Category: BREVIARY Prayers

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PAPAL PRAYERS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 12 March – Lucis Creator Optime, O Blest Creator of the Light By St Gregory the Great

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Our Morning Offering – 12 March – The Third Sunday in Lent and the Memorial of St Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) – Father & Doctor

Lucis Creator Optime
O Blest Creator of the Light
By St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Pope, Father & Doctor
“Father of the Fathers”

O blest Creator of the light,
Who mak’st the day with radiance bright,
And o’er the forming world did’st call
The Light from Chaos First of all.

Whose wisdom join’d in meet array
The morn and eve and nam’d them day;
Night comes with all its darkling fears;
Regard Thy people’s pray’rs and tears.

Lest, sunk in sin and whelm’d with strife,
They lose the gift of endless life;
While thinking but the thoughts of time,
They weave new chains of woe and crime.

But grant them grace that they may strain
The heav’nly gate and prize to gain;
Each harmful lure, aside to cast,
And purge away each error past.

O Father, that we ask be done,
Through Jesus Christ, Thine only Son;
Who, with the Holy Ghost and Thee,
Shall live and reign eternally.
Amen

This hymn is used for Vespers (II) on Sundays throughout the year in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Breviary.
Trans John M Neale (1818-1866), 1851.
Tune: “Lucis Creator Optime” Gregorian Chant, Mode VIII, traditional.

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Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, BREVIARY Prayers, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, LENT 2023, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY

Our Morning Offering – 28 February – Thou Hope of All the World and Lord

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Our Morning Offering – 28 February – Tuesday of the First Week in Lent and the last day of “The Month of the Blessed Trinitys”

Thou Hope of All the World and Lord
Attri to St Boniface (672-754)
Sarum Rite Breviary
Transl. Fr Alan G McDougall (1895-1964)

Thou Hope of all the world and Lord,
Bestower of the great reward,
Receive the prayers Thou servants raise;
Accept our psalms and hymns of praise.

And though our consciences doth proclaim
Our deep transgressions and our shame,
Cleanse us, O God, we humbly plead,
From sins of thought and word and deed.

Our sins remember Thou no more,
Forgive – Thy mercy can restore;
So, take upon Thee, Lord our care,
That, pure in heart, we make our prayer.

Therefore, accept, O Lord, this tide,
Of fast which Thou have sanctified,
That we, may reach by mystic ways
The Sacraments of Paschal days.

May He, Who is the Threefold Lord,
On us confer this high reward,
In Whom so long as worlds abide,
One Only God, is glorified.
Amen

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, LENT, LENT 2022, Our MORNING Offering, PAPAL PRAYERS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on FASTING

Our Morning Offering – 26 February – Ex More Docti Mystico, The Fast, As Taught by Holy Lore

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Our Morning Offering – 26 February – The First Sunday of Lent

Ex More Docti Mystico
The Fast, As Taught by Holy Lore
By St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Pope, Father, Doctor of the Church
Trans. John Mason Neale

The fast, as taught by holy lore,
We keep in solemn course once more.
The fast to all men known and bound
In forty days of yearly round.

The law and seers that were of old
In divers ways this Lent foretold,
Which Christ, all seasons’ King and Guide,
In after ages sanctified.

More sparing, therefore, let us make
The words we speak, the good we take,
Our sleep and mirth – and closer barred
Be every sense in holy guard.

Avoid the evil thoughts that roll
Like water o’er the heedless soul;
Nor let the foe occasion find
Our souls in slavery to bind.

In prayer together let us fall,
And cry for mercy, one and all,
And weep before the Judge’s Feet,
And His avenging wrath entreat.

The grace have we offended sore,
By sins, O God, which we deplore;
But pour upon us, from on high,
O pardoning One, Thy clemency.

Remember Thou, though frail we be,
That yet Thine handiwork are we;
Nor let the honour of Thy Name
Be by another put to shame.

Forgive the sin that we have wrought;
Increase the good that we have sought
That we at length, our wanderings o’er,
May please Thee here and evermore.

Grant, O Thou Blessed Trinity,
Grant, O Essential Unity,
That this our fast of forty days
May work our profit and Thy praise.

