The LITURGICAL SEQUENCES of ADAM of ST. VICTOR

IV. NATIVITAS DOMINI
[English]

Lux est orta gentibus,
In umbra sedentibus
Et mortis caligine.
Gaudet miser populus
Quia mundo parvulus
Nascitur de virgine.

Ut ascendat homo reus
Condescendit homo-Deus
Hominis miseriae.
Quis non laudet et laetetur?
Quis non gaudens admiretur
Opus novae gratiae?

Quidnam jocundius,
Quidnam secretius
Tali mysterio?
O quam laudabilis!
O quam mirabilis
Dei dignatio!

Hujus nodum sacramenti
Non subtilis argumenti
Solvit inquisitio.
Modum nosse non est meum;
Scio tamen posse Deum
Quod non capit ratio.

Quam subtile Dei consilium!
Quam sublime rei mysterium!
Virga florem,
Vellus rorem,
Virgo profert filium.

Nec pudorem laesit conceptio,
Nec virorem floris emissio;
Concipiens
Et pariens
Comparatur lilio.

O Maria, stella maris,
Post Deum spes singularis
Naufragantis saeculi,
Vide quam nos fraudulenter,
Quam nos vexant violenter
Tot et tales aemuli.

Per te virtus nobis detur
Per te, mater, exturbetur
Daemonum superbia;
Tuae proli nos commenda,
Ne nos brevis, sed tremenda
Feriat sententia.
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IV. CHRISTMAS
[Latin]

For the Gentiles up hath sprung
Light, for those that sate among
Darkness and in death's deep gloom.
Joys a people all forlorn,
That on earth a Child is born
From a spotless maiden's womb.

Guilty man to raise to heaven,
Condescends the God-man even
To our nature's misery.
Who would not with joy be praising,
Songs of wondering gladness raising,
Grace-work of such novelty?

What is more full of bliss,
What is more fathomless,
Than such a mystery?
How worthy all our praise,
How unlike human ways,
Is God's humility!

This deep mystery's complication
No abstruse investigation
By induction can explain.
'Tis not mine to know its measure,
But I wot that God's good pleasure
Rules where reason cannot strain.

O how deep the counsel of God appears!
How sublime the mystery it declares!
Rod a flower,
Fleece a shower,
And a Son a Virgin bears.

Her conception hurt not her chastity,
Nor its blooming that ever verdant tree;
In conceiving
And birth-giving,
Lily-like, still pure is she!

Mar, star of ocean! giving
To this shipwrecked age we live in
After God its hope alone!
See what rival machinations,
And what fierce and dire temptations
Vex us sorely every one.

Virtue unto us be given,
And demonic pride be driven
Far away from us by thee;
To thine offspring O commend us,
Lest His brief but most tremendous
Sentence crush us utterly.
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INDEX

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