Rorate Caeli Desuper (Advent 4)

William Dunbar (1460-1520)

Rorate Caeli Desuper
Last Week of Advent (last week before Christmas Day)

Spending Christmas in Seattle this year, and enjoying the balmy weather and occasional day of rain, I am not thinking so much of Irving Berlin's "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas," but rather an older text, the so-called "Advent Prose," the Latin chant for the conclusion of Advent, "Rorate Caeli Desuper ("Drop Down, O heavens, From Above.")  It dreams of a rainy Christmas rather than a snowy one.

The text begins with a citation from Isaiah 45:8: "Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it." The image in Isaiah is that of the rain-laden winds of late winter, a harbinger of Spring and provider of desperately needed water.

The overall text of the Advent Prose is a stringing together of passages from the Hebrew Scriptures expressing the hopes of the prophets for Yahweh's salvation at the end of time, when all would be set right:  

   

Latin	English
Roráte caéli désuper, et núbes plúant jústum.	Drop down ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness:
Ne irascáris Dómine, ne ultra memíneris iniquitátis: ecce cívitas Sáncti fácta est desérta: Síon desérta fácta est: Jerúsalem desoláta est: dómus sanctificatiónis túæ et glóriæ túæ, ubi laudavérunt te pátres nóstri.	Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: the holy cities are a wilderness, Sion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation: our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee.
Peccávimus, et fácti súmus tamquam immúndus nos, et cecídimus quasi fólium univérsi: et iniquitátes nóstræ quasi véntus abstulérunt nos: abscondísti faciem túam a nóbis, et allisísti nos in mánu iniquitátis nóstræ.	We have sinned, and are as an unclean thing, and we all do fade as a leaf: and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away; thou hast hid thy face from us: and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
Víde Dómine afflictiónem pópuli túi, et mítte quem missúrus es: emítte Agnum dominatórem térræ, de Pétra desérti ad móntem fíliæ Síon: ut áuferat ípse júgum captivitátis nóstræ.	Behold, O Lord, the affliction of thy people and send forth Him who is to come send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth from Petra of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion that He may take away the yoke of our captivity
Consolámini, consolámini, pópule méus: cito véniet sálus túa: quare mæróre consúmeris, quia innovávit te dólor? Salvábo te, nóli timére, égo enim sum Dóminus Déus túus, Sánctus Israël, Redémptor túus.	Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, my salvation shall not tarry: why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? Fear not, for I will save thee: for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

To hear the plainsong tone to which this text is chanted, see
                                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f06qdhO_sEY

One of my favorite Christmas carols is a macaronic (mixed Latin and vernacular) carol written in Scots dialect by William Dunbar that cites the plainsong chant and several other snippets of Latin liturgical texts used in the Advent and Christmastide seasons:

On the Nativity of Christ 

William Dunbar (1460-1520)

(Court Poet to James IV of Scotland)

Rorate coeli desuper! 
Hevins, distil your balmy schouris! 

For now is risen the bricht day-ster,    

Fro the rose Mary, flour of flouris:    

The cleir Sone, quhom no cloud devouris,        

 Surmounting Phebus in the Est,    

Is cumin of his hevinly touris:      

Et nobis Puer natus est.   

Archangellis, angellis, and dompnationis,    

Tronis, potestatis, and marteiris seir,  

And all ye hevinly operationis, 

Ster, planeit, firmament, and spheir,    

Fire, erd, air, and water cleir, 

To Him gife loving, most and lest,    

That come in to so meik maneir;  

Et nobis Puer natus est.   

Synnaris be glad, and penance do,    

And thank your Maker hairtfully; 

For he that ye micht nocht come to    

To you is cumin full humbly  

Your soulis with his blood to buy 

And loose you of the fiendis arrest—    

And only of his own mercy;      

Pro nobis Puer natus est.   

All clergy do to him inclyne,  

And bow unto that bairn benyng, 

And do your observance divyne    

To him that is of kingis King:    

Encense his altar, read and sing 

In holy kirk, with mind degest,  

Him honouring attour all thing 

Qui nobis Puer natus est.   

Celestial foulis in the air,    

Sing with your nottis upon hicht, 

In firthis and in forrestis fair  

Be myrthful now at all your mycht; 

For passit is your dully nicht, 

Aurora has the cloudis perst,    

The Sone is risen with glaidsum licht,      

Et nobis Puer natus est.  

Now spring up flouris fra the rute, 

Revert you upward naturaly, 

In honour of the blissit frute    

That raiss up fro the rose Mary;    

Lay out your levis lustily,  

Fro deid take life now at the lest 

In wirschip of that Prince worthy      

Qui nobis Puer natus est.   

Sing, hevin imperial, most of hicht!    

Regions of air mak armony!  

All fish in flud and fowl of flicht    

Be mirthful and mak melody!    

All Gloria in excelsis cry! 

Heaven, erd, se, man, bird, and best,—    

He that is crownit abone the sky

Pro nobis Puer natus est!

 

My adaptation for use by modern English speakers

Rorate coeli desuper!(1)
Heavens, now distil your balmy showers;
For now is risen the bright Daystar,
From the rose Mary, flower of flowers:
The clear Sun, whom no cloud devours,
Surmounting Phoebus (2) in the east,
Is come down from His heav’nly towers,
Et nobis puer natus est. (3)

Archangels, angels, dominions high
Thrones, powers, saints, and martyrs fair,
Stars, planets, firmament and sky,
All dwellers of the heavenly sphere,
Fire, Earth, air, and water clear.
To Him give loving, most and least,
That came in such a meek manner;
Et nobis Puer natus est.   

Sinners be glad, and penance do,
And thank your Maker heartfully;
For He that ye might not suffer so,
To you is come now, fully humbly,
Your souls with His blood to buy,
And loose you of the fiend’s arrest,
And only for His own mercy;
Pro nobis puer natus est. 

You ministers now turn your mind
And bow you to that child so kind,
And do your observance divine,
To Him who is of all kings the King:
Incense his altar, read and sing,
In holy Church with hearts at rest,
Him honoring above all things,
Qui nobis puer natus est.

Celestial fowls in the air,
Sing with your notes upon the height,
In straits and bays and forests fair
Be mirthful now at all your might;
For past now is your dark dull night;
Aurora (4) has the clouds pierced,
The sun is risen with gladsome light,
Et nobis puer natus est.

Now spring up flowers from the root,
And sprout green upward naturally,
In honor of the blessed fruit
That rose up from the rose Mary;
Send out your leaves lustily,
From death take life now at the least,
In worship of that Prince worthy,
Qui nobis puer natus est.

Sing, heaven imperial, most of height,
Regions of air make harmony,
All fish in flood and fowl of flight,
Be mirthful and make melody;
All Gloria in excelsis cry,
Heaven, earth, sea, man, bird and beast;
He that is crowned above the sky
Pro nobis puer natus est.

(1) "Drop down, heavens, from above." The beginning of the Latin introit for the fourth Sunday of Advent, taken from a prayer for winter rain which in the the book of Isaiah serves as a prayer for the arrival of God's day of salvation.   
(2) The Sun
(3)For/ and/ who  unto us a boy is born
(4)The Dawn

This poem is most often sung to this tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht1Udu0099o