Summe Rex Christe (Summi regis archangele)

Here is my translation of the Sequence for Michaelmas according to Keuchenthal, et al (1573), as corrected by Bonnus from the original Latin (probably of Alcuin or Notker). The corrections in the middle and end represent quite a departure, and distort the meter of the original. I have restored that meter in the translation, but followed Bonn’s sense. I include the Latin in corrected form and original below.
 
 CHRIST, HIGH King of all the angel company!
1b. We beseech Thee, hear our voices raised to Thee.

2a. Thee we confess o’er every other,
The Head of all the heav’nly progeny;
2b. Oh, intercede before Thy Father
To send us help in need and misery.

3a. By the Father Thou art given
As a Prince all pow’r from heaven
Sinful souls to save, and to deliver us.
3b. We beseech Thee, who hast made us:
Send Thy holy hosts to aid us
Let them hedge us round about and cover us,

4a. Lest the world and Satan
Have the pow’r to do us harm,
And from the one true faith our spirit charm;
4b. But Thy Word let prosper,
And be taught in truth aright,
As it is taught before God’s holy sight.

5a. Guard us by Thine angels’ keeping,
In waking and in sleeping,
Keep our hearts humble all,
Lest in presumption we should slip and fall,
5b. As of old the wicked devil
With all his spirits evil
Fell from their heav’nly claim,
And angels good foul demons thus became.

6a. Hear us, O Christ, true God,
Mighty Redeemer:
From every wicked plot
And the deceiver
Keep and preserve us ’neath Thy shelt’ring wing
Through the true angels who forever sing,
6b. “Salvation to the King,
Our Lord forever!”
Our highest thanks we bring
To God the Father,
Who gave us wretches Christ, and in life’s ill
By all His holy angels keeps us still,——and forever.

Translation © 2013 Matthew Carver.

LATIN (BONNUS)

1a. Summe Rex Christe Angelorum omnium.
1b. Intende quaesumus nostris precibus.

2a. Te namque profitemur esse
supernorum civium Principem.
2b. Tu Patrem obsecrà pro nobis
ut mittat auxilium miseris.

3a. Principalis est potestas
a Patre tibi donata,
peccantes salvificare animas.
3b. Ut jubeas, petimus,
Angelos sanctos pro nobis
agere excubias omni tempore,

4. Ne quid Satan et mundus
nocere nobis possint,
in his quae sunt verae fidei.
4b. Et ut tuum verbum
feliciter recteque doceatur,
tanquam in conspectu Dei.

5a. Fac ut Angelorum praesidio
servemur in humilitate spiritus,
ne in praesumptionem prolabamur.
5b. Sic enim pravi spiritus
e coelis olim ceciderunt, 
ex Angelis bonis mali facti Daemones.

6a. Audi nos, Christe redemptor,
et defende nos
contra fallaces
horum insidias,
per Angelos pios, qui semper canunt,
6b. Laus sit Regi Domino.
Agimus summas coelesti
gratias Patri, qui Christum
pro nobis dedit,
et per sanctos Angelos
tuetur nos miseros in tantis malis hujus vitae.

LATIN (ORIGINAL)

1a. Summi Regis archangele Michahel
1b. Intende quaesumus nostris precibus.

2a. Te namque profitemur esse
 supernorum principem civium.
2b. Tu Deum obsecra pro nobis
 ut mittat auxilium miseris.

3a. Principalis est potestas
 a Domino tibi data
peccantes salvificare animas.
3b. Idem tenes perpetuo
 principatum paradisi
omnes civis te honorant superi.

4a. Tu in templo Dei
turibulum aureum
visus es habuisse manibus.
4b. Inde scandens vapor
aromatum plurimus
pervenit ante conspectum Dei.

5a. Quando cum dracone magnum
perfecisti proelium
faucibus illius
animas abstraxisti plurimas.
5b. Hinc maximum agebatur
in caelo selentium
milia milium
dicebant salus regi Domino.

6a. Audi nos, Michahel,
angele summe
huc parum descende
de poli sede
nobis ferendo opem Domini
atque levamen indulgentiae
6b. Tu nostros Gabrihel
hostes prosterne;
tu Raphahel, aegris
affer medelam,
morbos absterge, noxas minue,
nosque fac interesse gaudiis (7.)  beatorum.

Gib Fried zu unsrer Zeit, o Herr (Updated Tune)

Update: Added proper tune from Keuchenthal, Kirchen-Gesenge (1573).

Here is my translation of the German Da pacem “Gib Fried zu unsrer Zeit, o Herr” by Wolfgang Köpfel (Capito), 1533, which was translated early on by the English minister Edmund Grindal, 1561, who preached some time in Germany. The melody is the contemporaneous “Durch Adams Fall.”


