Office Hymns: Matins: Christmas

Christmas

25

O Christ! of all Redeemer dear  - Christe Redemptor omnium – Palmer (V)

O Christ! of all Redeemer dear,
Thy servants to protect be near;
Who to the pleading hearkenest
Of Mary, Ever-Virgin blest.

And ye, all-blissful hosts on high
Of heav'nly spirits, camping nigh,
Our past and present ills dispel,
From future perils guard us well!

Ye Prophets of the Judge adored,
And twelve Apostles of the Lord,
For us your ceaseless prayers outpour,
Salvation for our souls implore!

Martyrs of God, renown'd foi aye!
Confessors ranged in bright array!
Let all your orisons unite
To exalt us to the realms of light.

O sacred Virgin quires, may ye,
With Clerks of holy ministry,
And every Saint of Christ, obtain
That we his fellowship may gain.

From lands wherein thy faithful dwell 
Drive far the traitorous infidel;
So we to Christ due hymns of praise 
Henceforth with gladsome hearts may raise.

To thee, O Father, born of none, 
And thee, O sole-begotten Son, 
With holy Ghost, all glory be 
From age to age eternally. Amen.

26

From lands that see the sun arise - A solis ortus cardine – Neale (L)

From lands that see the sun arise,
To earth’s remotest boundaries,
The virgin born today we sing,
The Son of Mary, Christ the King.

Blest Author of this earthly frame,
To take a servant’s form he came,
That, liberating flesh by flesh,
Whom He had made might live afresh.

In that chaste parent’s holy womb,
Celestial grace hath found its home:
And she, as earthly bride unknown,
Yet call that Offspring blest her own.

The mansion of the modest breast
Becomes a shrine where God shall rest:
The pure and undefiled one
Conceived in her womb the Son.

That Son, that Royal Son she bore,
Whom Gabriel had told afore:
Whom, in his Mother yet concealed,
The Infant Baptist had revealed.

The manger and the straw He bore,
The cradle did He not abhor:
By milk in infant portion fed,
Who gives ev'n fowls their daily bread.

The heavenly chorus fill'd the sky,
The Angels sang to God on high,
What time to shepherds, watching lone
They made creation’s Shepherd known.

For that thine Advent glory be,
O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee;
With Father and with Holy Ghost,
From men and from the heav'nly host. Amen.