The Seventh Day of Christmas: "King Jesus Hath a Garden"

This is one of my favorite carols of all.   It makes it into the Christmas pantheon on account of the Bethlehem reference - and the joyous, celebratory melody and text - but it's more than a simple Christmas carol, too.  It was originally a Dutch traditional carol, Heer Jesus heeft een Hofken.



English words from this page:

1. King Jesus hath a garden, full of divers flowers,
Where I go culling posies gay, all times and hours.

Refrain:
There naught is heard but Paradise bird,
Harp, dulcimer, lute,
With cymbal, trump and tymbal,
And the tender, soothing flute.

2. The Lily, white in blossom there, is Chastity:
The Violet, with sweet perfume, [Humility]. Refrain

3. The bonny Damask-rose is known as Patience:
The blithe and thrifty Marygold, Obedience. Refrain

4. The Crown Imperial bloometh too in yonder place,
'Tis Charity, of stock divine, the flower of grace. Refrain

5. Yet, 'mid the brave, the bravest prize of all may claim
The Star of Bethlem-Jesus-bless'd be his Name! Refrain

6. Ah! Jesu Lord, my heal and weal, my bliss complete,
Make thou my heart thy garden-plot, fair, trim and neat. Refrain

The notes on that same page about the carol say this:

Traditional Dutch from Geestlijcke Harmonie, Emmerich, 1633
Translation by Rev. George R. Woodward (1848-1934)
Source: George Radcliffe Woodward, ed., Songs of Syon (London: Schott & Co., Third Edition, 1908), # 430

Quite nice for such a lovely, colorful hymn to speak about virtues (or "Fruits of the Spirit"), and in such a beautiful way.

Posting this for pure enjoyment for the time being, but I'm going to see if I can find out more about the text at some point, too.....

Chistmas Day Matins: Sancta et immaculata virginitas ("Holy and spotless Virgin")

Sancta et immaculata virginitas is the sixth responsory of Christmas Matins, but as CPDL notes, it is "frequently used for Marian feasts as well."  It's sung here by Ensemble Officium:



Here's the text in Latin and English, from Divinum Officium:

R. Sancta et immaculata virginitas, quibus te laudibus efferam nescio: * Quia quem coeli capere non poterant, tuo gremio contulisti. V. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui. R. Quia quem coeli capere non poterant, tuo gremio contulisti. V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, * et Spirítui Sancto. R. Quia quem coeli capere non poterant, tuo gremio contulisti.

R. O Mary, how holy and how spotless is thy virginity! I am too dull to praise thee! * For thou hast borne in thy breast Him Whom the heavens cannot contain. V. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. R. For thou hast borne in thy breast Him Whom the heavens cannot contain. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost. R. For thou hast borne in thy breast Him Whom the heavens cannot contain.

See it here, too, in the Bute translation-Winter edition of the Roman Breviary (1908).

And sure enough, you find the same text as the Responsory after the first reading of "Matins of the Virgin," at medirvalist.net's Hypertext Book of Hours.

Here's the chant score, from the Liber Usualis 1961:

This Responsory contains one of those rare extra-Biblical citations; I'm trying to find the origin of the notion that "The highest heavens cannot contain God whom you carried in your womb"; that is an old idea.  But I haven't been able to pin down the coiner of that phrase so far; will return to edit this when I do.  It's a quite beautiful thought, and one of the reasons I wanted to post on this chant today.

[EDIT:  This cite may belong to Augustine, who said in Sermon 184, on the Nativity:  “He who sustains the world lay in a manger, a wordless Child, yet the Word of God. Him whom the heavens do not contain the bosom of one woman bore.  She ruled our King; she carried Him in whom we exist; she fed our Bread.” And in fact, it's not totally extra-biblical anyway;  Auggie was clearly riffing on 1 Kings 8:27 (or its clone, 2 Chronicles 6:18):  "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you...." ]

Several other composers have set this text; here's Gabrieli's:




A blessed Christmas to all.

The Ascension Antiphon on the Magnificat: O Rex Gloriae

While working on my last post, "Vespers for the Feast of the Ascension: Hymnus: Salutis humanae Sator," I noticed something really fascinating.

Listen to this recording of the Ascension Antiphon on the Magnificat, O Rex Gloriae, and see what you notice:



Here's the chant score, from the Liber Usualis:

Does this remind you of anything?   It should.

Now listen to this recording of O Rex Gentium, the Great O Antiphon (that is, the Antiphon on the Magnificat) for December 22 (December 21 in Anglican reckoning):




Here's the chant score for that one:

There's no doubt about it; O Rex Gloriae is a deliberate echo - it even starts with a "Great O"!  - of the Great O Antiphons sung at Advent in the days leading up to Christmas.

