The Hymns for the Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross

The Hymns for the major hours of Matins, Lauds, and Vespers of the Feast were written by St Venantius Fortunatus, (c. 530 – c. 600/609 AD), Bishop of Poitiers. They were first sung in a procession that brought a part of the true Cross to Queen St Radegunda ( c. 520 – 13 August 587), a Thuringian princess and Frankish queen, who founded the Abbey of the Holy Cross at Poitiers. in 570. She was the wife of King Chlothar I, the son of King Clovis I, who was converted to the Faith by St Remy.
The following is the Hymn for Matins.

In the second stanza of this hymn, St Venantius references an ancient tradition (n.b. the lower case 't') that the wood of the Cross upon which Christ was crucified was taken from that tree which was the source of the fruit of the fall in the Garden of Eden. When Adam died, the legend states, Seth obtained from the Cherubim guarding the Garden a branch of the tree from which Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Seth planted this branch at Golgotha (the place of the skull), which is so named because Adam was buried there. As time went on, the Ark of the Covenant, the pole upon which the bronze serpent was lifted, and other items were made from this tree.

Pange, lingua, gloriósi
Láuream certáminis,
Et super Crucis trophǽo
Dic triúmphum nóbilem,
Quáliter Redémptor orbis
Immolátus vícerit.

De paréntis protoplásti
Fraude Factor cóndolens,
Quando pomi noxiális
In necem morsu ruit,
Ipse lignum tunc notávit,
Damna ligni ut sólveret.

Hoc opus nostræ salútis
Ordo depopóscerat,
Multifórmis proditóris
Ars ut artem fálleret,
Et medélam ferret inde,
Hostis unde lǽserat.

Quando venit ergo sacri
Plenitúdo témporis,
Missus est ab arce Patris
Natus, orbis Cónditor,
Atque ventre virgináli
Carne amíctus pródiit.

Vagit infans inter arcta
Cónditus præsépia:
Membra pannis involúta
Virgo Mater álligat:
Et Dei manus pedésque
Stricta cingit fáscia.

Sempitérna sit beátæ
Trinitáti glória,
Æqua Patri, Filióque;

Par decus Paráclito:
Uníus Triníque nomen
Laudet univérsitas.
Amen

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
Sing the last, the dread affray;
O'er the cross, the victor's trophy,
Sound the high triumphal lay:
Tell how Christ, the world's Redeemer,
As a victim won the day.

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.

For the work of our salvation
Needs would have his order so,
And the multiform deceiver's
Art by art would overthrow,
And from thence would bring the med'cine
Whence the insult of the foe.

Wherefore, when the sacred fullness
Of the appointed time was come,
This world's Maker left his Father,
Sent the heav'nly mansion from,
And proceeded, God Incarnate,
Of the Virgin's holy womb.

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.

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.

This is the continuation of St Venantius's Hymn, sung at Lauds.

Lustra sex qui jam perégit,
Tempus implens córporis:
Sponte líbera Redémptor
Passióni déditus:
Agnus in Crucis levátur
Immolándus stípite.

Felle potus ecce languet,
Spina, clavi, láncea,
Mite corpus perforárunt,
Unda manat, et cruor:
Terra, pontus, astra, mundus,
Quo lavántur flúmine!

Crux fidélis, inter omnes
Arbor una nóbilis:
Silva talem nulla profert
Fronde, flore, gérmine:
Dulce ferrum, dulce lignum
Dulce pondus sústinent.

Flecte ramos, arbor alta,
Tensa laxa víscera:
Et rigor lentéscat ille,
Quem dedit natívitas:
Et supérni membra Régis
Tende miti stípite.

Sola digna tu fuísti
Ferre mundi víctimam;
Atque portum præparáre
Arca mundo náufrago;
Quam sacer cruor perúnxit,
Fusus Agni córpore.

Sempitérna sit beátæ
Trinitáti glória:
Æqua Patri, Filióque,
Par decus Paráclito:
Uníus, Triníque nomen
Laudet univérsitas.
Amen.

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.

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 free.

Faithful cross! above all other,
One and only noble tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peers may be;
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron!
Sweetest weight is hung on thee.

Bend thy boughs, O tree of glory!
Thy relaxing sinews bend;
For awhile the ancient rigour,
That thy birth bestowed, suspend;
And the King of heavenly beauty
On thy bosom gently tend!

Thou alone wast counted worthy
This world's ransom to uphold;
For a shipwrecked race preparing
Harbour, like the ark of old;
With the sacred blood anointed
From the smitten Lamb that rolled.

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.

At Vespers is sung, Vexilla regis prodeunt.

Vexílla Regis pródeunt;
Fulget Crucis mystérium,
Qua Vita mortem pértulit,
Et morte vitam prótulit.

Quæ, vulneráta lánceæ
Mucróne diro, críminum
Ut nos laváret sórdibus,
Manávit unda et sánguine.

Impléta sunt quæ cóncinit
David fidéli cármine,
Dicéndo natiónibus:
Regnávit a ligno Deus.

Arbor decóra et fúlgida,
Ornata Régis púrpura,
Elécta digno stípite
Tam sancta membra tángere.

Beáta, cujus brácchiis
Prétium pepéndit sǽculi,
Statéra facta córporis,
Tulítque prædam tártari.

Sequens stropha dicitur flexis genibus.

O Crux, ave, spes única,
Paschále quæ fers gáudium
Piis adáuge grátiam,
Reísque dele crímina.

Te, fons salútis, Trínitas,
Colláudet omnis spíritus:
Quibus Crucis victóriam
Largíris, adde prǽmium.
Amen.

Abroad the regal banners fly,
Now shines the cross’s mystery;
Upon it Life did death endure,
And yet by death did life procure.

Who, wounded with a direful spear,
Did, purposely to wash us clear
From stain of sin, pour out a flood
Of precious water mixed with blood.

That which the prophet-king of old
Hath in mysterious verse foretold,
Is now accomplished, whilst we see
God ruling nations from a tree.

O lovely and refulgent tree,
Adorned with purpled majesty;
Culled from a worthy stock, to bear
Those limbs which sanctifièd were.

Blest tree, whose happy branches bore
The wealth that did the world restore;
The beam that did that body weigh
Which raised up hell’s expected prey.

The following verse is said on bended knee.

O Cross, our one reliance, hail!
Thou joy of Eastertide, avail
To give fresh merit to the saint,
And pardon to the penitent.

Blest Trinity, salvation’s spring,
May every soul thy praises sing;
To those thou grantest conquest by
The holy cross, rewards apply.
Amen.