There are twelve translations of this lovely Lenten Hymn.
This one by L M Neale
Liturgical Use: Matins Hymn on Sundays
and week-days during Lent.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, LENT, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 22 February – The Glory of These Forty Day

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Our Morning Offering – 22 February – Ash Wednesday

The Glory of These Forty Days
By St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Pope, Father and Doctor of the Church

The glory of these forty days
we celebrate with songs of praise,
for Christ, by Whom all things were made,
Himself has fasted and has prayed.

Alone and fasting Moses saw
the loving God Who gave the law.
And to Elijah, fasting, came
the steed and chariots of flame.

So Daniel trained his mystic sight,
delivered from the lion’s might.
And John, the Saviour’s friend, became
the herald of Messiah’s Name.

Then grant, O God, that we may, too,
return in fast and prayer to Thee.
Our spirits strengthen with Thy grace
and give us joy to see Thine Face.

( Translator: Maurice F Bell 1862-1947)

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, MARIAN HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, SAINT of the DAY, St PAUL!, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 6 February – O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith

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Our Morning Offering – 6 February – St Titus (Died c96) Bishop, Confessor

O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith

O Fathers of our ancient faith,
With all the heav’n, we sing your fame
Whose sound went forth in all the earth
To tell of Christ and bless His Name.

You took the Gospel to the poor,
The Word of God alight in you,
Which in our day is told again,
That timeless Word, forever new.

You told of God, Who died for us
And out of death triumphant rose,
Who gave the Truth which made us free
and changeless through the ages goes.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Whose gift is faith that never dies,
A light in darkness now, until
The Day-Star in our hearts arise.

O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith is written by the Benedictine Nuns of Stanbrook Abbey. In the Divine Office it is sung at Morning Prayer in the Common of Apostles. It is set to the anonymous tune associated with the 7th century Latin hymn, Creator Alme Siderum.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, MARIAN HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 2 February – O Gloriosa Virginum

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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.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, JESUIT SJ, Our MORNING Offering, QUOTES of the SAINTS, St PAUL!

Our Morning Offering – 25 January – Paule Doctor Egregie, Let Gentiles Raise the Thankful Lay By St Peter Damian

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Our Morning Offering – 25 January – Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, Apostle

Paule Doctor Egregie
Let Gentiles Raise the Thankful Lay
By St Peter Damian (1007-1072)
Father and Doctor of the Church
Trans. John Mason Neale, 1854

Let Gentiles raise the thankful lay
Upon their great Apostle’s Day,
Whose doctrine, like the thunder, sounds
To the wide world’s remotest bounds.

O bliss of Paul beyond all thought!
To Paradise, yet living, caught,
He hears the heav’nly myst’ries there,
Which mortal tongue can not declare.

The Word’s blest seed around he flings
And straight a mighty harvest springs
And fruits of holy deeds supply,
God’s everlasting granary.

The lamp his holy lore displays
Hath fill’d the world with glorious rays
And doubt and error are o’erthrown,
That Truth may reign, and reign alone.

Long as unending ages run,
To God the Father laud be done,
To God the Son our equal praise
And God the Holy Ghost, we raise.
Amen.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, MARTYRS, QUOTES on THE LIGHT of CHRIST, SAINT of the DAY, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 24 January – O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith – Feast of Saint Timothy,

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Our Morning Offering – 24 January – Feast of Saint Timothy, Bishop and Martyr

O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith

O Fathers of our ancient faith,
With all the heav’n, we sing your fame
Whose sound went forth in all the earth
To tell of Christ and bless His Name.

You took the Gospel to the poor,
The Word of God alight in you,
Which in our day is told again,
That timeless Word, forever new.

You told of God, Who died for us
And out of death triumphant rose,
Who gave the Truth which made us free
and changeless through the ages goes.

Praise Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Whose gift is faith that never dies,
A light in darkness now, until
The Day-Star in our hearts arise.

O Fathers of Our Ancient Faith is written by the Benedictine Nuns of Stanbrook Abbey. In the Divine Office it is sung at Morning Prayer in the Common of Apostles. It is set to the anonymous tune associated with the 7th century Latin hymn, Creator Alme Siderum.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, St PETER!