Put another way:  the Great O's are sung at Christ's coming;and O Rex Gloriae is sung at Christ's going. 

I truly love discovering this kind of thing....

New York Polyphony: Nesciens mater (Byttering)

NYP offered this beautiful video in its socmed feeds today:



CPDL says the text is taken from a Christmastide antiphon:

Nesciens mater virgo virum
peperit sine dolore
salvatorem saeculorum.
Ipsum regem angelorum
sola virgo lactabat,
ubere de caelo pleno.
(some sources have ubera de coelo plena)

Knowing no man, the Virgin mother
bore, without pain,
the Saviour of the world.
Him, the king of angels,
only the Virgin suckled,
breasts filled by heaven. 

This is Byttering's Wikipedia entry:

Byttering (also Bytering, Bytteryng, or Biteryng; possible first name Thomas) (fl. c. 1400 – 1420) was an English composer during the transitional period from Medieval to Renaissance styles. Five of his compositions have survived, all of them in the Old Hall Manuscript.

A possible identification of Byttering with a Thomas Byteryng has been made. Byteryng was a canon at Hastings Castle between 1405 and 1408, and was a rector somewhere in London in 1414. There is no information on the composer in the Old Hall Manuscript other than that his surname is attached to several pieces. Those pieces stand out from many of the works in the manuscript by their relatively advanced stylistic traits.

Byttering's music includes three mass sections – two Glorias and a Credo – a motet based on Nesciens Mater, and a substantial three-voice, isorhythmic wedding motet, En Katerine solennia/Virginalis contio/Sponsus amat sponsum, his best-known work, which was almost certainly written for the wedding, on 2 June 1420, of King Henry V and Catherine of Valois.

The four-voice Gloria, No. 18 in the Old Hall MS, is one of the most complex canons of the early 15th century, and represents what was probably the extreme of stylistic differentiation between English and continental practice. Canons in continental sources are extremely rare, but there are seven in the Old Hall MS, and Byttering's is the only one with the standard arrangement of the same tune in all four voices.

The merciful salvation of Christmas

This Christmas I went only to the Christmas Day Eucharist; I love this service, and I'm just as happy, to be honest, to skip Midnight Mass.  One reason I love it is that you usually get the Prologue to the Gospel of John, which I adore hearing on Christmas - but this time they used the Christmas II readings instead, so we got Luke's Nativity.  (Fortunately, I did hear the Prologue at Lessons & Carols the following Sunday; it's "the Last Gospel," read by the rector, and the climax of all the previous lessons!   Which is always perfectly splendid.)

Anyway, I read this piece at Fleming Rutledge's Generous Orthodoxy on Christmas Eve.  Here's the last part of it (my bolding):

In his new book about the Gospel of John, [Bishop Spong] declares that the milieu of the Gospel is not Hellenistic, but Jewish--as if he had personally discovered what has been common knowledge in biblical scholarship for at least sixty years. What struck me especially, though, was his repetition of the same ideas that he has been pushing for decades (with some degree of success, much to the annoyance of those of us who wish we had his genius for marketing). He is out to exterminate "salvation theology" and "atonement theology." He does not believe the human race and the creation need to be saved from anything. I am only slightly exaggerating in saying that he thinks the traditional apostolic faith is dangerous for our self-esteem. No one ever sought esteem more ravenously than Bishop Spong; he is famous for it. One wag said that his career did not belong to the history of theological inquiry; it belonged, like the career of the Sitwells, to the "history of publicity." In that regard, Spong has done a very effective job. My friend reported that during her retreat at the SSJE, one of the visiting participants burst out with a diatribe against "atonement theology."

Can it be that anyone could think this world is not in need of saving? Last week I saw a photo of a Syrian man holding the body of his little son, killed in a bomb blast. The father was howling. Howling. Yesterday  the New York Times published a very impressive piece of investigative journalism about the abysmal and inhumane conditions in the garment factories of Bangladesh where--get this--the US government pays megamillions (billions probably) to have clothes made for the Park Service, the Marine Corps, the Capitol security guards....all this evil done in our name and for our benefit, on the backs of poor, voiceless people in a distant country about which we know and care little.

A friend who writes pretty good poetry sent me a poem yesterday. I can't find it right now in the flurry of boxes, cards, decorations, etc. but it was something like this: "Lord, I don't feel like a great sinner, a little person with my little doings...." I think a lot of people feel that way, and it prevents us from understanding the seriousness of  the larger human predicament. "Into such a world as this" the Son of God became incarnate.

