Surrexit Christus, et illuxit nobis ("Christ is risen, and has illumined us") and Exivi a Patre ("I came from the Father"): The First Alleluia(s) for the Sixth Easter Sunday

Beautifully chanted by an unknown singer.    There are two chants on this video:  the first is Surrexit Christus, and the second Exivi a Patre.  Surrexit is prescribed as the First Alleluia for Year A; Exivi for Year B; either can be used as the First Alleluia for Year C.




Although the chants are set one right after the other on the video, I'm separating the words and scores below, to emphasize that these are two completely separate chants:

Surrexit Christus, et illuxit nobis
Alleluia, alleluia. V. Surrexit Christus, et illuxit nobis, quos redemit sanguine suo. Alleluia.  

Alleluia, alleluia. Vs. Christ has risen and he has shone upon us whom he has ransomed with his own blood.   

ChristusRex.org says this text comes from John 14:18, but I don't see any evidence of this; to me it seems to be a composite of various ideas from various Scriptural sources, including Isaiah and perhaps the Gospels of Mark and John - although it's quite possible it's a direct quote from some extra-Biblical source.  Will continue to investigate.

Here's the chant score:

Exivi a Patre
Alleluia, alleluia.  V. Exivi a Patre, et veni in mundum: iterum relinquo mundum, et vado ad Patrem, alleluia.

Alleluia, alleluia.   V.  I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.

This text comes directly from John 16:28.   Here's the full chant score:

In the Extraordinary Form, Surrexit Christus and Exivi a Patre are the First and Second Alleluias for this Easter Sunday (i.e., they were in this configuration in the Tridentine Rite).  Today, though, there are three other chants used for the Second Alleluias - which I will discuss, no doubt, during future Easter season posts!

All of today's chants, though, for all three years - with the exception of the Introit and the Offertory (and also today's Surrexit Christus, as noted above) - come from  the Gospel of John.   Ascension is this Thursday, so citations from Christs' "Farewell Discourse" in John are very apropos.

In our current three-year Lectionary, we read from the Book of Acts, rather than from the Old Testament, on each Sunday after Easter.  I'm second to nobody in my love of and appreciation for the Old Testament - but I do like this development.  (In any case, there was no assigned Old Testament reading in the historic lectionay, so the addition of an OT reading is itself a happy development as far as I'm concerned.)

This week's reading from Acts is one of my all-time favorites:

Acts 17:22-31

Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, `To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him-- though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For `In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said,

`For we too are his offspring.'

Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

And the Gospel reading is this short, beautiful passage:

John 14:15-21

Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

The "historic lectionary" prescribed a reading from John 16 for today - a passage that that includes the text of the chant Exvivi at Patre:

JESUS said unto his disciples, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.  Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.  These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.  At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.  I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.  His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.  Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.  Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe?  Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

  Also prescribed was this passage from James:

BE ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The historic lectionary marks this as Rogation Sunday as well (called Rogate here); the Rogation Days are the three weekdays prior to the Feast of the Ascension.  Here's an introductory bit from a citation at that link:

The Rogation Days, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, originated in Vienne, France (not Vienna, Austria), in 470 after a series of natural disasters had caused much suffering among the people. Archbishop Mamertus proclaimed a fast and ordered that special litanies and prayers be said as the population processed around their fields, asking God's protection and blessing on the crops that were just beginning to sprout. The Latin word rogare means "to ask", thus these were "rogation" processions. In an agricultural society, closely connected with the soil and highly vulnerable to the uncertainties of nature, this was an idea that took root quickly, and the custom spread around Europe and over to Britain. The Sunday before the Rogation Days came to be considered a part of Rogationtide (or "Rogantide") and was known as Rogation Sunday. The Gospel formerly appointed for that day was from John 16, where Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and ye shall receive.

Here's another Chantblog post, including video, of A Rogation Days processional hymn: Ardua spes mundi. 

The collect for today in the "historic lectionary" seems to have at least partly inspired the one for the current lectionary; see below for much more about the latter, though.

