Lauds and Vespers Hymns, Lent 5 and Holy Week

Now we're heading into the really deep and powerful music of the two weeks before Easter; some of the most ancient, most well-known, and (I think) most beautiful hymns of the year are sung during this period.

Here is an mp3 of the Lauds hymn beginning on Judica (Lent 5), which is sung each morning until Holy Thursday. The audio file is from the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood's "Seasonal Propers Sung." Judica is the first word of the Latin Introit for Lent 5: "Judge me, O God."

This hymn, "Thirty Years Among Us Dwelling" (I haven't been able to find the title in Latin, if this is a hymn that was used by the Roman Church), is derived from the Pange Lingua, about which TPL has this to say:

There are two Pange Linguas in use, one by St. Thomas Aquinas and then this one, by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609) which extols the triumph of the Cross. He wrote it for a procession that brought a part of the true Cross to Queen Radegunda in 570. This hymn is used on Good Friday during the Adoration of the Cross and in the Liturgy of the Hours during Holy Week and on feasts of the Cross. The concluding stanza was not written by Fortunatus, but was added later.

When used in the Liturgy the hymn is often broken into smaller hymns such as: Lustra sex qui iam peregit, En acetum, fel, arundo, and Crux fidelis inter omnes.

There is a charming ancient legend that is hinted at in the second verse of this hymn. According to this legend, the wood of the Cross upon which Christ was crucified was taken from that tree which was the source of the fruit of the fall in the Garden of Eden. When Adam died, the legend states, Seth obtained from the Cherubim guarding the Garden a branch of the tree from which Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Seth planted this branch at Golgotha (the place of the skull), which is so named because Adam was buried there. As time went on, the Ark of the Covenant, the pole upon which the bronze serpent was lifted, and other items were made from this tree.

EDIT: Robert Stevens, a commenter on this post, notes that "According to The English Hymnal, the first line in latin of 'thirty years among us' is Lustra sex qui jam percata." Thanks, Robert; very helpful.

Here's a video of Chanticleer's beautiful rendering of Pange Lingua/Crux Fideles sung in Latin; it's labeled a "Good Friday Hymn." Follow along with the Latin (you'll have to skip around) at the TPL link.



Here is the New Advent entry for the Pange Lingua. (Which, BTW, does not include the origin story given at TPL: that the hymn was written for a procession of a relic of the True Cross. NA ascribes that story to the hymn below, Vexilla Regis Prodeunt; I think TPL has this one wrong, because it has essentially given the same story twice, for two different hymns.)

Edit: Fr. Mark of the blog Vultus Christi has left this link to a blog entry titled "Singing the Mystery of the Cross" that contains more and better information about "the Hymns of Passiontide." Thanks, Fr. Mark.

Below are the chant scores I have, which use words similar to those on the audio file (which uses the translation by John Mason Neale). Oremus hymnal calls this a "cento of Sing My Tongue the Glorious Battle" (which is the first line in English of the Pange Lingua). A cento is, according to the Webster 1913 online, a term derived from Latin that refers to "a garment of several pieces sewed together, patchwork," and indicates in this case to "a poem made up of various verses of another poem."

And here is an mp3 of one of the best hymns ever written, in my opinion: the Vespers hymn, "Vexilla Regis Prodeunt" ("The Royal Banners Forward Go"), sung each evening beginning on Judica (Lent 5) until Holy Thursday. Again this comes from the LLPB site.

Here's a video of the hymn in Latin; the words in Latin and English are below:

Vexilla Regis prodeunt: Fulget Crucis mysterium,
Quae vita mortem pertulit, Et morte vitam protulit.

Quae vulnerata lanceae Mucrone diro, criminum
Ut nos lavaret sordibus, Manavit unda et sanguine.

Impleta sunt quae concinit David fideli carmine,
Dicendo nationibus: Regnavit a ligno Deus.

Arbor decora et fulgida, ornata Regis purpura,
Electa digno stipite tam sancta membra tangere.

Beata, cuius brachiis Pretium pependit saeculi:
Statera facta corporis, tulitque praedam tartari.

O Crux ave, spes unica, hoc Passionis tempore!
Piis adauge gratiam, reisque dele crimina.

Te, fons salutis Trinitas, collaudet omnis spiritus:
Quibus Crucis victoriam largiris, adde praemium. Amen.


The royal banners forward go,
The cross shines forth in mystic glow;
Where He in flesh, our flesh Who made,
Our sentence bore, our ransom paid.

Where deep for us the spear was dyed,
Life’s torrent rushing from His side,
To wash us in that precious flood,
Where mingled water flowed, and blood.

Fulfilled is all that David told
In true prophetic song of old,
Amidst the nations, God, saith he,
Hath reigned and triumphed from the tree.

O tree of beauty, tree of light!
O tree with royal purple dight!
Elect on whose triumphal breast
Those holy limbs should find their rest.

Blest tree, whose chosen branches bore
The wealth that did the world restore,
The price of humankind to pay,
And spoil the spoiler of his prey.

Upon its arms, like balance true,
He weighed the price for sinners due,
The price which none but He could pay,
And spoiled the spoiler of his prey.

O cross, our one reliance, hail!
Still may thy power with us avail
To give new virtue to the saint,
And pardon to the penitent.

To Thee, eternal Three in One,
Let homage meet by all be done:
As by the cross Thou dost restore,
So rule and guide us evermore.

Here's TPL on Vexilla Regis:

Vexilla Regis was written by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609) and is considered one of the greatest hymns of the liturgy. Fortunatus wrote it in honor of the arrival of a large relic of the True Cross which had been sent to Queen Radegunda by the Emperor Justin II and his Empress Sophia. Queen Radegunda had retired to a convent she had built near Poitiers and was seeking out relics for the church there. To help celebrate the arrival of the relic, the Queen asked Fortunatus to write a hymn for the procession of the relic to the church.

The hymn has, thus, a strong connection with the Cross and is fittingly sung at Vespers from Passion Sunday to Holy Thursday and on the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross. The hymn was also formerly sung on Good Friday when the Blessed Sacrament is taken from the repository to the altar. The text given below is the full text of Fortunatus' hymn, but verses 2, 4, and 7 are omitted when the hymn is used liturgically. The last two verses which form the concluding doxology are not by Fortunatus, but is rather the work of some later poet.

This hymn is in the 1982 Hymnal, at #162 (I believe). It's the very last hymn sung at St. Mary the Virgin's Palm Sunday service, after the blessing of the Palms; after the procession through Times Square (including the singing of dozens of verses of "All Glory, Laud, and Honor," and the distribution of palms); after the halt at the doors to sing the "Lift Up Your Heads O Ye Gates" antiphon; after the Sung Passion and the Eucharist; after literally hours of singing and chanting and prayers.

Here's the New Advent entry for Vexilla Regis. And here's the chant score:






Here's an mp3 of another version of this hymn, sung by the St. David's Compline Choir of Austin, TX.

Finally: if you'd like to listen to the Introits for which the Sundays of Lent are named (Invocavit, Oculi, Judica, etc.), you can do it here, at the Christusrex.org site, which features hundreds of mp3 files recorded at St. Benedict's Monastery in São Paulo (Brazil).