Venice masks

Sunday, 19 February 2017

No father - Pope Urban VIII

Brave Saint, no blandishments of earth
Availed to draw thee from God's love;
Nor could the king, thy father, move
Thy soul to swerve from godly worth;
Riches and rule and pride of birth
Were nought to thee; thy virtue strove
For things eternal; God above
Through death to glory brought thee forth.

A martyr now, among the throng
Of blessed angels, face to face
With thy Redeemer, is thy place;
And unto thee with gladsome song
We come; oh, shield our souls from wrong;
Bring by thy prayers protecting grace;
While to the Trinity we raise
Adoring praises, loud and long.

Pope Urban VIII (1568 - 1644) Italy
Translated by Daniel J. Donahoe
Source: Early Christian hymns, Series II : translations of the verses of the early and middle ages
by Daniel Joseph Donahoe, Donahoe pub. co., 1911
This was written about Saint Hermenegild or Ermengild, the son of king Liuvigild of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula and southern France. He fell out with his father in 579 and converted to Christianity, dying a martyr in 585.

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