Visitation, Dominican Rite

Today the Dominican Breviary and Missal supply excellent proper prayers, different to the Roman orations, for the feast of the Visitation of Our Lady. (I take the translations, with alterations, from The Saint Dominic Missal, published in 1959.)

The Collect:

Omnipotens et misericors Deus, majestatem tuam suppliciter exoramus, ut sicut Unigenitum tuum per visitationem et salutationem Genitricis ejus puero clauso in utero revelasti; ita meritis ejusdem Genitricis, et precibus, ipsum nos facias revelata facie perpetuo contemplari. Qui tecum vivit et regnat...

(Almighty and merciful God, we humbly beseech thy majesty, that as thou didst make known thine Only-begotten Son through the visit and greeting of his mother to* the child as yet unborn; so likewise thou wouldst grant to us, by the merits and prayers of the same mother, to see him with unveiled face unto all eternity: who liveth and reigneth with thee...)

[* TSDM has "to", reading puero clauso as dative, which I initially misread as signifying "by", thinking of puero clauso as ablative: but of course the former is correct, as it refers to the reaction to the greeting of Our Lady on the part of the unborn Baptist as yet in his mother's womb.]

The Secret:

Omnipotens sempiteme Deus, qui de omnibus in te confidentibus curam semper habes, præsta quæsumus, ut per oblationem, quam tibi offerimus, visitationem spiritualem beatæ Mariæ Virginis in nostris necessitatibus semper sentiamus. Per Dominum...

(Almighty and eternal God, who carest for all such as trust in thee, grant, we beseech thee, that through this offering we make to thee, we may always feel the spiritual visitation of the blessed Virgin Mary in all our needs: through our Lord...)

The Postcommunion:

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui commemorationem visitationis beatissimæ Mariæ Matris Dei fieri voluisti; præsta quæsumus, ut per hoc sacrificium, quod sumpsimus, ab ejus visitationis gratia nullatenus excidamus. Per eumdem Dominum...

(Almighty and eternal God, who didst will us to make a commemoration of the visitation of the most blessed Mary, Mother of God; grant, we beseech thee, that through this sacrifice, which we have received, we may never fall from the grace of her visitation: through the same our Lord...)

Dominican Sequence for St Mary Magdalen

The Dominican Missal of 1603 is online, and it contains (on pages 308 to 309) the following delightful Sequence for the feast of St Mary Magdalen (herself referred to as Apostolorum Apostola in the Benedictus Antiphon of the feast according to the Dominican Breviary):

1. Monti Sion dat virorem, 

Ros Hermon, et viror florem,

Fecundum in gratia.

2. Ad honorem Magdalenæ,

Roris hujus imbre plenæ,

Cuncta spirent gaudia.

3. Rigans montes gratiarum,

Ad convallem lacrymarum,

Ros cælestis effluit.

4. Ibi jacens Magdalena,

Lacrymarum imbre plena,

Christi pedes abluit.

5. Abluentis cor fecundat,

Et tergentis corpus mundat,

A culparum sordibus.

6. Mandat pacem osculanti,

Et unguentis abundanti,

Largus est muneribus.

7. Auster fugans aquilonem,

Lux illustrans rationem,

In amorem perfecit.

8. Grande signum pietatis,

Mox purgatam a peccatis,

Sibi sponsam efficit.

9. Dulcis luctus, dulcis clamor,

Dulcis magis ardens amor,

In tali connubio.

10. A dilecti nulla forte, 

Nec in vita, nec in morte,

Lassatur obsequio.

11. Lugens astat morienti,

Sed congaudet resurgenti,

Ejus narrans gloriam.

12. Et regnantem confitetur,

Dum in rupe profitetur,

Vitam solitariam.

13. Novis modis ibi rapta,

Novis demum donis aucta,

Sponsi gaudet præmiis.

14. Ad hanc partem quam elegit,

Ducat nos qui mundum regit,

Ejus patrociniis. Amen.

