# Matins Nocturn 2-3 readings for the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord
# Jesus Christ (July 1). Sourced directly from
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/07-01.txt, English/Sancti/07-01.txt.
# Nocturn 2: Lectio4-6, St. John Chrysostom's homily on the Blood of
# Christ (including the note on Pius XI's 1933 elevation of this feast
# to Duplex I Classis for the Jubilee of the Redemption), combined into
# one reading. Nocturn 3: the Gospel citation ends "Et réliqua"/"And so
# on" with no full pericope given -- per the bare-incipit convention,
# only the homily (Lectio7-9, St. Augustine of Hippo) is authored,
# isGospel: false, no citation field.
id: most-precious-blood
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    source: "St. John Chrysostom, Homily 84 on John, ch. 19"
    text:
      la: >-
        Vis sánguinis Christi audíre virtútem? Redeámus ad ejus exémplum, et priórem
        typum recordémur, et prístinam Scriptúram narrémus. In Ægýpto, nocte média,
        Ægýptiis Deus plagam décimam minabátur, ut eórum primogénita deperírent, quia
        primogénitum ejus pópulum detinébant. Sed, ne amáta plebs Judæórum una cum
        illis periclitarétur, quia unus locus continébat univérsos, remédium
        discretiónis invéntum est. Proínde exémplum mirábile, ut discas in veritáte
        virtútem. Ira divínæ indignatiónis operabátur, et domos síngulas mórtifer
        circuíbat. Quid ígitur Móyses? Occídite, inquit, agnum annículum, et sánguine
        ejus liníte jánuas. Quid ais, Móyses? Sanguis ovis rationálem hóminem liberáre
        consuévit? Valde, inquit; non eo quod sanguis est, sed quia Domínici sánguinis
        per eum demonstrátur exémplum.


        Nam, sicut regnántium státuæ, quæ sine causa sunt et sermóne, nonnúmquam ad se
        confugiéntibus homínibus, ánima et ratióne decorátis, subveníre consuevérunt,
        non quia sunt ære conféctæ, sed quia rétinent imáginem principálem; ita et
        sanguis ille, qui irrationális fuit, ánimas habéntes hómines liberávit, non
        quia sanguis fuit, sed quia hujus sánguinis ostendébat advéntum. Et tunc
        Angelus ille vastátor, cum linítos postes atque áditus pervidéret, transjécit
        gressus et non est ausus intráre. Nunc ergo si víderit inimícus, non póstibus
        impósitum sánguinem typi, sed fidélium ore lucéntem sánguinem veritátis
        Christi, templi póstibus dedicátum, multo magis se súbtrahet. Si enim Angelus
        cessit exémplo, quanto magis terrébitur inimícus, si ipsam perspéxerit
        veritátem? Vis et áliam hujus sánguinis scrutári virtútem? Volo. Unde primum
        occúrrit, inspícias, et de quo fonte manávit. De ipsa primum cruce procéssit;
        latus illud Domínicum inítium fuit. Latus miles apéruit, et templi sancti
        paríetem patefécit; et ego thesáurum præclárum invéni, et fulgéntes divítias
        me grátulor reperíre.


        Sic et de illo agno factum est: Judǽi ovem occidérunt, et ego fructum de
        sacraménto cognóvi. De látere sanguis et aqua. Nolo tam fácile, audítor,
        tránseas tanti secréta mystérii; restat enim mihi mýstica atque secretális
        orátio. Dixi baptísmatis sýmbolum et mysteriórum, aquam illam et sánguinem
        demonstráre. Ex his enim sancta fundáta est Ecclésia per lavácri
        regeneratiónem, et renovatiónem Spíritus Sancti. Per baptísma, inquam, et
        mystéria, quæ ex látere vidéntur esse proláta. Ex látere ígitur suo Christus
        ædificávit Ecclésiam, sicut de látere Adam ejus conjux Heva proláta est. Nam
        hac de causa Paulus quoque testátur dicens: De córpore ejus et de óssibus ejus
        sumus; latus vidélicet illud signíficans. Nam, sicut de illo látere Deus fecit
        féminam procreári, sic et de suo látere Christus aquam nobis et sánguinem
        dedit, unde repararétur Ecclésia.