GRANT PEACE in our time, Lord, we pray;
By threats we are surrounded;
The foe longs only for the day
When Christ’s name is confounded,
And fain would chase from every place
,
O Lord, Thy worship wholly.

Thy Church sustain by might and main:

In need Thou helpest solely.

2. Grant peace, for we by faithless will
And wicked life have lost it.

Thy Word Thou hast bestowed, and still

We fight it and accost it:

For some would chase this saving grace,

And some, through senseless motion,
With lips confess its truthfulness,
Yet lack all true devotion.

3. Grant peace! To us Thy Spirit send,
To work remorse and sorrow
For all our sin; our heart amend
In Christ to rise each morrow,
So that Thy grace may rout and chase
All shame and desecration,
All strife put down, Lord, and Thy crown
Be owned by every nation.

Translation © Matthew Carver, 2010.

GRINDAL 1561:

1. Give peace in these our days, O Lord,

Great dangers are now at hand;

Thine enemies with one accord

Christ’s Name in every land

Seek to deface, root out and rase,

Thy true right worship indeed.

Be Thou the Stay, Lord, we Thee pray.

Thou helpest alone in all need.

2. Give us that peace that we do lack,

Through misbelief, and in ill life.

Thy Word to offer Thou dost not slack,

Which we unkindly gainstrive.

With fire and sword, this healthful Word

Some persecute and oppress.

Some with the mouth confess the truth

Without sincere godliness.

3. Give peace and us Thy sprite down send

With grief and repentance true;

Do piece our hearts our lives to amend,

And by faith Christ renew;

That fear and dread, war and bloodshed,

Through Thy sweet mercy and grace,

May from us slide, Thy truth abide,

And shine in every place.

GERMAN

1. Gib Fried zu unsrer Zeit, o Herr,
groß Noth ist jetzt vorhanden;
der Feind begehrt nichts anders mehr
denn daß er bring zu Schanden
den Namen Christ und dämpf mit List
wahrn Gottesdienst auf Erden.
Solchen erhalt durch dein Gewalt;
du hilfst allein in Gfährden.

2. Gib Fried, den wir verloren han
durch Unglaub und bös Leben.
Dein Wort hast uns geboten an,
dem wir all widerstreben.
Denn wir zum Theil dies unser Heil
mit frevler Gwalt austreiben,
zum Theil ohn Grund—bekennens rund—
ohn hertzlich Frommsein bleiben.

3. Gib Fried, auch deinen Geist uns send,
der unser Herz durch Reue
und herzlich Leid um unsre Sünd [und Leid um unsre Sünd behend]
in Jesus Christ erneue,
aufdaß dein Gnad all Schand und Schad,
all Furcht und Kriegsgefährde
von uns abkehr, dadurch dein Ehr
bei allem Volk groß werde.

O heiliger Vater, gütiger Herr

Here is my translation of a Sanctus hymn, “O heiliger Vater, gütiger Herr,” which is a Bohemian Brethren work that builds on the text of angelic hymn to the Trinity & the Benedictus est (“Blessed is He, or the Paschal Lamb, that cometh in the name of the Lord” ). The melody is from a 15th c. Sanctus setting in the 1st mode, as appointed for chief festivals in the Bohemian churches. I include the relevant entry from Thannabaur, Das einstimmige Sanctus . . . p. 130. And here is a good performance of the original Sanctus with the Trope "Gaude quam magnificat."

 

O HOLY Father, bright / with grace’s light,
Creator, source of might,
Thou only God, / Lord of Sabaoth,
Thy grace is worthy of all laud.

2. The hosts around Thy throne / Thy pow’r make known,
And joyfully intone
With one accord / that great hymn adored:
The Holy, Holy, Holy Lord!

3. For heaven, earth, and sea / are utterly
Filled with Thy majesty,
Thy glorious praise / shines with peerless rays
O Lord and God of endless days!

4. O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, / Thy shoulder broad
Bore all our sinful load:
Thy off’ring hath / stilled the Father’s wrath,
And freed us from eternal death.

5. O Jesus, thanks to Thee / that now we see
Thy peace eternally.
This hope we bear: / we that peace will share
In heav’n with Thee fore’er and e’er.

Translation © 2013 Matthew Carver.

GERMAN

1. O heiliger Vater
gütiger Herr
allmächtiger Schöpfer
einiger Gott
Herre Zebaoth,
groß ist deine Güt und Wohltat.

2. Die himmlisch Gesellschaft
rühmet dein Kraft,
und singt fröhlich mit Macht,
Heilig, heilig,
heilig und ewig
bist du, Herre Gott allmächtig.