Isaiah writes, "We have been in our sins a long time; and shall we be saved?" (64:5) The message of Christmas is that, in the words of aged Simeon, "mine eyes have seen thy salvation" (Luke 2:30). If that be "salvation history," make the most of it.

Reading this ahead of time made me pay attention to whatever "salvation" themes might appear during the course of the Christmas Day liturgy - and I was surprised to hear them everywhere!  Here's another example of the "peeling of the onion" of the liturgy; we hear something new - something more and something deeper - every year, thanks to the repetition of the readings and prayers.

The Collect:

O God, you make us glad by the yearly festival of the birth of your only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we, who joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, may with sure confidence behold him when he comes to be our Judge; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Isaiah 62:6-12 (which I don't actually remember ever hearing before!):

Upon your walls, O Jerusalem,
I have posted sentinels;
all day and all night
they shall never be silent.
You who remind the LORD,
take no rest,
and give him no rest
until he establishes Jerusalem
and makes it renowned throughout the earth.
The LORD has sworn by his right hand
and by his mighty arm:
I will not again give your grain
to be food for your enemies,
and foreigners shall not drink the wine
for which you have labored;
but those who garner it shall eat it
and praise the LORD,
and those who gather it shall drink it
in my holy courts.
Go through, go through the gates,
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway,
clear it of stones,
lift up an ensign over the peoples.
The LORD has proclaimed
to the end of the earth:
Say to daughter Zion,
"See, your salvation comes;
his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him."
They shall be called, "The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the LORD";
and you shall be called, "Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken."

And especially, Titus 3:4-7, which is absolutely and perfectly to the point (although again I really dislike the thing about being "justified by grace"; that is just not, for me, what's happening at all):

When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

In was in the hymns, too:

The holly bears a blossom as white as lily flower,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to be our sweet saviour
Refrain
The holly bears a berry as red as any blood,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ to do poor sinners good.
Refrain
The holly bears a prickle as sharp as any thorn,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ on Christmas Day in the morn.
Refrain
The holly bears a bark as bitter as any gall,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ for to redeem us all.
Refrain

The first three verses of "I Saw Three Ships" are these:

1. I saw three ships come sailing in,
    On Christmas day, on Christmas day,
I saw three ships come sailing in,
    On Christmas day in the morning.

2. And what was in those ships all three?
    On Christmas day, on Christmas day,
And what was in those ships all three?
    On Christmas day in the morning.

3. Our Saviour Christ and his lady
    On Christmas day, on Christmas day,
Our Saviour Christ and his lady,
    On Christmas day in the morning.

As noted here, the final verse of Personent Hodie in English is this:

On this day angels sing;
with their song earth shall ring,
praising Christ, heaven's King,
born on earth to save us;
peace and love he gave us.
Refrain

Rutledge wrote a followup to the original piece, which I read later:

Apropos of Advent and Christmas, I received an email from the curate at our church, Dane Boston, today:

Christmas becomes such a soggy, saccharine, sentimental mess if it is not accompanied with a serious, sober look at ourselves and our world.

I've been thinking lately about the first line of Dickens's A Christmas Carol, of all things: "Marley was dead: to begin with...This  must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate." Gently tweaked, I think that's the preface to the Christmas Gospel: "We were dead: to begin with." Only when we've got that down does the wonderful story of Life incarnate coming to our world of death have any real meaning.

Isn't that wonderful? (See Ephesians 2:4-5).

It's just remarkable, I think, that a person can feel a piercing great joy and a perfect kind of ecstasy - at the very same time she's taking this "sober, serious look at ourselves and the world."  One can rejoice greatly for all the world - even as one knows the world is not nearly what it should be, and is sorrowing with those who sorrow.

I'm not as big on Reformation theology as somebody like Rutledge is; I'm an Incarnation girl, myself, and prefer the merciful salvation of Christmas to any other understanding of atonement.

One reason I feel evangelical these days, in fact, is because of my continuing hope that this great joy can overcome that great sorrow - just as the light overcame the darkness.

Lastly, I want to just leave, without comment the beautiful Bidding Prayer from Lessons & Carols, penned in 1918 by Eric Milner-White, a brilliant Anglican writer of prayers and collects (more on it, and him, later):

Beloved in Christ, in this Christmastide, let it be our care and delight to hear again the message of the Angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, and the Babe lying in the manger.

Let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious Redemption brought us by this holy Child; and let us make this place glad with our carols of praise.

But first, let us pray for the needs of his whole world; for peace and goodwill over all the earth; for the mission and unity of the Church for which he died, and especially in this country and within this city.

And because this of all things would rejoice his heart, let us at this time remember in his name the poor and the helpless; the hungry and the oppressed; the sick and those who mourn; the lonely and the unloved; the aged and the little children; and all those who know not the Lord Jesus, or who love him not, or who by sin have grieved his heart of love.