        Recurrénte autem anno ab humáni géneris redemptióne undevícies centenário,
        quem ad tam ineffábile benefícium recoléndum solémni præ ómnibus sacro Jubilǽo
        summus Póntifex Pius undécimus celebrátum vóluit; ut pretiósi sánguinis quo
        redémpti sumus, Agni Immaculáti Christi uberióres dimanárent in hómines
        fructus, ejúsque memória fidélibus, vivídius commendarétur, idem summus
        Póntifex Pretiosíssimi Sánguinis Dómini nostri Jesu Christi festum, quotánnis
        ab univérsa Ecclésia peragéndum, ad ritum dúplicem primæ classis evéxit.
      en: >-
        Wouldest thou hear the power of the Blood of Christ? Then let us look at the
        figure thereof, let us call to mind the old type, and tell the story written in
        the ancient Scriptures. The Egyptians would not let God take away Israel His
        firstborn, and Moses said: Thus saith the Lord: About midnight will I go out
        into the midst of Egypt, and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die.
        Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them: Draw out
        and take you a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover. And ye
        shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and
        strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood; and when he seeth the
        blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the
        door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite
        you. And could the blood of a sheep save a man? Yea, in good sooth, not
        because it was blood, but because it represented in a figure the Blood of the
        Lord.


        The statues of monarchs, mindless and speechless images though they be, have
        sometimes been an helpful refuge to men endowed with soul and reason, not
        because they are works of the brazier's skill, but because the likeness they
        bear is a King's. And just so did this unconscious blood deliver the lives of
        men, not because it was blood, but because it foreshadowed the shedding of the
        Blood of Jesus. On that night in Egypt, when the destroying Angel saw the
        blood upon the lintel and on the two side-posts, he passed over the door, and
        came not in unto the house. Even so now much more will the destroyer of souls
        flee away when he seeth, not the lintel and the two side-posts sprinkled with
        the blood of a lamb, but the mouth of the faithful Christian, the living
        dwelling of the Holy Ghost, shining with the blood of the True Messiah. If the
        Angel let the type be, how shall not the enemy quail before the Reality?
        Wouldest thou hear more of the power of that Blood? I am willing. Consider from
        what source it welleth, from what fountain it springeth. Its fountain is the
        Heart of the Lord, pierced for us upon the Cross.


        And so was it done concerning that Lamb: the Jews killed a sheep, and I have
        learned the value of the sacrament. From the Side flowed forth Blood and
        Water. I would not, O my hearer, that thou shouldest pass by the depths of such
        a mystery as this without pausing; for I have yet a mystic and mysterious
        discourse to deliver. I have said that the Water and Blood shewed forth
        symbolically baptism and the sacraments. For from these, holy Church was
        founded by the laver of regeneration, and the renovation of the Holy Ghost.
        It was therefore out of the Side of Christ that the Church was created, just
        as it was out of the side of Adam that Eve was raised up to be his bride. This
        is the reason why Paul saith: We are members of his Body, and of his bones; for
        even as God made the woman Eve out of the rib which he had taken out of the
        side of Adam, so hath Christ made the Church out of the Blood and Water which
        he made to flow for us out of his own Side.


        On the occasion of the nineteenth centenary of the accomplishment of the
        redemption of mankind, as a fitting celebration of this ineffable blessing,
        Pope Pius XI decreed an extraordinary Jubilee. During that year the Supreme
        Pontiff, wishing that the fruits of the Precious Blood of Christ, the Lamb
        without spot, might redound more abundantly upon mankind and that the minds of
        the faithful be impressed with more vivid recollections of this same Blood as
        the price of their redemption, elevated the Feast of the Most Precious Blood
        of our Lord Jesus Christ to the rank of a double of the first class, to be
        celebrated as such every year by the universal Church.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }

  - nocturn: 3
    isGospel: false
    source: "St. Augustine of Hippo, Tractatus 120 on John"
    text:
      la: >-
        Vigilánti verbo Evangelísta usus est, ut non díceret: Latus ejus percússit,
        aut vulnerávit, aut quid áliud, sed Apéruit; ut illic quodámmodo vitæ óstium
        panderétur, unde sacraménta Ecclésiæ manavérunt, sine quibus ad vitam, quæ
        vera vita est, non intrátur. Ille sanguis qui fusus est, in remissiónem fusus
        est peccatórum. Aqua illa salutáre témperat póculum; hæc et lavácrum præstat
        et potum. Hoc prænuntiábat quod Noë in látere arcæ óstium fácere jussus est,
        quo intrárent animália quæ non erant dilúvio peritúra, quibus præfigurabátur
        Ecclésia. Propter hoc prima múlier facta est de látere viri dormiéntis, et
        appelláta est vita matérque vivórum. Magnum quippe significávit bonum, ante
        magnum prævaricatiónis malum. Hic secúndus Adam, inclináto cápite, in cruce
        dormívit, ut inde formarétur ei conjux, quæ de látere dormiéntis efflúxit. O
        mors, unde mórtui revivíscunt! Quid isto sánguine múndius? Quid vúlnere isto
        salúbrius?


