The Saint Lawrence Press Blog: "The Vigil of the Nativity"

More at this blog post about the Proclamation of Christmas as St. Lawrence Press enumerates and describes the liturgies of December 24.  See the bolded section below for a full description of how the Proclamation is sung at Prime:

The Vigil of the Nativity is unique in the Liturgical Year in that it is of simple rite at Mattins and then becomes of double rite from Lauds onwards.

Mattins has one nocturn of three lessons. The invitatorium is Hodie scietis and the hymn Verbum supernum, the antiphons and psalms are from the ferial psalter for Saturday, Memor fuit in saeculum etc., but the versicles, lessons and responsories are proper. The homily is taken from St. Jerome's commentary on the first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel. At Lauds the antiphons, Judaea et Jerusalem nolite timere etc, are sung with the psalms of Sunday. The Office hymn is En clara vox. The chapter, antiphon on the Benedictus, and collect are proper to the Vigil. The ferial preces are not sung.

Prime is festal with the first antiphon from Lauds, as usual, and psalms 53, 118(i) and 118(ii). The Martyrology is sung with extra solemnity today. The Hebdomadarius dons a violet cope and preceded by acolytes bearing candles and a thurifer with incense enters the choir. After reverencing the choir and altar the Martyrology is censed, as a Gospel book, three times. The the choir rise and the Hebdomadarius chants 'Octavo Kalendas Januarii. Luna undecima. Anno a creatione mundi, quando in principio Deus creavit coelum et terram, quinquies millesimo centesimo nonagesimonono: A diluvio etc., listing the years since the birth of Abraham, the Exodus from Egypt, the anointing of David, the time since Daniel the Prophet, since the founding of Rome and the conception of the LORD by the Holy Ghost. He continues until '...novemque post conceptionem decursis mensibus', then raising the pitch of the chant, whilst the choir kneel, he continues, 'in Bethlehem Judae nascitur ex Maria Virgine factus Homo'. Then in the tone of the Passion: 'Nativitas Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundem carnem.' The choir then rise and sit whilst in the normal tone the Hebdomadarius (or a lector, depending on the custom of the place) continues with the entries for the day: 'Eodem die natalis santae Anastasiae etc. The lectio brevis, Per quem accepimus, is proper to the Vigil. The antiphons from Lauds are used in sequence at the rest of the Hours.

Mass is sung after None. Today the ministers do not wear folded chasubles but dalmatic and tunicle. There is just one collect. The dismissal, Benedicamus Domino, is sung by the deacon to a most beautiful and ornate tone reserved for today, the feast of the Holy Innocents and pro re gravi Masses.

First Vespers of the Nativity are sung in the afternoon. The antiphons Rex pacificus etc are sung with psalms 109, 110, 111, 112 & 116. All hymns of Iambic metre have the Doxology Jesu, tibi sit gloria, qui natus es de Virgine for the Octave and up until the feast of the Epiphany.

In the 'liturgical books of 1962' there is no change of rank between Mattins and the rest of the day. The antiphons at Mattins and the Hours are doubled. At Prime the special short lesson is omitted and the one used for all of Advent is sung. Not having folded chasubles the distinction of the lightening of the penitential tone is lost at Mass and the beautiful chant of the Benedicamus Domino is replaced by Ite, missa est. Mass is sung after Terce, not after None. The hymns at the Little Hours through the Octave etc do not have the special tone and Doxology in honour of the Incarnation. 

Notice what happens at the end of the Martyrology on Christmas:  "Then in the tone of the Passion: 'Nativitas Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundem carnem.'" 

Again, the strands of the Great Church Year are pulled together, the one referring to another; the music of the Christmas Proclamation has overtones of the Passion right within it.

"To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arms"

In the NYTimes.com today:

ARCHER’S POST, Kenya — Julius Lokinyi was one of the most notorious poachers in this part of Kenya, accused of single-handedly killing as many as 100 elephants and selling the tusks by the side of the road in the dead of night, pumping vast amounts of ivory into a shadowy global underground trade.

Julius Lokinyi, once a poacher accused of killing as many as 100 elephants, is now a ranger guarding elephants for the billion-dollar tourism industry. More Photos »

But after being hounded, shamed, browbeaten and finally persuaded by his elders, he recently made a remarkable transformation. Elephants, he has come to believe, are actually worth more alive than dead, because of the tourists they attract. So Mr. Lokinyi stopped poaching and joined a grass-roots squad of rangers — essentially a conservation militia — to protect the wildlife he once slaughtered.

