The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord
T’oros the Deacon, Presentation of Christ, from an Armenian Gospel book of 1311.
Taking place forty days after the Nativity of Our Lord, the ancient Feast of the Purification marks the end of Christmastide and the first entrance of the incarnate Christ into the temple. The Epistle at Mass is Malachi 3:1–4, and the Gospel Luke 2:22–32. The Gospel for the day recounts Simeon’s first utterance of the Nunc dimittis, and the phrase lumen ad revelationem gentium, “A Light to lighten the Gentiles,” gave rise to the traditional practice of blessing candles on this day (and thus the name “Candlemas”), and the imagery of light reappears again and again throughout the Mass and Office of the day.
The texts for the day are immensely beautiful, perhaps the most famous being Adorna thalamum, sung prior to mass in conjunction with the blessing of the candles. While the 1589 missal of the Lutheran Cathedral in Havelberg inveighs against the blessing of candles, the antiphon Adorna thalamum, together with the Nunc Dimittis that follows, is still appointed to be sung prior to mass as they are “pious” and “drawn from Holy Scripture.” The translation of this text and of all the subsequent texts are taken from CPDL.
Adorn thy bridal chamber, O Sion,
and receive Christ the King:
embrace Mary, who is the gate of heaven,
who herself truly brings the glorious King of new light.
She remains a virgin, though bearing in her hands
a Son begotten before the daystar,
whom Simeon, taking him in his arms,
proclaimed to the people
to be the Lord God of life and death,
and Savior of the world.
Adorna thalamum tuum, Sion,
et suscipe Regem Christum:
amplectere Mariam, quae est coelestis porta:
ipsa enim portat Regem gloriae novi luminis:
subsistit Virgo, adducens manibus
Filium ante luciferum,
quem accipiens Simeon in ulnas suas
praedicabat populis
Dominum Deum esse vitae et mortis
et Salvatorem mundi
Rather well known is also the Magnificat antiphon at First Vespers, Senex puerum portabat:
An ancient held up an Infant,
but the Infant upheld the ancient.
A Child he was that a Virgin bore,
and kept her as Virgin evermore.
The one whom she brought forth, she did adore.
Senex puerum portabat:
puer autem senem regebat:
quem virgo peperit,
et post partum virgo permansit:
ipsum quem genuit, adoravit.
Another is the Responsory Videte miraculum, variously appointed for First Vespers or Matins in Lutheran usage:
℟. Behold the miracle, the mother of the Lord conceived:
a virgin who knows not a man,
* Mary, who stands laden with her noble burden;
knowing not that she is a wife,
she rejoices to be a mother.
℣. The virgin conceived,
And the virgin gave birth,
And after the birth a virgin she remained.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
* Mary, who stands laden with her noble burden;
knowing not that she is a wife,
she rejoices to be a mother.
℟. Videte miraculum mater Domini concepit,
virgo virile ignorans consortium,
* Stans onerata nobili onere Maria
Et matrem se laeta cognoscit,
quae se nescit uxorem.
℣. Virgo concepit,
Et virgo peperit,
Et post partum virgo permansit.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
* Stans onerata nobili onere Maria
Et matrem se laeta cognoscit,
quae se nescit uxorem.
A beautiful setting of this responsory by Tallis, though with the verse Haec speciosum forma rather than Virgo concepit, is well worth your while: