Iustus Es, Domine

That's the Introit for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (this coming Sunday, September 6). 



A note at the YouTube page says that the images used in the video come from the Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 121, p. 327.   And a description of this codex at that link notes that:

This Codex comprises the oldest complete surviving neumed mass antiphonary; it includes assorted appendices (such as Alleluia verses, Antiphons and Psalm verses for the Communion Antiphons). Because the mass antiphonary is complete, the manuscript remains important to this day as a resource for Gregorian chant research. The second part of the codex contains the Libyer Ymnorum, the Sequences of Notker of St. Gall. Recent research has established that the codex was written in Einsiedeln itself (in about 960-970), most likely for the third abbot of the cloister, Gregor the Englishman. (lan)

(Here's page 327 by itself.)


The text for the Introit is taken from several verses - 137, 124, and 1 - of Psalm 119 (118 in the Vulgate numbering system):

137 Sade. Justus es, Domine,
et rectum judicium tuum.

124 Fac cum servo tuo secundum misericordiam tuam,
et justificationes tuas doce me.

1 Alleluja. Aleph. Beati immaculati in via,
qui ambulant in lege Domini.

Sade
137 Thou art just, O Lord: and thy judgment is right.

124 Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy: and teach me thy justifications.

1 Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.

Here's an mp3, sung by the Sao Paulo Benedictines - and here's the chant score to follow along:

Here is the "Justus es, Domine, et rectum" page at the Global Chant database, which seems to be growing ever-larger.

The Offertory on the day, Oravi Deum Meum, is from Daniel 9, verses 4, 2, 17, and 19:

4 Et oravi Dominum Deum meum, et confessus sum, et dixi: Obsecro, Domine Deus magne et terribilis, custodiens pactum, et misericordiam diligentibus te, et custodientibus mandata tua:

2 anno uno regni ejus, ego Daniel intellexi in libris numerum annorum, de quo factus est sermo Domini ad Jeremiam prophetam, ut complerentur desolationis Jerusalem septuaginta anni.

17 Nunc ergo exaudi, Deus noster, orationem servi tui, et preces ejus: et ostende faciem tuam super sanctuarium tuum, quod desertum est propter temetipsum.

19 Exaudi, Domine; placare Domine: attende et fac: ne moreris propter temetipsum, Deus meus, quia nomen tuum invocatum est super civitatem et super populum tuum.

4 And I prayed to the Lord, my God, and I made my confession, and said: I beseech thee, O Lord God, great and terrible, who keepest the covenant, and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy commandments.

2 The first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, concerning which the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, that seventy years should be accomplished of the desolation of Jerusalem.

17 Now, therefore, O our God, hear the supplication of thy servant, and his prayers: and show thy face upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate, for thy own sake.

19 O Lord, hear: O Lord, be appeased: hearken, and do: delay not, for thy own sake, O my God: because thy name is invocated upon thy city, and upon thy people.

Here's the mp3, and here's the chant score:

Palestrina apparently wrote a motet based on this text, although with slightly different words:

Oravi ad Dominum, Deum meum ego Daniel dicens: exaudi, Domine, preces servi tui, illumina faciem tuam super sanctuarium tuum, et propitius intende populum istum, super quem invocatum est nomen tuum, Deus.
(Dan 9, 17-18)

A note on that page reads: "(The current Gregorian Missal (Solemnes 1990) assigns this offertory to the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time and give the opening as 'Oravi Deum meum')." I can't find a recording of it online, sad to say....