Lastly, let us remember before God his pure and lowly Mother, and all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore and in a greater light, that multitude which no one can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom, in this Lord Jesus, we for evermore are one.

These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the throne of heaven, in the words which Christ himself hath taught us:

Our Father...

(Can I just point out that many people from other traditions churches say they are envious of the beauty of Anglican liturgy?  We would all do well to appreciate it more deeply ourselves, I do believe....)

"A Renaissance Christmas"

There are some really wonderful songs here, along with readings from Scripture, via Boston Camerata circa 1991.  You can get the CD  here:  http://www.amazon.com/A-Renaissance-Christmas-Boston-Camerata/dp/B000005IXX; only 1eft in stock as I write!



Here's the track list:

1. Nowell: Dieus Vous Garde
2. Gaudete, Gaudete
3. Reading: Luke I, 18 - 22
4. Ecce ancilla Domini: Kyrie Eleison
5. E La Don Don
6. Two Fantasies on 'Une Jeune Fillette'
7. Une Jeune Fillette - Joseph est bien marie
8. Joseph, lieber Joseph mein
9. Joseph Is Well Married: Magnificat Quinti Toni
10. Esprits divins
11. Reading: Luke II, 17 - 19
12. Es is ein Ros enstprungen
13. Riu, riu, chiu
14. Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstern
15. Reading: Luke III, 4 - 12
16. O vos omnes
17. Reading: Luke II, 20 - 21
18. Ungaresca
19. Nouvelles, nouvelles
20. Tau garco, la durundena
21. Tura lura lura, lo gau canta
22. Reading: Luke II, 3 - 8
23. O magnum mysterium
24. Singet un klinget, ihr kinderlein
25. Bransle de Poictou / La bona novella

Many of these songs are completely new to me; that gives me something to research during long winter nights ahead.....

Carols from King's College Cambridge (2013)

Personent Hodie: On this day, earth shall ring

We had Personent Hodie  today at the very beautiful Christmas Day Eucharist.  It's another song from the 1582 Piae Cantiones; the melody is 14th Century.   The Latin words date from the 12th Century; the German ones from the 14th.  Sung here by the King's College Choir:

 

Here are the Latin words, with an English translation by Jane M. Joseph below; I'm not sure if these are the words in the 1982 hymnal, though.  Will check sometime.

Personent hodie
voces puerulae,
laudantes iucunde
qui nobis est natus,
summo Deo datus,
et de virgineo ventre procreatus.

In mundo nascitur,
pannis involvitur
praesepi ponitur
stabulo brutorum,
rector supernorum.
perdidit spolia princeps infernorum.

Magi tres venerunt,
parvulum inquirunt,
Bethlehem adeunt,
stellulam sequendo,
ipsum adorando,
aurum, thus, et myrrham ei offerendo.

Omnes clericuli,
pariter pueri,
cantent ut angeli:
advenisti mundo,
laudes tibi fundo.
ideo gloria in excelsis Deo.


On this day earth shall ring
with the song children sing
to the Lord, Christ our King,
born on earth to save us;
him the Father gave us.
Refrain
Id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o-o-o,
Id-e-o gloria in excelsis Deo!

His the doom, ours the mirth;
when he came down to earth,
Bethlehem saw his birth;
ox and ass beside him
from the cold would hide him.
Refrain

God's bright star, o'er his head,
Wise Men three to him led;
kneel they low by his bed,
lay their gifts before him,
praise him and adore him.
Refrain

On this day angels sing;
with their song earth shall ring,
praising Christ, heaven's King,
born on earth to save us;
peace and love he gave us.
Refrain

Here is part of Wikipedia's entry for Personent hodie:

"Personent hodie" is a Christmas carol originally published in the 1582Finnish song book Piae Cantiones, a volume of 74 Medieval songs with Latin texts collected by Jaakko Suomalainen, a Swedish Lutheran cleric, and published by T.P. Rutha.^[1] The song book had its origins in the libraries of cathedral song schools, whose repertory had strong links with medieval Prague, where clerical students from Finland and Sweden had studied for generations.^[2] A melody found in a 1360 manuscript from the nearby Bavarian city of Moosburg in Germany is highly similar, and it is from this manuscript that the song is usually dated.^[3][4]

Textual origins

The Latin text is probably a musical parody of an earlier 12th century song beginning "intonent hodie voces ecclesie", written in honour ofSaint Nicholas, the patron saint of Russia, sailors and children – to whom he traditionally brings gifts on his feast day, 6 December.^[2] Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott note that two of the verses have an unusual double repeat ('Submersum, -sum, -sum puerum'; 'Reddens vir-, vir-, vir- ginibus'). In 'intonent hodie', these were used to illustrate the three boys and three girls saved by St Nicholas from drowning and prostitution, respectively.^[2] The text was probably re-written for the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 December) when choristers and their "boy bishop" traditionally displaced the senior clergy from the choir stalls.^[3] The carol is still often associated with Holy Innocents' Day.^[1]

Songs from Piae Cantiones continued to be performed in Finland until the 19th century.^[5] The book became well known in Britain after a rare copy of Piae Cantiones owned by Peter of Nyland was given as a gift to the British Minister in Stockholm. He subsequently gave it to John Mason Neale in 1852, and it was from this copy that Neale, in collaboration with Thomas Helmore published songs in two collections in 1853 and 1854 respectively.^[5]

Translations

The most common English translation of the text is by "James M. Joseph", a pseudonym of the composer Jane M. Joseph (1894–1929). She translates the title as "On this day earth shall ring", although there are several other English translations.^[2] Other versions include Elizabeth Poston's 1965 "Boys' Carol", which translates the first line of the text as "Let the boys' cheerful noise/Sing today none but joys" and John Mason Neale's "Let The Song be Begun", which uses the melody but not the text of the carol.^[6][7] Aidan Oliver's non-verse translation renders the text as "Today let the voices of children resound in joyful praise of Him who is born for us."^[8]

And his image is from the same page; it's the first page of Personent hodie in the original Piae Cantiones:

Christmas Day: Divinum mysterium

Here's the beautiful hymn "Of the Father's Love Begotten," sung to the melody Divinum mysterium.  This hymn first appeared in this form in the Piae Cantiones, a collection of hymns and songs from the late medieval period and published in 1582.  Piae Cantiones was compiled by Finnish clergyman Jaakko Suomalainen; it contains several other well-known hymns, including the Christmas carol, Gaudete (video of that one here).

This melody comes, I believe, from the 11th Century.  Here it's sung by the Choir of Christ Church Episcopal New Haven, CT, in an unusual and quite beautiful arrangement:



This is a translation by Roby Furley Davis (used in the 1906 English hymnal) from the original Latin of the Aurelius Prudentius poem Corde natus ex Parentis ("Of the Father's Heart Begotten"):

1. Of the Father’s heart begotten
    Ere the world from chaos rose,
He is Alpha: from that Fountain,
    All that is and hath been flows;
He is Omega, of all things
    Yet to come the mystic Close,
        Evermore and evermore.

2. By his word was all created;
    He commanded and ’twas done;
Earth and sky and boundless ocean,
    Universe of three in one,
All that sees the moon’s soft radiance,
    All that breathes beneath the sun,
        Evermore and evermore.

3. He assumed this mortal body,
    Frail and feeble, doomed to die,
That the race from dust created
    Might not perish utterly,
Which the dreadful Law had sentenced
    In the depths of hell to lie,
        Evermore and evermore.

4. O how blest that wondrous birthday,
    When the Maid the curse retrieved,
Brought to birth mankind’s salvation,
    By the Holy Ghost conceived,
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
    In her loving arms received,
        Evermore and evermore.

5. This is he, whom seer and sybil
    Sang in ages long gone by;
This is he of old revealed
    In the page of prophecy;
Lo! he comes, the promised Saviour;
    Let the world his praises cry!
        Evermore and evermore.

6. Sing, ye heights of heaven, his praises;
    Angels and Archangels, sing!
Wheresoe’er ye be, ye faithful,
    Let your joyous anthems ring,
Every tongue his name confessing,
    Countless voices answering,
        Evermore and evermore.

7. Hail! thou Judge of souls departed;
    Hail! of all the living King!
On the Father's right hand throned,
    Through his courts thy praises ring,
Till at lest for all offences
    Righteous judgement thou shalt bring,
        Evermore and evermore.

At the entrance into the Choir
8. Now let old and young uniting
    Chant to thee harmonious lays
Maid and matron hymn thy glory,
    Infant lips their anthem raise,
Boys and girls together singing
    With pure heart their song of praise,
        Evermore and evermore.

9. Let the storm and summer sunshine,
    Gliding stream and sounding shore,
Sea and forest, frost and zephyr,
    Day and night their Lord alone;
Let creation join to laud thee
    Through the ages evermore,
        Evermore and evermore. Amen.

Here are the original Latin words, along with J.M. Neale's earlier English translation:

Corde natus ex parentis
Ante mundi exordium
A et O cognominatus,
ipse fons et clausula
Omnium quae sunt, fuerunt,
quaeque post futura sunt.
Saeculorum saeculis.
   
