Our Morning Offering – 2 February – The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin – Candlemas
O Gloriosa Virginum
By St Venantius Fortunatus (c530 – c609)
O Glorious Virgin, ever blest,
Sublime above the starry sky,
Who nurture from thy spotless breast
To thy Creator didst supply.
What we had lost through hapless Eve,
The Blossom sprung from these restores,
And, granting bliss to souls that grieve,
Unbars the everlasting doors.
O Gate, through which hath passed the King.
O Hall, whence Light shone through the gloom;
The ransomed nations, praise and sing
Life given from the Virgin womb.
All honour, laud and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.
Amen
O Gloriosa Domina is the second half of the Hymn: Quem Terra, Pontus, Aethera. It was composed by St Venantius Fortunatus (c530 – c609) the Bishop of Poitiers.
In 1632, in accordance with revisions made to the hymns of the Divine Office by Pope Urban VIII (1568-1644), it was altered and changed to O Gloriósa Vírginum.
It is sung in the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Roman Breviary.
It is said that St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) was always singing this Hymn. His mother sang it to him as a baby and even on his death bed, after receiving Extreme Unction, he intoned the Hymn.
AnaStpaul 