Our Morning Offering – 18 January – O Peter, Who was Named by Christ!

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Our Morning Offering – 18 January – Feast of the Chair of the Apostle, St Peter at Rome

O Peter, Who was Named by Christ!
By Stanbrook Abbey
For the Feast of the Chair of St Peter

O Peter who was named by Christ!
The guardian-shepherd of His flock,
Protect the Church He built on thee
To stand unyielding, firm on rock.

Thy weakness, Christ exchanged for strength,
Thou faltered but He made thee true.
He knew the greatness of thy love
And gave the keys of heav’n to thee.

Unseen, eternal Trinity,
We give Thee glory, praise Thy Name,
Thy love keeps faith, with faithless men,
Through change and stress, Thou art the same.
Amen

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, POETRY, THE EPIPHANY of the LORD

Our Morning Offering – 6 January – Crudelis Herodes, Deum Regem

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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.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, MARTYRS, Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 4 January – Salvete Flores Martyrum – Hail, Ye Little Martyr Flowers

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Our Morning Offering – 4 January – Octave of the Holy Innocents – “The Month of the Most Holy Name of Jesus”

Salvete Flores Martyrum
Hail, Ye Little Martyr Flowers
By Prudentius (c 348 – c 413)
(Aurelius Prudentius Clemens)
The Renowned Poet

All Hail! ye infant Martyr flowers,
Cut off in life’s first dawning hours.
As rosebuds snap’t in temptest strife,
When Herod sought Thy Saviours life.

Thou, tender flock of lambs, we sing,
First victims slain for Christ Thy King.
Beside the very altar, gay
With palms and crowns, ye seem to play.

All honour, laud and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.

Salvete Flores Martyrum is the Office Hymn for Lauds on the Feast of the Holy Innocents (28 Dec). Its stanzas are drawn from Prudentius’ Epiphany Hymn, Cathemerinon and were first assembled in the 1568 Breviary of Pope Pius V.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 3 January – An Exile for the Faith

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Our Morning Offering – 3 January – Octave Day of St John, Apostle

An Exile for the Faith
By Father Nicolas Le Tourneux (1640– 1686)
Trans. by Fr Edward Caswall C. Orat. (1814–1878)

An exile for the faith
Of thy Incarnate Lord,
Beyond the stars, beyond all space,
Thy soul imprisoned soared,
There saw in glory Him,
Who liveth and was dead;
There Judah’s Lion and the Lamb
That for our ransom bled.

There of the Kingdom learnt
The mysteries sublime;
How, sown in Martyrs’ blood, the faith
Should spread from clime to clime.
The Holy City, bathed
In her dear Spouse’s Light,
Pure seat of bliss, thy spirit saw
And gloried in the sight.

Now to the Lamb’s clear fount,
To drink of life their fill,
Thou callest all; O Lord, in me
This blessed thirst instil.
To Jesus, Virgin-born,
Praise with the Father be,
Praise to the Spirit Paraclete,
Through all eternity.
Amen.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 27 December – St John the Beloved – Let the World Rejoice!

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Our Morning Offering – 27 December – St John the Apostle and Evangelist, the Beloved – “The Month of the Divine Infant and the Immaculate Conception”

Exsultet Orbis!
Let the World Rejoice!
Unknown Author

Now let the earth with joy resound,
And Heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor Heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles’ glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forever more!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the Sacred Gates on high.
At your command apart they fly.
O loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey,
At your command they go or stay.
From sin’s disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end.
And Christ to Judgment shall descend,
May we be called, those joys to see
Prepared from all eternity.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past
And so shall be while ages last.
Amen

(Roman Breviary for the Common of Apostles)
An Office Hymn that was traditionally prescribed for Vespers and Lauds on the Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists outside Easter time. The Hymn is found as early as the tenth century in a hymnal of Moissac Abbey.

Posted in ADVENT PRAYERS, BREVIARY Prayers, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, The DIVINE INFANT

Our Morning Offering – 23 December – Prepare for Christ your Saviour!