Ipse iussit et creata,
dixit ipse et facta sunt,
Terra, caelum, fossa ponti,
trina rerum machina,
Quaeque in his vigent sub alto
solis et lunae globo.
Saeculorum saeculis.

Corporis formam caduci,
membra morti obnoxia
Induit, ne gens periret
primoplasti ex germine,
Merserat quem lex profundo
noxialis tartaro.
Saeculorum saeculis.
   
O beatus ortus ille,
virgo cum puerpera
Edidit nostram salutem,
feta Sancto Spiritu,
Et puer redemptor orbis
os sacratum protulit.
Saeculorum saeculis.
   
Psallat altitudo caeli,
psallite omnes angeli,
Quidquid est virtutis usquam
psallat in laudem Dei,
Nulla linguarum silescat,
vox et omnis consonet.
Saeculorum saeculis.
   
Ecce, quem vates vetustis
concinebant saeculis,
Quem prophetarum fideles
paginae spoponderant,
Emicat promissus olim;
cuncta conlaudent eum.
Saeculorum saeculis.
   
Macte iudex mortuorum,
macte rex viventium,
Dexter in Parentis arce
qui cluis virtutibus,
Omnium venturus inde
iustus ultor criminum.
Saeculorum saeculis.
   
Te senes et te iuventus,
parvulorum te chorus,
Turba matrum, virginumque,
simplices puellulae,
Voce concordes pudicis
perstrepant concentibus.
Saeculorum saeculis.

Tibi, Christe, sit cum Patre
hagioque Pneumate
Hymnus, decus, laus perennis,
gratiarum actio,
Honor, virtus, victoria,
regnum aeternaliter.
Saeculorum saeculis.

Of the Father’s love begotten,
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!

At His Word the worlds were framèd;
He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean
In their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun,
Evermore and evermore!

He is found in human fashion,
Death and sorrow here to know,
That the race of Adam’s children
Doomed by law to endless woe,
May not henceforth die and perish
In the dreadful gulf below,
Evermore and evermore!

O that birth forever blessèd,
When the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bare the Saviour of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face,
evermore and evermore!

O ye heights of heaven adore Him;
Angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him,
and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing,
Evermore and evermore!

This is He Whom seers in old time
Chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets
Promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord,
Evermore and evermore!

Righteous judge of souls departed,
Righteous King of them that live,
On the Father’s throne exalted
None in might with Thee may strive;
Who at last in vengeance coming
Sinners from Thy face shalt drive,
Evermore and evermore!

Thee let old men, thee let young men,
Thee let boys in chorus sing;
Matrons, virgins, little maidens,
With glad voices answering:
Let their guileless songs re-echo,
And the heart its music bring,
Evermore and evermore!

Christ, to Thee with God the Father,
And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant with high thanksgiving,
And unwearied praises be:
Honour, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory,
Evermore and evermore!

(Divinum Mysterium was used as the Compline hymn at York for Christmastide - but that hymn used a different melody:

I have no recording of this tune, though.)

Here's another version, sung at the "Concordia Theological Seminary Fort Wayne Kantorei. Recorded in Kramer Chapel on the campus of CTS, Ft. Wayne."  The words they're using are closer to Neale's translation above, but not exactly the same.



Here's more about the hymn from the Wikipedia page linked above:

Of the Father's Heart Begotten alternatively known as Of the Father's Love Begotten is a Christmas carol based on the Latin poem Corde natus by the Roman poet Aurelius Prudentius, from his Liber Cathemerinon (hymn no. IX) beginning "Da puer plectrum," which includes the Latin stanzas listed below.^[1]

The ancient poem was translated and paired with a medieval plainchant melody Divinum mysterium. Divinum mysterium was a "Sanctus trope" - an ancient plainchant melody which over the years had been musically embellished.^[2] An early version of this chant appears in manuscript form as early as the 10th century, although without the melodic additions, and "trope" versions with various melodic differences appear in Italian, German, Gallacian, Bohemian and Spanish manuscripts dating from the 13th to 16th centuries.^[2]

Divinum mysterium first appears in print in 1582 in the Finnish song book Piae Cantiones, a collection of seventy-four sacred and secular church and school songs of medieval Europe compiled by Jaakko Suomalainen and published by Theodoric Petri.^[3] In this collection, Divinum mysterium was classified as "De Eucharistia" reflecting its original use for the Mass.^[4]

The text of the Divinum mysterium was substituted for Prudentius's poem when it was published by Thomas Helmore in 1851. In making this fusion, the original meter of the chant was disturbed, changing the original triple meter rhythm into a duple meter and therefore altering stresses and note lengths. A later version by Charles Winfred Douglas corrected this using an "equalist" method of transcription, although the hymn is now found in both versions as well as a more dance-like interpretation of the original melody.^[2]

Merry Christmas!

