Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences/In hoc Anni circulo
In hoc Anni circulo.
The following Christmas Carol is of German origin; and has had at least two popular translations in that language. The earliest begins: In des Jahres Zirclikeit. I have omitted three stanzas, as being merely repetitions of the others. The melody and an imitation of the words may be found in the "Christmas Carols" published by Mr. Helmore and myself.
In the ending of the year
Light and life to man appear:
And the Holy Babe is here
By the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
What in ancient days was slain,
This day calls to life again:
God is coming here to reign
By the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
Adam ate the fruit and died:
But the curse that did betide
All his sons is turned aside
By the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
Noe shut the Ark of old,
When the Flood came, as is told:
Us its doors to-day enfold[1]
By the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
Every creature of the plain
Owned the guileful serpent's reign:
He this happy day is slain
By the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
'Twas the Star the Sun that bore,[2]
Which Salvation should restore;
But pollution ne'er the more
Touched the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
And they circumcise the Lord,
And His Blood for us is poured:
Thus Salvation is restored
By the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
In a manger is He laid:
Ox and Ass their worship paid:
Over Him her veil is spread
By the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
And the Heavenly Angels' tongue
Glory in the Highest sung:
And the shepherds o'er Him hung
With the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
Joseph watches o'er His rest:
Cold and sorrow Him infest:
He, an hungered, seeks the breast
Of the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
Wherefore let our choir to-day
Banish sorrow far away,
Singing and exulting aye
With the Virgin Mary.
For the Word becometh Flesh
By the Virgin Mary.
- ↑ On this same subject the following lines of S. Hildebert, which are a good specimen of his rudeness and epigrammatic terseness, deserve translation.The reader can hardly fail to be reminded of Dr. Donne, in these compositions of Hildebert.The reference in the first line is to the increased length of the days from Christmas, to which the Ecclesiastical poets constantly refer. So Prudentius:
Two Suns appear to man to-day: one made,
One Maker: one eternal, one to fade.
One the star's King; the King of their King, one:
This makes,—that bids him make,—the hours to run.
The Sun shines with the True Sun, ray with ray,
Light with light, Day with Him that makes the day.
Day without night, without seed bears she fruit,
Unwedded Mother, Flower without a root.
She than all greater: He the greatest still:
She filled by Him Whose glories all things fill.
That night is almost day, and yields to none,
Wherein God flesh, wherein flesh God, put on.
The undone is done again; attuned the jar:
Sun precedes day: the Morn, the morning star.
True Son, and Very Light, and Very Day:
God was that Sun, and God its Light and ray.
How bare the Virgin, ask'st thou, God and man?
I know not: but I know God all things can.So S. Peter Chrysologus:—"The days begin to lengthen, because Christ, the True Day, hath arisen."S. Notker, also, or one of his followers, in a Christmas sequence:—"This the present shining day testifies; increased in its length, because the True Sun, born on earth, hath with the ray of its light dispersed the darkness."Quid est quod arctum circulum
Sol jam recurrens deserit?
Christusne terris nascitur
Qui lucis auget tramitem? - ↑ The poet is imitating S. Bernard, in the famous Lætabundus.