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| Scivias II.6: Christ's Sacrifice and the Church. Rupertsberg MS, fol. 86r. |
| O cruor sanguinis qui in alto sonuisti, cum omnia elementa se implicuerunt in lamentabilem vocem cum tremore, quia sanguis Creatoris sui illa tetigit, ungue nos de languoribus nostris. |
O streaming blood, to heaven’s height you cried, when every element enwrapped itself within a voice of woe with trembling misery, for their Creator’s blood had covered them: Anoint us and heal our feebleness. |
In this disturbingly evocative antiphon, the Symphonic Doctor employs her signature synaesthetic mode of visionary poetry to describe today’s momentous emptiness. The mighty Word-made-flesh is crucified, his blood outpoured upon the very earth he made.
Let us, who are made in his image and likeness and renewed by his own humanity, feel that blood drip upon us, see its scarlet ribbons flow, and hear its cry: “It is finished!” The foundations of the earth are shaken, the temple veil is rent, as their Creator’s body is pierced, broken, and torn. His streaming blood anoints us, baptizes us, endows us as members of his body and his bride, Holy Mother Church.
Notes
[1] Latin text from Barbara Newman's edition of Symphonia (Cornell University Press, 1988, 2nd ed. 1998), p. 102. Translation by Nathaniel Campbell. A transcription of the music (in chant notation) of "O cruor sanguinis" can be found at Br. Francis Therese Krautter's Symphonia blog. ↩
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