Hark, An Awful Voice is Sounding

For Advent, at Lauds

Words: Vox clara ecce intonat, with links to other translations

Translation:  Father Edward Caswall, Birmingham Oratory, 1848.

Source: Rev. Edward Caswall, Lyra Catholica: containing all the hymns of the Roman Breviary and Missal (New York: G. Dunigan And Brother, 1851).

Hark! an awful voice is sounding;
"Christ is nigh!" it seems to say;
"Cast away the dreams of darkness,
O ye children of the day!"

Startled at the solemn warning,
Let the earth-bound soul arise;
Christ her Sun, all sloth dispelling,
Shines upon the morning skies.

Lo! the Lamb so long expected,
Comes with pardon down from Heaven;
Let us haste, with tears of sorrow,
One and all to be forgiven.

So, when next He comes with glory,
Wrapping all the earth in fear,
May He then as our Defender
On the clouds of Heaven appear.

Honor, glory, virtue, merit,
To the Father and the Son,
With the everlasting Spirit,
While eternal ages run.

Sheet Music from St. Basil's Hymnal. New York: Benziger Brothers, 12th Edition.

Note from Orby Shipley, Annus Sanctus: Hymns of the Church for the Ecclesiastical Year. Vol. 1. (London and New York: Burns and Oates, 1884), p. 15.:

Vox clara ecce intonat. Original of En, clara vox redarguit. Ambrosian Lauds Hymn from the Salisbury Breviary.

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