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)

The Advent Prose's Authorship

It seems unlikely that Prudentius (348-after 405, possibly c.413) compiled the Advent Prose Rorate cæli desuper, not least because St Jerome (c. 347-420) had only finished translating the Vulgate in 405, and the Advent Prose quotes the Vulgate (almost) word-for-word, while the Vulgate itself took some time in becoming accepted in the West; furthermore, the fourth stanza of the Prose, beginning Consolamini, quotes word-for-word from the first Responsory of Matins of the Second Sunday of Advent (omitting only Jerusalem and et liberabo te), and it is implausible that what became the Roman Breviary was already substantially in existence at the start of the fourth century.

Another candidate author for the Advent Prose is Pierre Cardinal de Berulle (1575-1629), founder of both the French Oratory (in 1611) and the so-called 'French School' of spirituality, a noted mystic.  However, I have yet to locate the Rorate cæli among his works. Instead, the third, less well-known candidate, seems the most likely: Father Bourget of the French Oratory, to whom are attributed both text and music. Some sources date his work to 1634, but others – especially the Franciscan Processional used at the Holy Sepulchre – to the year 1615.

If indeed the good Oratorian Père Bourget produced this plaintive composition in or about 1615, but shortly after the establishment of the Oratory of France by de Berulle, it is entirely possible that the latter's spiritual doctrine inspired the former. While I am more familiar with French Baroque music of the generations after this early date, I am aware that long Scriptural compilations set to music were quite rightly esteemed and produced at this period, and thus the sensibility of the Prose seems to fit this timeframe.

While at Paris at that time the old Parisian Breviary was still in use (not to be confused with the Neo-Gallican Paris Breviary later imposed in the early eighteenth century), this I expect would have been comparable, and indeed was increasingly being comformed, to the model of the Breviary, that is, the Roman, then newly reformed by order of the Council of Trent. I have therefore noted below not merely the Scriptural sources of the Prose, but also the passages of the Roman Breviary that if anything even more closely match to it:

THE ADVENT PROSE

R/. Rorate cæli desuper, et nubes pluant justum.

[Is 45:8ab (versicle at Adv. Vespers, & Lauds Aña. 1, Tue. before Christmas Vigil, Brev. Rom.)] 

1. Ne irascaris Domine, ne ultra memineris iniquitatis: ecce civitas Sancti facta est deserta: Sion deserta facta est: Jerusalem desolata est: domus sanctificationis tuæ et gloriæ tuæ, ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri.

[Is 64:9a,b,10,11ab – abbrev. of Lectio iii, 4th Adv. Thu. (Brev. Rom.), except tuæ for nostræ in both places] 

2. Peccavimus, et facti sumus tamquam immundus nos, et cecidimus quasi folium universi: et iniquitates nostræ quasi ventus abstulerunt nos: abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis, et allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostræ.

[Is 64:5c; Is 64:6a,cd,7cd – abbrev. of Lectio ii, 4th Adv. Thu. (Brev. Rom.), except tamquam for ut] 

3. Vide Domine afflictionem populi tui, et mitte quem missurus es: emitte Agnum dominatorem terræ, de petra deserti ad montem filiæ Sion ut auferat ipse jugum captivitatis nostræ. 

[Abbrev. of R/. iii. 1st Adv. Fri., Brev. Rom. (cf. Ex 3:7a; Ex 4:13b); Is 16:1 (Lauds Aña. 2, Tue. before Christmas Vigil, Brev. Rom.); cf. 14:25d; cf. var.] 

4. Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus: cito veniet salus tua: quare mœrore consumeris, quia innovavit te dolor? Salvabo te, noli timere, ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus, Sanctus Israël, Redemptor tuus. 

[Is 40:1a (abbrev. of Bened. Aña, 4th Adv. Thu.); abbrev. of R/. i of 2nd Sun. of Adv. (cf. var.; cf. Micah 4:9a,d; cf. var.; cf. Is 43:3ab)]

It is amusing that the English version adapted for Anglican use replaces the third verse with another, taken directly from the King James version of Isaiah 43:10a,11,13b (verses not read at all during Advent in the Roman Breviary) —

Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know me and believe me: I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour: and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

This variant has now been accepted into Catholic communion, as it is given in the new Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham. For amusement's sake, I have rendered this into Latin, using the Vulgate:

Vos testes mei, dicit Dominus, et servus meus quem elegi: ut sciatis, et credatis mihi, Ego sum, ego sum Dominus, et non est absque me salvator: et non est qui de manu mea eruat.

One and a Half Masses

Again I was ad hoc choirmaster - totally without qualifications! - this morning at our 9.15 Missa cantata, as Fr had arranged with me.  Luckily for people's ears, he'd arranged with one of the ladies to psalm-tone the Propers, and she was glad to intone all the items we sang except for one or two, which means that they soon will be able to sing the Mass on their own.  

