Monday, August 15, 2011

The Dormition of Mary: A Responsary & Alleluia, by Hildegard of Bingen


Sweet branch
From the stock of Jesse,
How magnificent
That God saw the girl's beauty,
Like an eagle,
Fixing its eye on the sun:

When the highest Father saw
The girl's radiance
And desired his Word
To take flesh in her.

For in the hidden mystery of God,
Her mind was filled with light,
And there emerged from the Virgin
A bright flower,
Wonderfully:

When the highest Father saw
The girl's radiance
And desired his Word
To take flesh in her.

Alleluia!
O branch mediatrix,
Your sacred womb
Overcame death
And illumined
All creatures
In the fair flower
Born of the sweetest integrity
Of your sealed chasity.
Alleluia! 

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