Sunday, April 16, 2017

Crux Fidelis | Faithful Cross | The Glory of the Cross


Crux fidelis, inter omnes 
Arbor una nobilis!
Nulla silva talem profert, 
Fronde, flore, germine,
Dulce lignum, dulces clavos,
Dulce pondus sustinet.
Faithful Cross! above all other,
One and only noble Tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom, 
None in fruit thy peer may be; 
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron,
Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
1 Pange, lingua, gloriosi,
Lauream certaminis,
Et super Crucis trophaeo
Dic triumphum nobilem:
Qualiter Redemptor orbis
Immolatus vicerit.
Crux fidelis … 
1 Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle!
With completed victory rife!
And above the Cross’s trophy
Tell the triumph of the strife:
How the world’s Redeemer conquer’d
By the offering of His life.
Faithful Cross ...
2 De parentis protoplasti
Fraude Factor condolens,
Quando pomi noxialis
In necem morsu ruit:
Ipse lignum tunc notavit.
Damna ligni ut solveret.
Dulce lignum ...
2 God, his Maker, sorely grieving, 
That the first-made Adam fell,
When he ate the fruit of sorrow,
Whose reward was death and hell, 
Noted then this Wood the ruin,
Of the ancient wood to quell. 
Sweetest wood ...
3 Hoc opus nostrae salutes 
Ordo depoposcerat:
Multiformis proditoris
Ars ut artem falleret: 
Et medelam ferret inde,
Hostis unde laeserat. 
Crux fidelis ...
3 For this work of our salvation
Needs must have its order so,
And the manifold deceiver’s 
Art by art would overthrow,
And from thence would bring the healing,
Whence the insult of the foe. 
Faithful Cross ...
4 Quando venit ergo sacri
Plenitudo temporis, 
Missus est ab arce Patria
Natus orbis Conditor: 
Atque ventre virginali 
Carne amicus prodiit. 
Dulce lignum ...
4 Wherefore then the appointed fullness
Of the holy time was come, 
He was sent who taketh all things
From th’ eternal Father’s home,
And proceeded, God Incarnate, 
Offspring of the Virgin’s womb. 
Sweetest wood … 
5 Vagit infans inter arcta 
Conditus praesepia:
Membra pannis involuta
Virgo Mater alligat:
Et Dei manus pedesque
Stricta confit fascia.
Crux fidelis ...
5 Weeps the Infant in the manger
That in Bethlehem’s stable stands:
And His Limbs the Virgin Mother 
Doth compose in swaddling bands,
Meetly thus in linen folding 
Of her God the feet and hands.
Faithful Cross … 
6 Lustra sex qui jam peregit, 
Tempus implens corporis, 
Sponte libera Redemptor
Passioni deditus, 
Agnus in Crucis levatur
Immolandus stipite.
Dulce lignum ...
6 Thirty years among us dwelling, 
His appointed time fulfilled,
Born for this, He meets His Passion, 
For that this He freely willed: 
On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,
Where His life-blood shall be spilled. 
Sweetest wood … 
7 Felle potus ecce languet: 
Spina, clavi, lancea,
Mite corpus perforarunt,
Unda manat, et cruor:
Terra, pontus, astra, mounds
Quo lavantur flumine!
Crux fidelis ...
7 He endured the nails, the spitting, 
Vinegar, and spear, and reed; 
From that holy Body broken
Blood and water forth proceed:
Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean,
By that flood from stain are freed.
Faithful Cross ...
8 Flecte ramos, arbor alta,
Tensa lax viscera, 
Et rigor lentescat ille,
Quem dedit nativitas:
Et superni membra Regis
Tende miti stipite. 
Dulce lignum ...
8 Bend thy boughs, O Tree of glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigour, 
That thy birth bestowed, suspend:
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend!
Sweetest wood ...
9 Sola digna tu fuisti
Ferre mundi victimam: 
Atque portam praeparare 
Arca mundo naufrago:
Quam sacer cruor perunxit, 
Fusus Agni corpore.
Crux fidelis ...
9 Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world’s ransom to uphold;
For a shipwrecked race preparing 
Harbour, like the Ark of old;
With the sacred Blood anointed 
From the smitten Lamb that rolled.
Faithful Cross ...
10 Sempiterna sit beatae
Trinitate gloria:
Aequa Patri, Filioque;
Par decus Paraclito:
Unius Trinique nomen
Laudet universitas. Amen. 
Dulce lignum ...
10 To the Trinity be glory
Everlasting, as is meet: 
Equal to the Father, equal To the Son, 
and Paraclete: 
Trinal Unity, Whose praises 
All created things repeat. Amen. 
Sweetest wood ...

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