The ancient liturgy has something (many things) beautiful that is missing from the new: a seasonal Marian antiphon sung just after the Ite, the close of Mass. And, we at Happy Entanglements are big on Marian hymns. There are different antiphons offered in the different liturgical seasons. As you may have guessed, the antiphon for Advent is Alma Redemptoris Mater.And these hymns are ancient, renewing a deep connection with those that have gone before us professing the Faith. Both the words & the melody are attriuted to Hermannus Contractus, who will have passed to his reward a thousand years ago come 2054! Truly no man is an island, & no one gives themselves the gift of faith. Yet, when the beautiful & ancient gift from our fathers has been so disregarded, the young grow up without ecclesial roots & thus the faith of so many has withered in the heat of the noonday sun. In a day when change itself seems to be the highest virtue, I thank you, Hermannus, for this Advent gift!
Alma Redemptoris Mater, quae pervia caeli porta manes,
et stella maris, succurre cadenti surgere qui curat populo.
Tu quae genuisti, natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem;
Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore sumens illud Ave,
peccatorum miserere.
...
Loving Mother of our Savior,
thou open gate leading us to heaven,
and Star of the Sea,
help thy fallen people,
help all those who seek to rise again.
Maiden who didst give birth,
all nature wondering,
to thy holy Lord Creator;
Virgin before and always
who received from Gabriel's mouth
this message from heaven,
take pity on us poor sinners.
...
Postscript: A note from a friend about Hermannus - "Incidentally, Hermannus Contractus is also credited sometimes with the Salve Regina too. I heard a talk by Fr. Benedict Groeschel who first described his horribly deformed face and body -- so ugly that it would have been impossible for him to have lived outside the monastery to which he had been consigned shortly after birth -- and his generally pitiful circumstance at some length, before winding up with the remark that it somehow seemed altogether appropriate that someone who suffered so grievously from his appearance had penned the most beautiful words (he said) the human race has yet produced: "Salve regina, mater misericordiae ...." (You are free to substitute "Alma redemptoris mater ..." here if you like.)"
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