O vox nunc in caelo: A Chronogram for the Feast of St. Hildegard of Bingen

St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179).
Detail from painting by Cynthia Large.

o VoX nVnC In CaeLo
CantICa sonans sVperna,
sVper qVae anIMae nostrae
VeLVt pennae VoLant:
ora In obtVtV tVo pro nobIs,
Vt VIrtVs ChrIstI
qVasI CantICI noVI
In VIrga fLorentIs
nos VIrentes roboret.

O voice that echoes now
celestial songs in heaven,
on which our souls
as feathers fly,
in your beholding pray for us,
that the power of Christ
as of the New Song
that blooms upon the branch
might strengthen us as we flourish.

Nunc gaudeant materna (Symphonia 67)

For Easter, the Resurrection of the Lord, an Antiphon for the Church
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Scivias II.3:
Mother Church & Baptism.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 51r.

Nunc gaudeant materna viscera      Ecclesie, quia in superna simphonia      filii eius in sinum suum collocati sunt. Unde, o turpissime serpens,      confusus es, quoniam quos tua estimatio      in visceribus      suis habuit nunc fulgent in sanguine      Filii Dei, et ideo laus tibi sit, Rex altissime.        Alleluia.

Now let the womb and heart      of Mother Church rejoice! For in the starry symphony      her children are gathered to her bosom. O vile snake, you are      confounded, for those your hollow jealousy      had thought      it clutched within its guts now sparkle in the blood      of God’s own Son— praise be to you, the highest King!      Alleluia!

O tu illustrata (Symphonia 23)

For the Feast of the Annunciation, an Antiphon for the Virgin
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Chastity, from
Scivias III.8: The Pillar
of the Savior's Humanity.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 178r.

O tu illustrata de divina claritate, clara Virgo Maria, Verbo Dei infusa, unde venter tuus floruit de introitu Spiritus Dei, qui in te sufflavit et in te exsuxit quod Eva abstulit in abscisione puritatis, per contractam contagionem        de suggestione diaboli.

Illumined by God’s clearest brightness, O Virgin Mary bright, and flooded with the Word of God: your womb then flourished at the entrance of God’s Spirit— he breathed within you, within drew out the loss of Eve, a purity cut off and silenced by that disease contracted at the Devil’s sly persuasion.

O victoriosissimi triumphatores (Symphonia 37)

For the Feast of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, Bishop and Martyr,
An Antiphon for Martyrs by St. Hildegard of Bingen ^[1]

Scivias III.13: Symphonia in
Heaven: Choir of Martyrs.
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 229r
(detail)

O victoriosissimi triumphatores, qui in effusione sanguinis vestri salutantes edificationem ecclesie, intrastis sanguinem Agni, epulantes cum vitulo occiso: O quam magnam mercedem habetis,   quia corpora vestra viventes despexistis, imitantes Agnum Dei, ornantes penam eius, in qua vos introduxit in restaurationem hereditatis.

O victors in your triumph! Your blood poured out, you hail the building of the Church— for you have entered in the Lamb’s own blood, and now enjoy the feast with the slaughtered calf. How great is your reward! Your living bodies you’ve despised in imitation of God’s Lamb— his pain you take as glory, for in it he has brought you to your inheritance restored!

O speculum columbe (Symphonia 35)

An Antiphon for the Feast of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

St. John, the beloved disciple,
resting with Jesus.
Andachtsbild, carved and
painted wood, ca. 1320.
From the Dominican convent
in Sankt-Katharinenthal
(Switzerland).
Museum Mayer van den Bergh,
Antwerp / Web Gallery of Art.

O speculum columbe castissime forme, qui inspexisti misticam      largitatem in purissimo fonte: O mira floriditas que numquam arescens cecidisti,   quia altissimus plantator      misit te: O suavissima quies amplexuum solis: tu es specialis filius Agni in electa amicicia nove sobolis.

O mirror of the dove— the perfect form of chastity— you gazed upon the mystic      bounty within the clearest font: O wondrous, flourished bloom that never withered, never fell— the Gardener on high      has sent you forth: O sweet repose of sunshine’s warm embrace: the Lamb’s especial son you are within that privileged friendship of a new posterity.

Ave generosa (Symphonia 17)

For the Third Sunday in Advent, a Hymn for the Virgin
by St. Hildegard of Bingen^[1]

Virgin Mary, Queen of Heavens'
Symphony, Scivias III.13
Rupertsberg MS, fol. 229r

1. Ave generosa, gloriosa et intacta puella. Tu pupilla castitatis, tu materia sanctitatis, que Deo placuit. 2. Nam hec superna infusio         in te fuit, quod supernum Verbum      in te carnem induit.

1. Hail, nobly born, O Maiden, honored and inviolate. You are the piercing gaze of chastity, you the material of holiness— the one who pleasèd God. 2. For heaven’s flood poured      into you as heaven’s Word was clothed      in flesh in you.