Here's the old Collect for today, followed by today's current one:

O LORD, from whom all good things do come: Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The website of Trinity Episcopal Church (Concord, MA) has this about this new collect:

In the past weeks we have been the beneficiaries of a series of prayers that have emphasized the incredible gifts that God has given us in the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Since Easter Day, our Collects have lovingly reminded us that, “…we have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ,”, “…that we may behold him in all his redeeming work,” that we, “…may follow where he leads, and, “…to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life.”  Now, we hear the crowning affirmation that, “…we may obtain God’s promises which exceed all that we can desire!”  Truly, as we approach the celebration of Ascension Day, we have been endowed with the gifts to go forth into the world in Christ’s name.  Our Collect is clearly inspired by the words from First Corinthians 2:9:  “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who have loved him,” which in turn could be viewed as a free translation of Isaiah 64:4.  The Collect has its roots in the Gallican missal.  It was originally positioned in the Sarum Rite for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity where it stayed through our 1928 BCP.  With further revisions, the Collect was relocated to its Easter position.  Marion Hatchett points out that in the Latin, there is a distinction between the two uses of the word “love.”  In the phrases, “…those who love,” and, “…that we, loving,” love is related to the verb “diligere” whose root is “to choose.”  The other use in, “…pour into our hearts such love,” stems from the familiar Latin “amor.”  The Result Clause holds out to us the extraordinary assurance that, “…we loving you in all things and above all things may obtain your promises which exceed all that we can desire.”  Perhaps in the coming days, we can all reflect and meditate on just what this passage means to us.  Clearly our basic desires are not materialistic; rather our goal is to belong to, and to be in a closer fellowship with God so that we may follow where he leads.

Here's the entire list of chants for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, from ChristusRex.org:

Hebdomada sexta paschæ Dominica
Introitus: Cf. Is. 48, 20; Ps. 65 Vocem iucunditatis (3m57.1s - 3708 kb) score

Alleluia I.:
                    (anno A) Io. 14, 18 Surrexit Christus et illuxit (2m40.8s - 2514 kb) score
                    (anno B) Io. 16, 28 Exivi a Patre (3m35.4s - 3368 kb) score
                    (anno C) Surrexit vel Exivi

Alleluia II.:
                    (anno A) Io. 14, 18 Non vos relinquam (3m32.2s - 3316 kb) score
                    (anno B) Io. 15, 16 Ego vos elegi (3m32.7 - 3326 kb) score
                    (anno C) Io. 14, 26 Spiritus Sanctus docebit vos (1m32.7s - 1450 kb) score

Offertorium: Ps. 65, 8.9.20 Benedicite, gentes (2m31.1s - 2364 kb) score

Communio:
                    (anno A) Io. 14, 18 Non vos relinquam orphanos (1m16.8s - 1202 kb) score
                    (anno B) Io. 15, 16 Ego vos elegi (58.6s - 918 kb) score
                    (anno C) Io. 14, 26 Spiritus Sanctus docebit vos (42.1s - 660 kb) score
 

And here are posts on Chant blog for some of these; it will take me a long time to get to all of them!

• Vocem iucunditatis  (The Introit for the Sixth Sunday in Easter) 
• Surrexit Christus, et illuxit nobis ("Christ is risen, and has illumined us") and Exivi a Patre ("I came from the Father"): The First Alleluia(s) for the Sixth Easter Sunday

 Here's Duccio's Christ Taking Leave of the Apostles, c. 1310:

A Rogation Days processional hymn: Ardua spes mundi (Ratpert († c.890))

The hymn Ardua spes mundi was apparently sung at Rogation Day processions, according to David Hiley's Western Plainchant. (The Rogation Days are the three weekdays prior to Ascension Day; we're in the middle of them now.)

Here is a recording of the hymn; Dominique Vellard conducts the Ensemble Gilles Binchois:



In a section on "Processional Hymns" (note that "versus" is another word for "hymn"), Hiley says:

Ratpert's Ardua spes mundi may serve as an example of the St. Gall versus....In the Rouen Cathedral manuscript (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, lat. 904, thirteenth century), from which [the illustration] is transcribed, both Ardua spes and Humili prece are sung in the procession before Mass on the Rogation Days leading up to Ascension Day (the weekdays following the fifth Sunday after Easter). In both chants, verses in honor of Rouen saints are added to those already present; Ardua spes invokes Romanus and Audoenus.  The same melody is used for the refrain and the strophes (some other processional hymns have two different melodies).

