O Virga ac Diadema

O virga ac diadema purpurae Regis
quae es in clausura tua sicut lorica.

O green branch and imperial diadem,
in your virginity enclosed as in shining armour,

Tu frondens floruisti in alia vicissitudine,
quam Adam omne genus humanum produceret.

You branched, blossoming, in a fashion changed
from that by which Adam produced the whole human race.

Ave, ave, de tuo ventre alia vita processit,
qua Adam filios suos denudaverit.

All hail, from your womb came forth another life
which Adam had stripped from his sons.

O flos, tu non germinasti de rore,
nec de guttis pluviae, nec aer desuper te volavit,
sed divina claritas in nobilissima virga  te produxit.

O flower, it was not the dew that made you bud,
nor drops of rain, nor did the wind waft over you,
but the divine radiance from the most noble branch brought you forth.

O virga, floriditatem tuam Deus in prima die creaturae suae praeviderat.

O branch, your flowering, God, on the first day of creation, foresaw.

Et de Verbo suo auream materiam,
O laudabilis Virgo, fecit.

And as a golden matrix for His Word,
O Virgin most worthy of praise, He made you.

O quam magnum est in viribus suis latus viri,
de quo Deus formam mulieris produxit,
quam fecit speculum omnis ornamenti sui
et amplexionem omnis creaturae suae.

O how great in its strength is the side of Man
from which God brought forth the form of Woman,
whom He made the mirror of all His beauty
and the embrace of all His creation.

Inde concinunt caelestia organa,
et miratur omnis terra, O laudabilis Maria,
quia Deus te valde amavit.

And so all heaven's instruments make music together,
and all the earth admires you, Mary, most worthy of praise,
whom God has loved so deeply.

Unde, o Salvatrix, quae novum lumen humano generi
protulisti,collige membra Filii tui ad caelestem harmoniam.

And thus, O saviour,[Mary]  who bore the New Light for mankind.
Gather the members of your Son into celestial harmony. 

Words & Music: St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)