"Humani generis / Cessent suspiria"
By The Oratory of Jesus
Introduction
The Oratory of Jesus was founded by Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629).
(See "On the Nativity of Jesus"
and "God, Jesus, and Mary are Life and
the Source of Life.")
Famous members include St. John Eudes (1601-1680)--before forming his own congregation--and
Jean-Jacques Olier (1608-1657). The French school of spirituality, founded by Bérulle and perpetuated
by the Oratory, was a major force in the spiritual formation of St. Louis Marie de Montfort (1673-1716).
The Oratory is a society of priests, not a traditional religious order, and their emphasis is
on Jesus and His humility in the Incarnation.
Perhaps the greatest text in their tradition is Bérulle's Discourses on the State and on the
Grandeur of Jesus. Below is a hymn for the Feast of the Annunciation, taken from a book of
hymns for the use of the Oratory.
"Humani generis / Cessent suspiria"
- Let human race’s sighs now cease;
Now come blessed tidings of our peace
In mortal days.
- In evil fell we one and all;
The Highest comes from heaven’s hall
The lapsed to raise.
- To Virgin loved who God would birth,
The angel preaches myst’ry worth
Our salvation.
- O blessed among your race, give room!
O Virgin chaste, God in your womb
Receive as son.
- By Spirit’s strength, in Virgin’s womb,
One innocent of fallen doom
To flesh is paired.
- Down here as babe youRl7;ll nurse the One
Who, as the Bread of minds above,
Is eaten there.
- Who, timeless, from the Father born,
The Word, has mortal body worn
Thus man to save.
- This body raised in sacrifice,
The slaves to free, is all the price,
In bloody wave.
- From homeland wayward wandered I,
by paths unknown, to true delight,
By which I walked.
- To my exile the Lord has come
To be the way and way’s true home;
Secure I walk.
- O truth in body’s veil concealed,
But to pure body’s eyes revealed,
Illumine us.
- For mercy the Divine you plead;
Though “handmaid of the Lord” decreed,
Be world’s Mistress.
Amen.
Source: Cantus varii, ad usum Congregationis Oratorii
Domini Jesu et Mariae Immaculatae (Paris: Carolum Poussielgue, 1892), 24-25.
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