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Our Morning Offering – 23 December – Friday of the Fourth Week of Advent – “The Month of the Divine Infant and the Immaculate Conception”

Prepare for Christ your Saviour!
Stanbrook Abbey

Throughout a world in shadow,
John’s urgent voice we hear;
Prepare for Christ your Saviour!
The Son of God is near.

He gives a new beginning
To those who turn from sin,
Who answer love with loving
By turning back to Him.

His veiled but certain splendour
Begins to shine from far;
He comes, His Saints around Him,
The bright and Morning Star.

With all who wait in longing,
Give thanks that never cease,
For Him Whom God is sending
To visit us in peace.
Amen

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 21 December – St Thomas Apostle – Exsultet Orbis!

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Our Morning Offering – 21 December – St Thomas Apostle

Exsultet Orbis!
Let the World Rejoice!
Unknown Author

Now let the earth with joy resound,
And Heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor Heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles’ glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forever more!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the Sacred Gates on high.
At your command apart they fly.
O loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey,
At your command they go or stay.
From sin’s disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end.
And Christ to Judgment shall descend,
May we be called, those joys to see
Prepared from all eternity.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past
And so shall be while ages last.
Amen

(Roman Breviary for the Common of Apostles)
An Office Hymn that was traditionally prescribed for Vespers and Lauds on the Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists outside Easter time. The Hymn is found as early as the tenth century in a hymnal of Moissac Abbey.

Posted in ADVENT PRAYERS, BREVIARY Prayers, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, SAINT of the DAY, The DIVINE INFANT, The INCARNATION, The NATIVITY of JESUS, The REDEMPTION

Our Morning Offering – 7 December – St Ambrose’ Veni Redemptor Gentium / Saviour of the Nations, Come!

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Our Morning Offering – 7 December – “The Month of the Divine Infant and the Immaculate Conception” – St Ambrose (340-397) – Confessor, Bishop, Father and Doctor of the Church

Veni Redemptor Gentium
Saviour of the Nations, Come!
St Ambrose’s Advent Hymn

Saviour of the nations, come!
Virgin’s Son, here make Thy home!
Marvel now, O Heaven and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.

Not by human flesh and blood;
By the Spirit of our God
Was the Word of God made flesh,
Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.

Wondrous birth! O wondrous Child
Of the Virgin undefiled!
Though by all the world disowned,
Still to be in Heaven enthroned.

From the Father forth He came
And returneth to the same,
Captive leading death and hell
High the song of triumph swell!

Thou, the Father’s only Son,
Hast over sin the victory won.
Boundless shall Thy kingdom be;
When shall we its glories see?

Brightly doth Thy manger shine,
Glorious is its light divine.
Let not sin o’ercloud this Light;
Ever be our faith thus bright.

Praise to God the Father sing,
Praise to God the Son, our King,
Praise to God the Spirit be
Ever and eternally.
Amen!

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 30 November – St Andrew Apostle – Exsultet Orbis! Let the World Rejoice!

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Our Morning Offering – 30 November – Feast of St Andrew Apostle and Martyr

Exsultet Orbis!
Let the World Rejoice!
Unknown Author

Now let the earth with joy resound,
And Heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor Heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles’ glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forever more!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the Sacred Gates on high.
At your command apart they fly.
O loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey,
At your command they go or stay.
From sin’s disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end.
And Christ to Judgment shall descend,
May we be called, those joys to see
Prepared from all eternity.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past
And so shall be while ages last.
Amen

(Roman Breviary for the Common of Apostles)
An Office Hymn that was traditionally prescribed for Vespers and Lauds on the Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists outside Easter time. The Hymn is found as early as the tenth century in a hymnal of Moissac Abbey.

Posted in BLESSED TRINITY PRAYERS, BREVIARY Prayers, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, FEBRUARY - THE BLESSED TRINITY (Traditional), HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The MOST HOLY & BLESSED TRINITY

Our Morning Offering – 18 November – Æterna Cæli Gloria, Eternal glory of Heaven

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Our Morning Offering – 18 November – Feast of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Peter and Paul

Æterna Cæli Gloria
Eternal Glory of Heaven
By St Ambrose (340–397)
Father and Doctor of the Churh
Trans. John Mason Neale, (1818-1866)

Eternal glory of the sky,
Blest hope of frail humanity,
The Father’s Sole-begotten One,
Yet born a spotless Virgin’s Son!

