St. Columba- Regis Regum Rectissimi: The Judgement Day of the Lord

[Guapo]

St. Newman surely knew this.

https://archive.org/stream/saintcolumba00menzuoft/saintcolumba00menzuoft_djvu.txt

The Judgement Day of the Lord by St. Columba
(All the Irish Missionaries to the Saxons and pagans would have known this by heart in Latin)


Ancient of days, enthroned on high !

The Father unbegotten He,
Whom space containeth not, nor time,

Who was and is and aye shall be :
And one-born Son, and Holy Ghost,

Who co-eternal glory share ;
One only God, of Persons Three,

We praise, acknowledge, and declare.

Beings celestial first He made ;

Angels and archangels of light,
In Principalities and Thrones,

And mystic rank of Power and Might :
That love and Mystery Divine

Not aimlessly alone might dwell,
But vessels have wherein to pour

Full wealth of gifts ineffable.

Oast from the highest heights of heaven,

Far from the angels shining state,
Fadeth from glory Lucifer,

Falling in scorn infatuate.
Angels apostate share his fall,

Steeled with his hate and fired with pride,
Banished from their fellows bright,

Who in the heavenly seats abide.


Direful and foul, the Dragon great,

Whose deadly rage was known of old,
The slippery serpent, wilier

Than living thing that earth doth hold :
From the bright realm of heaven he could,

A third part of the stars entice,
In Hell s abyss to quench their light,

In headlong fall from Paradise.

Earth next and Heaven, sea and sky,

Found shape within the Eternal mind,
And stood created. Next appeared

The fruitful herb and tree in kind :
Sun, moon and stars that climb the heavens,

And birds and fishes great and small,
And beasts and herds and living things,

And man to be the king of all.

From every glad Angelic tongue,

Soon as the stars sprang into light,
Burst forth the wondering shout that praised

The Heavenly Creator s might.
And, as His handiwork they viewed,

Arose from loving hearts and free
The tribute due of wondrous song,

Swelling in sweetest harmony.

Gainst Satan s wiles and Hell s assault

Our primal parents could not stand :
And into new abysses fell

The leader and his horrid band :
Fierce forms, with noise of beating wings,

Too dread for sight of mortal eye,
Who, fettered, far from human ken,

Within their prison houses lie.

Him, banished from his first estate,

The Lord cast out for evermore ;
And now his wild and rebel crew

In upper air together soar.
Invisible lest men should gaze

On wickedness without a name,
And, breaking every barrier down,

Defile themselves in open shame.


In the three quarters of the sea

Three mighty fountains hidden lie,
Whence rise through whirling water-spouts

Rich-laden clouds that clothe the sky :
On winds from out his treasure-house

They speed to swell bud, vine and grain,
While the sea-shallows emptied wait

Until the tides return again.

Kings earthly glory fleeteth fast,

And for a moment is its stay.

[Guapo]

God hath all might ; and at a nod

The giants fall beneath his sway.
Neath waters deep, with mighty pangs,

In fires and torments dread they rave,
Choked in the whirlpool s angry surge,

Dashed on the rocks by every wave.

Like one that through a sparing sieve

The precious grain doth slowly pour,
God sendeth down upon the earth

The cloud-bound waters evermore :
And from the fruitful breasts of heaven,

While changing seasons wax and wane,
The welcome streams that never fail

Pour forth in rich supplies of rain.

Mark how the power of God supreme

Hath hung aloft earth s giant ball,
And fixed the great encircling deep,

His mighty hand supporting all
Upon the pillars which he made,

The solid rocks and cliffs that soar,
And on the sure foundations rest

That stand unmoved for evermore.

None doubteth that within the earth

Glow the devouring flames of hell,
Wherein is prisoned darkest night

Where noisome beasts and serpents dwell,
Gehenna s old and awful moan,

And cries of men in anguish dire,
And falling tears and gnashing teeth,

And thirst, and hunger s burning fire.


Of realms we read beneath the world

Where the departed spirits wait,
Who never cease to bend the knee

To Christ, the only Potentate.
They could not open the written Book,

Whose seven seals none but He might break,
Fulfilling thus the prophet s word,

That He should come, and victory make.

Paradise and its pleasant glades

From the beginning God did make ;
Out of whose fountain-head there flow

Four rivers sweet, earth s thirst to slake ;
And midmost stands the tree of life,

With leaves that neither fade nor fall,
With healing to the nations fraught,

Whose joys abundant never pall.