Nowadays he gets up at dawn, slurps down a cup of sugary tea, tightens his combat boots and marches off with other villagers, some who had never picked up a gun before and are little more than volunteers, to fight poachers.

“We got to protect the elephants,” said Mr. Lokinyi, whose hooded eyes now glow with the zeal of a convert.

From Tanzania to Cameroon, tens of thousands of elephants are being poached each year, more than at any time in decades, because of Asia’s soaring demand for ivory. Nothing seems to be stopping it, including deploying national armies, and the bullet-riddled carcasses keep stacking up. Scientists say that at this rate, African elephants could soon go the way of the wild American bison.

But in this stretch of northern Kenya, destitute villagers have seized upon an unconventional solution that, if replicated elsewhere, could be the key to saving thousands of elephants across Africa, conservationists say. In a growing number of communities here, people are so eager, even desperate, to protect their wildlife that civilians with no military experience are banding together, grabbing shotguns and G3 assault rifles and risking their lives to confront heavily armed poaching gangs.

It is essentially a militarized neighborhood watch, with loping, 6-foot-6 former herdsmen acting as the block captains, and the block being miles and miles of zebra-studded bush. These citizen-rangers are not doing this out of altruism or some undying love for pachyderms. They do it because in Kenya, perhaps more than just about anywhere else, wildlife means tourists, and tourists mean dollars — a lot of dollars.

It is not unusual here for a floppy-hatted visitor to drop $700 a night to sleep in a tent and absorb the sights, sounds and musky smells of wondrous game. Much of that money is contractually bound to go directly to impoverished local communities, which use it for everything from pumping water to college scholarships, giving them a clear financial stake in preserving wildlife. The safari business is a pillar of the Kenyan economy, generating more than a billion dollars a year and nearly 500,000 jobs: cooks, cleaners, bead-stringers, safari guides, bush pilots, even accountants to tally the proceeds.

Surprisingly, many jobs in the safari industry can pay as much as poaching. Though the ivory trade may seem lucrative, it is often like the Somali pirate business model, with the entry-level hijacker getting just a minuscule cut of the million-dollar ransoms. While a pound of ivory can fetch $1,000 on the streets of Beijing, Mr. Lokinyi, despite his lengthy poaching résumé, was broke, making it easier to lure him out of the business.

Villagers are also turning against poachers because the illegal wildlife trade fuels crime, corruption, instability and intercommunal fighting. Here in northern Kenya, poachers are diversifying into stealing livestock, printing counterfeit money and sometimes holding up tourists. Some are even buying assault rifles used in ethnic conflicts.

The conservation militias are often the only security forces around, so they have become de facto 911 squads, rushing off to all sorts of emergencies in areas too remote for the police to quickly gain access to and often getting into shootouts with poachers and bandits.

“This isn’t just about animals,” said Paul Elkan, a director at the Wildlife Conservation Society, who is trying to set up community ranger squads in South Sudan modeled on the Kenyan template. “It’s about security, conflict reconciliation, even nation building.”

The rangers tend to be hardened and uneducated, drawn from different ethnic groups and the surplus of unemployed youth. Gabriel Lesoipa was a goat herder; Joseph Lopeiyok, a cattle rustler; John Pameri won his coveted spot because he was fast — at the time he was selected, the first entry requirement was a grueling 11-mile race.

Many are considered warriors in their communities, experts in so-called bushcraft from years of grazing cattle and goats across the thorny savanna — and defending them against armed raiders. They can follow faint footprints across long, thirsty distances and instantly intuit when someone has trespassed on their land.

More at the link.

"How to read in 2013"

Here's Ross Douthat's column in the Times today.  I want to point to it for a couple of reasons.

First, I think he's right - that the big problem we have is that we've all separated from one another, like oil and water, and essentially live completely apart from one another, both physically and virtually.  It's very easy, at that point, for each side to caricature the other - and we really almost never admit that the other side may have something important to say (although I do think this is changing a bit).  This is just not healthy - mainly because everybody's kind of out of reality on this account. 

