ADAM of ST. VICTOR ~ LITURGICAL SEQUENCES

XXI. TRINITAS
[English]

Trinitatem simplicem,
Trinum Deum, non triplicem,
Supplex colat ecclestia!
Trinitatis
In creatis
Interlucent rebus vestigia.

Mens in Deum consurgat sobria!
Genitoris et Geniti
Spiritusque Paracliti
Gratia
Nobis sacra revelet mysteria.

Tres personae sunt, et plura
Quae personas distingunt mysteria.
Tres idem sunt in natura,
Quod una nec tribus minor singula.

Trium posse, scire, velle paria,
In personis tribus et distantia.
- Sit par reverentia
Tribus, et uni gloria! Amen.
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XXI. TRINITY
[Latin]

To the Triune God, not Gods three,
The Trinity in Unity,
Let the Church now bow the knee!
All creation
Indication,
Clear and lucid, gives of a Trinity.

Let the sober mind up to God then rise!
Of the Father and of the Son,
With the Paraclete Spirit one,
To our eyes
May God's grace reveal all the mysteries!

There are Persons three, and many
Mysteries marking these Persons distinctively:
One by nature, all and any,
Neither is separately less than all the three.

Equal in all Three is knowledge, power and will,
Yet in their three Persons is there difference still:
- Equal reverence to the Three,
To the One all glory, be! Amen.
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INDEX

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XXII. TRINITAS
[English]

Profitentes Unitatem
Veneremur Trinitatem
Pari reverentia,
Tres Personas asserentes
Personali differentes
A se differentia.

Haec dicuntur relative,
Quum sint unum substantive,
Non tria principia.
Sive dicas tres vel tria,
Simplex tamen est usia,
Non triplex essentia.

Simplex esse, simplex posse,
Simplex velle, simplex nosse,
Cuncta simplicia.
Non unius quam duarum
Sive trium Personarum
Minor efficacia.

Pater, Proles, Sacreum Flamen,
Deus unus: sed hi tamen
Habent quaedam propria.
Una virtus, unum numen,
Unus splendor, unum lumen,
Hoc una quod alia.

Patri Proles est aequalis,
Nec hoc tollit personalis
Amborum distinctio.
Patri compar Filioque,
Spiritalis ab utroque
Procedit connexio.

Non humana ratione
Capi possunt hae Personae,
Nec harum discretio.
Non hic ordo temporalis,
Non hic situs, aut localis
Rerum circumscriptio.

Nil in Deo praeter Deum,
Nulla causa praeter eum
Qui causat causalia.
Effectiva vel formalis
Causa Deus, et finalis,
Sed nunquam materia.

Digne loque de Personis
Vim transcendit rationis,
Excedit ingenia.
Quid sit gigni, quid processus,
Me nescire sum professus:
Sed fide non dubia.

Qui sic credit, ne festinet,
Et a via non declinet
Insolerter regia.
Servet fidem, formet mores,
Non declinet ad errores
Quos damnat Ecclesia.

Nos in fide gloriemur,
Nos in una modulemur
Fidei constantia:
Trinae sit laus Unitati,
Sit et simplae Trinitati
Coaeterna gloria! Amen.
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XXII. TRINITY
[Latin]

We, the Unity confessing,
Must the Trinity be blessing
In our worship equally;
In three Persons thus believing;
Difference 'twixt them each perceiving
In their Personality.

Relatively of these speak we,
Substantively but one make we,
Nor three Persons in them see;
Call them three or threefold, never
But one substance are they ever,
Neither in their essence three.

One in being, One in power,
One in will and wisdom's dower,
One in all respects they be:
Of all these three Persons, either
One, or two, or all together,
Are Almighty equally.

Father, Son, and Spirit Holy,
Are one God, but each hath truly
Some peculiar property:
One their goodness, one their might, is;
One their glory, one their light, is;
One are they entirely.

Equal are the Son and Father,
But from this we may not gather
That their Persons are the same:
One with Son and Father either,
Not from one, but both together,
The connecting Spirit came.

These three Persons that we mention
Are beyond man's comprehension,
As the difference each one shows:
Time and place alike unbounded
Are for them, and unsurrounded
By the limits nature knows.

Naught but God God's self compriseth,
Nor from other cause ariseth,
Cause of all causality;
Though the cause, all things respecting,
Formal, final, and effecting,
Immaterial is He.

To describe these Persons duly
Far transcends man's reason truly,
And exceeds his wit as well:
What that birth is, that procession,
Though faith doubts not, my confession
Must be that I cannot tell.

Who believes this, nought dismayeth;
He ne'er ignorantly strayeth
From this creed's right royal road;
Keeps the faith, his life makes purer,
Not declining into error
Censured by the Church of God.

In this faith then let us glory,
And in one consistent story
Hold it in its verity:
Praise be to the Triune Godhead;
To the Three in One included
Co-eternal glory be! Amen.
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