Cooler yesterday but mid-40s still this morning...

But rain clouds are everywhere although none seems to have fallen thus far. Today is the feast of the martyrs Popes Saint Soter and Saint Caius (Introibo) but in Paris it is the feast of the Invention [i.e. the inventio, the finding of the bodies, of the relics] of Saints Denis, first Bishop of Paris, Rusticus, and Eleutherius, Martyrs and that Mass (the program is here [well, it seemed to be there, 18 pages of it, and then resolved to a one page pdf-- ah, ha, I see it is from previous years, so perhaps there is no Missa cantata today etc etc]) will be celebrated at Saint-Eugène. There are not so many sequences composed by kings, but Robert the Pious is the author of today's Gaude prole Graecia. 

The Mouton Nesciens Mater has nothing to do with the day's Sacred Liturgy but I have been listening to versions of it the last couple of days. 

Nesciens mater virgo virum
peperit sine dolore
salvatorem saeculorum.
Ipsum regem angelorum
sola virgo lactabat,
ubere de caelo pleno.

 

No Missa cantata, no, alas. Pater Thomas SJ will skip the prose, I reckon, since it is presumably not printed in the altar copy of the Roman Missal. It is perhaps a Mass proper to Saints Denys, Rusticus, and Eleutherius; I can't find the Offertory or Communion or phrases thereof in the Cantus Index; the Introit or its verse shows up in a Tract and Responsory for the feast of the Holy Innocents, in the Gradual verse for the feast of Saint Basil and Companions, and in the Communion for the Vigil of Saints Simon and Jude.  

The Introit.

Posuerunt * mortália servórum tuórum, Dómine, escas volatílibus cæli; carnes sanctórum tuórum béstiis terræ: secúndum magnitúdinem bráchii tui pósside fílios morte punitórum, allelúia, allelúia. Ps. Deus, venérunt gentes in hereditátem tuam, † polluérunt templum sanctum tuum; * posuérunt Jerusalem in pomórum custódiam. Glória Patri. Posuerunt mortalia etc.

The Alleluia.

Allelúia, allelúia. – V/. Membra templum sunt Spíritus sancti, qui in vobis est, quem 

habétis * a Deo. Allelúia.

 

Allelúia, allelúia. – V/. Qui suscitávit Jesum a mórtuis, vivificábit et mortália córpora 

vestra, propter inhabitántem Spíritum ejus in vobis. Allelúia.

The Prose Gaude prole Graecia.

Gaude prole, Græcia,

Gloriétur Gállia

Patre Dionysio.

Exsúltet ubérius

Felíci Parísius

Illústris martyrio.

Dies festus ágitur

Quo trium recólitur

Mártyrum victória:

Quorum patrocínio

Tota gaudet régio,

Regni stat poténtia.

Juxta patrem pósiti,

Bellatóres ínclyti,

Digni sunt memória.

Sed illum præcípue

Récolit assídue

Regális Ecclésia.

Hic a summo Præsule

Diréctus in Gálliam,

Non gentis incrédulæ

Verétur insániam.

Gallórum Apóstolus

Vénerat Lutétiam,

Quam tenébat súbdolus

Hostis velut própriam.

Hic constrúcto Christo templo,

Verbo docet & exémplo,

Corúscat miráculis.

Turba credit, error cedit,

Fides crescit, & claréscit

Nomen tanti præsulis.

His audítis, fit insánus

Imperátor inhumánus,

Mittítque Fescénnium,

Qui pastórem animárum,

Fide, vita, signis clarum,

Trahat ad supplícium.

Infliguntur seni pœnæ,

Flagra, carcer, & caténæ;

Invícta sed constántia

Torménta vincit ómnia.

Recordátus emensórum,

Fortis athléta, labórum,

Per nova gaudens prælia,

Ætérna quærit præmia.

Immolati vir beátus

Agni carne saginátus,

Et præsénti roborátus,

Ad certámen númine.

Quam sermóne prædicávit,

Mille signis quam probávit,

Hanc signáre festinávit

Fuso fidem sánguine.

Prodit Martyr conflictúrus:

Sub secúri stat secúrus;

Ferit lictor

Sicque victor

Consummátur gládio.

Se cadáver mox erexit;

Truncus truncum caput vexit;

Quod feréntem huc diréxit

Angelórum légio.

Tam præclára pássio

Répleat nos gáudio.

Amen. Allelúia.

The antiphona ad Offertorium.

Vidi * ánimas decollatórum propter testimónium Jesu, et propter verbum Dei, allelúia: erunt Sacerdótes Dei et Christi, et regnábunt cum illo, allelúia.

The antiphona ad Communionem. 

Si commórtui sumus * cum Christo, et convivémus: si sustinébimus, et conregnábimus, alléluia.

I wonder if the sung Mass is in the back pages, as it were, of the YouTube channel. Hmm. There it is, from last year.

Am, since the Octave, reading more and listening less, to put it concisely. But I noticed today the Divine Box feature benefiting the nuns at Jouques (whose singing of the Sacred Liturgy in the Pauline Rite I listen to via Neumz). On the one hand, it is a great pity that one cannot buy from them for shipping to the United States; on the other, of course, I need no excuse to spend my limited income no matter how worthy the cause.

Post Nonam. Have gotten sidetracked to Pindar's Fourth Pythian Ode-- which is a diversion certainly but since the principal subject is Jason and his affairs perhaps can count as subsidiary matter to the Argonautika. τον μονοκρηπιδα (l. 75), 'the man with one sandal', as Professor Race puts it; 'the one-sandalled'. Tsk, I cannot recall at the moment why Jason had just the one sandal-- he came hurrying from somewhere headed to someplace important; I did read of this only the other day. To attend to the request of King Pelias that he go on the quest for the Golden Fleece, I expect. Since I managed to pronounce τον μονοκρηπιδα more or less correctly on the first go, am going to celebrate by using the K henceforward in the label, Argonautika.

Am still trying to get my head around the word ἴυγξ. Two syllables in pronunciation? three? Ee-eenx, maybe. Who knew that a wryneck is a real bird, eh, that can, apparently, turn its head to face backwards: its usefulness in a magic charm for re-capturing a lost lover's affections is obvious.

Perhaps I'm half-expecting the full Exorcist head rotation effect, wrongly, as Wikipedia informs us: 

These birds get their English name from their ability to turn their heads almost 180 degrees. When disturbed at the nest, they use this snake-like head twisting and hissing as a threat display. It has occasionally been called "snake-bird" for that reason.

 

It is also the feast of Saint Aha (6th century), of Saint Agapitus (6th century), and of Saint Aprunculus (6th century).

V. Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum. R. Deo grátias.

LDVM