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| Köln, Erzbischöfliche Diözesan- und Dombibliothek, 215 (12th cent.), fol. 212v |
An amalgam of stanzas one and four of the anonymous 6th- or 7th-century hymn Primo dierum omnium, sometimes attributed to St. Gregory the Great, and assigned traditionally to Sunday Matins during the winter season. I have taken but two further slight liberties: "times" ("sacratissimo . . . tempore") is singular, and "having conquered death" ("morte victa") should read, literally, "death having been conquered". Though I have not taken this from a properly critical edition, the whole runs as follows:
Primo dierum omnium,
quo mundus exstat conditus
vel quo resurgens conditor
nos, morte victa, liberat,
Pulsis procul torporibus,
surgamus omnes ocius,
et nocte quaeramus pium,
sicut Prophetam novimus,
Nostras preces ut audiat
suamque dextram porrigat,
et hic piatos sordibus
reddat polorum sedibus,
Ut, quique sacratissimo
huius diei tempore
horis quietis psallimus,
donis beatis muneret.
Deo Patri sit gloria
eiusque soli Filio
cum Spiritu Paraclito,
in sempiterna saecula. Amen.
As translated at Universalis:
On this the first of all days,
When the world came forth created
And when, with death conquered,
The risen Creator frees us,
Having cast aside all sloth
Let us all arise with alacrity
And by night seek the merciful One
Whom we recognize as a prophet,
That he may attend to our prayers
And stretch out [to us] his right hand,
And, once cleansed of our sins,
Grant [us] a place in heaven,
That he may reward with blessed gifts
All who at the most hallowed
Time of this day,
Sing his praises in these quiet hours.
Glory be to God the Father
And to his only Son
With the Spirit Paraclete
For ever and ever. Amen.
As translated by Walsh and Husch (One hundred Latin hymns: Ambrose to Aquinas, Dumbarton Oaks medieval library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012), no. 38, pp. 147, 438-439, where Walpole, Early Latin hymns (1922), 262-263; Wieland, The Canterbury hymnal (1982), 24-25; and Milfull, The hymns of the Anglo-Saxon church (1982), 115-119 are also cited):
On this, the first day of all days
on which the world, being made, emerged,
on which the maker rose again
and freed us, having conquered death,
Let us, sloth driven far away,
rise all together urgently,
in darkness beg the holy one,
as we know the prophet did,
That he might hearken to our prayers
and offer unto us his hand,
and render us, here cleansed of filth,
unto the heavenly demesnes;
And that whoever on this day,
which is the holiest of all,
do hymn him in these hours of rest
be endowed by him with blessed gifts.
