St. Louis de Montfort composed what might be termed a series for Holy Week that features a hymn for each day of the week from Sunday through Saturday, with each hymn focusing on a different aspect of the Passion of the Lord. As part of my own Lenten discipline I have been taking some time to read and to reflect upon these hymns. In doing so, I have also been trying my hand at a bit of direct translation of these poetic texts.
It is a difficult thing to translate a hymn well as being too slavishly literal will cause one lose the poetic beauty of the original, while taking too much license in rephrasing the original will cause one to lose the author. It is my hope that the following translation of Fr. de Montfort’s hymn for Friday, which treats of the Crucifixion of the Lord, manages to avoid both errors while remaining true to the original.
FOR FRIDAY
JESUS CRUCIFIED
This insolent rabble
Tears from him once again
His poor and bloody robe,
All glued to his skin.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
While the most vicious
Ready everything for his death
Some few of the most greedy
Draw lots for his clothes.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
His executioners shout,
While yanking on his hair:
“It is finished here, your miserable life!
Lie down there, you wretched man!”
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
See how they throw him down
That they might nail him to the wood,
But see how he embraces
This cross with such ardent love.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
They take and pull his sacred hands
And cruelly stretch them out
So that they may be attached
Right over the waiting holes.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
O savagery so cruel!
His limbs pulled from their sockets,
His flesh, his whole body, battered.
One can even see his nerves exposed.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
Lying there upon his back
At the feet of these monsters,
With the nails they pierce him,
His two feet and his two hands.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
O! Such enormous pain
These pointed nails are causing him!
His body pierced like a sieve
Loses its blood and can endure no more.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
Come, sinner, and consider
Most gentle Jesus in his dying
Who begs you in his misery
To reflect upon his torment.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
So that he suffers more,
In the place of wine and honey,
They give him as his drink
Vinegar mixed with gall.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
Do you see how he suffers
So much contempt and such mistreatment?
Far be it from him to complain against them!
He prays for his executioners.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
The presence of his Mother
Amplifies his torments,
Seeing that in some way
She dies in every moment.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
Ah! I see him surrendering his soul
In heaving forth a great sigh.
My heart grows faint and swoons
In seeing my God die.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
The heavens and the earth together
Make manifest their grief.
One can feel the trembling of the earth,
The sea is all in fury.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
The sun itself and the moon
Lose all their brightness.
Within this universal sorrow,
Man alone remains unmoved.
Ah! It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
Sinners, let us all do penance,
For he has suffered for us.
Let us take part in his suffering,
Let us kiss his feet and kiss his nails.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
It is to kiss us tenderly
That he lets his head fall low.
Do you see how he calls us
How he stretches out his arms for us?
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
Let us no longer break the silence
Except to say in our sighing:
“Almost no one ever thinks
Of most gentle Jesus in his dying.”
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
Let us make our retreat
Within his sacred side,
A lance has opened it for us
To place us in its safety.
It is for us, O sinners,
That he undergoes these pains.
Let us all cry out in plaintive tones:
“Forgive us our sins,
O Jesus most pitiful!
Forgive us our sins!”
For it is we ourselves, O sinners,
Who merit all these pains.
Translated by Fr. Hugh Gillespie, SMM
© 2012. All rights reserved.