Veni Redemptor gentium (Andrew Smith / New York Polyphony)

Wow.  Here's New York Polyphony singing Andrew Smith's gorgeous setting of this Advent/Christmas office hymn.  Stunning, as always.



The lyrics here alternate, Latin then English - but here are all the original Latin words:

VENI, redemptor gentium, ostende partum Virginis; miretur omne saeculum: talis decet partus Deum.
Non ex virili semine, sed mystico spiramine Verbum Dei factum est caro fructusque ventris floruit.
Alvus tumescit Virginis, claustrum pudoris permanet, vexilla virtutum micant, versatur in templo Deus.
Procedat e thalamo suo, pudoris aula regia, geminae gigas substantiae alacris ut currat viam.
Aequalis aeterno Patri, carnis tropaeo cingere, infirma nostri corporis virtute firmans perpeti.
Praesepe iam fulget tuum lumenque nox spirat novum, quod nulla nox interpolet fideque iugi luceat.
Sit, Christe, rex piissime, tibi Patrique gloria cum Spiritu Paraclito, in sempiterna saecula. Amen.

---

From the YouTube page:

Veni Redemptor gentium - Andrew Smith (b. 1970)
Performed by New York Polyphony
Images from Robert Greene's "Snow Study/Weather Control"
© 2010 Prewar Cinema http://www.prewarcinema.com

This track is featured on the Avie Records release 'I sing the birth' Ⓟ & ©

New York Polyphony Available on:

Amazon - http://amzn.to/1g9qrdI
iTunes - http://bit.ly/18zVf5O
and most other online music retailers

For more information, please visit:

http://www.newyorkpolyphony.com
http://www.facebook.com/newyorkpolyphony

"Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day"

This is labeled "Lessons and Carols from St George's Cathedral, Perth Western Australia 2009."   I've really fallen in love with this song and its earthy mysticism;  it seems often to be sung at the Christmas Eve service, which emphasizes the "tomorrow" aspect.  Thought I'd post it now, before the Christmas/Epiphany season officially ends on Saturday with Candelmas.



Wikipedia provides a full set of words here; there's one rather typical-for-the-time, scolding anti-Judaic (if not anti-Semitic) verse among them.  The first four verses - below - are the ones used here, in John Gardner's arrangement of this folk tune.

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day;
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
To call my true love to my dance;

Chorus:

Sing, oh! my love, oh! my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.

Then was I born of a virgin pure,
Of her I took fleshly substance
Thus was I knit to man's nature
To call my true love to my dance.

Chorus

In a manger laid, and wrapped I was
So very poor, this was my chance
Betwixt an ox and a silly poor ass
To call my true love to my dance.

Chorus

Then afterwards baptized I was;
The Holy Ghost on me did glance,
My Father’s voice heard I from above,
To call my true love to my dance.

Chorus

Here's more from the Wikipedia entry:

Tomorrow shall be my dancing day is an English carol usually attributed as 'traditional'; its first written appearance is in William B. Sandys' Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern of 1833. It is most well known in John Gardner's adaptation, but numerous other composers have made original settings of it or arranged the traditional tune, including Gustav Holst, Igor Stravinsky, David Willcocks, John Rutter, Ronald Corp, Philip Stopford, and Andrew Carter.

The verses of the hymn progress through the story of Jesus told in his own voice. An innovative feature of the telling is that Jesus' life is repeatedly characterized as a dance. This device was later used in the modern hymn "Lord of the Dance".

 ....

Thomas Cahill in his book Mysteries of the Middle Ages (Doubleday, 2006) presents this song as an English carol in which Christ speaks of his incarnation, his "dancing day." Cahill writes that the carol can be found on extant broadsides, which makes it certainly as old as early printing, still impossible to date. He goes on to suggest that the phrase "the legend of my play" appears to be an allusion to a mystery play, and that the song might well have been sung at the beginning of one of those dramas. That, he writes, would place it in the later Middle Ages, perhaps the fourteenth century.

The King's College Choir sings it, too.



I really do love this tune and this arrangement! 

This seems to be the original melody;  Hymns and Carols of Christmas says this is sheet music from an 1833 book.

So it seems this Willcocks arrangement of the carol - not nearly as wonderful, to me - is based on the original tune:

Laetabundus: The Sequence Hymn for Christmas and Candlemas

Here sung very well by "I Cantori Gregoriani - dirige il Maestro Fulvio Rampi - Cremona Chiesa di Sant'Abbondio."



