"Caligaverunt oculi mei".
Tenebrae Responsories,
by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).
Sung by The Sixteen.
Director: Harry Christophers.
Available on YouTube at
Caligaverunt oculi mei a fletu meo:
quia elongatus est a me, qui consolabatur me:
Videte, omnes populi, si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.
O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam, attendite,
et videte si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.
The Improperia are a series of Antiphons and Responses, expressing the remonstrance of Jesus Christ with His people. Also known as The Reproaches, they are sung in The Catholic Liturgy as part of the observance of The Passion, usually on the afternoon of Good Friday.
In The Byzantine Rite, they are found in various Hymns of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The Improperia appear in The Pontificale of Prudentius (846 A.D. - 861 A.D.) and gradually came into use throughout Europe in the 11th- and 12th-Centuries, finally being incorporated into The Roman Ordo in the 14th-Century.
My people, what have I done to Thee ?
How have I offended you ?
Answer me !
How have I offended you ?
Answer me !
I led you out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom,
but you led your Saviour to The Cross.
but you led your Saviour to The Cross.
Holy is God !
Holy is God !
Holy and strong !
Holy and strong !
Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.
Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us.
The following Article, in February 2016, was taken from,
and can be read in full at, VULTUS CHRISTI
Illustration: VULTUS CHRISTI
Illustration: PINTEREST
The following Article is taken from, and can be read in full at, VULTUS CHRISTI
Answer Thou Me.
The Feast of Reparation for offenses committed against Our Lord in The Sacrament of His Love was instituted in the 17th-Century, when, particularly in a France ravaged by The Thirty Years War
(1618—1648), Churches were Desecrated and burned, The Most Blessed Sacrament was thrown to the ground, trampled, and even fed to animals. Bands of mercenary soldiers descended from the Protestant Countries of Northern Europe to pillage and destroy everything that represented The Catholic Faith. Two things, in particular, became the object of their fanatical wrath: Images of The Blessed Virgin Mary and The Most Holy Sacrament of The Altar.
At the same time, in certain ostensibly Catholic circles, there was a surge of interest in Black Magic and in engagement with The Powers of Darkness. Not infrequently, Sacred Hosts were stolen from Churches, or taken away surreptitiously after a Sacrilegious Communion. Too many Priests were seen to offer Holy Mass hurriedly and with scant reverence. Tabernacles were neglected. Churches were forsaken. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Apocalypse 19:16), the Thrice-Holy God, before Whom The Angels veil their faces and Adore, hidden beneath the fragile appearance of The Sacred Host, remained silent in a state of utter abjection, abandoned to the coldness, indifference, and carelessness of men.
At the same time, in certain ostensibly Catholic circles, there was a surge of interest in Black Magic and in engagement with The Powers of Darkness. Not infrequently, Sacred Hosts were stolen from Churches, or taken away surreptitiously after a Sacrilegious Communion. Too many Priests were seen to offer Holy Mass hurriedly and with scant reverence. Tabernacles were neglected. Churches were forsaken. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Apocalypse 19:16), the Thrice-Holy God, before Whom The Angels veil their faces and Adore, hidden beneath the fragile appearance of The Sacred Host, remained silent in a state of utter abjection, abandoned to the coldness, indifference, and carelessness of men.
“O, My people,
what have I done to thee,
or in what have I molested thee ?
Answer thou Me” (Micheas 6:3).
Sorrowing Love.
A multitude of Souls, grieved by the offences committed against Our Lord in The Sacrament of His Love, sought to make up for the Honour, Reverence, Adoration, Gratitude, and Love, that others refused Him. Believing Hearts were pierced through with a Sorrowing Love. The Holy Ghost inspired a vast Movement of Compunction and Reparation that came, over time, to find expression in The Sacred Liturgy, itself.
A special Mass and Office were composed, by which The Church approved this Movement of Compunction and Reparation. Mother Mectilde de Bar entered wholeheartedly into this Movement and, in some way, made its essential thrust so much her own that it came to be identified with The Benedictine Monasteries of Perpetual Adoration that she generated.
The True Body And Blood of Jesus Christ.
One might think that all of this belongs to the past, that things have changed since the dark and turbulent days of 17th-Century France, but this, alas, is not so. Remember recent events in Pamplona and in Fontainebleau. The Desecration of Churches and Sacrilegious Offenses against The Most Holy Sacrament of The Altar proliferate.
The distribution of Holy Communion IN THE HAND [Editor: Emphasis is mine], notably, has led to every manner of irreverence. Sacred Hosts have been found on the floor of Churches, stuck into the pages of books, and lying on pews. The disappearance of The Communion Rail; the widespread practice of Priest and people facing each other during The Holy Sacrifice; the indiscriminate use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in ordinary circumstances — all of these things have contributed to a massive loss of Faith in The Real Presence of Our Lord in The Blessed Sacrament and in Holy Mass as The Perfect Sacrifice of Calvary offered in an unbloody manner.
Many of those who present themselves for Holy Communion have no notion of what The Church believes and teaches: that this is no mere bread of Holy Remembrance, but is The True Body and Blood [Editor: And Soul and Divinity] of Jesus Christ, Priest and Victim: The Very Body and Blood formed by The Holy Ghost in The Womb of The Virgin Mary, nailed to The Wood of The Cross, Gloriously Risen from The Tomb, Ascended into The Heavenly Sanctuary, and Coming in Majesty at The End of Time to Judge The Living and The Dead.
This Article can be read in full at VULTUS CHRISTI
