This was spotted on Twitter yesterday, a set of photos from the Mass which formally inaugurated the ministry of the newly-elected Pope Leo XIV, feliciter nunc regnantis.
The learned Dominican and the learned Jesuit are speaking about one of the old rituals that was removed from the papal coronation Mass by the post-Conciliar reform. When the faithful had gathered in St Peter’s basilica, before the Mass began, the Cardinal Bishop of Albano would gesture first towards the clergy in choir, and then towards the crowd in the nave, and solemnly intone the motet “Hic nunc est”, which the choir would then continue, “circus tuus, hae nunc sunt simiae tuae!” Palestrina’s polyphonic setting of it, composed for the coronation of Pope Marcellus II in 1555, is pretty amazing, and came to be used as a matter of routine, so that the Gregorian original was lost. Unfortunately, there is no recording of it on YouTube, but an old friend managed to find a version of it on this platform. (The recording is not embeddable, but the external link is safe, I promise.)
The Latin scholars among our readers will recognize these words as a reference to a Polish expression which has become somewhat popular in English in recent years, “Not my circus, not my monkeys”, a way of saying, “This is not my problem.” And in point of fact, it was originally a privilege of the ranking Polish cardinal or archbishop to intone the motet, IF any of them happened to be in Rome for the coronation. But Gniezno, the primatial see of Poland, is 975 miles from Rome, and most of the other important episcopal sees of that nation are even further away. Before trains and telegraphs, it usually worked out that by the time they got the news of the death of the old pope, the new one had already been elected and crowned, so over time, the custom devolved onto Albano.
The full text of the antiphon as given in the recording is as follows:
“Hic nunc est circus tuus, hae nunc sunt simiae tuae,
quas Dominus in sapientia sua Petro tradidit,
et per manus eius nunc tibi commendat.
Gaude in stultitia sanctorum,
laetare in tumultu gratiae,
nam per hos clamosos
regnum caelorum patefit.
This is now your circus, these are now your monkeys,
Whom the Lord in His wisdom handed over to Peter,
and though his hands, now commends to you.
Rejoice in the foolishness of the Saints (cf. 1 Cor. 3, 18-19),
be glad in the tumult of grace,
for through these noisy ones
the kingdom of heaven is laid open.”
The full text of the antiphon as given in the recording is as follows:
“Hic nunc est circus tuus, hae nunc sunt simiae tuae,
quas Dominus in sapientia sua Petro tradidit,
et per manus eius nunc tibi commendat.
Gaude in stultitia sanctorum,
laetare in tumultu gratiae,
nam per hos clamosos
regnum caelorum patefit.
This is now your circus, these are now your monkeys,
Whom the Lord in His wisdom handed over to Peter,
and though his hands, now commends to you.
Rejoice in the foolishness of the Saints (cf. 1 Cor. 3, 18-19),
be glad in the tumult of grace,
for through these noisy ones
the kingdom of heaven is laid open.”
And I therefore also make bold to remind our readers of these prayers for the Pope which are traditionally said at services like Benediction, and can of course be said privately any time.
