Just … wonderful… for St. Andrew

I often listen to the Office sung by the Benedictine monks at Norcia and at Le Barroux.

Just for nice, here is the hymn for Vespers for St. Andrew, Apostle, sung by the monks at Le Barroux.

The monks sing a variation of this hymn. I am too tired to look up the exact variation. Sorry. Maybe one of you kind people can do that.

Hymnus
Exsultet orbis gaudiis:
Cælum resúltet láudibus:
Apostolórum glóriam
Tellus et astra concinunt.

Vos sæculórum iúdices,
Et vera mundi lúmina:
Votis precámur córdium,
Audíte voces súpplicum.

Qui templa cæli cláuditis,
Serásque verbo sólvitis,
Nos a reátu noxios
Solvi iubete, quæsumus.

Præcépta quorum protinus
Languor salusque sentiunt:
Sanáte mentes languidas:
Augete nos virtútibus.

Ut, cum redibit arbiter
In fine Christus sæculi,
Nos sempitérni gáudii
Concedat esse cómpotes.

* Patri, simúlque Fílio,
Tibique Sancte Spíritus,
Sicut fuit, sit iúgiter
Sæclum per omne glória.
Amen.

 

Hymn
Now let the earth with joy resound,
And heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles’ glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forevermore!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the sacred gates on high;
At your command apart they fly:
Oh! loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break, and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey;
At your command they go or stay:
From sin’s disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end,
And Christ to judgement shall descend,
May we be called those joys to see
Prepared from all eternity.

* Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past,
And so shall be while ages last.
Amen.

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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11 Comments

  1. benedetta says:

    Beautiful. Thanks Fr. Z.

  2. acardnal says:

    Nice way to bring the evening to its proper end.

  3. dmwallace says:

    Exsúltet cælum láudibus,
    resúltet terra gáudiis:
    Apostolórum glóriam
    sacra canunt sollémnia.

    Vos, sæcli iusti iúdices
    et vera mundi lúmina,
    votis precámur córdium,
    audíte preces súpplicum.

    Qui cælum verbo cláuditis
    serásque eius sólvitis,
    nos a peccátis ómnibus
    sólvite iussu, quæsumus.

    Quorum præcépto súbditur
    salus et languor ómnium,
    sanáte ægros móribus,
    nos reddéntes virtútibus,

    Ut, cum iudex advénerit
    Christus in fine sæculi,
    nos sempitérni gáudii
    fáciat esse cómpotes.

    Deo sint laudes glóriæ,
    qui dat nos evangélicis
    per vos doctrínis ínstrui
    et prósequi cæléstia.
    Amen.

    V. Annuntiaverunt opera Dei.
    R. Et facta ejus intellexerunt

  4. fvhale says:

    I believe they are chanting the hymn “Exultet coelum laudibus,” (as a prior posted just posted!), another hymn for Vespers, Common for Apostles, rather than “Exsultet orbis gaudiis.”

  5. fvhale says:

    p.s. The chant in printed form, with words and music, can be found on p. 270 of “Liber Hymnarius cum invitatoriis & aliquibus responsoriis,” Solesmis, MCMLXXXIII (ISBN 2-85274-076-1); Commoon for Apostles, ad II Vesperas. That is what they are singing.

  6. fvhale says:

    An English translation, in rhyming couplets, from the program of the Edington Music Festival 2006:

    Let the round world with songs rejoice;
    let heaven return the joyful voice;
    all mindful of the Apostles’ fame,
    let heaven and earth their praise proclaim.

    You servants who once bore the light
    of gospel truth o’er heathen night,
    still may your work that light impart,
    to glad our eyes and cheer our heart.

    O God, by whom to them was given
    the key that shuts and opens heaven,
    our chains unbind, our loss repair,
    and grant us grace to enter there.

    For at thy will they preached the word
    which cured disease, which health conferred:
    O may that healing power once more
    our souls to grace and health restore.

    That when your Son again shall come
    and speak the world’s unerring doom,
    he may with them pronounce us blessed,
    and place us in your endless rest.

    To you, O Father; Son, to you;
    to you, blessed Spirit, glory be!
    So was it ay for ages past,
    so shall through endless ages last. Amen.

  7. StWinefride says:

    acardnal, nice of you to say “proper end to the evening”!

    We are indeed called to give glory to God at all times, and to pray without ceasing.

    AMDG!

  8. Mike says:

    That is song worthy of worshipping the One, True God. Wow.

  9. uptoncp says:

    Credits: The text as given by dmwallace will be the mediaeval form, retained in the monastic office when the secular Roman use adopted the revised hymns by Urban VIII, whence (I presume, without, I admit, getting up to check) the version originally posted.

    The translation is more or less that by the early 19th century Anglican bishop Richard Mant. (Restoring the older form of second person singular where appropriate will make the first half of the last verse rhyme!)

  10. UncleBlobb says:

    Thank you very much, Father Z.!

  11. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Yes, thank you!

    Can anyone help me with ‘reatu’ in the third stanza? ‘Reus’/’rea’ can mean ‘one bound’ (in some sense), but how literal are the translations “chain” or “chains”?

    I’ve just learnt that in some folk practice, St. Nicholas comes to visit dragging a chain… (perhaps a symbolic connexion?)

    I’ve also just had the delight of reading M.R. James’s detailed summary of St. Gregory of Tours account of St. Andrew in The Glory of the Martyrs, but cannot find an English translation online: does anyone know of any (or must I just hope some day to catch up with Raymond Van Dam’s 2004 Liverpool UP version)?

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