Hymn to St. Anne

The morning star is on the rise
And soon the dawn will fill the skies,
Foretelling of the coming Sun
Whose light will shine on everyone.

The Sun of justice, Christ, true Light,
And Mary, grace's dawning bright,
And Anna, reddening the sky,
Have caused the night of Law to fly.

O mother Anna, fruitful root,
From you came your salvation's shoot,
For you brought forth the flow'ring rod
That bore for us the Christ of God.

Christ's mother's mother, by the grace
Your daughter's birth brought to our race,
And by her merits and her prayer
May we her favors come to share.

O Jesus, Virgin-born, to You
All glory is forever due.
To Father and the Spirit, praise
Be sung through everlasting days.

Trans. c. 2009 Kathleen Pluth. All rights reserved.

Verses by a Country Curate Signing Himself H.

A googlebook of hymn translations by John William Hewett.

Note that a navigation system runs as a bar across the bottom of the page.

Nunc Tempus Acceptabile

An Office hymn for Lent:

Today is the accepted time.
Christ’s healing light, the gift divine
Shines forth to save the penitent
To wake the world by means of Lent.

The light of Christ will show the way
That leads to God’s salvation day.
The rigor of this fasting mends
The hearts that hateful sinning rends.

Keep all our minds and bodies true
In sacrifice, O God, to You,
That we may join, when Lents have ceased,
The everlasting Paschal Feast.

Let all creation join to raise
Most gracious Trinity, Your praise.
And when your love has made us new,
May we sing new songs, Lord, to You.
Amen.

Translation copyright 2006 by Kathleen Pluth. May be copied freely for use during Lent 2011.

Agnes beatae virginis

The blessed virgin Agnes flies
back to her home above the skies,
and she is born in heav'n above
because she gave her blood in love.

Mature enough to give her life,
though still too young to be a wife,
what joy she shows when death appears
that one would think: her bridegroom nears!

Her captors lead her to the fire
but she refuses their desire,
"For it is not such smold'ring brands
Christ's virgins take into their hands."

"This flaming fire of pagan rite
extinguishes all faith and light.
Then stab me here, so that the flood
may overcome this hearth in blood."

And she was stabbed, and she was brave,
and dying, further witness gave,
for as she fell on bended knee
she wrapped her robes in modesty.

O Virgin-born, all praises be
to You throughout eternity.
and unto everlasting days
to Father and the Spirit, praise.

Translation c. 2010 Kathleen Pluth. May be used only with permission.

Aeterne rerum conditor

One of the 4 universally-acknowledged Ambrosian hymns:

Eternal maker of all things
Of day and night the sov'reign King,
Refreshing mortals, You arrange
The rhythm of the seasons' change

The rooster sounds his morning cry
--Throughout the night he watched the sky--
For travelers, a guiding light
To tell the watches of the night.

The morning star that hears the cry
Dispels the darkness from the sky.
The demons, hearing the alarm
Abandon all their paths of harm.

The sailor hears and he is brave;
The sea becomes a gentle wave.
The rooster's call reached Peter's ears:
He washed away his sins in tears.

Our wav'ring hearts, Lord Jesus, see.
O look upon us, make us free,
For in Your gaze no fault can stay,
And sins by tears are washed away.

O Light, upon our senses shine.
Dispel our sleepiness of mind,
That we may sing Your morning praise,
Then, vows fulfilling, live our days.

Translation c. 2010 Kathleen Pluth

Apostolorum passio

In honor of the liturgical leadership of our Holy Father Pope Benedict, here is my translation of this great Ambrosian hymn. Perhaps it could be nicely sung to the tune Deo gratias.

Apostolorum passio

Blest day by suff’ring sanctified:
Christ’s chosen high apostles died.
Today St. Peter wins renown.
Today St. Paul accepts the crown.

Together, equally, they bled:
Together: the victorious dead.
They followed God and sacrificed
And now their faith is crowned by Christ.