Uplift us with Thine arm of might,
And let our hearts rise pure and bright
And, ardent in God’s praises, pay
The thanks we owe Him everyday.

The Day-star’s rays are glittering clear
And tell that day itself is near:
The shadows of the night depart;
Thou, holy Light, illume the heart!

Within our senses ever dwell,
And worldly darkness thence expel;
Long as the days of life endure,
Preserve our souls devout and pure.

The faith that first must be possessed,
Root deep within our inmost breast;
And joyous hope in second place,
Then charity, Thy greatest grace.

All laud to God the Father be,
All praise, eternal Son, to Thee;
All glory, as is ever meet,
To God the Holy Paraclete.

Beloved Ssint Ambrose was a Roman citizen, son of a Roman prefect in Gallia Narbonensis.
At age 34, he was appointed governor of northern Italy.
In 374, Ambrose was selected as Bishop of Milan by popular acclaim.
His hymns first came to widespread no­ice in a stand­off beween him and Emress Jusstina, who had sent soldiers to arrest him.
Ambrose and his faithful flock stayed in the Sanctuary of the Church for days, singing and praying. The Empress lost the test of wills and Ambrose’s hymns have lived for millennia. Alleluia!

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, MARTYRS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 5 November – Sanctorum Meritis Inclita Gaudia – Sing, O Sons of the Church

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Our Morning Offering – 5 November – Within the Octave of All Saints and the Feast of the Holy Relics

Sanctorum Meritis Inclita Gaudia
Sing, O Sons of the Church
Unknown Author 8th Century
But Attributed to St Rabanus Maurus (c 776-856)
Vespers Hymn in the Common of Martyrs

Sing, O Sons of the Church sounding the Martyrs’ praise!
God’s true soldiers applaud, who, in their weary days,
Won bright trophies of good, glad be the voice ye raise,
While these heroes of Christ ye sing!

They, while yet in the world, were by the world abhorred;
Felt how fading the joys, fleeting the wealth it stored;
Spurned all pleasure for Thee, and at Thy call, O Lord,
Came forth strong in Thy Name, as King.

Lord, how bravely they bore fury and pain for Thee!
Scourge, rod, sword, and the rack strongly endured; but free
Sang out, bold in Thy love, longing on high to be;
Earth’s might never their souls could bend.

While they, shedding their blood, victims for Jesus fell,
No sound out of their lips came of their throes to tell;
Bowed low, patient and meek, loving the Lord so well,
Turned they still to the Christ, their Friend.

What joys, bright with the blood shed for Thy love they share,
Those brave Martyrs of Thine crowned, with Thy laurels rare;
Man’s tongue never can tell, never can half declare,
How pure now is their bliss above!

Yet we, Father on high, God of eternal might,
Lift weak voices in prayer, asking for peace and light;
Cleanse Thou out of our heart,s every stain and blight,
So our songs may be songs of love.
Amen

There are thirteen translations of this Hymn and five in Liturgical usage. This one by Daniel Joseph Donahoe (1853-1930), an Irish American of Connecticut. A Judge, Poet, Writer and Latin Translator. This from his Early Christian Hymns Vol I or II.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 1 November – Salutis Aeternae Dator, Giver of Life, Eternal Lord

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Our Morning Offering – 1 November – All Saints Day

Salutis Aeternae Dator
Giver of Life, Eternal Lord
By St Rabanus Maurus (776-856)
Lauds Hymn for All Saints

Giver of life, eternal Lord,
Thy own redeemed defend.
Mother of grace, thy children save
And help them to the end.

Ye thousand, thousand Angel hosts,
Assist us in our need.
Ye Patriarchs, with the Prophet choir,
For our forgiveness plead.

Forerunner blest and thou who still
Dost Heaven’s dread keys retain.
Ye glorious Apostles all,
Unloose our guilty chain.

Army of Martyrs, holy Priests,
In beautiful array;
Ye happy troops of Virgins chaste,
Wash all our stains away.