Other examples of "processional hymns" cited by Hiley are the more well-known Pange lingua and Crux fideles.  "Ratpert," who wrote this text, was a monk of St. Gall and a composer of liturgical poetry; according to BrillOnline, Ratpert:

(after 850 – before 912), was educated at Saint Gall Abbey and lived there as monk and teacher until his death. In the Middle Ages he was known as the author of liturgical poems in Latin, especially an All Saints Day litany. His Old High German Galluslied now survives only in the Latin retro-translation by Ekkehard IV. His Casus sancti Galli form the prelude to the Saint Gall house chronicle that was continued up to the 13th century.

These, I believe, are all the Latin words to Ardua spes mundi; they were incredibly hard to find!  Spes mundi is "hope of the world" - and Google Translate says that Ardua spes mundi translates as "towering hope of the world."  No English translation yet; working on it.

Ardua spes mundi solidator & incliti Coeli; Christe exaudi nos propitius samulos. Ardua spes mundi.

Virgo Dei genitrix rutilans in honore perennis Ora pro famulis sancta Maria tuis. Ardua spes mundi.

Angele summe Dei Michahel míserescito nostri Adiuvet & Gabrihel atque pius Raphahel. Ardua.

Aspice nos omnes clemens baptista lohannes. Petreque cum Paulo nos rege doctiloquo. Ardua.

Coetus apostolicus sit nobis sautor & omnis Ac parriarcharum propheticusque corus. Ardua.

Poscere nunc Stephanum studeamus carmine summunt

   Ut cum martyribus nos iuvet ipse pius. Ardua.

lnclyte Laurenti qui fiammas exuperasti

   Victor ab etherio nos miserere choro. Ardua.

Care Deo martyr patriae decus huius herile.

   Sancte Albane tuis esto savens meriris. Ardua.

Victor, Alexander meritis utrique beati

  Nobis orate de Domino veniam. Ardua.

Splendide Silvester Gregorie sancte magister.

  Nos quoque cum sociis serte iuvando polis. Ard.

O Martine De¡ conseil'or summe sacerdos

  Gemma sacerdotum auxilium ser ymon. Ardua.

O Benedicte Parer monachorum Galleque frater

  Cum reliquís Sanctis nos refovete polis. Ardua.

Maximo de Francis superis coniuncte catervis

  Sancte Othmare tuum laetifica populum. Ard.

lnclite Magne tuam clemens nunc inspice plebem

   Pontifices fidos ac reliquos famulos. Ardua.

Virgineos flores Agnes Agathesque ferentes

   Auxilio vestris addite nos soclis. Ardua.

His Waldburga comes nostras pia suscipe voces

  Nos & cum Dno protege sancta polo. Ardua.

Innocuos pueros resonemus laude peraclos

  Qui modo nos pueros dant resonare melos. Ard.

Omnes o sancti nostra succurrite vita!

Perque crucem sanctam salva nos Xpe redemror.  Omnes.

lra deque tua clemens nos eripe Christe. Omnes.

Nos peccatores audi te Christe rogamus. Omnes.

Ut pacem nobis dones te Christe rogamus. Omnes.

Crimen ut omne tuis solvas te Xpe rogamus. Oms.

Aurae ut temperiem dones te Xpe rogamus. Oms.

Ut fruges terrae dones te Xpe rogamus. Omnes.

Ut populum cunctum salves te Xpe rogamus. Oms.

Ecclesiamque tuam firmes te Xpe rogamus. Oms.

Fili celsithroni nos audi Christe rogamus. Omnes.

Agne Dei Patris nobis miserere pusillis. Omnes.

Christe exaudi nos o Kyrie ymon eleyson. Omnes.

The image in the YouTube video is from the St. Gall manuscript; below  are screenshots from that same manuscript of all four pages of this hymn.

Rogation Days

Here's Full Homely Divinity on these three pre-Ascension days.  We had a bit of a "Rogation Sunday" today (as suggested below):  special vestments were hung and worn; special collects read; holy water sprinkled round about the grounds; kids planted flowers and trees.