The second thing I want to point out is that second-to-last paragraph, where Douthat talks about his hope that getting a wider view will "unsettle minds a little."    The "unsettling" he's talking about addresses, I think, two similar but slightly different conditions.  The first has to do with "mindset" - a hardening of position; he thinks listening to arguments from "the other side" will pry people a bit loose from their "set" ideas.  

The second is a commentary on the human condition itself, I think - and is coming out of  Douthat's Catholicism.  Because the Christian story - the whole Judeo-Christian story, actually - is one that "unsettles" the world - including the interior world - continually.   This is its most important feature, in my opinion; it's what allows for - commands, in fact! - the metanoia that permits us to live in an interally revolutionary way.   There is much, much more to say about this, but for now here's the whole article.

COME what may in the next 12 months, 2013 has this much going for it: It’s a year without a midterm election, and a year that’s as far removed as possible from the next presidential race. This means that for a blessed 365 days you can be a well-informed and responsible American citizen without reading every single article on Politico, without hitting refresh every 30 seconds on your polling-average site of choice, without channel-hopping between Chris Matthews’s hyperventilating and Dick Morris’s promises of an inevitable Republican landslide.

So use the year wisely, faithful reader. For a little while, at least, let gridlock take care of itself, shake yourself free of the toils of partisanship, and let your mind rove more widely and freely than the onslaught of 2014 and 2016 coverage will allow.

Here are three steps that might make such roving particularly fruitful. First, consider taking out a subscription to a magazine whose politics you don’t share. I’m using the word “subscription” advisedly: it may sound fusty in the age of blogs and tweets and online hopscotching, but reading the entirety of a magazine, whether in print or on your tablet, is a better way to reckon with the ideas that its contributors espouse than just reading the most-read or most-e-mailed articles on its Web site, or the occasional inflammatory column that all your ideological compatriots happen to be attacking.

So if you love National Review’s political coverage, add The New Republic or The Nation to your regular rotation as well. If you think that The New Yorker’s long-form journalism is the last word on current affairs, take out a Weekly Standard subscription and supplement Jeffrey Toobin with Andy Ferguson, Adam Gopnik with Christopher Caldwell. If you’re a policy obsessive who looks forward every quarter to the liberal-tilting journal Democracy, consider a subscription to the similarly excellent, right-of-center National Affairs. And whenever you’re tempted to hurl away an article in disgust, that’s exactly when you should turn the page or swipe the screen and keep on reading, to see what else the other side might have to say.

Second, expand your reading geographically as well as ideologically. Even in our supposedly globalized world, place still shapes perspective, and the fact that most American political writers live in just two metropolitan areas tends to cramp our ability to see the world entire.

So the would-be cosmopolitan who currently gets a dose of British-accented sophistication from The Economist — a magazine whose editorial line varies only a little from the Manhattan-and-D.C. conventional wisdom — might do well to read the London Review of Books and The Spectator instead. (The multilingual, of course, can roam even more widely.) The conservative who turns to Manhattan-based publications for defenses of the “Real America” should cast a bigger net — embracing the Californian academics who preside over the Claremont Review of Books, the heartland sans-culottes at RedState, the far-flung traditionalists who write for Front Porch Republic. And the discerning reader should always have an eye out for talented writers — like the Montanan Walter Kirn, the deserving winner of one of my colleague David Brooks’s Sidney Awards — who cover American politics from outside D.C. and N.Y.C.

Finally, make a special effort to read outside existing partisan categories entirely. Crucially, this doesn’t just mean reading reasonable-seeming types who split the left-right difference. It means seeking out more marginal and idiosyncratic voices, whose views are often worth pondering precisely because they have no real purchase on our political debates.

Start on the non-Republican right, maybe, with the libertarians at Reason magazine, the social conservatives at First Things and Public Discourse, the eclectic dissidents who staff The American Conservative. Then head for the neo-Marxist reaches of the Internet, where publications like Jacobin and The New Inquiry offer a constant reminder of how much room there is to the left of the current Democratic Party.

And don’t be afraid to lend an ear to voices that seem monomaniacal or self-marginalizing, offensive or extreme. There are plenty of writers on the Internet who are too naïve or radical or bigoted to entrust with any kind of power, but who nonetheless might offer an insight that you wouldn’t find in the more respectable quarters of the press.