3. Denn Himmel, Erd und Meer,
ist deiner Ehr
überall erfüllt sehr,
voller Klarheit
ist dein Herrlichkeit,
O Herre Gott in Ewigkeit

4. Christe, Gottes Lämmlein,
du hast allein,
mit deinem Opfer rein,
uns durch dein Tod
versöhnet mit Gott
und erlöst aus ewiger Not.

5. Des dankn wir dir, Jesu,
denn du bringst nu
uns zu ewiger Ruh,
hoffend, daß wir
auch werden mit dir
dieselb besitzen für und für.

Psallite Regi nostro, psallite

Here is my translation of the sequence “Psallite Regi nostro, psallite” for the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist. The text, originally by Gottschalk (Gottescalcus), I take in its slightly amended form, along with the music, from Ludecus (1589) p. 29ff., which represents a transposition from the original mode.

SING PRAISES! Sing ye praises to our King!
Sing praises! Sing praises, wisely sing!

2. For the psalt’ry mild
Meets the harp with a joyful tone
2b. As the Virgin’s child
By the barren one’s child is known.

3a. His body sounding,
He strummed in the temple of the Lord,
3b. In manhood proving
What first he confessed by infant chord.

4a. By mortifying
Members and body
That earthly are, and teaching others in this,
4b. A folk supplying
For Christ made ready,
John was the voice that cried in the wilderness.

5a. Yet though that Voice accused,
Vicious Herod still refused
In goodness to be taught.
5b. Never that Voice was stilled:
Even till John’s blood was spilled,
Ever that foe he fought:

6a. “It is not lawful to rob thy brother
And for thy spouse take that of another,
Sin’s passions then smother!
From thine error turn.
Do not God’s commandment spurn!”
6b. As a deaf serpent, Herod would harm him
Who with his voice seeks wisely to charm him.
The king, to disarm him,
Doth the prophet find,
And within his prison bind.

7a. John in gloom reclineth,
Lamplike he shineth,
Friend of all light’s true Patrician.
7b. Herod, sin accruing,
Worldy joys pursuing,
Proves but the son of perdition

8a. The harlot spurreth,
Her daughter twirleth,
The King demands the saint beheaded,
8b. And to his daughter
Serveth the slaughter,
The saintly head of him he dreaded.

9a. But how doth the righteous perish,
As though God His saint did not cherish?
9b. Such a death is ever precious
In the sight of God, who is gracious.

10a. In spirit we well perceive,
Great was the saint we grieve!
So akin in his work, behavior,
And death, to His Savior.
10b. For just as to death of shame
They would the Bridegroom damn,
They the friend of the Bridegroom rightly
Damn to death unsightly.

11a. From bondage carnal
To heav’n eternal
High swinging,
The angels bore that angel singing,
11b. Grant us, o Jesus,
To sing Thee praises
In honor
Of St. John Thy Forerunner,

12. That, having spurned Herod’s table,
We also may be able
At Thy feast to receive Thee,
And all praise ever give Thee.

Translation © 2013 Matthew Carver.

LATIN

In die decollationis Johannis Baptistae Sequentia
de Gottschalk

1. Psallite Regi nostro, psallite,
psallite, psallite prudenter.

2a. Nam psalterium
est jucundum cum cithara,
2b. Nato virginis,
quo psallens natus sterilis.

3a. Citharam carnis
percussit in domo Domini.
3b. Dum, quod sonabat
clamando, docuit vivendo,

4a. Mortificando,
quae super terram sunt, membra
et hoc alios docendo,
4b. Praeparans Christo
plebem perfectam Johannes,
vox clamantis in deserto.

5a. Sed vox haec impium
Herodem, quem corripit,
minime corrigit.
5b. Haud tamen tacuit,
sed ad usque sanguinem
sceleri restitit.

6a. Non licet, inquit, te fratris tui
habere conjugem, raptam ei: [=sibi]
peccasti, quiesce:
poenitentibus
sic praecepit Dominus.
6b. Vocem incantantis sapienter
Herodes, ut aspis surda, spernit:
ut justum, ut sanctum
Johannem timet,
quem vinxit in carcere.

7a. Sedet in tenebris
lucerna, lucis
amicus omnipotentis.
7b. Studet deliciis
mundi principis
filius perditionis.

8a. Meretrix suadet,
puella saltat,            [nata precatur,]
Rex jubet,
sanctus decollatur.
8b. Dat rex saltanti
caput Johannis,
qui sanctus
ante fit, quam natus.

9a. En, quomodo perit justus,
quasi non sit Deo dilectus,
9b. Cum sit ejus pretiosa
mors haec in conspectu Domini.

