O Speculum Columbe ✨🕊️ (Antiphon for St. John the Evangelist by Hildegard of Bingen)

A blessed Christmas season to all! Here is a somewhat silly video of my version of St. Hildegard's "O Speculum Columbe" (O Mirror of the Dove), an antiphon that she composed in honor of St. John the Evangelist, my patron saint and that of my religious community (whose feast day is tomorrow Dec 27!) I have been wanting to explore more the music of St. Hildegard (~1098-1179) for a while now, and this was a good opportunity! Look up more about her, she is amazing! Lived in the Middle Ages and was not only a nun, musician, nature specialist, mystic, and advisor to prominent church figures, but is now also considered a Doctor of the Church!

Here is the Latin text and English translation :

O speculum columbe
castissime forme,
qui inspexisti misticam largitatem
in purissimo fonte:

O mira floriditas
que numquam arescens cecidisti,
quia altissimus
plantator misit te:

O suavissima quies
amplexuum solis:
tu es specialis filius Agni
in electa amicicia
nove sobolis.

O mirror of the dove—
the chastest form—
you gazed upon the mystic bounty
within the clearest font:

O wondrous, flourished bloom
that never withered, never fell—
the Most High
Gardener has sent you forth:

O sweet repose
of sunshine’s warm embrace:
the Lamb’s especial son you are
within that privileged friendship of
a new posterity.

(Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.)

#latin #chant #gregorianchant #hildegardvonbingen #saintjohn #brotherjohnofthecross #brothersofsaintjohn

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