctifica me et aquas, Salvator, qui tollis mundi peccatum.

Præcursoris et Baptistæ et Prophetæ, super omnes Prophetas honorati, tremuit dextera, quia contemplabatur Agnum Dei peccata mundi lavantem, et anxietate sollicitus, exclamabat: Non audeo imponere, o Verbum, manum capiti tuo; tu ipse sanctifica me et illumina, o misericors; ipse enim es vita et lux et pax mundi.

Mira res erat videre cœli terræque Dominum in fluvio denudatimi, baptismum a servo pro nostra salute suscipientem quasi servum; et stupebant Angelorum chori in timore et gaudio: cum illis te adoramus; salva nos.

Manum tuam, quæ Domini intactum tetigit caput, cum qua et digito ipsum nobis submonstrasti, eleva pro nobis ad ilium, Baptista, tamquam potestatem habens magnam: nam ab ipso major Prophetis declaratus es, oculosque iterum tuos, qui sanctissimum viderunt Spiritum in columbæ specie descendentem, ad ipsum converte, Baptista, misericorditer cum nobis operatus, et hic sta nobiscum approbans hymnum, incipiensque primus panegyriam.

Jordanica flumina te fontem receperunt, et Paraclitus in forma columbæ descendit. Inclinat caput, qui cœlos inclinavit; ejulat et clamat lutum plasmanti: Cur mihi jubes quæ supra me sunt; ego opus habeo tuo baptismate, o impeccabilis.

Inclinasti caput Præcursori, capita contrivisti draconum; in flumina descendisti, illuminasti omnia ad glorificandum te, Salvator, lumen animarum nostrarum.

Qui indutus est lumine sicut vestimento, pro nobis secundum nos fieri dignatus
est: fluenta induit hodie Jordanica, istis ipse ad purificationem non indigens, sed nobis in seipso dispensans regenerationem: o prodigium!

Venite, imitemur sapientes virgines; venite, eamus obviam manifestato Domino; quia venit tamquam sponsus ad Joannem. Jordanis te videns conversus est retrorsum; inflexit se et stetit. Joannes clamabat: Non audeo tangere immortale caput; Spiritus descendebat in forma columbæ ad sanctificandum aquas; et vox de cœlo: Hic est Filius meus veniens in mundum ad salvandum genus humanum. Gloria tibi, Christe.

Baptizatur Christus et ascendit de aqua; sursum effert cum seipso mundum, et videt reseratos cœlos, quos Adam sibi suisque clauserat. Et Spiritus confitetur divinitatem, et simul adest vox de cœlo; inde enim declaratur Salvator animarum nostrarum.

Domine, adimplere volens quæ ab æterno decrevisti, ab omni creatura mysterii tui ministeria suscepisti: ex Angelis, Gabrielem; ex hominibus, Virginem; e cœlis, stellam; ex aquis, Jordanem: peccatum mundi suscepisti. Salvator noster, gloria tibi.

Jordanis flumen, quid obstupescis, videns invisibilem nudum? Vidi, inquis, et exhorrui: et quomodo non tremuissem? Hunc videntes Angeli, horruerunt: commoti sunt cœli, terra contremuit, et contractum est mare, et omnia visibilia et invisibilia. Christus manifestatus est in Jordane, et aquas sanctificandas.

Maculatimi solem quis vidit, clamabat Præco, natura coruscantem? quomodo te, splendor gloriæ, æterni Patris imago, aquis abluam, cum fœnum sim? Quomodo ignem tangam tuæ divinitatis? Tu enim Christus, Dei sapientia et virtus.

Galilææ gentium, Zabulon regioni, et Naphtalim terræ, lumen magnum illuxit Christus, his qui erant in tenebris fulgidus visus est splendor in Bethlehem fulgida. Sed amplius ex Maria Dominus universo orbi terrarum ostendit radios, Sol justitiæ.

Ideo qui ex Adam nudi, venite omnes, induamus eum, ut refocillemur; tegumentum enim nudorum, tenebrosorum splendor venisti: manifestatus es inaccessibile lumen.