Beating the bounds in Victorian London

The Rogation Days, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, originated in Vienne, France (not Vienna, Austria), in 470 after a series of natural disasters had caused much suffering among the people. Archbishop Mamertus proclaimed a fast and ordered that special litanies and prayers be said as the population processed around their fields, asking God's protection and blessing on the crops that were just beginning to sprout. The Latin word rogare means "to ask", thus these were "rogation" processions. In an agricultural society, closely connected with the soil and highly vulnerable to the uncertainties of nature, this was an idea that took root quickly, and the custom spread around Europe and over to Britain. The Sunday before the Rogation Days came to be considered a part of Rogationtide (or "Rogantide") and was known as Rogation Sunday. The Gospel formerly appointed for that day was from John 16, where Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and ye shall receive.

Beating the bounds in Lambeth, 1961

While technically they were days of fasting, for which they were also known as "Grass Days," for the meatless meals that were enjoined, the Rogation Days developed into a popular festival, celebrating the arrival of spring and serving other purposes, as well. Other names for these days include "Gang Days," from the Anglo-Saxon gangen, "to go," and "Cross Days," both titles signifying the processions with crosses and banners around the countryside. In some parishes, the procession took more than one day and the whole business became an occasion for several days of picnics and revels of all sorts, particularly among those who trooped along at the fringes of the religious aspects of the procession.

Beating the bounds in Claverton, 1999

The route of the walk was around the boundaries of the parish, which was a civil as well as a religious unit. Thus, the processions were useful in teaching people, particularly the young, their parish boundaries. Known as "beating the bounds," the processions customarily stopped at boundary marks and other significant landmarks of the parish, such as a venerable tree, or a great rock, or perhaps a pond. The priest would read the Gospel and perhaps affix a cross to the landmark. Then the boys of the parish would suffer some indignity intended to help them remember the spot. Boys were bumped about against rocks and trees, thrown into the water, held upside-down over fences, thrown into bramble patches, or beaten with willow wands--and then given a treat in compensation. In later times, the marchers beat the boundary marker with the willow wands, beating the bounds, rather than the boys.

The reminder of boundaries had another important impact on communal life. In a poem by the 20th century American Robert Frost, the poet's neighbor asserts that "good fences make good neighbors." Boundaries are often very important in relationships. As members of parishes beat the bounds, they would often encounter obstructions and violations of boundaries. The annual beating of the bounds provided an opportunity to resolve boundary issues. It also led to the tradition of seeking reconciliation in personal relationships during Rogationtide. The sharing of a specially brewed ale, called Ganging Beer, and a mysterious pastry, called Rammalation Biscuits, at the end of the walk was a good way of sealing the reconciliation.

George Herbert gave the following good reasons to beat the bounds: 1) a blessing of God for the fruits of the field; 2) Justice in the preservation of the bounds; 3) Charitie, in living, walking and neighbourliy accompanying one another, with reconciling of differences at that time, if they be any; 4) Mercie, in relieving the poor by a liberal distribution of largess which at that time is or oght be made.

The custom of placing crosses on boundary markers and in the fields seems to derive from the fact that the Rogation Days fall near the old feast day of the Invention (or Finding) of the Cross. Crouchmas ("Cross-mass") was on May 3rd and it was the custom on that day to place crosses in fields and gardens as a way of blessing them and praying for them to be fruitful. While full Rogation processions are rare today, the blessing of crosses to be planted in the fields of the faithful is one of the ways the older customs survive.

Keeping the Rogation Days Today

Much of modern society has lost its direct connection with the soil, but this psychological distance does not lessen the actual dependence of all people on the gifts of nature. Furthermore, responsible stewardship of all of these gifts is increasingly being recognized as the concern of all people. Days of thanksgiving, harvest festivals, and the like are observed in many churches at the end of the growing season. The Rogation Days at the time of planting have become little more than a liturgical footnote in the American Prayer Book, but in these times of growing ecological concern the Church would do well to revive them.

Practically speaking, the revival of Rogation observances is likely to involve more people if they are part of a Sunday service. It should be added that, while the Sixth Sunday of Easter is the traditional day, some adaptation to the local season and climate would be appropriate. After all, there is little point in blessing fields and seeds for planting at the time when crops are being harvested in the southern hemisphere. Similarly, there will be many places where farms and rural countryside will not be the locale of processions and blessings. But even in urban churches there should be an awareness of our dependence upon the fruits and resources of the earth, of the ways in which resources are wasted, of the dangers of pollution, and of our responsibility for honest labor and industry.