Questions the Singer, " Who hath climbed

Sinai the mountain of the Lord ?
The echoing thunders who hath heard,

And ringing trumpet-blast outpoured ?
Who saw the lightning s dazzle whirl,

And heaving rocks that crashed and fell,
Mid meteors glare and darts of flame,

Save Moses, Judge of Israel ? "

Riseth the dawn : the day is near,

Day of the Lord, the King of kings ;
A day of wrath and vengeance just,

Of darkness, clouds and thunderings ;
A day of anguished cries and tears,

When glow of woman s love shall pale ;
When man shall cease to strive with man,

And all the world s desire shall fail.

Soon shall all mortals trembling stand

Before the Judge s awful throne,
And rendering the great account,

Shudder each hateful sin to own.
Horror of night ! when none can work,

Wailing of men, and flooding tears,
Opening the books by conscience writ,

Riving of hearts with guilty fears.


The trumpet of the archangel first

Shall blare afar its summons dread ;
And then shall burst earth s prison bars,

[Guapo]

And sepulchres give up their dead.
The ice of death shall melt away,

Whilst dust grows flesh, and bone meets bone,
And every spirit finds again

The frame that was before her own.

Wanders Orion from heaven s height,

To thread his hidden eastern way
Ere set the gleaming Pleiades

Through bounds of ocean, day by day ;
And Vesper, though his orbit s whirl

Be set twice twelve moons to endure,
One even by ancient paths returns,

Types both of Him who cometh sure. l

Christ the Most High from heaven descends,

The Cross His sign and banner bright.
The sun in darkness shrouds his face,

The moon no more pours forth her light :
The stars upon the earth shall fall

As figs drop from the parent tree,
When earth s broad space is bathed in fire,

And men to dens and mountains flee.

Yonder in heaven the angel host

Their ever-ringing anthem raise,
And flash in maze of holy dance,

The Trinity Divine to praise :
The four-and-twenty elders cast

Their crowns before the Lamb on high,
And the four Beasts all full of eyes

Their ceaseless triple praises cry.

Zeal of the Lord, consuming fire,

Shall whelm the foes, amazed and dumb
Whose stony hearts will not receive

That Christ hath from the Father come :
But we shall soar our Lord to meet,

And so with Him shall ever be,
To reap the due rewards amidst

The glories of Eternity.

According to O Donnel s legend, the Altus was taken to Rome by Gregory s messengers to Columba, and
while it was being read to the Pope, he saw a vision as of angels listening.

[Guapo]

 

[Guapo]

This is similiar to Newman´s Lead Kindly Light.

THE LAST YEARS

Thou angel of God who hast charge of me

From the dear Father of mercifulness,

The shepherding kind of the fold of the saints mighty

To make round about me this night.

Drive from me every temptation and danger.
Surround me on the sea of unrighteousness,
And in the narrows, crooks and straits
Keep Thou my coracle, keep Thou it always.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me,
Be thou a smooth path below me,
And be a kindly shepherd behind me,
To-day, to-night and for ever.

I am tired and I am a stranger,

Lead thou me to the land of angels,

For me it is time to go home,

To the court of Christ, to the peace of heaven. *

[mikemac]

Columba s poems were written with a double purpose :
they were to act as charms against evil, as well as to
express the poet s thoughts and feelings. In reading
them we feel that the Gael craved no small blessing
when he asked, in the words of the old Gaelic couplet,
for

The tongue of Columba in my head,
. The eloquence of Columba in my speech.

[Guapo]

Columba s poems were written with a double purpose :
they were to act as charms against evil, as well as to
express the poet s thoughts and feelings. In reading
them we feel that the Gael craved no small blessing
when he asked, in the words of the old Gaelic couplet,
for

The tongue of Columba in my head,
. The eloquence of Columba in my speech.

According to a story in O Donnell s Life it looks as
if Columba had foreseen the later distresses of his beloved
Erin. "There were three pets that Columcille had,"
writes O Donnell, "a cat and a wren and a fly. And
he understood the speech of each of these creatures. . . .
And it happened that the wren ate the fly and the cat
ate the wren. And Columcille spake by the spirit of
prophecy, and he said it was thus men should do in a
later time : the strong of them should eat the weak,
that is to say, should take his wealth and gear from
him and should show him neither right nor justice.
And Columcille said that while the Gael of Erin was
thus, the power of foreigners should be over them, and
whenever right and justice were kept by them, they
should themselves have power again. . . . When the
Gaels do justice and right among themselves/ said
Columcille, I make great joy. . . / " 2