Catholic CornucopiadCheney

Paschale mundo gaudium

With the fair sun of Easter morn

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

  1. Paschale mundo gaudium
    Sol nuntiat formosior,
    Cum luce fulgentem nova
    Jesum vident Apostoli.
  2. In came Christi vulnera
    Micare tamquam sidera
    Mirantur, et quidquid vident
    Testes fideles prædicant.
  3. Rex Christe clementissime,
    Tu corda nostra posside:
    Ut lingua grates debitas
    Tuo rependat nomini.
  4. Ut sis perenne mentibus
    Paschale Jesu gaudium,
    A morte dira criminum
    Vitæ renatos libera.
  5. Deo Patri sit gloria,
    Et Filio, qui a mortuis
    Surrexit, ac Paraclito,
    In sempiterna sæcula.
  1. With the fair sun of Easter morn
    The world’s excelling joy is born,
    When, bright with new and greater grace,
    The Apostles see the Saviour’s face.
  2. They in their Lord’s fair flesh descry
    The wounds that shine as stars on high,
    And, wondering, faithful witness bear,
    And all that they have seen declare.
  3. O Christ, most loving King, we pray,
    Possess our inmost hearts to-day,
    While grateful lips with glad acclaim
    Sing fervent praises to Thy Name.
  4. Lord Jesu, that Thou mayest be
    Our Easter joy eternally,
    Our souls from death of sin set free
    That they, new born, may live to Thee.
  5. To God the Father, and the Son,
    From death arisen, praise be done:
    With God the Holy Ghost on high
    Henceforth to all eternity.
This is a continuation of the two preceding hymns. Translation by Alan G. McDougall. Liturgical Use: Hymn for Lauds in the Common Office of Apostles and Evangelists in Eastertide.

  1. “A more beauteous sun proclaims to the world the joys of Easter, when the Apostles behold Jesus resplendent with a new light.” The “new light” is that which emanates from His glorified body. The sun is now “more beauteous” for at His death it was darkened.
  2. “They wonder to see the wounds in the flesh of Christ shine like stars, and what they see, as faithful witnesses, they proclaim.” Vulnera: That the marks of the nails and spear were plainly visible in the glorified body of Christ is evident from the testimony of St. Thomas (cf. John 20, 27-28).
  3. “O Christ, King most merciful, possess Thou our hearts, that our tongues may return due thanks to Thy Name.”
  4. “That Thou, O Jesus, mayest be the everlasting Paschal joy of our hearts, deliver us re-born to life, from a dire death of sin.”
Copyright Benziger Brothers, 1922. Online Edition Copyright David M. Cheney, 2019.