Crux fidelis
Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be; Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Crux fidélis, inter omnes arbor una nóbilis: nulla silva talem profert fronde, flore, gérmine. Dulce lignum dulces clavos, dulce pondus sústinet.
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle!
With completed victory rife!
And above the Cross's trophy
Tell the triumph of the strife:
How the world's Redeemer conquer'd
By the offering of His life.
Pange, lingua, gloriósi
láuream certáminis,
et super Crucis trophaeo
dic triúmphum nóbilem:
quáliter Redémptor orbis
immolátus vícerit.
Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be.
Crux fidélis, inter omnes arbor una nóbilis: nulla silva talem profert fronde, flore, gérmine.
God, his Maker, sorely grieving,
That the first-made Adam fell,
When he ate the fruit of sorrow,
Whose reward was death and hell,
Noted then this Wood the ruin,
Of the ancient wood to quell.
De paréntis protoplásti
fraude Factor cóndolens,
quando pomi noxiális
in necem morsu ruit:
ipse lignum tunc notávit,
damna ligni ut sólveret.
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Dulce lignum dulces clavos, dulce pondus sústinet.
For this work of our salvation
Needs must have its order so,
And the manifold deceiver's
Art by art would overthrow,
And from thence would bring the healing,
Whence the insult of the foe.
Hoc opus nostrae salútis
ordo depopóscerat:
multifórmis proditóris
ars ut artem fálleret:
et medélam ferret inde,
hostis unde laéserat.
Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be.
Crux fidélis, inter omnes arbor una nóbilis: nulla silva talem profert fronde, flore, gérmine.
Wherefore when the appointed fullness
Of the holy time was come,
He was sent who maketh all things
From th' eternal Father's home,
And proceeded, God Incarnate,
Offspring of the Virgin's womb.
Quando venit ergo sacri
plenitúdo témporis,
missus est ab arce Patris
Natus, orbis Cónditor:
atque ventre virgináli
carne amíctus pródiit.
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Dulce lignum dulces clavos, dulce pondus sústinet.
Weeps the Infant in the manger
That in Bethlehem's stable stands:
And His Limbs the Virgin Mother
Doth compose in swaddling bands,
Meetly thus in linen folding
Of her God the feet and hands.
Vagit Infans inter arcta
cónditus praesépia:
membra pannis involúta
Virgo Mater álligat:
et Dei manus pedésque
stricta cingit fáscia.
Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be.
Crux fidélis, inter omnes arbor una nóbilis: nulla silva talem profert fronde, flore, gérmine.
Thirty years among us dwelling,
His appointed time fulfilled,
Born for this, He meets His Passion,
For that this He freely willed:
On the Cross the Lamb is lifted,
Where His life-blood shall be spilled.
Lustra sex qui iam perégit,
tempus implens córporis,
sponte líbera Redémptor
passióni déditus,
Agnus in Crucis levátur
immolándus stípite.
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Dulce lignum dulces clavos, dulce pondus sústinet.
He endured the nails, the spitting,
Vinegar, and spear, and reed;
From that holy Body broken
Blood and water forth proceed:
Earth, and stars, and sky, and ocean,
By that flood from stain are freed.
Felle potus ecce languet:
spina, clavi, láncea
mite corpus perforárunt,
unda manat et cruor:
terra, pontus, astra, mundus,
quo lavántur flúmine!
Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be.
Crux fidélis, inter omnes arbor una nóbilis: nulla silva talem profert fronde, flore, gérmine.
Bend thy boughs, O Tree of glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigor,
That thy birth bestowed, suspend:
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend!
Flecte ramos, arbor alta,
tensa laxa víscera,
et rigor lentéscat ille,
quem dedit natívitas:
et supérni membra Regis
tende miti stípite.
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Dulce lignum dulces clavos, dulce pondus sústinet.
Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world's ransom to uphold;
For a shipwrecked race preparing
Harbor, like the Ark of old;
With the sacred Blood anointed
From the smitten Lamb that rolled.
Sola digna tu fuísti
ferre mundi víctimam:
atque portum praeparáre
arca mundo náufrago:
quam sacer cruor perúnxit,
fusus Agni córpore.
Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be.
Crux fidélis, inter omnes arbor una nóbilis: nulla silva talem profert fronde, flore, gérmine.
To the Trinity be glory
Everlasting, as is meet:
Equal to the Father, equal
To the Son, and Paraclete:
Trinal Unity, Whose praises
All created things repeat.
Amen.
Sempitérna sit beátae
Trinitáti glória:
aequa Patri Filióque;
par decus Paráclito:
Uníus Triníque nomen
laudet univérsitas.
Amen.
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee.
Dulce lignum dulces clavos, dulce pondus sústinet.