If these exercises work, they’ll make 2013 a year that unsettles your mind a little — subjecting the views you take for granted to real scrutiny, changing the filters through which you view the battles between Team R and Team D, reminding you that more things are possible in heaven and earth than are dreamed of by John Boehner and Harry Reid.

Then, and only then, will you be ready to start counting the days till the 2016 Iowa caucuses arrive.

The moon and the Proclamation of Christmas

Here's the Proclamation of Christmas sung to the Solemn Tone in Latin at this year's Midnight Mass at St. Peter's:



I've been looking into the rather strange general intro to the Proclamation - this year it's Octavo Kalendas Ianuarii, luna undecima - and have finally understood what's going on here.

Here's the deal:  the Proclamation will always start out with "Octavo Kalendas Ianuarii" because Christmas Day is the eighth day of the Calends of January.  Here's the explanation of how Calends and other relative days are figured,  at Wikipedia:

The Calends (Latin Kalendae "the called", gen. plural -arum), correspond to the first days of each month of the Roman calendar. The Romans assigned these calends to the first day of the month, signifying the start of the new moon cycle.^{[citation needed]} On that day, the pontiffs would announce at the Curia Calabra the rest days for the upcoming month, and the debtors had to pay off their debts that were inscribed in the calendaria, a sort of accounts book. The date (in this calendar system) was measured relative to days such as the Calends, Nones or Ides, for example, in modern terms, three days past Calends would be the 4th of the month. This sort of system would be used to date documents, diary entries, etc.

Computation of the days of the month from Calends can be done using the following verses:

Principium mensis cujusque vocato Kalendas:
Sex Maius nonas, October, Julius, et Mars;
Quattuor at reliqui: dabit Idus quidlibet octo.

meaning that the first day is called the Calends; six days later is the Nones of May, October, July and March; four days later for the remaining months; and the Ides is eight days after that.^[1]

To find the day of the Calends of the current month, one counts how many days remain in the month, and add two to that number. For example, April 22, is the 10th of the Calends of May, because there are 8 days left in April, to which 2 being added, the sum is 10.^[2]

So, December 25 is the 8th of the Calends of January, since there are six days following it before January begins.  Then, add two.   (This all has something to do with  the difference between the average number of days in a solar month - 30.41 days - and the length of the lunar cycle - 29.54 days; I haven't quite figure this out yet, but it's not necessary in order to explain what's happening with the announcement.  But this sort of thing is, no doubt, why the Julian calendar replaced this system.)

The phrase following "Octavo Kalendas Ianuarii" will vary each year; the number there - this year luna undecima, two years ago luna decima nona - is a count of how many days have passed since the last New Moon.    Per this "Moon Phases" calendar, you can see in 2012, the new moon did indeed occur 11 days before December 24, and in 2010 it did indeed occur 19 days before Christmas Eve.

So the announcement in English for this year is this:

"The eighth of the Calends of January, 11 days after the last New Moon."

It seems that this kind of announcement, "the Martyrology," was and in some places still is made at every service of Prime - the first office of the day - for the following day.    ("The following day," of course, begins later that same day with Vespers.)  It normally - as far as I know at the moment - listed the martyrs for that day (and the saints who died on that day, which date is typically chosen for their feast day), along with the date and at least sometimes the phases of the moon.

Here's a typical listing from Divinum Officum for July 18, 2012 (chosen at random), first in Latin, then in English:

Martyrologium (anticipated)