10a. Nos corde percipimus,
qualis et quantus est,
quia vicinus dignitate     [convicinus…]
Christo fit [sit] et morte.
10b. Nam morte turpissima
damnatur sponsus, et                    (L. has “sponsus, spon- // si et…’)
sponsi amicum damnant recte
morte turpissima.

11a. Carcere carnis
ductum, quem ferunt
psallendo
coelis Angeli Angelum.
11b. Et nos in terris
tibi psallere
fac, Christe,
in memoriam Baptistae.

12. Herodis spreta
quo mensa
altaris tui mensa
ipsum te, dum sumimus,
semper tibi psallamus.

Congaudent angelorum

Here is my translation of “Congaudent angelorum,” sung by the church as the Sequence for the Assumption (et al.), as corrected by Hermann Bonnus and found in Ludecus’ cantionale (1589). Included with Bonnus’ Latin are the variants from the original text before the evangelical corrections. These consist mainly of amending Marian adoration to reverence (in accord, e.g., with early councils), and, toward the end of the Sequence, redirecting invocatory language from Mary to Christ. Interestingly, this Sequence was general for the Assumption throughout German lands, whereas the Sarum use employed three special Sequences along with the other Marian ones throughout the Octave.

IN COMMON celebration
Angels joy in Mary glorified,

2a. Who without relation
Of mortal man, her Son supplied,
2b. Who restores creation
By His body’s healing tide.

3a. For now this Virgin’s heart rejoices
To see the Man as heaven’s Prince
3b. That once amid the manger noises
Received from her His sustenance.

4a. How angels sing the splendor
 Of Jesus’ mother, Mary honoring!
4b. Who, owning fealty, render
Their faithful service to Her Son, the King.

5a. How brightly in heaven
They the virgin maid revere,
  Whose body was given
To their Lord a lodging dear,
And as a chamber free from stain!
5b. How fair is the shining
Of the sea-star in the heights, Who, humbly inclining,
Bore the Light above all lights,—
Light of all spirits, stars, and men!

6a. The King of all heaven,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
  By all His humble church adored,
6b. Who ever is given
Songs of sweet accord,
  With all the hosts on high outpoured.

7a. Whom sacred scriptures sweetly frame,
Prophets as in chorus joyful name,
Clerics and apostles jointly
And the holy martyrs all proclaim,
7b.  Whom man and maiden own the Way,
With their crosses foll’wing day to day,
Both in faith and true affection
Emulating saints above the fray.

8a. All Thy church, in spirit soaring,
Thee with hymns adoring,
Calling Thee most highly prized,
8b. Faith before Thee thus revealing,
Humbly to Thy heart appealing,
  Beseeches Thee to hear, O Jesus Christ,

9. That Thou wouldst forever deign
From Thy Father to obtain
Help by Thy pray’rs all-availing.

Translation © 2013 Matthew Carver.

LATIN (LUDECUS 1589: CORR. BY H. BONNUS)

1. Congaudent angelorum
chori gloriosae Virgini,

2a. Quae sine virili
commixtione genuit
2b. Filium qui suo
mundum cruore medicat.

3a. Nam ipsa laetatur,
quod caeli iam conspicatur Principem.
3b. In terris cui quondam
sugendas Virgo mammillas praebuit.

4a. Quam celebris angelis
Maria Jesu mater creditur.
4b. Qui Filii illius
debitos se cognoscunt famulos. [debito…] V

5a. Quam fulgida in caelis [Qua gloria…]
ista Virgo cernitur, […colitur]
quae Domino caeli
praebuit hospitium
sui sanctissimi corporis.
5b. Quam splendida polo
stilla maris rutilat,  [stella…]* (I have used the original reading here)
quae omnium lumen
astrorum et hominum
atque spirit[u]um genuit.

6a. Jesum Christum caeli Regem, [Te caeli regina]
quem plebecula [haec plebicula]
piis concelebrant mentibus.
6b. Quem cantu melodo [Te … melodos]
super aethera
una cum angelis elevat.

7a. Quem libri sacri concinunt, [Te libri virgo…]
Prophetarum chorus jubilat,
sacerdotum Apostoli,
sanctique martyres praedicant. [Christique …]
7b. Quem plebis sexus sequitur, [Te plebes…]
utriusque vitam diligens
Christianam caelicolas [virginalem…]
in dilectione aemulans. [in castimonia…]

8a. Ecclesia ergo cuncta
Te cordibus Teque
carminibus venerans. […celebrat]
8b. Tibi suam manifestat
devotionem precatu
Te supplici implorans, Jesu Christe. [… implorans Maria]

9. Ut sibi auxilio
circa patrem Dominum  […Christum…]
esse digneris per aevum.