ORATIO XLII. AD SANCTAM CRUCEM. Ex Appendice edit. Gerberon hic revocatur.
The Glory of the Cross
The Cross is hailed as the most glorious of all trees, chosen not for its own beauty but for bearing the eternal King and redeeming the world, and its power fills all creation, restoring and healing all things.
Hail, most glorious cross, most precious and most splendid of all trees, sanctified by the touch of our Creator and stained with his most precious blood. Blessed you remain, and blessed you'll remain forever: you who, if you did not spring from the soil of paradise, were chosen not for the beauty of your own foliage or the loveliness of your leaves, nor even for the worth of your fruit, but because your most pure limbs bore the eternal King, while he redeemed the whole world.1 Now not only does your power shine, but your name is most precious to the whole world. You shine in earth and heaven, you fill the world, you illuminate the depths below. You are wondered at by angelic powers, worshiped by the rulers of the world, feared by the servants of demons. You restore what is lost, preserve what is restored, sanctify what is consecrated, renew what is destroyed, strengthen what is weak and broken, gladden what grieves, and heal those harmed by demonic arts.
The Cross Above All Creation
Before the Cross every hostile power trembles, and compared to it all earthly and celestial glory is worthless, for no tree in the world is so blessed in root, fruit, foliage, and flower.
In your presence hell groans, demons shudder and flee, death trembles, and every hostile power, hearing your holy name, is struck with dread. For just as the great deeds of Jesus Christ — who is the living sacrifice — surpass all reckoning and are vast beyond comprehension, so no mortal tongue can ever fully express your praise and your power. For there Christ is your sweetest fruit, he himself your most beautiful flower, your most fragrant scent, your most precious adornment.2 Sweet wood, sweet fruit, sweet burden. You alone are blessed; you alone bore the weight of the world. So there is no purchasing in you, no price can be placed on you, no appraisal can rise above you. Compared to you, gold is like straw, gems are like embers, and all glory is like dung. Sun and clouds, moon and stars, and all that pass away — they are not equal to you. The four corners of the world bear no tree so blessed as you — in root, in fruit, in foliage, in flower, in holy shoot.
Prayer to the Cross for Salvation
The speaker prostrates before the Cross, confessing redemption through its wood and sign, and prays for protection in life, deliverance from demons and eternal death, and entry into paradise with Christ.
And so I, your useless servant, prostrate myself before you, singing, groaning, and lamenting. I pray to you and confess to you, O venerable Cross — through whose wood I have been redeemed, by whose sign I have been confirmed, under whose banner I have been fortified, by whose name I have been defended, by whose power I have been saved even until now. I adore you, I call upon you, I beseech you. You are my salvation, my strength, my protection, my wall, my defense, my joy, and my consolation. In this life in which I am placed, save me. In distress, refresh me. In adversity, strengthen me. In weakness, fortify me. In death, free me from demons. From eternal death, snatch me away. Open the door of paradise, and join me to my Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and hung upon you, after this wretched life. Amen.
Read the original Latin
Ave crux gloriosissima, et omnium lignorum pretiosissima et splendidissima, quae tactu Conditoris nostri es sanctificata et ejus pretiosissimo sanguine cruentata. Felix permanes, et permanebis in saecula: quae si non in paradisi tellure orta fuisti, non decore frondium propriaram aut pulchritudine foliorum, fere dignitate fructuum, sed castissimis membris regis aeterni, quae sustinuisti, dum omne redimeret saeculum. Modo non solum tua virtus splendet, verum etiam nomen tuum cuncto pretiosissimum est mundo. Terris et aethere fulges, saeculum reples, infernum perlustras. Te angelicae mirantur potestates, mundi adorant principes, daemonum timent satellites. Tu perdita restauras, restaurata conservas, consecrata sanctificas, destructa reparas, infirma et fracta consolidas, dolentia laetificas, daemoniacis artibus laesos salvificas.
In praesentia tua infernus gemit, daemones pavescunt et fugiunt, mors contremiscit, omnis virtus contraria audiens sanctum nomen tuum pertimescit. Sicut enim magnalia Jesu Christi, qui viva est hostia, praeponderant, magnaque et incomprehensibilia sunt; sic laudem tuam et virtutem tuam nulla unquam mortalium promere potest lingua: illic enim est Christus fructus tuus dulcissimus, ipse flos tuus pulcherrimus, odor tuus suavissimus, ornatus tuus pretiosissimus. Dulce lignum, dulce pomum, dulce onus. Tu felix, sola sustinuisti talentum mundi. Quapropter emptio nulla in te, pretia nulla sunt pro te, appretiatio nulla super te. In comparatione tui aurum est ut stipula, gemmae ut favilla, et ut stercus omnis gloria. Sol et nebulae, luna et sidera, et cuncta quae transeunt tibi non sunt aequalia. Non orbis partes quadriformes tam felicem ferunt arborem in radice, in fructu, in fronde, in flore, in sancto germine.
Idcirco ego servus tuus inutilis cantando, gemendo atque lamentando prosternor ante conspectum tuum, et ad te oro atque confiteor tibi, crux veneranda, per cujus lignum redemptus sum, cujus signo sum confirmatus, cujus vexillo sum munitus, cujus nomine sum defensus, cujus virtute nunc usque salvatus te adoro, te invoco, te deprecor. Tu es salus mea, tu virtus, tu protectio, tu murus, tu defensio, tu gaudium meum et consolatio mea. In vita ista me positum salva; me in angustiis recrea; in adversis conforta; in infirmitatibus corrobora; in morte a daemonibus me libera; a morte aeterna me subtrahe: januam paradisi pande, et Redemptori meo Domino Jesu Christo, qui in te crucifixus pependit, post hanc vitam miseram me conjunge. Amen.
Notes
Orationes sive Meditationes — Collection for Princess Adeliza of Normandy companion
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