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Original Latin Text

texts from the chants of
Hildegard von Bingen
______________________________

O Jerusalem

O Jerusalem, 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 pureritia,
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, Jerusalem,
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 a 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 pueritia et in adolescentia tua
ad Deum anhelasti in timore Dei
et in amplexione caritatis
et in suavissimo odore bonorum operum.

O Jerusalem, 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 Jerusalem,
rutilant et candent per ruborem
et per candorem sanctorum
et per omnia ornamenta Dei
que tibi non desunt, o Jerusalem.

Unde vos, o ornati et o coronati,
qui habitatis in Jerusalem,
et o tu, Ruperte,
qui es socius eorum in hac habitatione,
succurrite nobis famulantibus
et in exilio laborantibus.

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English Translation

texts from the chants of
Hildegard von Bingen
______________________________

Oh Jerusalem

 

O Jerusalem, golden city,
robed in royal purple;
O edifice of highest excellence,
you are a light never darkened.

You are adorned in the dawn
and in the heat of the sun.
O blessed childhood
which gleams in the dawn,
and fair youth,
aflame in the sun.

For you, O noble Rupert,
glitter in these like a gem.
You cannot be hidden
by human foolishness,
Just as a mountain
cannot be hidden by a valley.

Your windows, Jerusalem,
are carefully decorated
with topaz and sapphire.

In these windows you blaze, O Rupert,
and cannot be hidden by tepid mortals;
Just as a mountain cannot be hidden;
but instead crowned with roses,
lilies and purple, in a true revelation.

O tender flower of the field,
O sweet juiciness of the apples,
O burden without weight,
let none bend a head to their breast in guilt.

O noble vessel
which was not polluted nor drained
in the ancient ceremony of the cave
and is not weakened
by wounds from the ancient destroyer.

In you sings the Holy Spirit,
with whom the angelic choir unites,
and through whom you are adorned
in the Son of God,
having no stain upon you.

O Rupert, what a beautiful chalice you are,
for in your childhood and youth
you sighed after God in awe of God;
and in the tender embrace of Love,
you lived in the sweetest aroma of good deeds.

O Jerusalem, your foundation is laid
with burning stones,
which are the tax-gatherers and sinners
who were lost sheep,
but discovered by the Son of God
they ran to you, and were placed in you.

Thus your walls blaze with living stones,
who with great efforts of good will
have flown like clouds into the sky.

And so your towers, O Jerusalem,
glitter and gleam with dawn,
and with sacred incandescence,
and with all the finery of God
which you do not lack, O Jerusalem.

Therefore, O you adorned and crowned ones
who live in Jerusalem,
and you, O Rupert,
who are their companion in that dwelling,
help us, who are serving and laboring in exile.