Thursday, December 14 - Evermore and Evermore

"Of the Father's Love Begotten" was written by Spanish poet Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, who lived from 348-413 A.D.  Here is how George Grant describes Prudentius' life:

"Prudentius was a well-educated lawyer, judge, and chief of Emperor Honorius' imperial bodyguard.  He exchanged all his worldly success for spiritual contemplation when he entered a monastery late in life." (Grant, Christmas Spirit, 56-57)

Here is John Mason Neale's English translation of Prudentius' hymn from the original Latin:

Of the Father's love begotten
Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega,
He the Source, the Ending he.
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see Evermore and evermore.

O that birth forever blessed!
When the Virgin full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving,
Bore the Savior of our race,
And the babe, the world's Redeemer,
First revealed his sacred face Evermore and evermore

He assumed this mortal body,
Frail and feeble, doomed to die,
That the race from dust created
Might not perish utterly
Which the dreadful Law had sentenced
In the depths of hell to lie Evermore and evermore

This is he whom once the sibyls
with united voice foretold,
Whom the Scriptures of the prophets
Promised in their faithful word.
Let the world unite to praise him,
Long desired, foreseen of old Evermore and evermore

O ye heights of heaven adore him!
Angel hosts, his praises sing!
All dominions bow before him,
And extol your God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert ring Evermore and evermore

Christ, to Thee, with God the Father,
And, O Holy Ghost to Thee,
Hymn, and chant, and high thanksgiving,
And unwearied praises be,
Honour, glory, and dominion
And eternal victory, Evermore and evermore

Anthony Esolen comments on the 'evermore and evermore', or 'saeculorum saeculis' which closes every stanza:

"The first time I heard this hymn, sung to the chant Divinum Mysterium, those words evermore and evermore, the final line of every stanza, moved me nearly to tears.  How simple they are, yet how well they capture the meaning of Christ's dwelling among us!  Before that night in Bethlehem, before there was a universe at all, Christ was begotten of the Father's love: corde natus, born from the heart.  Prudentius knew there was no time before the Son of God was begotten.  But the word natus expresses the intimate relation of the Son to the Father, for He is begotten from the Father's heart, His inmost being.  Then if all things past and present and to come spring from the One begotten in love, and have their clausula or completion also in Him, they too partake of this love, not only for a time, but saeculorum saeculis, for the ages, eternity." (Esolen, Real Music, 81-82)