Memento salutis auctor - the pre-Urbanite Hymn for the Little Office

Day 20 of #100daysofchantShow more

Today is the feast of Mary Help of Christians, so here's another Marian Hymn.

Pope Urban VIII, way back in the 15th century, decided to fix all the hymns. ALL THE HYMNS. This is generally considered today to have been a BAD IDEA. One of the positive things to have come out of Vatican II was the restoration of some of the older hymns.

Here is the pre-urbanite version of the hymn we now know as Memento Rerum Conditor:

Memento, salutis Auctor,
Quod nostri quondam corporis,
Ex illibata Virgine
Nascendo, formam sumpseris.

Maria, mater gratiæ,
Mater misericordiæ,
Tu nos ab hoste protege,
Et hora mortis suscipe.

Gloria tibi, Domine,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula. Amen.

the meaning is generally the same as the revised version, Memento Rerum Conditor.

Here's Fr Edward Caswall's translation:

REMEMBER, O Creator Lord,
that in the Virgin's sacred womb
Thou wast conceived, and of her flesh
didst our mortality assume.

Mother of grace, O Mary blest,
to thee, sweet fount of love, we fly;
shield us through life, and take us hence
to thy dear bosom when we die.

O Jesu! born of Mary bright!
Immortal glory be to Thee;
praise to the Father infinite,
and Holy Ghost eternally. Amen.