St. Peter holds the highest place,
Yet Paul is not the less by grace.
An equal faith was giv’n to Paul:
The chosen vessel of God’s call.

St. Peter, downward crucified—
To honor God in how he died—
Securely tied, he sees unfold
The death his Shepherd once foretold.

On such foundations Rome may claim
The highest service of God’s name.
His noble blood has dignified
The city where this prophet died.

Let all the world, then, run to Rome.
Let families of nations come!
The head of nations teaches there
Beside the nations’ teacher's chair.

O Lord, we ask that we may be
In their exalted company,
And with our princes sing Your praise
Forever, to unending days.

C. 2010 Kathleen Pluth. May be used only with permission.

Sursum Corda: The Youth Classical Schola

Last Saturday before the historic Pontifical Mass at the National Shrine, I had the honor of directing the children's schola which chanted during Bishop Slattery's vesting. The schola combined my own Alexandria, VA, St. Louis Church's Youth Classical Schola and the Chorus from St. Ann's Academy in DC. In the weeks leading up to the Mass, I spent a good deal of time on the road, rehearsing with St. Ann's, to produce a unified sound.

The children sang Veni, Creator Spiritus, Adoro Te devote, and Regina caeli. I think they sang their best--which, many say, is beautifully--and under challenging circumstances.

The event was marked with controversy and strife. The originally planned celebrant did not say the Mass, for reasons that have been widely publicized. From my perspective, the Mass had certain less-than-optimal earmarks of any inaugural event. There were little glitches here and there, and some problems communicating. My guess is the communication issues had most of all to do with everyone's relative uncertainty. It is difficult to do something complex and new, because there is no established routine. Meanwhile, everyone's goodwill and effort was evident, and the pleasure of collaboration can make little glitches seem unimportant. The second time will be much easier, and, God willing, under much less public pressure and scrutiny.

From the time when the discussions of my schola's involvement first began, the organizer who was my principle contact spoke of his strong sense that children's voices would be essential at this Mass. While I agreed, I had no idea at the time that his sense would turn out to be quite so prophetic and urgent. Given the publicity, and given the scale of the atrocity of crimes that have been committed against children, the sweet sound of children's singing, which always lifts my heart, can be a balm for all of us. Their pact with the Church, after all, is unbroken. They are safe, they serve, they learn. Our experience in working together has been not only positive but joyous, a microcosm of the excellent ecclesiology of Catholicism as it is played out in so many ways around the world.

I hope that joy was evident in their sound.

Adoro Te Devote

Here is my translation of St. Thomas Aquinas' great Eucharistic hymn, Adoro Te Devote.

With devotion I adore
You, O God concealed;
Hidden under figures here,
yet by faith revealed.
Even prayer is silent now.
All my heart bows low.
Deepest truth is present here,
More than minds can know.

Seeing, touching, tasting You--
Senses can deceive.
Hearing is the path of faith
This shall I believe.
Jesus said it; I believe.
True His words must be:
God the Son, the Word of truth,
must speak truthfully.

On the cross You only hid
Your divinity.
Here You also have concealed
Your humanity.
Yet I still believe in both,
and this faith I say,
And the prayer the good thief prayed,
this I also pray.

Thomas saw Your wounded hands
And your wounded side
Even though I do not see
I am satisfied
Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God,
Gladly I adore.
Make me trust you, hope in you,
Love you more and more.

O memorial of the death
of my living Lord,
Living Bread whose saving health
Human life restored.
Let me find my life in You,
Ever-living food.
Let me ever taste of You,
Knowing You are good.

Pelican, so full of love,
Jesus, gracious Lord,
Wash me, cleanse me of my sins
in Your blood outpoured.
All the sins in all the world
that have ever been--
Just one drop is blood enough:
all may be made clean.

Jesus, hidden from my eyes,
Bring me to that place
Where your saints in endless joy
See you face to face.
How I long to gaze on you
Through eternity.
Blest are they who trust in you
And your glory see. Amen.

