19 April, 2006

Lætare, cælum, desuper

After trying to write something about Easter, succeeding, and deciding that it was inappropriate for the weblog, I decided to add an Easter chant. It's a long one from the Office of Readings for Easter, and is to be used on ordinary weekdays as opposed to Sundays.

Lætáre, cælum, désuper,
appláude, tellus ac mare:
Christus resúrgens post crucem
vitam dedit mortálibus.
Rejoice from above, O Heaven!
Applaud, O Earth and Sea!
Rising again after the cross,
Christ has given life to mortals.
Iam tempus accéptum redit,
dies salútis cérnitur,
quo mundus Agni sánguine
refúlsit a calígine.
He has restored the acceptable time,
we now perceive the day of salvation;
cleaned by the blood of the Lamb,
it has glittered out of the gloom.
Mors illa, mortis pássio,
est críminis remíssio;
illæsa virtus pérmanet,
victus dedit victóriam.
That death, that anguish of death,
provides the remission of guilt;
his strength remaining unharmed,
the conquered one has made us conquerors.
Nostræ fuit gustus spei
hic, ut fidéles créderent
se posse post resúrgere,
vitam beátam súmere.
Herein the taste of our hope:
that the faithful might believe
themselves able to rise afterwards,
to obtain a blessed life.
Nunc ergo pascha cándidum
causa bonórum tálium
colámus omnes strénue
tanto repléti múnere.
Now therefore at Easter,
let us robe ourselves in white
to serve, filled with vigor,
for the sake of such good things.
Esto perénee méntibus
paschále, Iesu, gáudium,
et nos renátos grátiæ
tuis triúmphis ággrega.
O Jesus, let this Easter joy
remain present in our minds,
and add us to your triumphs
now that we have been reborn to grace.
Iesu, tibi sit glória,
qui morte victa prænites,
cum Patre et almo Spíritu,
in sémpiterna sæcula. Amen.
O Jesus, glory to you
who outshines conquered death,
with the Father and blessed Spirit,
for eternal ages. Amen.

2 comments:

Alessandra said...

Thanks Jack.

I have a Latin question regarding "tellus ac mare"

"ac" here is equal to a "et"?

jack perry said...

"ac" here is equal to a "et"?

Not entirely, but for the purposes of translation, yes. See this entry in Lewis and Short (thanks to Tufts University for the great source!) especially the remark, [ac] indicat[es] a close internal connection between single words or whole clauses; while et designates an external connection of diff. objects with each other.

I didn't know that when I was translating it, so thanks for asking the question :-)