LXIII. O Ierusalem (De sancto Ruperto)
The Radiant City and Rupert's Hidden Light
The heavenly Jerusalem is praised as a golden, luminous city, and Saint Rupert shines within it like an unmistakable jewel, his holiness visible through precious windows of grace.
O Jerusalem, golden city, adorned with the purple of the king. O building of highest goodness, you are a light never darkened.✦ For you are adorned in the dawn and in the heat of the sun. O blessed purity, you glow red in the dawn, and O praiseworthy youth, you burn in the sun.1 For you, O noble Rupert, have shone in these things like a jewel. So you cannot be hidden from foolish men, any more than a mountain on the rampart can be concealed.✦ Your windows, Jerusalem, are adorned especially with topaz and sapphire.✦ In these, while you shine, O Rupert, you cannot be hidden from lukewarm ways, any more than a mountain on the rampart crowned with roses, lilies, and purple in true manifestation.✦
The Pure Vessel and the Living Stones
Rupert is celebrated as an undefiled vessel of the Holy Spirit, and the city's foundations and walls are described as built from repentant sinners and living stones adorned with heavenly splendor.
O tender flower of the field, and O sweet greenness of the fruit, and O marrowless burden that does not bend hearts into sins. O noble vessel, which has not been polluted or devoured in the dancing of the ancient cave, and which has not been tormented in the wounds of the ancient destroyer. In you the Holy Spirit makes harmony, because you are joined with angelic choirs and because you are adorned in the Son of God, since you have no stain. What a beautiful vessel you are, O Rupert, who in boyhood and in your youth longed for God in the fear of God and in the embrace of love and in the sweetest fragrance of good works. O Jerusalem, your foundation is set with rushing stones, which is with tax collectors and sinners, who were lost sheep.✦ But through the Son of God, those who were found ran to you and are set firm in you. Then your walls flash with living stones, who through the highest zeal of a good will flew like clouds in heaven.✦ And so your towers, O Jerusalem, glow red and shine white through the brightness and through the splendor of the saints and through all the ornaments of God, which are not lacking to you, O Jerusalem.✦
Cry of the Exiled Pilgrims
The souls serving in exile call upon the crowned citizens of Jerusalem and Rupert to come to their aid.
So you, O adorned ones, and you, O crowned ones, who dwell in Jerusalem, and you, O Rupert, who share this dwelling with them, come to the aid of us who serve and toil in exile.
Read the original Latin
O Ierusalem, aurea civitas, ornata regis purpura. O edificatio summe bonitatis, que es lux numquam obscurata. Tu enim es ornata in aurora et in calore solis. O beata purericia, que rutilas in aurora, et o laudabilis adolescentia, que ardes in sole. Nam tu, o nobilis Ruperte, in his sicut gemma fulsisti. Unde non potes abscondi stultis hominibus, sicut nec mons valli celatur. Fenestre tue, Ierusalem, cum topazio et saphiro specialiter sunt decorate. In quibus dum fulges, o Ruperte, non potes abscondi tepidis moribus, sicut nec mons valli, coronatus rosis, liliis et purpura in vera ostensione.
O tener flos campi et o dulcis viriditas pomi et o sarcina sine medulla, que non flectit pectora in crimina. O vas nobile, quod non est pollutum nec devoratum in saltatione antique spelunce et quod non est maceratum in vulneribus antiqui perditoris. In te symphonizat spiritus sanctus, quia angelicis choris associaris et quoniam in filio dei ornaris, cum nullam maculam habes. Quod vas decorum tu es, o Ruperte, qui in puericia et in adolescentia tua ad deum anhelasti in timore dei et in amplexione caritatis et in suavissimo odore bonorum operum. O Ierusalem, fundamentum tuum positum est cum torrentibus lapidibus, quod est cum publicanis et peccatoribus, qui perdite oves erant. Sed per filium dei invente ad te cucurrerunt et in te positi sunt. Deinde muri tui fulminant vivis lapidibus, qui per summum studium bone voluntatis quasi nubes in celo volaverunt. Et ita turres tue, o Ierusalem, rutilant et candent per ruborem et per candorem sanctorum et per omnia ornamenta dei, que tibi non desunt, o Ierusalem.
Unde vos, o ornati et o coronati, qui habitatis in Ierusalem, et o tu, Ruperte, qui es socius eorum in hac habitatione, succurrite nobis famulantibus et in exilio laborantibus.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.1.5 — And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
- ↩Matt.5.14 — You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
- ↩Isa.54.12 — And I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
- ↩Rev.3.15-Rev.3.16 — I know your works—that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! Rev.3.16 — So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
- ↩Matt.9.10-Matt.9.11 — And it happened, as he was reclining at table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and reclined with Jesus and his disciples. Matt.9.11 — And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?'
- ↩1Pet.2.5 — and you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- ↩Rev.21.10-Rev.21.21 — And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Rev.21.11 — having the glory of God, its radiance like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal Rev.21.12 — It had a great, high wall, with twelve angels at the gates, and names inscribed on them — the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Rev.21.13 — On the east, three gates; on the north, three gates; and on the south, three gates; and on the west, three gates. Rev.21.14 — And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Rev.21.15 — And the one who was speaking with me had a golden measuring rod, so that he might measure the city, and its gates, and its wall. Rev.21.16 — The city lies foursquare, and its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand stadia. Its length and breadth and height are equal. Rev.21.17 — And he measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits, according to human measurement, which is also the angel's. Rev.21.18 — and the wall's foundation was jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. Rev.21.19 — The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, Rev.21.20 — the fifth foundation stone was sardonyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, the eighth was beryl, the ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst. Rev.21.21 — And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made from a single pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
Notes
- 1 ↩purericia is an unusual/medieval form, likely meaning 'purity'; rendered as 'purity'.
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