Hymn for St. Paul: Excelsam Pauli Gloriam

This is my translation of the Latin office hymn Excelsam Pauli Gloriam. It can be sung to many Long Meter (LM, or 8888) hymn tunes, such as Eisenach or Jesu Dulcis Memoria.

Let all the Church acclaim St. Paul

And sing the glories of his call
The Lord made an apostle be
From one who was his enemy

The name of Christ set Paul afire
Enkindling him with great desire;
And higher these same blazes reached
When of the love of Christ he preached.

His merits are forever praised
For to the heavens he was raised,
And there, the all-mysterious word,
That none dare speak, by Paul was heard.

The Word, like seed sown in a field
Producing an abundant yield
Fills heav’nly barns whose stores of grain
Are tilled and grown on earthly plains.

The shining of the lamplight gleams
And drenches earth with heaven's beams.
The dark of error's night is past;
The reign of truth has come at last.

To Christ all glory, and all praise
To Father and the Spirit raise,
Who for the nations’ saving call
Gave us the splendor of Saint Paul.

Translation © 2008 Kathleen Pluth. Permission was given for parish use June 28-29 2008 and January 24-25, 2009. All other rights reserved.

Stabat Mater Dolorosa

Here is a translation I made of the sequence Stabat Mater Dolorosa, with transliteration help from The Ultimate Stabat Mater Website.

There are five sequences sung at Mass. The Stabat Mater is part of the Mass of the day for Our Lady of Sorrows, but most parishes use it during Lent, for Stations of the Cross.

The translation follows the rhyme scheme of the Latin, and is quite literal. Anyone may freely use this translation during Lent, 2010.

On the Cross her Son was dying.

Mary stood beneath Him crying,

Sharing in His saving cross.

As He hangs, her soul is grieving,

and a sword her heart is cleaving

and she weeps the bitter loss.

O, the sad, afflicted Mother

of the Son beyond all others:

only Son of God most high.

Full of grief, her heart is aching;

watching Him, her body, quaking,

trembles as her offspring dies.

Who would see Christ’s mother crying

at the bitter crucifying

without tears of sympathy?

Who could see her depth of feeling—

thoughts of many hearts revealing—

and not share her agony?

Pardon for our sins entreating,
She saw Him endure the beating.
All our guilt on Him was cast.
She stood by in contemplation
When her Son, in desolation
Breathed His spirit forth at last.

Font of love, O Blessed Mother,

lend me tears to mourn my Brother.

Never let my ardor dim.

Let my heart be burning freely,

Christ my God be pleased to see me

all on fire with love for Him.

This I ask, O Holy Mary,

that His wounds I too may carry:

fix them deeply in my heart.

Mine the burden He was bearing;

let me in His pain be sharing;

of His suffering take a part.

Let me join in your lamenting,

through my life weep unrelenting

tears for Jesus Crucified.

Let me stand and share your weeping,

all the day death's vigil keeping,

glad to stand close by your side.

Queen of all the virgin choir,

judge me not when I aspire

your pure tears to emulate.

Let me share in Christ's affliction—

death by bitter crucifixion—

and His wounds commemorate.

Let me taste the pains He offered,

drunk with love for Him who suffered.

May His wounds become my own.

On the day of Christ's returning

may my heart be lit and burning.

Virgin, aid me at His throne.

May His Cross be interceding

and His death my vict'ry pleading.

May He hold me in His grace.

When my flesh by death is taken,

may my soul to glory waken

and in heaven take a place. Amen.

Trans. Copyright 2005 Kathleen Pluth. I grant rights to use and copy during Lent 2010. All other rights reserved.

A Hymn for Candlemas: Adorna, Sion, Thalamum

Here is my translation of Adorna, Sion, Thalamum, for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord:

Let Zion's bridal-room be clothed:
He comes, her Lord and her Betrothed.
Let man and woman, by faith's light,
A vigil keep throughout the night.

Saint Simeon, sent forth in joy,
Exults to see the baby Boy.
The Light through Whom all things are known

Is now to all the nations shown.