Quartodecimo Kalendas Augusti Luna vicesima nona Anno 2012 Domini

Sancti Vincentii a Paulo, Presbyteri et Confessoris, Congregationis Presbyterorum Missionis et Puellarum Caritatis Fundatoris, caelestis omnium caritatis Societatum Patroni; qui in Domino obdormivit quinto Kalendas Octobris.
Colossis, in Phrygia, natalis sancti Epaphrae, quem sanctus Paulus Apostolus concaptivum appellat. Hic, ab eodem Apostolo Colossis Episcopus ordinatus, ibidem, clarus virtutibus, martyrii palmam, pro ovibus sibi commendatis, virili agone percepit; cujus corpus Romae, in Basilica sanctae Mariae Majoris, conditum est.
Treviris sancti Martini, Episcopi et Martyris.
Hispali, in Hispania, passio sanctarum Virginum Justae et Rufinae, quae, a Praeside Diogeniano comprehensae, primo equulei extensione et ungularum laniatione vexatae, postea carcere, inedia et variis torsionibus sunt afflictae; tandem Justa in carcere spiritum exhalavit, Rufinae vero cervix, in confessione Domini, confracta est.
Cordubae, in Hispania, sanctae Aureae Virginis, beatorum Adulphi et Joannis Martyrum sororis; quae aliquando in apostasiae crimen a Mahumetano Judice inducta est, sed mox, facti poenitens, iterato certamine, hostem effuso sanguine superavit.
Romae sancti Symmachi Papae, qui, a schismaticorum factione diutius fatigatus, demum, sanctitate conspicuus, migravit ad Dominum.
Veronae sancti Felicis Episcopi.
Apud Scetim, Aegypti montem, sancti Arsenii, Romanae Ecclesiae Diaconi; qui, Theodosii tempore, in solitudinem secessit, ibique, virtutibus omnibus consummatus et jugi lacrimarum imbre perfusus, spiritum Deo reddidit.
In Cappadocia sanctae Macrinae Virginis, filiae sanctorum Basilii et Emmeliae, atque sororis item sanctorum Episcoporum Basilii Magni, Gregorii Nysseni et Petri Sebastensis.
V. Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum. 
R. Deo grátias.

Martyrologium (anticipated)

On the morrow we keep the feast of the holy Confessor Vincent of Paul, who slept in the Lord upon the 27 th day of September, and whom Pope Leo XIII. proclaimed the patron before God in heaven of all charitable societies throughout the whole Catholic world which derive their origin in any way from his institution, [in the year 1660.] 
July 19th anno Domini 2012 The 29th Day of Moon were born into the better life 

The holy Epaphras, whom the holy Apostle Paul doth call his own fellow prisoner. He was ordained by the same Apostle Bishop of Colossi, where, illustrious for graces, he gained the palm of martyrdom in manly contending on behalf of the sheep committed to his care. His body is buried at Rome, in the Church of St Mary the greater. 
At Seville, in Spain, the holy Virgins Justa and Rufina. They were arrested under the President Diogenian. They were first racked and tormented by being torn with hooks, and afterwards afflicted with imprisonment, starvation, and divers tortures in the end Justa gave up the ghost in prison, and Rufina had her neck broken for confessing the Lord, [at the end of the third century.] 
At Cordova, the holy Virgin Aurea, who for a time fell away, but repented of what she had done, and in a renewed combat prevailed against the enemy by the shedding of her blood, [in the year 856.] 
At Trier, the holy martyr Martin, Bishop [of that see, in the year 210.] 
At Rome, the holy Pope Symmachus, who long suffered through the deeds of the schismatics, and at length passed away, famous for holiness, to be ever with the Lord, [in the year 514.] 
At Verona, holy Felix, the Bishop. 
At Mount Skete, in Egypt, holy Arsenius, a Deacon of the Church of Rome, who in the time of Theodosius betook himself to the desert, where he gave up his soul to God, finished in all graces and plentifully wet with tears, [in the year 450.] 
In Cappadocia, the holy Virgin Macrina, sister to holy Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, [in the year 379.] 
V. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
R. Thanks be to God.

I'm sure that's much more than you ever wanted to know.  But that's what's happening there - and it's really interesting that the Church is still using this, since the Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC....

(A pretty impressive aspect of this, BTW, is that the coder at the Divinum Officum site has integrated a phases of the moon function into his/her script!  Well done, I must say.)

The Introit for Sunday in the Octave of Christmas: Dum Medium

This Sunday's Introit for the Extraordinary Form is Dum Medium: "While a profound silence."  Here's an mp3 of the chant from  ReneGoupil, and below is the chant score from that site, with their English translation below that.  (The Ordinary Form seems to celebrate "Holy Family Sunday" - but I'm not quite sure about that one; the Brazilian Benedictines say it's on December 30, but I'm not clear whether that's a permanent feast day or whether they're referring to this Sunday only.  In any case, Anglicans don't celebrate that feast, so I'm going with the EF this time.)

While a profound silence enveloped all things, and night was in the midst of her course, your all-powerful Word, O Lord, leaped down from your royal throne.   The Lord reigns, he is enrobed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, he has girded himself.

