XXI. O gloriosissimi (De angelis)
The Radiant Gaze and the Fallen Angel
The antiphon praises the glorious angels who gaze with burning desire upon the divine mystery, then contrasts their untarnished joy with the ruin of the lost angel, whose fallen instruments God reshaped anew.
Antiphon: O most glorious angels, living light, who gaze with divine eyes upon the mystery and darkness that lies beneath all divinity and every creature, with burning desire — and so can never be satisfied: O how glorious are those joys of yours, which your form holds within you, untouched by any wicked deed, such as first arose in your companion, the lost angel, who wanted to fly above the hidden pinnacle of God. And so that twisted one was plunged into ruin; but the instruments of his fall, by the counsel of the finger of God, he fashioned into something new.
Read the original Latin
Antiphona: O gloriosissimi, lux vivens, angeli, qui infra divinitatem divinos oculos cum mistica obscuritate omnis creature aspicitis in ardentibus desideriis, unde numquam potestis saciari: O quam gloriosa gaudia illa vestra habet forma, que in vobis est intacta ab omni pravo opere, quod primum ortum est in vestro socio, perdito angelo, qui volare voluit supra intus latens pinnaculum dei. Unde ipse tortuosus dimersus est in ruinam; sed ipsius instrumenta casus consiliando facrure digiti dei instituit.
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