Durandus on the Sanctus

Following up on the most recent installment of Dr Foley’s Lost in Translation series, here is most of what William Durandus has to say about the Sanctus in the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, book IV, chapter 34. There are a few places where I have paraphrased him to avoid prolixity.  

The Church, hoping to be joined with the angels and archangels who are mentioned in the preface, immediately after it conforms itself to the angelic song, singing the hymn, “Holy, holy, holy” … therefore as the priest finishes the praise (of God), i.e. the preface, the whole choir, which represents the Church, sings the angelic hymn together, so that one and the same glory, praise and honor may be sung to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

… the first part of this hymn is comprised of the words of angels, and the second of those of men. For we read in Isaiah 6 that the Seraphim cried out to one another and said, “Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory”, and in the Gospel, “the multitudes that went before and that followed, cried, saying, ‘Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: (Hosanna in the highest.’) ” (Matthew 21, 9) And indeed the words of the angels, namely, “Hosanna in the highest”, commends to us the mystery of the Trinity and the unity in God, that of men, namely, “Hosanna to the son of David”, sounds forth the mystery of the divinity and humanity in Christ. Rightly do we sing the songs of angels in the Church, because through this sacrifice, as we know, earthly things are joined to those of heaven, and therefore we cry out to be saved with those on high.

For this should be noted, that “holy” is said three times to denote the Trinity, or the distinction of persons, but “Lord God of hosts” is said only once, to denote the unity of the divine essence, because the unity is adored, and this is shown forth in the mystery of the Trinity and the unity. Again, it is said three times in the singular, “sanctus”, and not in the plural, “sancti”, so that the one holiness and the one eternity may be understood in these three persons. Not only did the Seraphim cry this out before the throne of God on high, according to the Prophet, but also the four living creatures according to the Apocalypse (4, 6 and 8), “round about the throne… they rested not day and night, saying ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.’ ”

Christ adored by the 24 elders and the four living beings in Apocalypse 4, as represented in an altarpiece painted ca. 1400 by Master Bertram of Minden, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Now God is called holy, that is sanctifying, but not sanctified, whence it is said (Lev. 19 passim), “Be ye holy, because I am holy, the Lord your God.” The Father is called holy when the Son says, “Holy Father sanctify in truth those whom you gave me.” (John 17, 11). The Son is called holy when the angel bears witness, “And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1, 35) The Spirit is called holy when Christ says, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them.” (John 20, 22-23)

There is also said, “Lord God of hosts”, that is the Lord of armies, namely of angels and men, terrible like the line of the camps drawn up (Song 6, 9), of whom the Angels say in the psalm (23, 8), “Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts, etc.” For God has as many armies upon earth as there are orders in the Church, and as many in heaven as there are orders among the angels…

The word “Sabaoth” therefore is interpreted “Lord of hosts”, or “of military powers”, or “of victories”, or “almighty” that the Lord himself may be God and almighty, who arrays the armies of angels and of men. And therefore is added, “the heavens and the earth are full of your glory,” that is, so that the heavens and the earth may be ruled by his glory, and they who are in the heavens and on the earth may glorify and honor his holy name. Now the heavens are full of glory in fact, but the earth in hope; later, this will be fully true when these words are fulfilled, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Now when we say, “the heavens and the earth are full of your glory,” we give thanks to the Creator for all his benefits. But when we say, “Blessed is He who comes,” we give thanks especially for the benefit of our redemption, and these words are rightly added because it is necessary for eternal salvation to confess the mystery of the Incarnation. “I am come,” he says, “in the name of my Father.” (John 5, 43) The name of the Father is the Son, of whom the Prophet says, “Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar.” (Isa. 30, 27)

Jacob’s dream of the ladder, by which angels ascend and descend to and from heaven, Genesis 28, 11-17; 1664/66, by the Cretan painter Elias Moskos (1629-87). Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

Therefore when the Sanctus begins, we must stand bowed, because then do we venerate the Incarnation and the unknown divine majesty through the song of angels and of men. Again, by saying “Blessed is he”, since these words are from the Gospel, we must make the sign of the cross, because Christ triumphed through the Cross, and then causes us to triumph. For when He came to Jerusalem and went down from the Mount of Olives, then did the children of Israel cry out saying, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”, since the coming of Christ to Jerusalem signifies the future resurrection, when He Himself will come to judge the living and the dead, and appear to us in the same flesh in which He suffered for our sake, and then at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend of those in heaven (Phil. 2, 10), on earth and below the earth; and for this reason some also begin at that point to kneel and pray devoutly.

There follows “Hosanna”, which is a Hebrew word that means, “save, I beseech”; the words “thy people”, or “the whole world” are understood …

“Hosanna in the highest” is said twice because of the two parts of salvation, which are the garment of the mind and the garment of the flesh, in which the Saints are made blessed in glory, to wit, so that being saved in soul and body, we may be reckoned among the angels on high…

The Capture of Christ in the Garden, fresco painted in 1310 in the lower basilica of St Francis in Assisi by the Sienese artist Pietro Lorenzetti. (Note the Apostles slinking away in the middle right.)

From this point (i.e. from the beginning of the canon), the passion of Christ is represented in words and deeds, for the deacon and subdeacon stand behind the bishop or priest, and in this is represented the fleeing of the Apostles… while those who stand behind the altar (i.e. in the liturgical choir), facing the bishop, signify the women who saw His passion standing from afar. And everyone, those who stand behind the bishop and those who face him, bows down, venerating the divine majesty and the incarnation of the Lord, which are brought in through the song of angels and of men. For the order of angels saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts” brings in the divine majesty,” but the order of men saying, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” signifies the coming in the flesh.