Felix dies, quam proprio

Words: Abbé Sebastien Besnault, d. 1724

Hymnus 48.

Circumcision: Matins.

From the Paris Breviary, 1736

English Translations:
Oh, Happy Day, When First Was Poured
O Happy Day, When This Our State
Blest Day, When From The Saviour Flowed

Source: Rev. John Chandler, The Hymns of the Primitive Church (London: John W. Parker, 1837), p. 176

Felix dies, quam proprio
Jesu cruore consecrat!
Felix dies, qua gestiit
Opus salutis aggredi.

Vix natus ecce lacteum
Profundit infans sanguinem :
Libamen est hoc funeris,
Amoris hoc praeludium.

lntrans in orbem, jam Patris
Mandata jussus exsequi,
Statum praeoccupat diem,
Et qua potest, fit Victima.

Quo Christus ictu laeditur,
Lex abrogata concidit:
Et incipit lex sanctior,
Mansura semper caritas.

Tu Christe, quod nbn est tuum,
Nostro recide pectore;
Inscribe nomen, intimis
Inscribe legem cordibus.

Qui natus es de Virgine,
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Cum Patre, cumque Spiritu,
In sempiterna secula.

Sheet Music From Thomas Helmore and Thomas Morley, eds., Music of the Appendix to the Hymnal Noted. Containing nearly 250 Tunes for Long, Common, Short, and Peculiar Metres; together with several Gregorian Hymns and Antiphons; the Eight Gregorian Tones; the music of the Reproaches; the Seven Last Words; and Litany Tunes; &c. Second Edition. (Novello, Ewer & Co., No Date, ca. 1870), #130, p. 140. Also known as "The Tune Book as Used at St. Albans, Holborn."

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