        Tenebántur hómines captívi sub diábolo, et dæmónibus serviébant; sed redémpti
        sunt a captivitáte. Véndere enim se potuérunt, sed redímere non potuérunt.
        Venit Redémptor, et dedit prétium; fudit sánguinem suum, et emit orbem
        terrárum. Quǽritis quid émerit? Vidéte quid déderit, et inveniétis quid
        émerit. Sanguis Christi prétium est. Tanti quid valet? quid, nisi totus orbis?
        quid, nisi omnes gentes? Valde ingráti sunt prétio suo, aut multum supérbi
        sunt, qui dicunt, aut illud tam parum esse ut solos Afros émerit, aut se tam
        magnos esse pro quibus solis illud sit datum. Non ergo exsúltent, non
        supérbiant. Pro toto dedit, quantum dedit.


        Hábuit ille sánguinem, unde nos redímeret; et ad hoc accépit sánguinem, ut
        esset quem pro nobis rediméndis effúnderet. Sanguis Dómini tui, si vis, datus
        est pro te; si nolúeris esse, non est datus pro te. Forte enim dicis: Hábuit
        sánguinem Deus meus, quo me redímeret, sed jam, cum passus est, totum dedit;
        quid illi remánsit, quod det et pro me? Hoc est magnum, quia semel dedit, et
        pro ómnibus dedit. Sanguis Christi volénti est salus, nolénti supplícium. Quid
        ergo dúbitas, qui mori non vis, a secúnda pótius morte liberári? Qua
        liberáris, si vis tóllere crucem tuam, et sequi Dóminum; quia ille tulit suam,
        et quæsívit servum.
      en: >-
        The Evangelist speaketh carefully. He saith not that he smote the Side, nor
        yet that he wounded It, nor yet anything else, but pierced It, to fling wide
        the entrance unto life, whence flow the Sacraments of the Church, those
        Sacraments without which there is no entrance unto the life which is life
        indeed. That Blood which was shed there was shed for the remission of sins,
        that Water is the water that mantleth in the cup of salvation. Therein are we
        washed, and thereof do we drink. Of this was it a type when it was said unto
        Noah: The door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof. This name set
        forth a great good, before it became associated with the bitter fruit of a
        great evil. And here we have the Second Adam bowing His Head, and the deep
        sleep of death falling upon Him upon the Cross, and He sleepeth, that the Lord
        God may take a thing out of His side, and may make thereof a wife for Him. O
        what a death was His, which quickeneth the dead! What is cleaner than His
        Blood? What more health-giving than His wounding?


        Then were being held bondsmen to the devil, slaves to evil spirits. But they
        have been redeemed from that bondage. They had been able to sell themselves,
        but they were not able to redeem themselves. A Redeemer came and paid the
        price for them. He shed His Blood, and at that cost bought the world. Ye ask
        what He bought? Look what He paid, and ye shall see what He bought. Christ's
        Blood was the price. What is His Blood worth? What, but the whole world? What,
        but all men? They are very unthankful for His redemption, or very proud, who
        say that It is only precious enough to buy the Africans, or that they
        themselves are so precious that It was shed only for them. Let there be an end
        to such conceit, an end to such vainglory. What He paid, He paid for all.


        That Blood was his own, and thereby he redeemed us. Yea, it was to this end
        that he took Flesh and Blood, namely that he might shed his Blood in order to
        redeem us. If thou wilt accept it, the Blood of thy Lord was given for thee. If
        thou wilt not accept it, it was not given for thee. For perchance thou sayest:
        My God had Blood, with which he redeemed me, but now since he hath suffered,
        he hath given it all; what hath remained to him, that he may also give any of
        it for me? This is a great thing, because he gave once, and he gave for all.
        The Blood of Christ is salvation to him that doth accept it, punishment to him
        that doth not accept it. Why therefore dost thou hesitate to be set free from
        the second death, thou who dost not wish to die? By this thou art set free, if
        thou art willing to take up thy Cross, and follow the Lord; for he took up his
        Cross and sought his servant.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