His parents to the temple bring
The Temple as an offering
The righteousness of law He chose
Though to the law He nothing owes.

So, Mary, bring this little one,
Yours and the Father's only Son
Through whom our offering is made
By whom our ransom price is paid.

And forward, queen of virgins, go
And let rejoicing overflow
With gifts bring forth your newborn Son
Who comes to rescue everyone.

Lord Jesus Christ, the Glory bright

Who guides the nations into light

Be praised, and for eternity

Be glorified, O Trinity. Amen.

Translation c. 2009 Kathleen Pluth. All rights reserved.

Hymn books online

One of the great joys of the modern age is the amount of information available free, online.

I've spent hours in the Mullen Library at Catholic University looking through books just like these. Comfy as libraries can be, it's wonderful that a virtual library like this is available anywhere you can get a wireless signal.

Once when my office was located above a library, I would run downstairs to look at this on my lunch hour. Now, I just go to the sidebar of my blog, click on Dictionary of Hymnology vol. I, and enjoy!

Hymns in honor of St. Paul

I had thought that when the Holy Father annunced the Pauline Year, there would be a sudden flurry of hymn writing in St. Paul's honor. No such flurry has occurred to my knowledge, but I have been able to contribute a couple of hymns in honor of this inimitable Saint, one of the two pillars of our apostolic Church.

I've received a number of requests for use of these hymns--more from the UK, in fact, than from the States. An Anglican parish named St. Paul's, in Sheffield, for example, sang one at the anniversary service for their parish. And this morning my translation of Excelsam Pauli Gloriam was sung at Morning Prayer by Bishop D'Arcy and his priests in the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. I was delighted to be asked to contribute in this small way to their diocesan Lenten Day of Recollection for priests, and even more so in light of recent events.

One of the verses says:

The shining of the lamplight gleams
And drenches earth with heav'nly beams.
The dark of error's night is past.
The reign of truth has come at last.

With all the powers my poor Heart hath

The Adoremus Hymnal contains an abbreviated version of Richard Crashaw's unusually free, unusually brilliant translation of St. Thomas Aquinas' hymn to the Eucharist, Adoro Te Devote.


With all the powers my poor Heart hath
Of humble love and loyal Faith,
Thus low (my hidden life!) I bow to Thee
Whom too much love hath bowed more low for me.
Down down, proud sense! Discourses die!
Keep close, my soul’s inquiring eye!
Nor touch nor taste must look for more
But each sit still in his own Door.

Your ports are all superfluous here,
Save that which lets in faith, the ear.
Faith is my skill. Faith can believe
As fast as love new laws can give.
Faith is my force. Faith strength affords
To keep pace with those powerful words.
And words more sure, more sweet, than they,
Love could not think, truth could not say.

O let Thy wretch find that relief
Thou didst afford the faithful thief.
Plead for me, love! Allege and show
That faith has farther, here, to go,
And less to lean on. Because then
Though hid as GOD, wounds writ Thee man.
Thomas might touch; none but might see
At least the suffering side of Thee;
And that too was Thy self which Thee did cover,
But here even that’s hid too which hides the other.

Sweet, consider then, that I
Though allowed nor hand nor eye
To reach at Thy loved face; nor can
Taste Thee GOD, or touch Thee MAN,
Both yet believe; and witness Thee
My LORD too and my GOD, as loud as He.
Help, Lord, my faith, my hope increase;
And fill my portion in Thy peace.
Give love for life; nor let my days
Grow, but in new powers to Thy name and praise.

O dear memorial of that death
Which lives still, and allows us breath!
Rich, royal food! Bountiful BREAD!
Whose use denies us to the dead;
Whose vital gust [taste] alone can give
The same leave both to eat and live;
Live ever Bread of loves, and be
My life, my soul, my surer self to me.

O soft self-wounding Pelican!
Whose breast weeps Balm for wounded man.
Ah this way bend Thy benign flood
To a bleeding Heart that gasps for blood:
That blood, whose least drops sovereign be
To wash my worlds of sins from me.

