Creator of the Stars of Night
Dec. 13th, 2010 08:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ancientandmodernCreator of the starry height,
thy people's everlasting light,
Jesu, redeemer of us all,
hear thou thy servants when they call.
Thou, sorrowing at the helpless cry
of all creation doomed to die,
didst come to save our fallen race
by healing gifts of heavenly grace.
When earth was near its evening hour,
thou didst, in love's redeeming power,
like bridegroom from his chamber, come
forth from a Virgin-mother's womb.
At thy great name, exalted now,
all knees in lowly homage bow;
all things in heaven and earth adore,
and own thee King for evermore.
To thee, O Holy One, we pray,
our judge in that tremendous day,
ward off, while yet we dwell below,
the weapons of our crafty foe.
To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, Three in One,
praise, honour, might, and glory be
from age to age eternally. Amen.
Here's another one with multiple sets of words. The translation I've used above is that of J. M. Neale, who translated an awful lot of stuff very well, but you'll hear that this is not the one used in the video. This is because this is one of those fantastic Latin texts that have been exported all over the place, and translated different ways at different times. However, they all retain the sense, and most of them retain the plainsong.
This hymn echoes a common Advent image: Jesus, the Redeemer, the light of the world. The invocation of the stars, the lesser lights, intensifies this: God, who makes light, is light, the light shining in the darkness, that the darkness has not overcome.
Which is fantastic, but what about us? The stars are beyond our reach. Heaven, even more so. Alone, we can do nothing. Helpless, we are helped, not by some superhero scooping us up and out of the mire, but by the divine coming to join us. In the gathering dark, the morning star appears, pointing us through, leading us through. God born of woman, born human.
But we're not there yet. This hymn is still looking forward, to that tremendous day. Your kingdom come, your will be done. We're still waiting.
Here's the Latin:
thy people's everlasting light,
Jesu, redeemer of us all,
hear thou thy servants when they call.
Thou, sorrowing at the helpless cry
of all creation doomed to die,
didst come to save our fallen race
by healing gifts of heavenly grace.
When earth was near its evening hour,
thou didst, in love's redeeming power,
like bridegroom from his chamber, come
forth from a Virgin-mother's womb.
At thy great name, exalted now,
all knees in lowly homage bow;
all things in heaven and earth adore,
and own thee King for evermore.
To thee, O Holy One, we pray,
our judge in that tremendous day,
ward off, while yet we dwell below,
the weapons of our crafty foe.
To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, Three in One,
praise, honour, might, and glory be
from age to age eternally. Amen.
Here's another one with multiple sets of words. The translation I've used above is that of J. M. Neale, who translated an awful lot of stuff very well, but you'll hear that this is not the one used in the video. This is because this is one of those fantastic Latin texts that have been exported all over the place, and translated different ways at different times. However, they all retain the sense, and most of them retain the plainsong.
This hymn echoes a common Advent image: Jesus, the Redeemer, the light of the world. The invocation of the stars, the lesser lights, intensifies this: God, who makes light, is light, the light shining in the darkness, that the darkness has not overcome.
Which is fantastic, but what about us? The stars are beyond our reach. Heaven, even more so. Alone, we can do nothing. Helpless, we are helped, not by some superhero scooping us up and out of the mire, but by the divine coming to join us. In the gathering dark, the morning star appears, pointing us through, leading us through. God born of woman, born human.
But we're not there yet. This hymn is still looking forward, to that tremendous day. Your kingdom come, your will be done. We're still waiting.
Here's the Latin: