Thursday, 12 February 2009

Say the black; do the red

I found this wonderful hymn today on Eugenia's blog. It goes to the tune 'Greensleeves'.


In hospita Siberia
te vocant, frater, studia.
In muris proseminarii
expectant Jesuitae.

Chorus:
"Dic nigrum, rubrum fac" -
memento, frater, verba haec.
Usque ad tuum obitum
dic nigrum et fac rubrum.

Persolves horas canonicas,
ad Missam quoque servies,
disce, ora et labora,
sec noli hoc oblivisci:

Chorus:
"Dic nigrum, rubrum fac" -
memento, frater, verba haec.
Usque ad tuum obitum
dic nigrum et fac rubrum.

Et quando eris presbyter
et celebrabis primitiam,
manus tuas deosculans
cum reverentia dicam:

Chorus:
"Dic nigrum, rubrum fac" -
memento, pater, verba haec.
Usque ad tuum obitum
dic nigrum et fac rubrum.
at

3 comments:

  1. PeterHWright13 February 2009 at 23:49

    Wonderful. I love "Dic nigrum, rubrum fac." It has a certain symmetry to it, I think.

    However, (and I don't want to sound too Ciceronian about it,) I'm not too sure about "Jesuitae", you know, its number, gender, case, etc.

    I can think of no precedent for it.

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  2. bedwere15 February 2009 at 00:43

    I think it's right. Jesuitae would be plural, masculine, nominative of the first declension name Jesuita.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PeterHWright15 February 2009 at 18:43

    Ah, I see !
    Jesuita, a first declension noun like "agricola" ? Yes, that would make sense.
    Thanks, Bedwere.

    ReplyDelete