It had been decided by Fr Rowe that it was best to sing the well-known Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus Dei, plus the Benedicamus Domino, from Mass VIII (de Angelis), paired as usual with Credo III (it would have been nice to sing Mass XVII, but we don't know it, nor does the congregation); and we again sang Knox's translation of the Veni, veni Emmanuel, split into two parts, for processional and recessional.  My only contribution was to choose the Advent Prose Rorate cæli to attempt at the Offertory (we four had some practice beforehand, and it went alright, albeit a bit wobbly), and at Communion we sang the Vesper hymn Creator alme siderum, plus the Advent anthem Alma Redemptoris Mater.  It was a quick service: Mass was over within an hour.

Now, I like to daydream, and given my taste in music (as opposed to my lack of ability therein), this is what I'd wish to hear:

If only I could have been transported to some High Baroque church, for Solemn High Mass with such music!  Anyhow, back to reality...

Before Mass, I'd fitted in Lauds, and for thanksgiving afterward said Prime, then, having put my Liber Usualis and Missal back in the car, walked around the grounds of the adjoining school while saying Terce, before joining the usual suspects for coffee and a snack.  We broke up from our chat at half eleven, so I wandered back to the Pro., arriving at the ecphonesis of the Secret, and knelt in my spot next to the organ for the rest of the Low Mass, taking the chance to pray Sext and then, turning back, Matins, which I was very grateful to get through.

Fr Rowe preached this Sunday on St Ambrose, since to-day, the 7th, is his feast (although it is supplanted this year by the Sunday Mass and Office), and, like St John the Baptist, Ambrose is a great role model for us as no mere "reed shaken by the wind", but a man of action, persuasion, prayer, penance and authority, teaching us how we must work hard, pray hard, "rebuke, entreat, exhort in season and out of season" even at the cost of worldly embarrassments, confess our sins and wisely direct those placed in our charge, if we be parents, persons with responsibilities for others at work, or clergy as the great Milanese bishop was.  Especially we ought heed his axiom: "Patient endurance is the perfection of charity".  Our new recruit Ambrose was delighted to get a sermon on his patron on this his name-day!

Advent Prose

Apparently Cardinal de Bérulle is behind the Advent Prose Rorate cæli, this compilation of texts from Isaias (and elsewhere, such as Exodus), on a penitential, yet Messianic theme, reflecting our wavering between hope and fear:

Is 45:8ab

R/. Rorate caeli desuper,
et nubes pluant justum.  

(Bedew us, heaven, from above;
ye clouds rain down the Just One.)

[Repeat R/. here and after each verse.]

Is 64:9a,b, 10, 11ab

1. Ne irascaris Domine,
ne ultra memineris iniquitatis:
ecce civitas Sancti facta est deserta:
Sion deserta facta est: Jerusalem desolata est:
domus sanctificationis tuae et gloriae tuae,
ubi laudaverunt te patres nostri. 

(Withhold thy wrath from us, O Lord,
and remember no more our evil doing.
Lo, the city of the Holy One is made a desert,
Sion a desert is become: Jerusalem waste and desolate:
the house of thy hallowing presence and of thy glory,
where of old our fathers sang thy praises.)

Is 64:5c; Is 64:6a,cd, 7cd 

2. Peccavimus, / et facti sumus tamquam immundus nos,
et cecidimus quasi folium universi:
et iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerunt nos:
abscondisti faciem tuam a nobis,
et allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostrae.

(We all have sinned, and are become like unto one unclean.
We have fallen low, as a dying leaf falls earthward;
and our iniquities, as a wind have swept us swiftly far.
Thou hast hidden thy face from us, thy people;
thou hast broken us by the weight of our own sinning.)

Cf. Ex 3:7a; Ex 4:13b; Is 16; cf. 14:25d; cf. various

3. Vide Domine afflictionem populi tui, /
et mitte quem missurus es: /
emitte Agnum dominatorem terrae,
de petra deserti ad montem filiae Sion /
ut auferat ipse jugum / captivitatis nostrae.

(Behold, O Lord, the affliction of thy people.
Send quickly him who is to come.
Send forth the Lamb who rules all earthly kingdoms,
from Petra in the desert, to the Mount of the daughter of Sion;
that he may take away the grievous yoke of our subjection.)

Is 40:1a; R/. i of 2nd Sunday of Advent 

(cf. various; cf. Micah 4:9a,d; 

cf. various; cf. Is 43:3ab)

4. Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus: /
cito veniet salus tua: / quare moerore consumeris,
quia innovavit te dolor? / Salvabo te, noli timere, /
ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus,
Sanctus Israel, Redemptor tuus. 

(Be ye comforted, be ye comforted, O ye my people:
for most speedily comes salvation. Why are ye consumed
with sorrowing, so that your grief has quite transformed you?
I come to save, be no more fearful. For know ye not that I am
your God and Master, Israel’s Holy One, your sole Redeemer.)

We sang this at the Offertory at Mass this Sunday (excepting the last verse, for lack of time, lest we keep Fr Rowe waiting at the altar). I also noticed, while saying Matins, that the fourth verse is taken, except for its first line, from the first Responsory of this Sunday's Office, slightly abbreviated.