Héloïse, “Epithalamica” (“Love Song” or “Wedding Hymn”), in the “Nevers Prosary” (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS nouv. acq. lat. 3126, ff. 90v–91) ark:/12148/cc58851d
Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
Those designated sing a sequence:
Veni, Sancte Spiritus
(Dominican Chant)
Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Alleluia
Taylor will sing part A and Philip will sing part B.
Taylor will serve as “all.”
Penitential Rite
Taylor will serve as “all.”
Officiant:
Friends, it is in vain that we rise up so early, and go so late to rest, and eat the bread of anxiety: for God gives sleep to his beloved.
Dear God,
thank you for all that is good,
for our creation and for our humanity,
for the stewardship you have given us of this planet Earth,
for the gifts of life and of one another,
for your love, which is unbounded and eternal.
Let us come to God as one from whom no secrets are hidden, to ask for forgiveness and peace.
A moment of silence is kept.
May the God of Love have mercy on us, pardon us, and set us free. Know that you are forgiven and be at peace. May God strengthen us in all goodness and keep us in life eternal.
All:
Amen
Opening Sentences
Philip will serve as “all.”
Those designated sing the Compline hymn:
Te Lucis ante Terminum
(Sarum Rite Plainchant, Festal Tone)
Philip will sing verse 1, Taylor will sing verse 2, and Stacy will sing verse 3.
Before the end of the light,
we beg you, creator of all,
that you, with familiar mercy,
might be the leader of our care.
Let troubled dreams withdraw to the distance.
Silence our enemy
and all deceptions of the night,
that our bodies may rest secure.
Be present, omnipotent father,
through the Lord, Jesus Christ,
who with you forever
reigns with the Holy Spirit.
Psalmody
The psalm is sung antiphonally. You are invited to join either the “leader” or the “responder” part (with your microphone muted).
Luke will serve as leader and Taylor will serve as responder.
Psalm 30 (NZPB, adapted)
Leader:
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have lifted me up: *
Responder:
you have not let my enemies tri-umph o-ver me.
Leader:
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help *
Responder:
and you have re-stored my health.
Leader:
Lord, you have brought me back from the dead: *
Responder:
you have saved my life from among those going down to the A-byss.
Leader:
Let all your servants sing praises to you, O Lord, *
Responder:
and give thanks to your ho-ly name.
Leader:
For your anger is but for a mo-ment, *
Responder:
and in your kind-ness is life:
Leader:
tears may linger at night-fall, *
Responder:
but joy comes with the dawn.
Leader:
In my prosperity I said, “I shall never be sha-ken: *
Responder:
your favour, O Lord, has made me as firm as a strong moun-tain.”
Leader:
You turned your face a-way from me *
Responder:
and I was great-ly dismayed.
Leader:
I called to you, O God; *
Responder:
to the Lord I made my appeal.
Leader:
“What profit is there in my death, *
Responder:
in my go-ing down to the grave?
Leader:
Will the dust give you praise, *
Responder:
or will it pro-claim your faith-fulness?
Leader:
Hear, O Lord, and be gra-cious to me: *
Responder:
O Lord, be my help-er.”
Leader:
You have turned my mourning into danc-ing: *
Responder:
you have stripped off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy,
Leader:
so that my heart shall sing your praise without ceas-ing. *
Responder:
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for ev-er.
Leader:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, *
Responder:
and to the Ho-ly Spir-it,
Leader:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, *
Responder:
world with-out end. A-men.
Short Reading
Philip will serve as leader and Stacy will serve as “all.”
The leader chants the reading:
Letter from Bl. Peter the Venerable,
Abbot of Cluny,
to Héloïse, Abbess of the Paraclete
Soon, indeed, according to the words of the apostle, as it pleased Him who brought you forth from your mother’s womb to call you by His grace, you exchanged [your] devotion to studies for a far better one … You snatched the spoils from the defeated enemy, and passing through the desert of this pilgrimage, with the treasures of the Egyptians, you built a precious tabernacle to God in your heart. You sang a song of praise with Miriam, when Pharaoh was drowned; and carrying in your hands the timbrel of holy mortification, as she did formerly, you sent forth with skilled musicianship a new melody to the very ears of God …
I say these things, dearest sister in the Lord, not indeed to flatter you, but to encourage you, so that, devoting your attention to that great good in which you have for a long time persevered, you may the more ardently continue to preserve it carefully, and that you may inflame both by words and by example, according to the grace granted to you by God, those holy women who serve the Lord with you, so that they may strive anxiously in this same contest. For you … are one of those creatures whom the prophet Ezechiel saw, who should not only burn like coals of fire, but should glow and shine like lamps.
Responsories
Taylor will serve as leader and Philip will serve as “all.”
All sing an aleatoric responsory:
Epitaph
Text by Sarah Williams; music by F.J. Haydn (details)
- Philip sings the melody once, ending on “oo.”
- Everyone sings the melody, starting at different times and moving at different speeds, ending by returning to “oo.”
- Once everyone is singing “oo,” gradually fade into silence.
❦
Those designated sing a sequence:
Epithalamica
Héloïse (c. 1095 – May 16, 1164)
Sing, O Maiden, your love songs!
Speak boldly of those joys you feel within.
Make us glad—tell us news of the Lover
whose presence always warms your heart.
Taylor will sing this stanza.
Young women, lead the dance!
When she begins her song, sing with her!
The Lover’s friends have called you to the celebration,
and we wish for the melodies of the new lady.
Philip will sing this stanza.
Behold! He is skipping on the mountains.
See! He comes bounding over the hills.
Through the windows he is gazing at me;
he is looking at me through the gates, saying:
“Arise, my love, make haste!
My snow-white dove, fly to me!”