Sequences for St Peter Martyr and St Catherine of Siena

Having recently downloaded a pdf of the 1603 Dominican Missal (as one does), I have transcribed the Sequences for St Peter Martyr (whose feast was yesterday) and St Catherine of Siena (whose feast is today):

Sequentia S. Petri Martyris

1. Adest dies celebris, quo lumen de tenebris, exortum emicuit.

2. Nam ab infidelibus, Petrus dispar moribus, ortus mundo claruit.

3. Mundum mundus abjicit, ordini se subjicit Evangelizantium.

4. Fit salutis speculum‚ morumque spectaculum, vas virtutum omnium.

5. Сarnis pudicitiam, et baptismi gratiam, conservat viriliter.

6. Verbi semen seminat, errores exterminat, verbo pugnans fortiter.

7. Dum non cedit hostibus, resistens erroribus, justi sanguis funditur.

8. A profanis manibus Sanctus diris ictibus, invasus occiditur.

9. Сhristi factus hostia, cæli transit ostia, cum palma martyrii.

10. Sempiterna gaudia, possidet cum gloria, ter centeni præmii.

11. Мorbi, mors, dæmonia, Petri per suffragia, depelluntur penitus.

12. Credit plebs incredula, videns hæc miracula, fieri divinitus.

13. Nobis ergo veniam, det Deus et gratiam‚ Petri prece sedula.

14. Et post hanc miseriam, largiatur gloriam, per æterna sæcula. Alleluja.

Sequentia S. Catharinæ Senensis

1. Lux advenit veneranda, laus in choris jubilanda, piis cunctis cordibus.

2. Hujus læta lux diei, festum refert sponsæ Dei, dedicandum laudibus.

3. Hæc de Senis oriunda, virgo munda Catharina, justis ex parentibus.

4. Mundum, carnem, hostem fregit, et triumphum victrix egit, ornata virtutibus.

5. Matrem Christi venerandam, omni gradu salutandam, lustro primo didicit.

6. Multis sanctis circumcinctum, se benedicentem Christum, virgo sancta conspicit.

7. Virginalis vitæ votum, Deo spondet quam devotum, ætatis septennio.

8. Ob hoc virgo tribulatur, sed a Deo liberatur, columbæ indicio.

9. Regularis vitæ ritum amplexatur institutum, a sancto Dominico.

10. Hunc adepta virgo sancta, mox vita claret miranda, Deo placens unico.

11. O quam chara, quam accepta, Christo Regi est effecta, ob præclara merita!

12. Nam ab ipso visitari, et de cunctis edoceri, solebat frequentius:

13. Hinc in sponsam subarrhari, et in fidem desponsari, meruit cum gloria.

14. Quis condigne potest fari, quave lingua explicari, fletus et suspiria.

15. Quæ fraterna pro salute, Jesu sponso cum virtute, emittebat sæpius.

16. Ut peccanti creaturæ, et Redemptor suo jure, fieret propitius.

17. Christi corpus venerandum, sic ducebat frequentandum, magno desiderio.

18. Ut si sibi licuisset, omni die id sumpsisset, pro sui remedio.

19. Dulce signum charitatis, dum amator castitatis, cor mutat in virgine.

20. Quo sic flagrat, sic movetur, ut dilectum contempletur, in cælorum cardine.

21. A quo sane nulla sorte, nec in vita nec in morte, separari patitur.

22. Sed in eum tota rapta, et a terra sublevata, Deo vero fruitur.

23. Tandem Christus dulcis sponsus, pio cordi sic conjunctus, sponsæ suæ nobilis.

24. Claram miris prodigiis, sacris ornat studiis, vitæ donas gaudia.

25. Jesu bone, Jesu dulcis, qui ad lumen cæcos ducis, sponsæ tuæ precibus.

26. Nos purgatos a peccatis, fac regnare cum beatis, omnibus temporibus.

27. Tuque virgo Deo digna, mitis, clemens et benigna, precibus nos refove.

28. Nec oblita pietatis, ad conspectum Deitatis, populum hunc promove. Alleluja.