Sunday, July 12, 2009

Carthusian Office of Our Lady

Thanks to Google Books, the Carthusian Breviary of 1717 may be consulted online; here are clips (click on them to bring them up in full) of the relevant nine pages giving the Office of Our Lady as recited by the holy monks of the Charterhouse, even to-day:












Note some of the intriguing items...

The hymns at Matins and Lauds are Carthusian versions of those used in the Ambrosian Rite:

MATINS

Mysterium Ecclesiae!
Hymnum Christo referimus,
Quem genuit Puerpera,
Verbum Patris in Filium.

Sola in sexu femina
Electa es in saeculo.
Quae meruisti Dominum
Sanctum portare in utero.

Vates antíqui temporis
Praedixerat quod factum est,
Quia Virgo conciperet
Et páreret Emmanuel.

Mysterium hoc magnum est,
Mariae quod concessum est,
Ut Deum, per quem omnia,
Ex se prodire cerneret.

Gloria tibi Domine,
Gloria Unigenito,
Una cum sancto Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula. Amen.

LAUDS

Vere gratia plena es
Et gloriosa pérmanes;
Quia ex te nobis natus est
Christus per quem sunt omnia.

Pastores, qui audierunt
Gloriam Deo cantarunt,
Cucurrérunt in Bethlehem
Natum vidére Dominum.

Sic Magi ab ortu solis,
Propter stellæ indicium,
Portantes typum Gentium,
Primi offerunt munera

Rogemus ergo, populi,
Dei Matrem et Virginem,
Ut ipsa nobis ímpetret
Pacem et indulgentiam.

Gloria tibi Domine,
Gloria Unigenito,
Una cum sancto Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula. Amen.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic, Josh! I never seem to be able to access Google Books when I do a search or something, but when I click on these pages I can view them. Hurray!