Happy St. Joseph's Day!  

Posted by Agnes Regina

In honor of the day, here is a new translation: the lovely hymn Te Joseph Celebrent. The translation is not as literal as I would have it, but I think it gets the point across.

Te Joseph Celebrent

Joseph, the hosts of heaven give thee praise;

The Christian choirs to thee lift their lays,

Who by thy shining merit didst deserve

The noble Maid to chastely wed and serve.

Thy Bride, with child by grace, when thou didst see,
And doubting filled thee with anxiety,

An Angel came to tell thee, "O believe,

That by the breath of God she did conceive."

The newborn Lord embracing tenderly,
To Egypt far away with haste didst flee;

And sought Him in Jerusalem with fears,

And finding, mingled gladness with thy tears.


The dead are blest by happy destiny
,
Who earn the glorious palm of victory;

But thou wert happier, who living still

Set eyes upon thy Maker, by His will.

Have mercy on us, Trinity most high;
By Joseph's prayers to heaven may we fly
,
That we may lift to thee our grateful song,

Above the stars throughout the ages long.

-- tr. Inés de Erausquin, March 19, 2010.


This entry was posted on March 19, 2010 at Friday, March 19, 2010 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

6 comments

I took the freedom to post this in my post's comments.

Here

March 22, 2010 at 5:13 AM

Thanks! I am glad you enjoyed it. God bless!

March 22, 2010 at 3:05 PM

You too!

March 23, 2010 at 4:51 AM

Meh, who wants a literal translation anyway? "Getting the point" across is prettier. :o)

March 23, 2010 at 7:17 PM
Anonymous  

A lovely translation, Agnes.

March 23, 2010 at 7:30 PM

thank you both! :)

March 24, 2010 at 4:33 PM

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