Hymn to St. Benedict at lauds
1.
Aurora surgit aurea
Festa restaurans annua,
Cum Benedictus arduum
Caeli scandit palatium.
Golden dawn arises
Restoring the yearly festival,
While Benedict climbs
To the high palace of heaven.
2.
Quanta in summis accipit,
Qui sic in imis claruit,
Cuius micant prodigia
Per ampla mundi climata!
How much he receives on high,
Who shone thus in the depths here on earth,
His wonders glitter
Through the broad climes of the world!
3.
Eius carentum gratia
Tellus vomit cadavera;
Devotis unda liquida
Sicca lambit vestigia.
The earth vomits up
The corpses of the people lacking his grace;
The wet wave laps dry the
Footsteps for the devoted ones.
4.
Totius orbis ambitum
Per solis videt radium
Mens in auctore posita
Subiecta cernit omnia.
He sees the circuit of the whole world
Through a ray of the sun
His mind having been placed on the creator
Is looking down on every created thing.1
5.
Te, pater alme, petimus
Pronae mentis visceribus,
Ut caelum des ascendere,
Quos terram doces spernere.
We beseech you, nurturing father,
With the innermost recesses of our prostrated minds,
To allow us whom you teach to despise
The earth to ascend to heaven.
6.
Sit patri laus ingenito…
May there be praise to the unborn father…
1 Perhaps he has prayed all night. Dawn finds him praying. The climbing is his praying.
