Sequence 86. St. Marcellus

November ist or 3RD.
SUPERNAL city ! joy and sing
Unceasingly new melodies :
Thy dignity doth upward spring,
As higher yet thy buildings rise !

O may thy Builder and his Son
Make thee a still more glorious one :
Thy Builder's pains and genius shine,
Reflected in thy stones divine.

Marcellus, gem of priceless worth
'Mongst bishops, in thy walls is blent :
To thee the Church of God on earth
This rare carbuncle doth present.

Choir ! his translation hence unite
With heart and voice to hymn aright !

Their shepherd's wondrous deeds to-day
His flock should busily pourtray.

IWhen he the red-hot iron weighs,
Whilst he was yet of tender age,
Its heat he by his touch allays,
And doth its weight exactly gauge.

Once, when, a Christian bishop's slave,
He brings him water in an urn,
Christ, that the servant praise might have,
The liquid into wine doth turn.

Nor less that miracle appears,
Which next to this in order came ;
When he a pitcher thither bears,
And holy oil draws from a stream.

The wine beforehand and the chrism
The future bishop recognized,
Through whom to us comes baptism,
Through whom the Host is sacrificed.

When less in rank than he should be,
A bishop's speech restoreth he ;
And, when himself a bishop made,
Affords a sinner twofold aid.

68 i". MARCELLUS.
Sacris adstans altaribus,
Vinctum videt in populo :
Solvit a poense nexibus
He, as he at God's altar stands,
And 'mongst the crowd a prisoner sees,
From penal fetters doth his hands.

His soul from bands of sin release.
He in a dragon men could see
The unseen dragon's fall completes :
Thus Christ endows humility
With courage that all foes defeats.

Father Marcellus ! with the eye
Of pious love regard us now.

Who, held still in captivity
By facile flesh, our grief avow.

Comrade of God's bright host above !
Do thou in heaven inscribe their name,
Who, loving thee with special love,
Here constantly renew thy fame ! Amen.