All ye who high above the stars
In Heavenly glory reign,
May we through your prevailing prayers
Unto your joys attain.

Praise, honour, to the Father be,
Praise to His only Son;
Praise, Holy Paraclete, to Thee,
While endless ages run.
Amen

St Rabanus Maurus (776-856) Benedictine Abbot and Bishop, Theologian, Poet, Writer – 4 February – author of Veni Creator Spiritus (The Golden Sequence) – https://anastpaul.com/2020/02/04/saint-of-the-day-4-february-saint-rabanus-maurus-osb-776-856/

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS, The LISTS of the CHURCH

Our Morning Offering – 28 October – Exsultet Orbis! Let the World Rejoice!

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Our Morning Offering – 28 October – Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles

Exsultet Orbis!
Let the World Rejoice!
Unknown Author

Now let the earth with joy resound,
And Heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor Heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles’ glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forever more!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the Sacred Gates on high.
At your command apart they fly.
O loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey,
At your command they go or stay.
From sin’s disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end.
And Christ to Judgment shall descend,
May we be called, those joys to see
Prepared from all eternity.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past
And so shall be while ages last.
Amen

(Roman Breviary for the Common of Apostles)
An Office Hymn that was traditionally prescribed for Vespers and Lauds on the Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists outside Easter time. The Hymn is found as early as the tenth century in a hymnal of Moissac Abbey.

Posted in ArchAngels and Angels, BREVIARY Prayers, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 24 October – Jesu, Brightness of the Father!

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Our Morning Offering – 24 October – Feast of St Raphael the Archangel

Jesu, Brightness of the Father!
Hymn for the Feast of St Raphael
By St Rabanus Maurus (776-856)
Trans. Fr Edward Caswall (1814–1878)

Jesu, brightness of the Father!
Life and Strength of all who live!
In the presence of the Angels,
Glory to Thy Name we give;
And Thy wondrous praise rehearse,
Singing in alternate verse.

Hail, too, ye Angelic Powers!
Hail, ye Thrones celestial!
Hail, Physician of Salvation!
Guide of life, blest Raphael
Who the foe of all mankind,
Didst in links of iron bind.

Oh may Christ, by thy protection,
Shelter us from harm this day;
Keep us pure in flesh and spirit;
Save us from the enemy
and vouchsafe us, of His grace,
In His Paradise a place.

Glory to the Almighty Father,
Sing we now in anthems sweet;
Glory to the great Redeemer,
Glory to the Paraclete;
Three in One and One in three,
Througout all eternity.
Amen

St Rabanus Maurus (776-856), Benedictine Abbot and Bishop, Theologian, Poet, Writer – 4 February – Author of Veni Creator Spiritus (The Golden Sequence) – https://anastpaul.com/2020/02/04/saint-of-the-day-4-february-saint-rabanus-maurus-osb-776-856/

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, HYMNS, MARTYRS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH

Our Morning Offering – 10 August – Deus Tuorum Militum

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Our Morning Offering – 10 August – St Lawrence (Died 258) Martyr “Keeper of the Treasures of he Church,”

Deus, Tuorum Militum
O God, of Those Who Fought Thy Fight
Unknown Author
(6th Century)

O God, of those who fought Thy fight,
Portion and prize and Crown of Light,
Break every bond of sin and shame
As now we praise Thy Martyr’s name.

He recked not of the world’s allure
But sin and pomp of sin forswore:
Knew all their gall and passed them by,
And reached the throne prepared on high.

Bravely the course of pain he ran,
And bore his torments as a man:
For love of Thee, his blood outpoured,
And thus obtained the great reward.

With humble voice and suppliant word
We pray Thee, therefore, Holy Lord,
While we Thy Martyr’s Feast Day keep,
Forgive Thy loved and erring sheep.