A Rogation observance in church, then, can be the opportunity for a homily on the Christian stewardship of natural resources. Various symbols can be introduced into the liturgy to reinforce this theme. A procession around the whole parish might not be a possibility, but a procession around the church grounds, a local park, or a parishioner's farm would be appropriate. Parishioners can bring their own garden seeds to be blessed and crosses can be blessed for parishioners to take home and plant in their fields or gardens. Making the crosses would be a good project for the children of the church school or individual families. If the children made Easter gardens, the plants in them can be transplanted to either the parish garden or their family gardens at home, adapting some of the prayers below. Even though the Sunday readings no longer keep the Rogation theme, the hymns can. Hymns and canticles that fit the Rogation theme include, "O Jesus crowned with all renown", "Fairest Lord Jesus", "We plow the fields and scatter", "Now the green blade rises", "O worship the King", Benedicite, omnia opera, and Psalm 65.

Here are some elements and prayers for a Rogationtide expansion of the Eucharistic liturgy on Rogation Sunday or any day designated for the observance of Rogation themes:

At the Offertory

Expand upon the usual Offertory of the Eucharist. Seven elements might be presented by members of the congregation and placed upon the Altar:

money - the regular tithes and offerings;
bread - preferably a home-baked loaf (click here for some recipes);
wine - perhaps a bottle of table wine, rather than the usual Eucharistic wine;
soil - a wooden or earthenware bowl of soil;
water - in a clear vessel so that it may be seen;
seed - a bowl of seed, or a basket of various packaged seeds (notice might be
given beforehand for people to bring their own garden seed to be blessed
either at the Eucharist or at the procession afterwards);
crosses - a basket of small wooden or paper crosses.

When the elements are brought forward, or after they have been presented, sing this hymn to the tune Lancashire ("Lead on, O King eternal"):

We pray thee, therefore, Father, to take these gifts of ours
Ourselves, our lives, our labors, our thoughts, our words, our powers;
Though they all be unworthy to place upon Thy board
We know Thou wilt accept them through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As each element is received, an appropriate prayer is said:

At the presentation of money:
Accept, O Lord, our gifts of money, which represent the business of our daily lives:  Use them for the work of your Holy Church to carry out your mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of bread:
Almighty God our Savior, who in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth labored for daily bread: Accept this bread which is both the fruit of our work and the satisfaction of our needs, and so bless all our industry and necessity; for your sake. Amen.

At the presentation of wine:
We offer you, O Lord, this wine, the fruit of the vine: We pray that you will accept it, that it may become for us the Blood of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of soil:
Almighty Creator, we offer to you this soil in token of the fields and forests of our land on which we ask your blessing: We ask that the soil may be wholesome, the crops good, and that we may be faithful stewards of your mercies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


At the presentation of water:
O God, who brought forth life out of the waters of creation: Bless this offering of water and grant that there may be sufficient water to raise up good crops and to serve the needs of our industries; and may we drink of the Living Water to bring forth the fruit of godly living from the soil of our souls; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of seeds:
O Heavenly Father, who by your wondrous providence made all grass, herbs, and trees, each with seed after its own kind: Accept and bless our offering of seed to be planted throughout our parish, that the life in all seed sown may burst forth into fullness of its kind, according to your good creation, and especially the seed of your Word; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of crosses:
O God, whose blessed Son has promised that we need only to ask in order to receive: Accept and bless these crosses, and grant that in the fields where we place them they may stand as a sign of our unfailing trust in your bounty and as encouragement to all who see them to put their faith in your providence; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Rogation procession in Bedford, 1952

There's more at the link.

We sang some of the hymns suggested above, including "O Jesus crowned with all renown" - the one and only "Rogation Days" hymn in the 1982 hymnal.  And, a favorite of mine,  the beautiful "Fairest Lord Jesus"; it's sung in the video below by the children of Truro Cathedral.  (You can hear both of  these hymns on the May 5, 2013 service of Compline podcast from St. Mark's Seattle.  Obviously, they were celebrating Rogation Days, too!)