Solus ad victimam procedis, Domine, 
morti te offerens quam venis tollere : 
quid nos miserrim ipossumus dicere 
qui quae commisimus scimus te lucre ? 

Nostra sunt, Domine, nostra sunt crimina : 
quid tua criminum facis supplicia? 
quibus sic compati fac nostra pectora, 
ut vel compassio digna sit venia. 

Nox ista flebilis praesensque triduum 
quod demorabitur fletus sit vesperum, 
donec laetitiae mane gratissimum 
surgente Domino sit maestis redditum. 

Tu tibi compati sic fac nos, Domine, 
tuae participes ut simus gloriae ; 
sic praesens triduum in luctu ducere, 
ut risum tribuas paschalis gratiae.

Alone to sacrifice Thou goest, Lord,
Giving Thyself to death whom Thou [wilt slay]1.
For us Thy wretched folk is any word,
[Whose sins have brought Thee to this agony]2?

For they are ours, O Lord, our deeds, our deeds,
Why must Thou suffer torture for our sin?
Let our hearts suffer for Thy passion, Lord,
That [very suffering]3 may Thy mercy win.

This is that night of tears, the three days' space,
Sorrow abiding of the eventide,
Until the day break with the risen Christ,
And hearts that sorrowed shall be satisfied.

So may our hearts [share in Thine anguish]4, Lord,
That they may sharers of Thy glory be:
Heavy with weeping may the three days pass,
To win the laughter of Thine Easter Day.

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View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Holst: "hast slain"
² Hoslt: "Who know that for our sins this is Thy pain"
³ Holst: "sheer compassion"
⁴ Holst: "have pity on Thee"

Text Authorship:

• by Helen Jane Waddell (1889 - 1965), "Good Friday: the Third Nocturne", appears in Medieval Latin Lyrics [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

• a text in Latin by Peter Abelard (1079 - 1142), "In Parasceve Domini : III. Nocturno"
  • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934), "Good Friday ", op. 52 no. 1, H. 186 no. 1 (1931-2) [ male voices and strings ], from Six Choruses for male voices and string orchestra, no. 1 [sung text checked 1 time]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2010-04-03
Line count: 16
Word count: 126