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Thursday, August 08, 2013

Ola Gjeilo: Ubi Caritas

Sung for Compline at the 2013 RSCM King's College Training Course in July at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania:



This piece uses only the first stanza of this hymn/antiphon sung at Maundy Thursday, but here is a set of words to all three stanzas used today:

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Simul ergo cum in unum congregamur:
Ne nos mente dividamur, caveamus.
Cessent iurgia maligna, cessent lites.
Et in medio nostri sit Christus Deus.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Simul quoque cum beatis videamus,
Glorianter vultum tuum, Christe Deus:
Gaudium quod est immensum, atque probum,
Saecula per infinita saeculorum. Amen.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ's love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
As we are gathered into one body,
Beware, lest we be divided in mind.
Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,
And may Christ our God be in our midst.
Where charity and love are, God is there.
And may we with the saints also,
See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:
The joy that is immense and good,
Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.

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3 comments:

  1. LindaSunday, August 02, 2015 9:30:00 AM

    I love this piece. Since this is not the traditional text, do you know where this text comes from? Thanks.

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  2. blsSaturday, August 08, 2015 11:19:00 AM

    Hi Linda -

    CPDL says this about the Gregorian antiphon/hymn Ubi Caritas:

    "Before the liturgy reform of Vatican II, this was the eighth (and final) antiphon for the rite of the Washing of the Feet on Maundy Thursday (= Holy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter). Antiphon, Mode 6, in the Liber Usualis, p.675. Nowadays it is the offertorium on Maundy Thursday (Graduale Triplex, p.168).

    The original hymn was very long; only three verses are used in the rite. Its author is unknown, though the hymn is thought to have been written in France in the 10th century. "

    I guess that's all anybody knows, for now.

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  3. blsSaturday, August 08, 2015 11:27:00 AM

    (Gjeilo IS using the traditional text, BTW, but only the first verse.

    To see this, download the Liber Usualis 1961 from this page - it's a big file! It contains the pre-Vatican II chants, which have been used more or less unchanged since the Council of Trent in 1563.

    See p. 675 for Ubi Caritas, used as noted above as an antiphon during the washing of feet rite at the Maundy Thursday Eucharist.)

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