“The Lord hath called me from the womb”

(Rogier van der Weyden)

[Some selections from Vespers on the Vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.]

Capitulum Responsory Hymnus Versus

Isa 49:1
Give ear, ye islands, and hearken, ye people from afar. The Lord hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he hath been mindful of my name. [v. 2: And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword: in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow: in his quiver he hath hidden me.]
R. Thanks be to God.

R. Among them that are born of women * there hath not risen a greater
V. Than John the Baptist.

Hymnus:

Ut queant laxis resonare fibris

Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,

Solve polluti labii reatum,

Sancte Joannes.

Nuntius celso veniens Olympo,

Te patri magnum fore nasciturum,

Nomen, et vitae seriem gerendae

Ordine promit.

Ille promissi dubius superni,

Perdidit promptae modulos loquelae:

Sed reformasti genitus peremptae

Organa vocis.

Ventris obstruso recubans cubili,

Senseras Regem thalamo manentem:

Hinc parens nati meritis uterque

Abdita pandit.

Sit decus Patri, genitaeque Proli,

Et tibi compar utriusque virtus

Spiritus semper, Deus unus, omni

Temporis aevo.

Amen.

Englished:

O for thy spirit, holy John, to chasten

Lips sin-polluted, fettered tongues to loosen;

So by thy children might thy deeds of wonder

Meetly be chanted.

Lo! a swift herald, from the skies descending,

Bears to thy father promise of thy greatness;

How he shall name thee, what thy future story,

Duly revealing.

Scarcely believing message so transcendent,

Him for season power of speech forsaketh,

Till, at thy wondrous birth, again returneth

Voice to the voiceless.

Thou, in thy mother's womb all darkly cradled,

Knewest thy Monarch, biding in his chamber,

Whence the two parents, through their children's merits,

Mysteries uttered.

Praise to the Father, to the Son begotten,

And to the Spirit, equal power possessing,

One God whose glory, through the lapse of ages,

Ever resoundeth.

Amen.

(Tintoretto)

Sts. John, Zachary, and Elizabeth, pray for us!