The Original Verses of the Attende Domine

Attende Domine serves well as a motet in Lent. Owing to a reference I found online, I discovered that the Attende Domine was originally a neo-Gallican paraliturgical composition of the early nineteenth century, while the verses (together with their music) with which we are familiar (Ad te, Rex summe, etc.) were inserted about the turn of the twentieth century (when Solesmes restored the Gregorian chant) from the Mozarabic Rite, in place of the original verses (and their music), which had been derived from Scripture.

A quick search online revealed that the earliest book containing the original verses was dated 1811, and the latest, 1918.

Having finally found the original verses (and their music in Le paroissien romain... (1854), pp. 371-374) online, it is obvious that the Attende Domine was composed in imitation of the Rorate cæli; the clearest textual parallel is in verse 3 of the Rorate cæli, the relevant words being ut auferat jugum captivitatis nostræ, significantly enough not found in Scripture, but deriving from an Advent Magnificat antiphon, while others are in verse 2 (Peccavimus... ...iniquitatis nostræ) and verse 4 (popule meus... Dominus Deus tuus... Redemptor tuus).

Here are the original verses of the Attende Domine, in Latin and English, with the Scriptural references added:

R. Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

R. Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

1. Recordare, Domine, quid acciderit nobis (Lam. 5, 1); peccavimus cum patribus nostris, injuste egimus (Ps. 105, 6); multiplicatæ sunt super capillos capitis iniquitates nostræ (cf. Ps. 39, 13).

R. Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

2. Contristati sumus in exercitatione nostra et conturbati sumus a voce inimici et a tribulatione peccatorum (cf. Ps. 54, 3-4): in proximo est perditio nostra, et non est qui adjuvet (cf. Ps. 21, 12); formido mortis cecidit super nos (cf. Ps. 54, 5).

R. Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

3. Cor contritum et humiliatum ne despicias, Domine (cf. Ps. 50, 19): in jejunio et fletu (Joël 2, 12) te deprecamur nos (cf. 2 Par. 6, 37). Eleemosynam concludimus in sinu pauperum, et ipsa exorabit te pro nobis (cf. Eccli. 29, 15): convertimur ad te, quoniam multus es ad ignoscendum (cf. Is. 55, 7).

R. Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

4. Audi, popule meus, et considera (cf. Ps. 80, 9): vinea mea electa (cf. Jer. 2, 21), domus Israël (cf. Is. 5, 7): Ego te plantavi, quomodo facta est in amaritudinem? (Cf. Jer. 2, 21) expectavi ut faceres judicium, et ecce iniquitas, et justitiam, et ecce clamor (cf. Is. 5, 7).

R. Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

5. Revertere, revertere (cf. Eccli. 17, 23) ad Dominum Deum tuum (cf. Os. 14, 2), et auferam jugum captivitatis tuæ (cf. Magn. Aña., F. II infra Hebd. II Advent.); redimam te (Jer. 15, 21); lavabo iniquitates tuas in sanguine meo (cf. Apoc. 1, 5); et ero victima tua (?), et Redemptor tuus (Is. 41, 14; 49, 26; 54, 5; 60, 16).

R. Attende, Domine, et miserere, quia peccavimus tibi. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

******

R. Look down on us, O Lord, and take pity; for we have sinned against thee. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

R. Look down on us, O Lord, and take pity; for we have sinned against thee. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

1. Remember, O Lord, what is come upon us (Lam. 5, 1); we have sinned with our fathers: we have acted unjustly (Ps. 105, 6); and our iniquities are multiplied above the hairs of our head (cf. Ps. 39, 13).

R. Look down on us, O Lord, and take pity; for we have sinned against thee. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

2. We are grieved in our exercise; and we are troubled at the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of sinners (cf. Ps. 54, 3-4): our perdition is at hand, for there is no one to help us (cf. Ps. 21, 12); and the fear of death is fallen upon us (cf. Ps. 54, 5).

