The Illatio for the Fifth Sunday of Advent in the present-day Hispano-Mozarabic Rite is notable for the beautifully balanced clauses by which the Church praises God the Father for the redeeming work of Christ. Interestingly, it contains a significant amount of petitionary prayer in the context of praise and thanksgiving. Where the language of the Roman Rite tends to be sober and brief in formulation, this language tends to be more florid and rhetorically powerful. I confess that this Illatio is my favorite of the six assigned for the Sundays of Advent. [Once again I remind readers that my slavishly literal translations are not intended for liturgical use.]
[Protocol]: Dignum et iustum est nos tibi gratias agere, / Domine, sancte Pater, aeterne omnipotens Deus, / per Iesum Christum Filium tuum Dominum nostrum.
It is right and just for us to give thanks to you, / Lord, holy Father, eternal almighty God, / through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
[Body]: Cuius incarnatio salus facta est mundi, / et passio exsitit redemptio hominis procreati.
Whose incarnation was made the healing of the world, / and whose passion brought to light the redemption of procreated humanity;
Ipse igitur nos, omnipotens Pater, / quaesumus, perducat ad praemium, / qui redemit de tenebris infernorum. .
Therefore, almighty Father, may he himself, we pray, / who redeems us from the shadows of the nether regions, / lead us through to our reward.
Ipse carnem nostrum a delictis emaculet, / qui eam suscepit ex virgine.
May he himself, who assumed flesh from the virgin / cleanse our flesh from all misdeeds.
Ipse nos illaesos tuae restituat maiestati, / qui nos tibi per sanguinem suum reconciliavit
May he himself, who reconciled us to you through his blood, / restore us uninjured to your majesty.
Ipse nos secondi adventus examinatione iustificet, / qui in primo contulit dona gratiae suae.
May he himself, who in his first [coming] bestowed the gifts of his grace / justify us at the trial of his second coming.
Ipse ad iudicandum veniat mitis, / qui olim apparuit humilis.
May he himself, who once appeared as one humble, / come to judgment as one gentle.
Ipse in iudicio ostendatur nobis mitissimus, / qui dudum venit occultus.
May he himself, who formerly came as one hidden, / be made manifest to us as most merciful in judgement.
[Eschatocol]: Quem collaudant omnes Angeli ita dicentes:
Whom [i.e., Christ] all the Angels praise together, thus declaring:
Featured image: Title page of the Missale Mixtum secundum regulam beati Isidori (1500).
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