De Vespres
The Sacrament of Matrimony
Matrimony is presented as a holy ordinance reflecting the original design of creation and pleasing to the Virgin.
On marriage. Marriage is a Sacrament that joins a man and a woman in bodily union, and it is cherished by the Virgin, who loves chastity, because it is ordered according to the design established in Adam and Eve. Everyone who loves chastity follows that original ordinance and is pleasing to the Virgin, who desires that human beings be begotten in an orderly way, without sin.1
Baptism and Confirmation
These sacraments provide the washing away of original sin and the strengthening of faith through the grace of Christ.
On baptism. Baptism is the washing of the sin that the first parent has sown over all people—the sin called original sin. Our Lady looks with favor on this baptism, for it was begun by her Son on the cross, when with his blood he washed us all; and in the river Jordan we were baptized and greeted by the Holy Spirit. Great was his baptism, for many a person already has salvation from it.23 On Confirmation. Confirmation is the Sacrament that confirms the baptism given to a child, which is granted when they are grown, with will and understanding. Christ was the confirmation upon the cross through His heavy death, by which death they have been delivered from the evil of original sin. And the Queen who is worth most wants a person to be confirmed once they have entered into true faith.45
The Holy Eucharist
The Mass is described as a profound mystery where bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.
On the Mass. The holy Sacrament of the altar is a gift to which God cannot give a more powerful word: with that word Christ makes His body, working with the priest as bread and wine are transformed into flesh and blood—the flesh and blood of our King Jesus—while He is both in heaven and here below.6 No living person can tell the power of that Sacrament, nor the joy Our Lady has from it—and all the more when a just person celebrates it.7
Holy Orders and Penance
The ministerial priesthood and the sacrament of penance are essential for the administration of grace and the reconciliation of the sinner.
On Holy Orders. The order of acolyte, deacon, priest, and subdeacon is a sacrament for serving God by singing and saying the Mass, and by baptizing children, and in marriage and confession; and the priest grants pardon and administers extreme unction, and is God's vicar, and blesses all who are his. This sacrament delights the Virgin, who wants to have it.89 On penance. Penance is a sacrament through which a person fasts, and repents and seeks forgiveness, and makes satisfaction for the wrongs of grave sins; and it wants people held captive in fear and affliction, with sorrow and contrition. Such a sacrament has power that moves the Lady of salvation to a devotion like this: she does not say no to the penitent.1011
Extreme Unction
The final sacrament of the dying confirms the faith and connects the believer's end to the suffering of Christ and the compassion of Mary.
On Extreme Unction. Extreme Unction is the Sacrament of seeking forgiveness fully at the end of life, and of having a person confirm the faith in which they have lived, and of each one being anointed with chrism as a true Christian. It was accomplished in Christ when he hung on the cross with blood and sweat, and in the Queen with weeping—for she never sinned in any way, but only wept for our sins.1213
Read the original Latin
De matrimoni. Matrimoni es sagrament Que fa cópula carnalment D' hom é fembra, é es amat Per la Verge, que castedat Ama, car está ajustat Seguents l' orde que fó pausat En na Eva é en Adam; E tot hom que castedat am Sech lo primer ordonament, E es á la Verge plasent, Que vol que hom sia engenrat Ordenadament sens peccat.
De baptisma. Baptisma es lo lavament Del peccat qu' el primer parent Han sobre tots homens sembrat, Peccat original nomnat; Lo cual baptisma ha en grat Nostra dona, car començat Fó per son fill en la crotz; Quant ab sa sanch nos lavá a tots, E 'n flom Jordá fó batejats, Per Sant Esperit saludats; Gran fó lo seu baptisament, Car molt hom n' ja salvament.
De confirmació. Confirmar es lo sagrament Que confirma el batejament Que han fayt del petit infan, Lo cual atorga cuant es gran, Ab voluntat é enteniment: E Christ fó lo confirmament Sus en la crotz ab sa greu mort, Ab la qual mort son say estort De mal peccat original; E la regina qui mays val Vol que hom sia confirmat, Pus que en vera fe es entrat.
De la misa. Lo sant sagrament del altar Es dó á qui Deus no pot dar A paraula mays de poder, Ab la cual Christ fa son cors fer Ab lo prevera en traspassan Pa é vi, en carn é sanch Que es de nostron rey Jesus Ell estant al cel é sajus. La virtut de aquell sagrament No la pot dir hom vivent, N' el gaug que nostra dona n' ha, E majorment si hom just lo fa.
De orde. Orde d' acolit, diaque, Prevera é subdiaque, Es sagrament per Deu servir En cantant é la missa dir, E en infants á batejar, E 'n matrimoni, confessar, E lo prevera que perdó, E faça estrema-unció, E sia vicari de Deu, E beneescha tot hom seu, D' aquest sagrament fa plaer A la Verge qui 'l vol haver.
De penitencia. Penitencia es sagrament Per qui hom fa dejunament, E 's penet é requer perdó, E hom fa satisfacció De sos torts contra greus peccats, E vol qu' hom sian carçerats En temor e' n aflicció, Ab dolor é contricció; Aytal sagrament ha virtut Qui mou la dona de salut A una tal devoció, Qu' á penedent no diu de no.
De extrema-unció. Es la extrema-unció Sagrament de querer perdó A la fi assumadament E qu' hom faça confirmament De la fe en que ha estat, E cascun s' en sia untat Ab crisma com ver christiá; E fo fayt en Christ quant penjá En la crotz ab sanch é suor, E en la regina ab plor, Car ab negun sen no peccá Mays que nostres peccats plorá.
Notes
- 1 ↩Old Catalan castedat here means chastity as ordered sexual integrity, not only virginity: matrimony is loved precisely because it keeps generation within the first, sinless order rather than outside it.
- 2 ↩Rendered 'ha en grat' as looking with favor / holding dear; the line means Our Lady values baptism as a sacrament begun in her Son's cross-work.
- 3 ↩Source has singular 'primer parent' with plural verb 'Han'; translated as Adam (the first parent) sowing original sin on all people, which is the intended theological sense.
- 4 ↩Medieval Catalan son say estort is slightly opaque: son is read as són (“are”) and estort as “delivered/rescued”; say may be metrical sai (“here”) or padding. Rendered as a plain plural perfect of deliverance without forcing “here.”
- 5 ↩The poem treats Christ on the cross as the archetypal confirmament (the confirming act/ground of Confirmation), not as the later sacramental rite alone.
- 6 ↩Old Catalan 'Es dó á qui Deus no pot dar / A paraula mays de poder' is tightly compressed verse. Rendered as the Sacrament being a gift that admits no stronger divine word, with 'ab la cual' (feminine) pointing to that word of power as the means of consecration.
- 7 ↩'Si hom just lo fa' could mean a just person celebrates the Mass or receives the Sacrament; rendered 'celebrates it' to match the Mass-section focus and 'fer' usage for the rite.
- 8 ↩Catalan orde here is the sacrament of Holy Orders (sagrament de l'orde), listing the ranks acolit, diaque, prevera, and subdiaque.
- 9 ↩E lo prevera que perdó is taken as the priest's power to grant pardon (absolution), parallel to the following subjunctive duties (faça, sia, beneescha).
- 10 ↩Rendered as 'Lady of salvation' (Mary), in line with the Virgin/queen language in neighboring sacrament stanzas; not a generic 'woman of health'.
- 11 ↩carçerats is literally 'imprisoned/incarcerated'; taken here as penitential confinement under fear and affliction, not a civil prison sentence.
- 12 ↩Old Catalan assumadament is taken as ‘fully/completely’ modifying the last seeking of pardon at life’s end; if a more technical sense (e.g. consummately, with full assurance) is intended, the nuance is slight.
- 13 ↩la regina is Mary, Our Lady, parallel to Christ on the cross: the sacrament is grounded in his Passion and in her tearful compassion.
Hores de Nostra Dona Santa Maria (Hours of Our Lady Saint Mary) companion
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