All honour, laud and glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee,
All glory, as is ever meet,
To Father and to Paraclete.
Amen

An Ambrosian Hymn traditionally assigned for Matins and Vespers for the common feast of a Martyr in the Roman Breviary.
It dates probably from the sSxth Century and is attributed to the unknown author of Rex Gloriose Martyrum and jesu, Redemptor Omnium.
The Hymn exists in a longer versJon of eight strophes and a shorter one of four or five, which is probably earlier.
The Vatican Antiphonary provided two different melodies for use in the Paschal Season and during the Octave of the Nativity, during which the Feast of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr occurs.
The Hymn is a prayer asking God to forgive the sins of His servants on the day of the Martyr’s triumph over the pleasures of the world and the torture of persecution.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, POETRY, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The TRANSFIGURATION

Our Morning Offering – 6 August – Quicumque Christum Quaeritis

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Our Morning Offering – 6 August – The Transfiguration of Our Lord

Quicumque Christum Quaeritis
All Ye Who would the Christ Descry
By Prudentius (c 348 – c 413)
(Aurelius Prudentius Clemens)
The Renowned Poet

All you who would the Christ descry,
Lift up your eyes to Him on high:
There mortal gaze hath strength to see
The token of His Majesty.

A wondrous sign we there behold,
That knows not death nor groweth old,
Sublime, most high, that cannot fade,
That was ere earth and Heaven were made.

Here is the King the Gentiles fear,
The Jews’ most mighty King is here,
Promised to Abraham of yore,
And to his seed forevermore.

‘Tis He the Prophets words foretold,
And by their signs shown forth of old.
The Father’s Witness hath ordained
That we should hear with faith unfeigned.

Jesu, to Thee our praise we pay,
To little ones revealed today,
With Father and Blest Spirit One
Until the ages’ course is done.

The Hymn Quicumque Christum quaeritis is the twelfth and last poem in the Cathemerino of Prudentius, originally written in honour of the Epiphany. Its 208 lines has furnished four hymns to the Roman Breviary, Latin below the image.
On the Feast of the Transfiguration the verses are above are used.
There is a short biography of Prudentius here: https://anastpaul.com/2020/01/08/quote-s-of-the-day-8-january-take-courage-it-is-i-and-bl-titus-zeman/

Quicumque Christum quaeritis,
Uculos in altum tollite:
Illic licebit visere
Signum perennis glorias.

Illustre quiddam cernimus,
Quod nesciat finem pati,
Sublime, celsum, interminum,
Antiquius ccelo et chao.

Hic ille Rex est Gentium,
Populique Rex Judaici,
Promissus Abraha patri,
Ejusque in aevum semini.

Hunc et Prophetis testibus,
Iisdemque signatoribus
Testator et Pater jubet
Audire nos, et credere.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui te revelas parvulis,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna saecula.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, MARTYRS, Our MORNING Offering, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 25 July – Exsultet Orbis! Let the World Rejoice! – Feast of Saint James the Greater, Apostle and Martyr

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Our Morning Offering – 25 July – “The Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Feast of Saint James the Greater, Apostle and Martyr

Exsultet Orbis!
Let the World Rejoice!
Unknown Author

Now let the earth with joy resound,
And Heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor Heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles’ glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forever more!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the Sacred Gates on high.
At your command apart they fly.
O loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey,
At your command they go or stay.
From sin’s disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end.
And Christ to Judgment shall descend,
May we be called, those joys to see
Prepared from all eternity.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past
And so shall be while ages last.
Amen

(Roman Breviary for the Common of Apostles)
An Office Hymn that was traditionally prescribed for Vespers and Lauds on the Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists outside Easter time. The Hymn is found as early as the tenth century in a hymnal of Moissac Abbey.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, HYMNS, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, PRECIOUS BLOOD PRAYERS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD

Our Morning Offering – 10 July – Glory Be to Jesus, Who in Bitter Pain

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Our Morning Offering – 10 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” and the Solemnity of the Most Precious Bloodof our Lord Jesus Christ

Glory Be to Jesus,
Who in Bitter Pains
By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori 1696–1787) [Attrib]
Transl. Fr Edward Caswell CO (1814-1878)
(An Indulgence of 100 days)

Glory be to Jesus,
Who in bitter pain
Poured for me the life-Blood
From His sacred veins.

Grace and life eternal
In that Blood I find;
Blest be His compassion,
Infinitely kind.

Blest through endless ages
Be the precious stream,
Which from endless torments
Dost the world redeem.