The first part of the introit comes from a beautiful and obscure text I'd never seen until a couple of years ago:  Wisdom 18:14-15.

14 For when peaceful stillness encompassed everything / and the night in its swift course was half spent,

15 Your all-powerful word from heaven’s royal throne / leapt into the doomed land,

Wisdom 18 recounts, once again, the salvation history of the people of Israel - and this section refers to the last of the 10 plagues when the Israelites were captives in Egypt.  Of course, this is a parallel to what's happening in the New Testament and in the Great Church Year- with a twist.   In Exodus, the people are freed from slavery when Pharoah, after the deaths of the Egyptian first-born, finally releases the Israelites from their bondage; here, the Holy Family is escaping into Egypt because Herod has ordered the death of all boys under the age of 2 years in Bethlehem.   (The Feast of the Holy Innocents was this past Wednesday.)

Psalm 92/93 provides the "He has girded himself with strength" portion of the Introit.

1 The LORD is King;
he has put on splendid apparel; *
the LORD has put on his apparel
and girded himself with strength.
2 He has made the whole world so sure *
that it cannot be moved;
3 Ever since the world began, your throne has been established; *
you are from everlasting.
4 The waters have lifted up, O LORD,
the waters have lifted up their voice; *
the waters have lifted up their pounding waves.
5 Mightier than the sound of many waters,
mightier than the breakers of the sea, *
mightier is the LORD who dwells on high.
6 Your testimonies are very sure, *
and holiness adorns your house, O LORD,
for ever and for evermore.

I'm not sure what sort of thing this is; it starts out using this text and then goes someplace else.  It's beautiful, though, so here it is - sung by "Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Dominique Vellard, dir. Le Chant des Cathédrales - Ecole de Notre Dame de Paris" :




And, wow!  The various lectionaries for this Sunday are really all over the place.  The RCL has three different readings for Years A, B, and C; the first is indeed the flight into Egypt - but the others are the Purification (i.e., Simeon and Anna in the temple), and Jesus' adventures as a boy in the temple.   The 1928 and 1662 BCPs both had Matthew's story of Jesus' birth; the 1979 BCP has the Prologue of John on this Sunday for every year (I like this last choice, myself),

Just for the sake of coherence with the chant proper, here's RCL-A: the flight into Egypt from Matthew 2:13-23:

2:13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."

2:14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt,

2:15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."

2:16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.

2:17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

2:18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more."

2:19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said,

2:20 "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead."

2:21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel.

2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee.

2:23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."

Here's the Collect  (which sure seems to parallel the Prologue of John!):

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

I don't have Hatchett's commentary on this, but here's a bit about the collect from Trinity Episcopal in Concord, MA:

The familiar theme in this Collect of “the new light that shines forth” was initially part of the Gregorian Sacramentary and later included in the Sarum Rite. It was eventually included in our 1928 BCP revision for the Second Sunday after Christmas. The late Massey Shepherd, who wrote the Commentary on the 1928 Prayer Book, felt that the Collect was more associated with the translation by the Rev. Arwell M.Y. Bayley that was included in his book, “A Century of Collects,” published in 1913. The Petition Clause in the original Latin could be translated as, “Grant that the light which through faith shines in the heart, may shine forth in our works,” thus picking up the relationship between faith and works. The juxtaposition of darkness and light has been with us from the beginning of creation as described in Genesis. The “new light” of Christ is particularly found in this Sunday’s reading from The Gospel of John, as well as our hymns, and our sermons, encouraging and inspiring us to go forth into the world to love and serve God.

Here's the flight into Egypt four ways.  In order:   Giotto (late C13/early C14); Joachim Beuckelaer (2nd half of C16); George Hitchcock (1892); and Henry Ossawa Tanner (1923).

December 28: Holy Innocents

From Hymn Melodies for the Whole Year from the Sarum Service-Books:

On the Feast of the Holy Innocents & on the Octave Day :

Mattins:  Sanctorum meritis ... ... ... 52
Lauds & Evensong:  Rex gloriose martyrum ... ... ... 27

Sanctorum meritis is to be sung to this melody on this day:

This, I believe, will be the Latin text; it comes from CPDL; that entry's referring to another sacred song of unknown origin (for "SSTT" voices), probably based on the Gregorian chant and its text:

Sanctorum meritis inclita gaudia
pangamus socii gestaque fortia
nam gliscit animus promere cantibus
victorum genus optimum.