This Sequence is also used at Second Vespers in the Sarum Office for Candlemas (although not in Septuagesima, which is in fact where we are this year!). This page says that "The Sequence Laetabundus, for the mass of Christmas, is not found in the Tridentine Roman Missal. It was found in all the Gallican Missals, including those of France, and the English Sarum Usage; and is also in the Dominican and Carmelite Missals."

Here's the score, from Hymn Melodies for the whole year from the Sarum service-books:





These seem to be the Latin words; the source quotes Dom Gueranger's The Liturgical Year:   "... a sequence, which is to be found in all the Roman-French missals.  For a long time, it was thought to have been written by St. Bernard: but, we have seen it in a Manuscript of the 11th century, and, consequently, it must have been written earlier than the date usually assigned to it."

Laetabundus
exsultet fidelis chorus.
Alleluia.

Regem regum
intactae profudit thorus:
res mirranda.

Angelus consilii
natus est de virgine:
sol de stella.

Sol occasum nesciens,
stella semper rutilans,
semper clara.

Sicut sidus radium,
profert Virgo Filium,
pari forma.

Neque sidus radio,
neque mater filio,
fit corrupta.

Cedrus alta Libani
conformatur hyssopo,
valle nostra;

Verbum ens Altissimi
corporari passum est,
carne sumpta.

Isaias cecinit,
Synagoga meminit,
numquam tamen desinit
esse caeca.

Si non suis vatibus,
credat vel gentilibus;
Sibyllinis versibus
haec praedicta.

Infelix, propera,
crede vel vetera:
cur damnaberis,
gens misera?

Quem docet littera,
natum considera:
ipsum genuit puerpera.
Alleluia.

This Sequence contains some language that's a bit discomforting:  "Though Esais had forshown, though the synagogue had known; yet the truth she will not own; blind remaining.  If her prophets speak in vain, let her heed a Gentile strain; and from mystic Sybil gain; light in darkness."  This doesn't seem angry or accusing, merely hopeful that things will change - in the way Paul writes about the same topic in Romans.  In fact, the text seems to refer directly to Romans 9-11, and to Paul's references to Isaiah - and his stated desire to "make my fellow Jews jealous," per this section of Romans 11:

11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,[h] a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that would not see
    and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”

9 And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
    and bend their backs forever.”

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion[i] mean!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Still, it's a bit disconcerting, given what's happened in history, to see this in the middle of a beautiful Sequence hymn!  Perhaps it's good to have it there, though - as a stark reminder of how damaging misinterpretations of the Bible - and bad religion -can be and have been.  "Penitence" applies to the church, too.

You can listen to the mass chants for Candlemas - including what looks like four antiphons used in the opening procession - at the Brazilian Benedictines' site.  I will certainly work on some posts about these in the future.

Candlemas/Presentation is a celebration of the events recounted in Luke 2:22-40; as you can see in the citation below, the Nunc Dimittis, the famous Evensong/Compline canticle (the first line of which in English is "Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace"), comes from this story.

22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant[d] depart in peace,
    according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31     that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.[e] She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

Simeon and Anna are often said to represent "the Law and the Prophets" (as, later at Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah would) - and Jesus as the fulfillment of them.

Rembrandt did at least three paintings of Simeon - and sometimes Anna - in the Temple.   This one is from 1627 or 1628:

This one - called "Simeon's song of praise" -  was painted in 1631:

And this - my favorite - was done in 1669:

Meanwhile, here's a bit about the Cremona Church of Sant'Abbondio, from Visual Italy, the place where the video above was recorded:

The Church of Sant’Abbondio in Cremona was built with the purpose of reconstructing a previous chapel by the religious order of the Humiliated, which came after the Benedictines in 1288. In the 15th and 16th centuries the ceiling wooden framework was replaced by a masonry vault and the single nave was restricted, so as to leave space to a series of side chapels embellished by beautiful stucco statues. Worth mentioning is the remarkable cycle of frescoes by Giulio Campi, Orazio Sammachini and the Malosso, with the Glories of the Virgin Mary. The Romanesque bell tower with terracotta conic covering stands out magnificently outside. The bell tower has pairs of walled ogival windows on each side and a triple-lanced window for the belfry. In 1624, following the will of Count Conte Giovanni Pietro Ala, a perfect copy of the Holy House of Loreto, containing a worshipped statue of the Black Madonna inside, was built inside the Church. The Lauretano Museum on the upper floor of the old apartment of the prior of the Humiliated displays memories and evidence of the devotion of Loreto, which is related to the Holy House, as well as of the events of the history of the Church of St. Abbondio. Worth mentioning is the annexed cloister in Bramante style, with terracotta decorations and elegant duotone effects.

Here's an image of the cloisters at the church, from cremonaitaly.org; beautiful:

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.

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.)