Elma will sing the beginning and Philip will sing the final couplet.
“For the grisly winter now is past,
The heavy rains give way, they have gone!
A lovely spring has unveiled the earth.
Flowers appear, and the turtle-dove sings:
‘Arise, my love, make haste!
My snow-white dove, fly to me!’”
Philip will sing this stanza.
The King has already reclined on his couch
and he has breathed the fragrance of my perfume.
I had come into the garden into which he had gone walking,
but he, passing by, had already turned away.
Taylor will sing this stanza.
Therefore I go out seeking him through the night:
I run here and there, searching anxiously.
The sentinels come upon me in my burning desire.
Scarcely have I passed them when I find my Lover!
Elma will sing this stanza.
Now I see what I had wished for.
Now I hold what I had loved.
Now I laugh at what I had wept for.
I rejoice more than I had suffered.
I laughed at dawn; I wept by night.
At dawn I laughed; by night I wept.
Taylor will sing the “versicle” and Stacy will sing the “response.”
Heartache led to a sleepless night—
an ache which love made furious.
The delay made the longing grow,
until the Lover visits the Beloved.
Rejoicing by day; lamenting at night.
By day, rejoicing; at night, lamenting.
Taylor will sing the “versicle” and Stacy will sing the “response.”
Ah! Companions, daughters of Zion!
Join a psalm to the Maiden’s song—
one in which the Lover’s presence, given back to the sorrowful,
turns our lamentations into song.
Philip will sing this stanza.
Prayers
Luke will serve as leader and Taylor will serve as “all.”
The leader begins the Lord’s Prayer:
All continue silently until “and lead us not …”:
… who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us …
and then conclude:
A moment of silence is kept.
Stacy will serve as leader and Elma will serve as “all.”
The leader begins the collects:
Taylor will serve as leader and Luke will serve as “all.”
Leader:
Leader:
O most mighty and merciful God,
in this time of grievous sickness,
we flee unto thee for succour.
Deliver us, we beseech thee, from our peril;
give strength and skill to all those who minister to the sick;
prosper the means made use of for their cure;
and grant that, perceiving how frail and uncertain our life is,
we may apply our hearts unto that heavenly wisdom
which leadeth to eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All:
Leader:
Keep watch, dear Lord,
with those who work, or watch, or weep this night,
and give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary,
bless the dying, soothe the suffering,
pity the afflicted, shield the joyous;
and all for your love’s sake.
All:
Leader:
Be present, Spirit of God,
within us, your dwelling place and home,
that this house may be one where
all darkness is penetrated by your light,
all troubles calmed by your peace,
all evil redeemed by your love,
all pain transformed in your suffering,
and all dying glorified in your risen life.
All:
Leader:
Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord,
and by thy great mercy defend us
from all perils and dangers of this night;
through Jesus Christ our savior,
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit
for ever and ever.
All:
After the collects, we will keep a moment of silence to call to mind our concerns, reflections, intentions, and reasons for thankfulness. Those who wish to share them aloud will be invited to do so.
❦
Those designated sing a hymn:
O Quanta Qualia
Peter Abelard (1079–1142)
ed. Philip McGrath after Fr. Chrysogonus Waddell, OCSO
The verses will be sung by:
- Taylor
- Elma
- Stacy
- Luke
- Elma
- Philip
- Luke
O how great, how excellent are those Sabbaths
which the court above keeps continually.
What rest for the weary! What a wage for the endurant!
when God will be in all, the fulfillment of all things.
Elma
That city is the true Jerusalem,
whose peace is always flowing, the highest pleasure:
where a wish no sooner is formed than it is granted,
nor is the reward less that what is longed for.
Stacy
What king, what court, what palace,
what peace, what rest, what ineffable joy—
let those who share in this explain the glory,
if they who know such magnificence are able to express it.
Luke
Ours, for now, is to lift up our minds,
approach our homeland with all our devotions,
and to Jerusalem from Babylon,
after a long exile, return at last.
Elma
There, all troubles ended,
free from care, we will sing the songs of Zion,
and for the gifts of grace, the happy folk
will bring eternal thanks to you, O Lord.
Philip
Sabbath will follow Sabbath there—
unbroken happiness of the numinous stillness.
Nor will the songs of unutterable ecstasy ever cease,
which we and the angels will sing unendingly.
Luke
Let unbroken glory be to the never-failing Lord,
from whom, through whom, in whom all things have being:
God is the Father, from whom they are, the Son, through whom they are,
and the Spirit, in whom they are.
Canticle
The canticle is sung antiphonally. You are invited to join either the “leader” or the “responder” part (with your microphone muted).
Taylor will serve as leader and Luke will serve as responder.
Nunc Dimittis: Luke 2:29–32
Leader:
Lord, you now have set your ser-vant free *
Responder:
to go in peace as you have pro-mised,
Leader:
For with my eyes I have seen *
Responder:
your sal-va-tion,
Leader:
→ which you have pre-pared *
Responder:
before the sight of all peo-ple:
Leader:
A light to shine through all na -tions *
Responder:
and the glory of your peo-ple,Isra-el.
Leader:
Glo -ry be to the Fa-ther, and to the Son, *
Responder:
and to the Ho-ly Spi-rit,
Leader:
As it was in the be-gin-ning, is now, *
Responder:
and will be fore-ver. A-men.
Benediction
Taylor will serve as “all.”
Those designated sing the Marian antiphon:
Regina Caeli, Laetare
(Gregorian Chant, Simple Tone)
Philip will sing part A; Taylor will sing part B.
Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia,
for the one whom you were worthy to bear, alleluia,
has risen, just as he said. Alleluia.
Pray for us to God. Alleluia.
It is traditional to end Compline with a few moments for silent reflection.