Hi sunt quo retines mundis inhorruit
Ipsum nam sterile flore per aridum
Sprevere penitus teque secuti sunt,
Rex, Christe, bone cælitum.

Hi pro te furias sævaque sustinent;
non murmur resonat, non querimonia,
sed corde tacito mens bene conscia
conservat patientiam.

Quæ vox, quæ poterit lingua retexere
Quæ tu martyribus munera præparas?
Rubri nam fluido sanguine laureis
Ditantur bene fulgidis.

Te, Trina Deitas unaque, poscimus,
ut culpas abluas, noxia quoque gloriam
per cuncta tibi sæcula.
Amen!

A note at the CPDL page says that this is "A Martyrs' hymn transcribed from the Trent manuscript tr89."  Various sources give the author as "unknown" - or else Rabanus Maurus, the 8th-Century monk and archbishop of Mainz.

This is the same hymn that Hymn-melodies for the whole year from the Sarum service-books calls for at Matins "On the Feast of several Martyrs (or Confessors)."  LLPB sings it as "The Noble Deeds of Saints (MP3).   (Note:  that mp3 is a recording of melody 51, not melody 52; see for instance September 9: Constance and her Companions, Martyrs for that chant score.)   

Cyberhymnal calls it "The Triumph of the Saints.  Here are the words from J.M. Neale's translation; pretty close to what's on the recording:

The triumphs of the saints,
The toils they bravely bore,
The love that never faints,
Their glory evermore—
For these the Church today
Pours forth her joyous lay;
What victors wear so rich a bay?

This clinging world of ill
Them and their works abhorred;
Its withering flowers still
They spurned with one accord;
They knew them short lived all,
How soon they fade and fall,
And followed, Jesu, at Thy call.

What tongue may here declare,
Fancy or thought descry,
The joys Thou dost prepare
For these Thy saints on high?
Empurpled in the flood
Of their victorious blood,
They won the laurel from their God.

O Lord most high, we pray,
Stretch forth Thy mighty arm
To put our sins away
And shelter us from harm;
O give Thy servants peace;
From guilt and pain release;
Our praise to Thee shall never cease.

Cyberhymnal offers another English translation of the hymn as well.

Here's a video from Giovanni Viannini - and still another melody not melody 52.  Haven't been able to find that tune anywhere so far. 



Hymnary.org says this:

Sanctorum meritis inclita gaudia. [Common of Martyrs.] This hymn is frequently referred to by Hinemar in his "De una et non trina Deitate," 857; but he distinctly says he could not discover its author. It is found in four manuscripts of the 11th century in the British Museum; and in the Latin Hymns of the Anglo Saxon Church, 1851, is printed from an 11th century manuscript at Durham. Also in a manuscript of the 10th century at Bern, No. 455; in a manuscript of the 11th century at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (No. 391, p. 272); in the St. Gall manuscript 413 and 414, of the 11th century. It is in the Roman, Sarum, York, Aberdeen, Paris of 1643, and other Breviaries—-the Sarum use being at 1st Vespers and at Matins in the common of many martyrs… [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

Rex gloriose martyrum is the hymn for Lauds and 2nd Vespers for all "feasts of several martyrs" - but on this day it is sung to the same tune as A solis ortus cardine, the Lauds & 2nd Vespers hymn from the Christmas Office (that's this tune, although not those words).  Here's the chant score:




LLPB calls this 6th-Century hymn "A hymn about the Martrys (O Glorious King of Martyr Hosts)"; here are the English words, from Oremus:

O glorious King of martyr hosts,
thou crown that each confessor boasts,
who leadest to celestial day
the saints who cast earth's joys away.

Thine ear in mercy, Savior, lend,
while unto thee our prayers ascend;
and as we count their triumphs won,
forgive the sins that we have done.

Martyrs in thee their triumphs gain,
confessors grace from thee obtain;
we sinners humbly seek to thee,
from sins offense to set us free.

All laud to God the Father be,
all praise, eternal Son, to thee;
all glory, as is ever meet,
to God the holy Paraclete.