Come love! Come LORD! and that long day
For which I languish, come away;
When this dry soul those eyes shall see,
And drink the unsealed source of Thee,
When glory’s sun faith’s shades shall chase,
And for Thy veil give me Thy FACE. Amen.

Found among the excellent hymns here.

New to the Sidebar

I'm adding a link to an online book, Early Latin Hymns by A. S. Walpole. It's an interesting and learned book, summing up the intense hymnological scholarship of the time. It can be found here.

Abedecerian (Latin for Alphabetical)

Whilst perusing the Christmas section of the Liber Hymnarius, with a view towards translating its ancient hymns, I discovered the beautiful A solis ortus cardine. It is an acrostic hymn, so that each verse begins with a successive letter of the alphabet: a, b, c.

Now this may seem like a frivolous organizing principle for a venerable hymn, but the practice has roots in an even more venerable hymn form: the Psalm. Psalms 119 and 145, for example, are acrostic Psalms.

Turns out that the hymn, which ends at I for Iesu, is actually only the first part of the hymn that continues on H for Herod, and is the Epiphany hymn Hostis Herdodes Impie.

Like the First Dewfall on the First Grass

I know, I know, it's been a month since my last post.

Some excellent (and time-consuming) things going on. Including my current pet project: a Youth Classical Schola.

But enough about me, let's talk turkey about the new translation of the Ordinary. It's not in use yet, but can be studied here (pdf).

One amusing argument arose over the use of the word "dew" in Eucharistic Prayer III. Some bishops complained that "dew" is a funny word in American English--but then the British bishop who heads the commission said that he just saw a sign on a billboard for Mountain Dew, so it seems familiar enough.

They apparently compromised on "dewfall": Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray,
by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall

The scriptural reference for the image is Isaiah 45:8: Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this. Ordinarily this passage is used liturgically of the Son, rather than of the Spirit, but in this case (as in the Incarnation) there is perhaps a permissible conflation due to the agency of the Spirit Who brings the Son into the world.

There is an ancient Advent hymn that takes its refrain from this passage:

Rorate coeli desuper

et nubes pluant justum.

Ne irascaris, Domine!

Ne ultra memineris iniquitatem.

Ecce civitas sancta facta est deserta:

Sion deserta facta est.

Jerusalem desolata facta est.

Domus sanctificationis tua et gloria tua,

et ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.

Vide, Domine, afflictionem populi tui.

et mitte quem missurus es:

emitte Agnum, dominatorem terra,

de petra deserti ad montem filia Sion:

ut auferat ipse jugum captivitatis nostra.

Consolamini, popule meus:

cito veniet salus tua.

Quare mirore? Innovat te dolor?

Salvabo te: noli timere.

Ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus:

Sanctus Israel, Redemptor tuus.

Hymns for the Pauline Year

CanticaNOVA features 3 of my texts on their page devoted to the Pauline Year. Check it out: http://canticanova.com/articles/misc/art7bc1.htm

Rejoice!

Go to the Advent calendar here, and click on "18."

As the bridegroom to His chosen

1. As the bridegroom to His chosen,

As the king unto the realm,

As the keep unto the castle,

As the pilot to the helm,

So, Lord, art Thou to me.

2. As the fountain in the garden,

As the candle in the dark,

As the treasure in the coffer,

As the manna in the ark.

So, Lord, art Thou to me.

3. As the music at the banquet

As the stamp unto the seal,

As the med’cine to the fainting,

As the wine-cup at the meal,
So, Lord, art Thou to me.

4. As the ruby in the setting,

As the honey in the comb,

As the light within the lantern,

As the father in the home,

So, Lord, art Thou to me.

5. As the sunshine in the heavens,

As the image in the glass,

As the fruit unto the fig tree,

As the dew unto the grass,

So, Lord, art Thou to me.

Johannes Tauler

Trans/adapt. Emma Frances Shuttleworth Bevan