Hymns to Saints Donatus and Hilary
Lokrantz calls the meter minor Sapphic
Saint Donatus, Bishop of Arezzo in Tuscany along with the monk Hilary was put to death for the Faith under Julian the Apostate (A.D. 361). Hilary was scourged to death; Donatus was beheaded. Saint Gregory and others relate the many miracles wrought by these holy men, among which the restoring of a glass altar-chalice dashed in pieces by the Pagans.
In the 11th century it was a tradition that the city of Arezzo guarded the relics of seven martyrs: the bishop Donato, the hermit Hilary, the virgins Flora and Lucilla, the brothers Lamentino and Pergentino and, lastly, famous bishop of Benevento, Gennaro. In Arezzo are the hermitage of Camaldoli and the monasteries of S. Gennaro in Campoleone, of the SS. Flora and Lucilla and of S. Fedele di Poppi. For each of these saints Damiani wrote texts.
Damian certainly went to Arezzo many times, not so much for his work of reform or as a bishop or as a father of monks, but rather as a pilgrim.
Hymnus Sanctorum Donati et Hilariani (46)
Hymn to Saints Donatus and Hilary
1.
Gloriam clari canimus triumphi
Quo polum victor petiit Donatus
Compar et ponae simul et coronae
Hilarianus.
We sing the glory of the bright triumph
With which Donatus the victor sought heaven
Hilary at the same time is equal in both his punishment
and his crown.
2.
Hi velut binae radiant lucernae
Orbis et taetras removent tenebras,
Dum tonant verbis rutilantque signis
Prodigiorum.
They shine as if two lights
They remove ugliness and the shadows of the world,
While they thunder with words and glow with
Signs of wonders.
3.
Daemones captis spoliant rapinis,
Quos precum duris cruciant flagellis,
Robur aegrotis reparantque caecis
Lumen utrumque.
They despoiled the demons with captured booty,
Whom they torment with hard whips of prayer,
They renew strength to the ill and to
Each eye of the blind.
4.
Mensibus clauso tribus e sepulcro
Prodit infossum mulier talentum;
Proli sic vivo prolix marito,
Ne moreretur.1
Having been shut up for three months the woman produces
Buried money from the grave;
With her child alive and a living husband,
So that he may not die.
5.
Fragmen obtriti calcis (priorem)
Surgit (in formam), [pereunte parva
Parte], sed nullus liquor, inde stilla,
Res nova mundo!
A fragment of a worn-out vessel
Rises (is restored) into its previous shape, even though a little part
Is missing, but no liquid drop [spills] from there,
A new thing in the world!
6.
Quaesumus, celsi proceres: “prolix
Nos simul vestris precibus paternis
Erigat lapsos solidetque fractos
Dextera Christi.”
We ask you, exalted saints: May the child Jesus
Along with your paternal prayers raise us and
May the child repair us broken sinners
With the right hand of Christ.
7.
Laus, honor patri parilique proli…
Praise, honor to the father and also to the son…
1 This most likely refers to the following legend of Donatus, soldier, saint, and martyr. When his father, Faustus, was ill, his mother, Flaminia, appealed to St. Gervasius. He assured her that her husband would live and beget a son. When this occurred she named the boy Donatus (gift). At 17 he enlisted in the 12th legion, the Fulminatrix (The Thundering Legion). He rose to become a personal body guard to the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Hymnus Sanctorum Donati et Hilariani (47)
Hymn to Saints Donatus and Hilary
1.
Donate, sidus aureum,
Martyr et proles martyrum,
Sed quos ad fidem praevenis,
Martyrio praecederis.
Donatus, star of gold,
Martyr and child of martyrs,
But you are preceded in martyrdom
By those whom you surpass in faith.
2.
Nobis, praesul egregie,
Decus et lux ecclesiae,
Tibi festa colentibus
Sacris succurre precibus.
Exceptional protector,
Glory and light of the church,
With your holy prayers
Help us who are devoting this festival to you.
3.
Qui das trimenstri mortuae
Viva verba depromere,
Resuscita per spiritum
Sepultos mole criminum.1
You who allow the three months dead
To produce living words,
Resurrect in the spirit,
Those buried by a mass of crimes.
4.
Vita luxit et moribus
Hilarianus monachus;
Iure functus hospitii
Fit consors et martyrii.
By his life and by his character
Monk Hilary shines;
Having discharged the duty of hospitality
He becomes also a sharer of martyrdom.
5.
Vos, clarae mundi lampades
Caelique vivi lapides,
Nos infelices meritis
Vestris adscite praemiis.
You bright lamps of the world
And living stones of heaven,
Bring us unhappy ones over
To your deserved rewards.
6.
Sit patris laus ingenito…
Let there be praise to the unbegotten (son) of the father…
1 This appears to be a reference to the legend that Donatus intervened on behalf of a man about to be executed for a debt he said he had paid. Donatius went to the bier of the man owed the debt, and told him to rise and tell the truth. The dead man rose and confirmed that the debt had been paid, and then asked Donatus for permission to return to his rest in death, which Donatus allowed.