This may be the Latin text; it comes from a CPDL page about a Victoria motet of the same name:

Rex gloriose Martyrum
corona confitentium,
qui respuentes terrea
perducis ad coelestia.

Tu vincis in martyribus
parcisque Confessoribus:
Tu vince nostra crimina,
largitor indulgentiae.

Aurem benignam protinus
appone nostris vocibus
trophea sacra pangimus
ignosce quod deliquimus.

Gloria tibi Domine
qui surrexisti a mortuis
cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu
in sempiterna saecula.
Amen. 

Hymnary.org offers these manuscript notes:

Rex gloriose martyrum. [Common of Martyrs.] Probably of the 6th century. Included in the Bern manuscript 455 of the 10th century; in a manuscript of the 11th century, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (391, p. 273); and in four manuscripts of the 11th century, in the British Museum (Vesp. D. xii. f. 106; Jul. A. vi. f. 64 b; Harl. 2961 f. 248; Add. 30851 f. 152 b); and in the Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 1851, is printed from an 11th century manuscript at Durham (B. iii. 32 f. 38 h). Also in an 11th century manuscript at St. Gall, No. 414; and in the Roman, Sarum, York, Aberdeen, and other Breviaries. The printed text is also in Mone, No. 732 ; Daniel, i., No. 237, and iv. p. 139; Cardinal Newman's Hymni Ecclesiae, 1838 and 1865; G. M. Dreves's Hymnarius Moissiacensis, 1888, from a 10th century manuscript, &c. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]

And the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia says that:

The hymn is of uncertain date and unknown authorship, Mone (Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, III, 143, no. 732) ascribing it to the sixth century and Daniel (Thesaurus Hymnologicus, IV, 139) to the ninth or tenth century. The Roman Breviary text is a revision, in the interest of Classical prosody, of an older form (given by Daniel, I, 248). The corrections are: terrea instead of terrena in the line "Qui respuentes terrena"; parcisque for parcendo in the line "Parcendo confessoribus"; inter Martyres for in Martyribus in the line "Tu vincis in Martyribus"; "Largitor indulgentiæ" for the line "Donando indulgentiam". A non-prosodic correction is intende for appone in the line "Appone nostris vocibus". Daniel (IV, 139) gives the Roman Breviary text, but mistakenly includes the uncorrected line "Parcendo confessoribus". lie places after the hymn an elaboration of it in thirty-two lines, found written on leaves added to a Nuremberg book and intended to accommodate the hymn to Protestant doctrine. This elaborated form uses only lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 of the original. Two of the added strophes may be quoted here to illustrate the possible reason (but also a curious misconception of Catholic doctrine in the apparent assumption of the lines) for the modification of the original hymn:

Velut infirma vascula Ictus inter lapideos Videntur sancti martyres, Sed fide durant fortiter. Non fidunt suis meritis, Sed sola tua gratia Agnoscunt se persistere In tantis cruciatibus.

Better known than either of those hymns in relation to this day on the Calendar, though, is Coventry Carol. Wikipedia has this:

The "Coventry Carol" is a Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was performed in Coventry in England as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors. The play depicts the Christmas story from chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew. The carol refers to the Massacre of the Innocents, in which Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed. The lyrics of this haunting carol represent a mother's lament for her doomed child. It is the only carol that has survived from this play.

See the words, again from Wikipedia, below the video.

Lyrics

The only manuscript copy to have survived into recent times was burnt in 1875.^[2] Our knowledge of the lyrics is therefore based on two very poor quality transcriptions from the early nineteenth century, and there is considerable doubt about many of the words. Some of the transcribed words are difficult to make sense of: for example, in the last verse "And ever morne and may For thi parting Neither say nor singe" is not clear. Various modern editors have made different attempts to make sense of the words, so such variations may be found as "ever mourn and say", "every morn and day", "ever mourn and sigh". The following is one attempted reconstruction.

Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Lullay, thou little tiny Child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

O sisters too, how may we do,

For to preserve this day

This poor youngling for whom we do sing

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Herod, the king, in his raging,

Charged he hath this day

His men of might, in his own sight,

All young children to slay.

That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!

And ever mourn and sigh,

For thy parting neither say nor sing,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

This is Lucas Van Valckenborch's "Masscre of the Innocents, painted in around 1580 - about the same time as Coventry Carol was written.