R. Look down on us, O Lord, and take pity; for we have sinned against thee. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

3. A contrite and humbled heart do not despise, O Lord (cf. Ps. 50, 19); in fasting and weeping (Joël 2, 12) we pray to thee (cf. 2 Par. 6, 37). Alms we will shut up in the heart of the poor, and it shall obtain help for us from thee (cf. Eccli. 29, 15). We return to thee; for thou art bountiful to forgive (cf. Is. 55, 7).

R. Look down on us, O Lord, and take pity; for we have sinned against thee. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

4. Hearken, O my people, and consider (cf. Ps. 80, 9), my chosen vineyard (cf. Jer. 2, 21), O house of Israel (cf. Is. 5, 7): I planted thee: how then art thou turned into bitterness? (Cf. Jer. 2, 21) And I looked that thou shouldst do judgement, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry (cf. Is. 5, 7).

R. Look down on us, O Lord, and take pity; for we have sinned against thee. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

5. Return, O return (cf. Eccli. 17, 23) to the Lord thy God (cf. Os. 14, 2), and I shall take away the yoke of thy captivity (cf. Magn. Aña., F. II infra Hebd. II Advent.); I shall redeem thee (Jer. 15, 21), and wash thy iniquities in my Blood (cf. Apoc. 1, 5); and I shall be thy Victim (?), and thy Redeemer (Is. 41, 14; 49, 26; 54, 5; 60, 16).

R. Look down on us, O Lord, and take pity; for we have sinned against thee. (Cf. Bar. 3, 2)

First Vespers of Candlemas

In the 1962 Breviaries (incl. the Dominican), Candlemas only has first Vespers if it fall on a Sunday - but, pro pia devotione, it seems good to read Vespers of St Ignatius of Antioch, and then Vespers of Candlemas as well.  

In the Dominican Office, Candlemas Eve Vespers is decorated with a beautiful Responsory and even a Prose – a unique survival of the mediæval practice of not just troping Kyries, or adding a Sequence after the Alleluia at Mass, but of taking up the last part of the melody of a Responsory, and adding a new poetic text to it: in this case, the Responsory is Gaude Maria Virgo, and the Prose is the Inviolata.

The words of the respond should seem familiar – the Tract used at Masses of Our Lady after Septuagesima uses the same text.  However, the versicle following is only used in the Office.

R/.  Gaude, Maria Virgo, cunctas hæreses sola interemisti, quæ Gabrielis Archangeli dictis credidisti: * Dum Virgo Deum et hominem genuisti, et post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti.  V/.  Gabrielem Archangelum scimus divinitus te esse affatum: uterum tuum de Spiritu Sancto credimus imprægnatum: erubescat Judæus infelix, qui dicit Christum ex Joseph semine esse natum. * Dum Virgo Deum et hominem genuisti, et post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti. Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui  Sancto.

(And immediately, without resuming the respond from the asterisk:)

Inviolata, intacta, et casta es Maria,

quae es effecta fulgida caeli porta.

O Mater alma Christi carissima,

suscipe pia laudum praeconia.

Nostra ut pura pectora sint et corpora,

te nunc flagitant devota corda et ora.

Tua per precata dulcisona,

nobis concedas veniam per saecula.

O benigna!

quae sola inviolata permansisti.

The Prose takes up inviolata, the second-last word of the Responsory, expands upon it, and concludes by repeating it and then at last singing the last word, permansisti.

This recension of the Inviolata is proper to the Order; the Roman version reads integra not intacta, reverses lines 5 and 6, and adds O Regina! O Maria! after benigna.

Candlemas, the Purification of Our Lady, the Presentation of Our Lord, the Meeting (Hypapante) of Our Lord in the Temple – a great feast, which some have argued to mystically represent the End of the Year of Grace: our entry, in Christ, into the Heavenly Temple, there to be hid forever with Christ in God.  We carry candles at the procession before Mass, calling to mind the Five Wise Virgins who husbanded their resources, equipped to go out and meet the Bridegroom with lamps burning bright when He came, and so worthy to enter into the Nuptial Feast before the doors were shut.