The following is taken from book V, chapter 2 of Sicard of Cremona’s Mitrale, or Summa on the Offices of the Church, one of the main sources for our friend Durandus’ liturgical commentary. On the Second Sunday of Advent, the former is far clearer, but still requires a bit of paraphrase. Sicard was born in Cremona, roughly 51 miles to the east south-east of Milan, in 1155, and elected bishop in 1185, holding the office until his death 30 years later.
The Introit is the consolation of a pilgrim people, the son of a pilgrim mother, wailing for the absence of the father, whom he has not yet seen. … And as he weeps, because his sojourning is prolonged in misery (Ps. 119, 4), the mother, commiserating with him, but also bringing him joy and consolation, cries out with the trumpet of prophesy, “People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations, and shall make the glory of His voice to be heard,” namely, the words, “Come, ye blessed of my Father.” (Matt. 25, 34)
Introitus, Isa. 30 Pópulus Sion, ecce, Dóminus veniet ad salvandas gentes: et audítam faciet Dóminus gloriam vocis suae in laetitia cordis vestri. Ps. 79 Qui regis Israël, intende: qui dedúcis, velut ovem, Joseph. Gloria Patri... Pópulus Sion... (People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations; and the Lord shall make the glory of His voice to be heard, in the joy of your heart. Ps. Give ear, o thou that rulest Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Glory be... People of Sion...)
But because without prayer there is no consolation of the mind… she adds, “Give ear, o thou that rulest Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep,” and the collect, “Stir up our hearts, o Lord.” The Epistle that follows (Rom. 15, 4-13) agrees with this, as it invites us to patience, and the consolation of the Scriptures, that through these things, we may have the hope of those things which the ancient fathers promised, namely, the salvation of the nations, and the rejoicing of the Saints.
The gradual, as it sings clearly that He is to come whose comeliness is from Sion, (that is, salvation is from the Jews (John 4, 22)), announces this to the Saints who are to be gathered at His right hand, because they have set the New Covenant before sacrifices. (Ps. 49, 5, “Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.”)
Graduale Ex Sion species decóris ejus: Deus manifeste veniet. V. Congregáte illi sanctos ejus, qui ordinavérunt testamentum ejus super sacrificia. (Out of Sion the comeliness of his beauty. God shall come manifestly. V. Gather ye together his saints to him, who set his covenant before sacrifices)
The son, having heard the mother’s consolation regarding the coming of the father, about the salvation of his people, about the gladness of his fellow, rejoices in the Alleluia, “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem.”
Allelúja, allelúja. Ps. 121 Laetátus sum in his, quae dicta sunt mihi: in domum Dómini íbimus. Allelúja. (I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.)
The Communio concludes this Mass by exhorting the pilgrim Jerusalem, that is, the Church in this world, to bear with patience the exile of this life, and bearing it, to rise, rising, to stand in the high place, so that standing it may see the rejoicing which shall come to her from the Lord. “To rise and to stand” … that is, “to despise the things of earth, and love those of heaven,” as is said at the end of the Postcommunion.
Communio, Bar. 5, 5 et 4, 36) Jerúsalem, surge et sta in excelso, et vide jucunditátem, quae veniet tibi a Deo tuo. (Jerusalem, arise, and stand on high, and see the rejoicing that shall come to thee from thy God.)
Therefore, rightly on this day is the Roman station church that of the Holy Cross ‘in Jerusalem’, since the whole Mass aims to bring consolation to the heart of that city. (Photo by our Roman pilgrim friend Agnese Bazzucchi.)