Elias had been taken up on high: Eliseus touched the Jordan with his cloak, and the stream was turned back; the waters divided, leaving the Prophet a dry yet moistened path, as a true type of that Baptism whereby we pass the streamlike path of life. Christ appeared, desiring to renew his creature.

On this day was sanctified the element of water; the Jordan is divided, and its waters cease to flow, seeing its Lord seeking baptism in its stream.

Thou hast come to the river, O Christ our King! thou hast come as Man to receive baptism at thy servant's hands; good Jesus! lover of mankind! thou art eager to bend beneath thy Precursor’s hand.

At the voice of him that cried out in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord! thou didst come, O Lord! taking to thyself the likeness of a servant, and thou that knowest not sin asking for Baptism! The waters saw thee and trembled. The Precursor trembled, and exclaimed: 'How shall the lamp give light to the Light? How shall the servant impose his hands on his Lord? O Saviour! that takest away the sins of the world, sanctify me and the waters.’

His right hand trembled, for though Precursor, and Baptist, and Prophet greater than all Prophets, he saw before him the Lamb of God that washes away the sins of the world: oppressed with anxious doubt, he exclaimed: 'O Word! I dare not put my hand upon thy head: do thou sanctify and enlighten me, O Merciful One! for thou art the life and light and peace of the world.'

It was a wonderful thing to see the Lord of heaven and earth standing naked in the river, receiving as a servant, and from his servant. Baptism for our salvation. The choirs of Angels stood amazed in fear and in joy. We adore thee, O Jesus! together with them. Save us.

O holy Baptist! raise up to him for us that hand of thine, which touched the untouched Head of our Lord, and wherewith thou didst point him out to us. Thou hast great power, for he declared thee to be greater than all the Prophets. Turn also to him thine eyes, which saw the Most Holy Spirit come down in the form of a Dove. Have pity on us, and be with us encouraging our hymn, and thyself beginning the canticle of praise.

The waters of the Jordan received thee, O Jesus, the Fountain of life! and the Paraclete came down upon thee in the form of a Dove. He who bent down the very heavens now bends his sacred Head! The clay that was formed cries out complainingly to Him who formed it: 'Why biddest thou me do what is above me? I have need to be baptized by thee, O Sinless One!'

Thou didst bend thine Head to thy Precursor; thou didst crush the heads of the serpents. Thou didst go down into the river; thou didst enlighten all things that they might glorify thee, O Saviour, thou Light of our souls!

He that is clad with light as with a garment, deigned for our sakes to become like unto us.
To-day he girds himself with the waters of the Jordan, not needing them for his own purification, but that he might give regeneration to us through himself. O wondrous work!

Come, let us imitate the wise virgins; come, let us go to meet our Lord thus manifested to us, for like a bridegroom he comes to John. The Jordan turned back when it saw thee, O Jesus! it bent its course and stood. John exclaimed: 'I dare not touch the head of the eternal God.' The Spirit came down, in the form of a Dove, to sanctify the waters, and a Voice said from heaven: 'This is my Son, that is come into the world to save mankind.’ Glory be to thee, O Christ!

Christ is baptized, and comes up from the water; he raises up the world with himself, and sees that heaven opened, which Adam had closed against himself and his children. The Spirit, too, proclaims the divinity of Him that was baptized, and a Voice from heaven is heard at the same time. Thus is Christ declared to be the Saviour of our souls.

When thou didst will, O Lord! to fulfil thy eternal decrees, thou didst permit all creatures to minister to thy Mystery! Gabriel among the Angels; the Virgin among men; the Star among the heavenly bodies; the Jordan among the streams of water. Thou didst take on thyself the sin of the world. Glory be to thee, O Saviour!

O Jordan, why wonderest thou at seeing the Invisible thus naked before thee? 'I saw,' thou repliest, 'and how should I not tremble? The angels see him, and are awed. The heavens were moved, the earth shook, the sea curled up its waves, and all things, visible and invisible, feared.' Christ manifested himself in the Jordan, that he might sanctify the waters.

The Precursor, the herald of Christ, exclaimed: 'Who is there that has seen a spot upon the sun, the orb of brightness! And how shall I, that am but as grass of the field, baptize thee, thou brightness of glory, and image of the eternal Father? How shall I dare touch the fire of the Divinity? For thou art the Christ, the wisdom and the power of God.'