Abel’s blood for vengeance
Pleaded to the skies;
But the Blood of Jesus
For our pardon cries.

Oft as it is sprinkled
On our guilty hearts,
Satan in confusion
Terror-struck departs.

Oft as earth exulting
Wafts its praise on high,
Angel-hosts rejoicing
Make their glad reply.

Lift ye then your voices;
Swell the mighty flood;
Louder still and louder
Praise the Precious Blood.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, St JOHN the BAPTIST

Our Morning Offering – 25 June – John, the Chosen One

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Our Morning Offering – 25 June – The Nativity of St John the Baptist

John, the Chosen One
Lauds Hymn
for the Nativity of St John the Baptist
Stanbrook Abbey Hymnal

God called great prophets to foretell
the coming of His Son.
The greatest, called before His birth,
was John, the chosen one.

His life was filled with joy and hope;
he knew he must decrease,
and that we must prepare a place
where Jesus may increase.

John searched in solitude for Christ
and knew Him when He came.
He showed the world the Lamb of God
and hailed Him in our name.

That lonely voice cried out the truth
Derided and denied.
As witness to the law of God
His mighty Martyr died.

We praise You, Trinity in One,
the light of unknown ways,
the hope of all who search for You
whose love fills all our days.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 8 May – It Were My Soul’s Desire

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Our Morning Offering – 8 May – The Third Sunday after Easter

It Were My Soul’s Desire
Anonymous 11th century Irish Prayer

It were my soul’s desire
To see the face of God.
It were my soul’s desire
To rest in His abode.

Grant, Lord, my soul’s desire,
Deep waves of cleansing sighs.
Grant, Lord, my soul’s desire
From earthly cares to rise.

It were my soul’s desire
To imitate my King,
It were my soul’s desire
His ceaseless praise to sing.

It were my soul’s desire
When heaven’s gate is won
To find my soul’s desire
Clear shining like the sun.

This still my soul’s desire
Whatever life afford,
To gain my soul’s desire
And see Thy face, O Lord.

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, LENT 2022, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PAPAL PRAYERS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on TEMPTATION, YouTube VIDEOS

Our Morning Offering – 6 March – Now Let Us All with One Accord

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Our Morning Offering – 6 March – The First Sunday of Lent

Now Let Us All with One Accord
By St Gregory the Great (540-604)
Father & Doctor of the Church

Now let us all with one accord,
In fellowship with ages past,
Keep vigil with our heav’nly Lord,
In His temptation and His fast.

The Covenant so long revealed
To faithful ones in former time,
Christ by His own example sealed,
The Lord of love, in love sublime.

Remember, Lord, though frail we be,
By Your own kind Hand we were made
And help us, lest our frailty
Cause Your great Name to be betrayed.

Hear us, O Trinity sublime,
And undivided unity.
So let this consecrated time
Bring forth its fruit abundantly.
Amen

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, FATHERS of the Church, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The APOSTLES & EVANGELISTS

Our Morning Offering – 24 February – Exsultet Orbis!

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Our Morning Offering – 24 February – Feast of St Matthias, Apostle and Martyr

Exsultet Orbis!
Let the World Rejoice!
Unknown Author

Now let the earth with joy resound,
And Heaven the chant re-echo round;
Nor Heaven nor earth too high can raise
The great Apostles’ glorious praise.

O ye who, throned in glory dread,
Shall judge the living and the dead,
Lights of the world forever more!
To you the suppliant prayer we pour.

Ye close the Sacred Gates on high.
At your command apart they fly.
O loose for us the guilty chain
We strive to break and strive in vain.

Sickness and health your voice obey,
At your command they go or stay.
From sin’s disease our souls restore;
In good confirm us more and more.

So when the world is at its end.
And Christ to Judgment shall descend,
May we be called, those joys to see
Prepared from all eternity.

Praise to the Father, with the Son,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One;
As ever was in ages past
And so shall be while ages last.
Amen

(Roman Breviary for the Common of Apostles)
An Office Hymn that was traditionally prescribed for Vespers and Lauds on the Feasts of Apostles and Evangelists outside Easter time.
The Hymn is found as early as the tenth century in a hymnal of Moissac Abbey.