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Venit e coelo
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Venit e coelo
"Sion's Daughter, weep no more"
Holy Week
Venit e coelo Mediator alto is an anonymous 19th c. Latin hymn translated into English by Sir Henry W. Baker in 1861. We have carefully, lovingly modernized and condensed the verses, and wrote new music especially for them in hopes of reviving use of this exquisite hymn about Jesus praying in Gethsemane.
1. Sion’s Daughter, weep no more,
Though your troubled heart be sore;
Christ, the mediator blest,
Brings you ever lasting rest.
2. Jesus in a garden wins
Life and pardon for our sins,
Through His hour of agony
Praying in Gethsemane.
3. There for us He intercedes,
There with God the Father pleads,
That in everlasting day
He may wipe our tears away.
4. Therefore to His name be giv’n
Tribute both in earth and Heav’n:
Honor, praise, and glory be
Now and through eternity.
Thoughts behind the hymn:
The original Latin hymn is a sort of terza rima of five verses. Each verse has two lines of eleven syllables and a third line of sixteen. Baker's translation arranges the thoughts of the original into four tercets in trochaic heptameter. Here, we modernize the language and reduced the tercets to couplets.
My method of updating the verses was guided by my objective of getting the hymn sung today. It's an exceedingly beautiful hymn and such a pity to have its beauty and sentiments remain irretrievably obscured if not brought to light in a way that modern sensibilities can appreciate it. What we would perceive as this hymn's outdatedness which would serve to detract from its beauty and meaning is not so much in vocabulary but in phraseology. Therefore, rather than rewriting Sir Henry's verses, I condensed them, careful not to disturb (and arguably to enhance) continuity of thought. I am confident that this has been done in such a way that anyone first reading the hymn today would have no inkling that it is a reduction of a longer hymn. Such phrases to have been pruned include:
"He who woke the Prophet's tongue"
"Heir of sin, and death, and shame"
"Willing there for us to drain
To the dregs the cup of pain"
Only three of Sir Henry's words were changed.
The one term remaining which may be considered archaic is at the very beginning: Sion's Daughter. This was done by intent, thinking that placing in a memorable position one obscurity provides a good opening for a Holy Week sermon. Sion’s Daughter is a specific place (ref. Psalm 9:14, Isaiah 10:32 and 16:1). It may have been a temple at Mount Moriah or Mount Scopus near Jerusalem. It is used as a personification of Jerusalem and more broadly as a symbol for the hopes of God’s people. In this hymn, Sion’s Daughter need weep no more because of the fulfillment of prophecies through Christ.
Below is the original Latin and Baker's translation taken respectively from a 19th century Roman Breviary and 19th century edition of Hymn's Ancient and Modern. (I am grateful to Rev. Hugh Phillipson of St. John's Cathedral, Hong Kong; the book "Historical Companion to Hymns Ancient and Modern" by Robert Maude Moorsom; the Internet Archive of San Francisco, and nethymnal.org for source material.)
Venit e coelo Mediator alto
Quern sacri dudum cecinere vates,
Parce moerori lacrymisque amaris
Filia Sion!
Attulit mortem vetus hortus, unde
Culpa prodivit; novus iste vitam
Hortus en affert, ubi nocte Jesus
Permanet orans.
Vindicem placat Genitoris iram,
Reprimit forti jacienda dextra
Fulmina, occurrit sceleri expiando
Sponte Redemptor.
Sic teret duros laqueos Averni,
Et diu clausam reserabit aulam,
Nos ad aeterni revocans beata
Gaudia regni.
Laus, honor Patri, genitaeque Proli
Cui datum nomen super omne nomen,
Et Paracleto decus atque virtus,
Omne per tevum.
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Sion’s daughter, weep no more,
Though thy troubled heart be sore;
He of Whom the psalmist sung,
He Who woke the prophet’s tongue,
Christ, the Mediator blest,
Brings thee everlasting rest.
In a garden man became
Heir of sin, and death, and shame;
Jesus in a garden wins
Life, and pardon for our sins;
Through His hour of agony
Praying in Gethsemane.
There for us He intercedes;
There with God the Father pleads;
Willing there for us to drain
To the dregs the cup of pain,
That in everlasting day
He may wipe our tears away.
Therefore to His Name be giv’n
Glory both in earth and Heav’n;
To the Father, and the Son,
And the Spirit, Three in One,
Honor, praise and glory be
Now and through eternity.
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The editing out of the middle two lines of the fourth verse is in no way to be construed as an attempt to purge the hymn of Trinitarian doctrine. It is done to be consistent with the hymn's focus on Jesus. Subscribing to Trinitarian doctrine does not necessitate every hymn to explicitly include it; however, hymn editors may choose to replace the first two lines of the hymn "Therefore to His Name be giv’n
Glory both in earth and Heav’n" with "To the Father, and the Son, And the Spirit, Three in One".
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Verses, Roman Breviary
tr. Henry W. Baker
alt. David P. Werner
Tune, David P. Werner
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