Vinea Mea Electa (My Chosen Vineyard) is a Gregorian chant responsorial from Holy Week, the third responsory of the Second Nocturn on Good Friday.
The chant recalls the moment in which Pontius Pilate presented Our Lord to the Jews, in the
Gospel of St. Matthew 27:16-23:
"And he [Pilate] had then a notorious prisoner, that was called Barabbas. They therefore being gathered together, Pilate said: Whom will you that I release to you, Barabbas, or Jesus that is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. ....
"But the chief priests and ancients persuaded the people, that they should ask for Barabbas, and take Jesus away. And the governor answering, said to them: Whether will you of the two to be released unto you? But they said, Barabbas. Pilate saith to them: What shall I do then with Jesus that is called Christ? They say all: Let him be crucified. The governor said to them: Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying: Let him be crucified."
After this betrayal and initiation of the crime of Deicide, Our Lord thus compares the Jews to a chosen vineyard, which He had planted with care, fenced with stones and a tower erected for its protection from vandals, hoping to harvest good fruit from it. Instead of sweetness, He finds that the grapes of the vineyard have
turned bitter. In other words, the chosen fruit which God had planted, the Jews, became rotten, preferring a criminal – Barabbas – to the Divine Word Himself.
Commenting on Verse 20, Cornelius a Lapide summarizes the thinking of the Church: "Notice here the effect of anger and malice, and the false and perverted judgments of the world. Jesus, the author of salvation, was to suffer; but Barabbas, the murderer, was to be spared. But God undoubtedly so ordered it that the Innocent should suffer, and thus atone for the guilt of sinners, whom Barabbas represented."
Vinea Mea Electa is here interpreted by Musica Contexta & Simon Ravens.
Note: the recording is a slight variation from the sheet music below.
Listen to Vinea Mea Electa
Lyrics:
Latin text:
R. Vinea mea electa, ego te plantavi:
*Quomodo conversa es in amaritudinem,
ut me crucifigeres et Barrabam dimitteres.
V. Sepivi te, et lapides elegi ex te,
et ædificavi turrim.
*Quomodo...
R. Vinea mea....
English translation (1):
R. My chosen vineyard, I have planted thee::
*How hast thou turned to bitterness,,
To crucify me and release Barabbas..
V. I fenced thee and picked out thy stones,
And built a tower for thy protection.
