En ut superba criminum

Lo, how the savage crew

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

En ut superba criminum
Et sæva nostrorum cohors
Cor sauciavit innocens
Merentis haud tale Dei!
Vibrantis hastam militis
Peccata nostra dirigunt:
Ferrumque diræ cuspidis
Mortale crimen acuit.
Ex corde scisso Ecclesia
Christo jugata nascitur:
Hoc ostium Arcæ in latere est:
Genti ad salutem positum.
Ex hoc perennis gratia,
Ceu septiformis fluvius;
Stolas ut illic sordidas
Lavemus Agni in sanguine.
Turpe est redire ad crimina,
Quæ Cor beatum lacerent:
Sed æmulemur cordibus
Flammas amoris indices.
Hoc, Christe, nobis, hoc, Pater,
Hoc sancta, dona, Spiritus,
Quibus potestas, gloria
Regnumque in omne est sæculum.

Lo, how the savage crew
Of our proud sins hath rent
The Heart of our all-gracious God,
That Heart so innocent.
The soldier’s quivering lance
Our guilt it was that drave,
Our wicked deeds that to its point
Such cruel sharpness gave.
O wounded Heart, whence sprang
The Church, the Saviour’s bride;
Thou Door of our Salvation’s Ark
Set in its mystic side.
Thou holy fount, whence flows
The sacred sevenfold flood.
Where we our filthy roles may cleanse
In the Lamb’s saving Blood:
By sorrowful relapse,
Thee will we rend no more;
But like the flames, those types of love,
Strive heavenward to soar.
Father and Son supreme
And Spirit, hear our cry;
Whose is the kingdom, praise and power,
Through all eternity.

Author: Unknown, 18^th cent. Meter: Iambic dimeter. Translation by Father Caswall. There are six translations. Liturgical Use: Matins hymn for the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

“Behold, how the haughty and savage horde of our sins hath wounded the innocent Heart of God, who deserveth not such treatment.” Merentis, of God not deserving, etc.
“Our sins guide the lance of the hesitating soldier, and mortal sin doth sharpen the iron of the cruel shaft.” Vibrantis militis; The soldier is represented as hesitating, uncertain of the exact place where he should insert the spear to pierce the Savior’s Heart: our sins guided the spear. Cuspidis: cuspis, a point, esp. the head of a spear.
“From that pierced Heart was born the Church united with Christ: that entrance was made in the side of the Ark for the salvation of the human race.” Genti ad salutem, for the human race, for their deliverance.
“From It unfailing grace flows forth like a sevenfold flood, that therein, in the Blood of the Lamb, we may wash our sullied robes.” In Baptism we are presented with a stola candida, a snow-white garment, which is symbolical of the sanctifying grace which adorns the soul. By sin this stola candida becomes a stola sordida. Et laverunt stolas suas, et dealbaverunt eas in sanguine Agni (Apoc. 7, 14: see also 22, 14). Septiformis fluvius, the seven sacraments.
“It were shameful to turn again to sins, which lacerate that blessed Heart; but let us in our hearts emulate the flames, which are types of love.”
“Grant us this, O Christ, this, O Father, this, O Holy Spirit, to whom be power and glory and kingdom forever.”