Our Morning Offering – 6 January – The Epiphany of the Lord
Crudelis Herodes, Deum Regem
Hymn for The Epiphany
By Coelius Sedulius (Died c 450)
Poet
Unknown translator
Why impious Herod, vainly fear
That Christ the Saviour cometh here?
He takes no earthly realms away
Who gives the crown that lasts for aye.
To greet His birth, the Wise Men went,
Led by the star before them sent;
Called on by light, towards Light they pressed,
And by their gifts their God confessed.
In holy Jordan’s purest wave
The heavenly Lamb vouchsafed to lave;
That He, to whom was sin unknown,
Might cleanse His people from their own.
New miracle of power divine!
The water reddens into wine:
He spake the word and poured the wave
In other streams than nature gave.
All glory, Lord, to Thee we pay
For Thine Epiphany today.
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.
Coelius Sedulius (Died c 450), recounting Christ’s life from His Birth to His Resurrection.
Its 23 stanzas each begin with a consecutive letter of the Latin alphabet, making the poem an abecedarius.
It is one of the oldest parts of the Roman Catholic liturgy, with two Hymns formed from the first seven and four later verses.
There have been monastic translations into English and later translations into many other languages.
AnaStpaul 