Christ, the great Light, has shone on Galilee of the Gentiles, on the country of Zabulon, and on the land of Nephthalim; to them that sat in darkness there has appeared a bright light in Bethlehem the bright. But the Sun of Justice, the Lord, has risen from Mary, and shown far brighter rays on the whole earth.

Let us, therefore, who in Adam are naked of all good, put on Jesus, that we may grow warm; for thou art come, O Christ! to be the clothing of the naked, and the light of them that are in darkness. O Light inaccessible! thou hast appeared to the world.

---

Sequence

Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia,
Quo fœcundata Deum peperit Virgo Maria,
Per quem sacrata floret Virginitas in Maria.
Spiritus alme, quo repletur Maria,
Tu rorem sacrum stillasti in Maria.
Amator sancte, quo intacta imprægnatur Maria.
Sub cujus umbra non torretur, dum fovetur Maria.
Tu præservasti ne prima culpa transfusa sit in Maria.
Tu cellam sacrasti sic benedicti ventris in Maria.
Ut tumeret, et Mater fieret Maria,
Sic pareret, nec florem perderet Maria.
Prophetas tu inspirasti, ut præcinerent quod Deum conciperet Maria.
Apostolos confortasti ut astruerent hunc Deum quem edidit Maria.
Quando machinam Deus mundanam fecit, est præfigurata Maria.
Tellus hominem, virgo virginem fudit primum, sic secundum Maria.
Tu animarum spes afflictarum dulcis Maria.
Tu servulorum tuorum nexus solve, Maria;
Tu collisum peccatis mundum ad vitam reparasti, Maria.
Idololatras et leges atras enervasti, Maria.
Ergo nos petimus supplices ut ope benigna subleves, Maria.
Et nato pro nobis supplices, qui tibi psallimus: Ave, Maria.
Tu felicibus felicior, Maria.
Tu sublimibus Angelorum cœtibus es prælata, Maria.
Ipsum hominem induisti, Maria,
Qui sine semine, rigante nemine, te fœcundavit, Maria.
Hunc Deum nobis placa, Maria.

May the grace of that Holy Spirit be now with us,
Whereby the Virgin Mary conceived, and brought forth Jesus, our God,
And holy Virginity, in this Mother, brought forth its Flower.
O Spirit of Love! thou didst fill Mary with thyself,
Thou didst infuse the dew of heaven into her.
O Divine Lover! the purest Virgin receives Jesus from Thee.
Under thy shadow, she continues a Virgin, and is made the Mother of God.
Thou didst preserve Mary from contracting the original guilt.
Thou didst consecrate the sanctuary of this so blessed womb,
That it might be the dwelling of Jesus, and Mary be his Mother,
And so bring forth her Son, as to be still the same pure Flower.
Thou it was that didst inspire the Prophets to foretell how Mary should conceive her God.
Thou it was that didst strengthen the Apostles to preach this God, the Son of Mary.
When God created this world, he gave us a type of Mary.
The virgin-earth produced the first Adam; so did Mary give birth to the second.
Thou art the hope of sorrowing hearts, sweet Mary!
Loosen the fetters of thy devoted servants, O Mary!
Thou didst restore to life the world that was crushed by sin, O Mary!I
Thou didst destroy idolaters and wicked laws, O Mary!
We humbly beseech thee, therefore, that thou mercifully help us, O Mary!
And pray to thy Son for us who sing to thee, Ave Maria!
Thou art Blessed of all the blessed, O Mary!
Thou art raised above the highest choirs of the Angels, O Mary!
Thou didst clothe with the nature of Man, O Mary,
Him who without the aid of man gave thee the fruitfulness of motherhood, O Mary!
He is our God; pray him to have mercy on us, O Mary!

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[1] St Mark xvi 16.
[2] Gen. 1 2.
[3] The Blessing, of the Font.
[4] The Blessing of the Font.
[5] Ps. cxxviii 3, 5, 7, 8, 10.
[6] St Matt. iii 17.
[7] St Matt. iii 15.
[8] Cant. iv 2.
[9] Ibid. v 12.
[10] Isa. lxvi 12.