Gregorian Chant Antiphon for Lent & Times of Tribulation
Media Vita In Morte Sumus (In the Midst of Life We Are In Death) is a Gregorian chant antiphon sung at Compline during Lent, also being sung in times of tribulation.
Much has been written about this famous penitential chant, which originated in the Middle Ages: The Count of Montalembert explains that Notker the Stammerer (840-912), Benedictine monk from the Abbey of St. Gall (Switzerland) "who issued from the blood of Charlemagne, celebrated poet and musician, author of 50 proses and chants that have long remained popular," composed the Media Vita: "His poem about the danger of death was for more than five hundred years a popular chant and even a chant for war very much in use in Germany." (1)
Benedictine priest Fr. Anselm Schubiger (1815-1888) explains: "The mournful strains of Notker resounded from then on in St. Gall, not only at public prayers and the processions that were renewed each year in pilgrimages to the nearby heights and mountains, but also on the anniversaries and commemorations of the dead, and especially during times of great calamity.
"Like many others, this composition spread from St. Gall to all other regions; it was sung in the various fears caused by death; it resounded in storms and on ships tossed by the waves of seas and lakes, and warriors performed it during bloody battles. This well-known hymn survived the Middle Ages until the 12th century and was generally sung by the people.." (2)
Indeed, the Media Vita was a part of the liturgy of curses: according to Lester K. Little, the Media Vita, which "was known throughout Latin Christendom, functioned as a liturgical curse in the territory stretching from the Meuse valley, particular in and around Liege, eastward through the Rhineland and beyond to the Weser." (3)
There are several versions of the Media Vita. The most famous are the Benedictine and Dominican versions. Another interesting version is a rendition that is said to be an adaptation by the Knights Templar. We have included both below: the first, the
templar version by Ensemble Organum; the second, by the
Monks of the Benedictine Abbey of Silos. Note: we have marked the Templar, Dominican and Benedictine variations in the text below, the latter as red.
Media vita in morte sumus
Quem quaerimus adjutorem
Nisi te Domine
Qui pro peccatis nostris juste irasceris
Sancte Deus
Sancte fortis
Sancte et misericors Salvator
Amarae morti ne tradas nos
Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine
Secundum verbum tuum in pace
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem Omnium populorum,
lumen ad revelationem gentium
Et gloriam plebis tuae Israel
Media vita in morte sumus
Quem quaerimus adjutorem
Nisi te Domine
Qui pro peccatis nostris juste irasceris
Ne projicias nos in tempore senectutis
Cum defecerit virtus nostra
Ne derelinquas nos Domine
Sancte Deus
Noli claudere aures tuas ad preces nostras, Domine
Sancte fortis
Qui cognoscis occulta cordis
parce peccatis nostris, Domine
Sancte et misericors Salvator
Amarae morti ne tradas nos
1. In te speraverunt patres nostri,
speraverunt et liberasti eos.
Sancte...
2. Ad te clamaverunt patres nostri,
clamaverunt et non sunt confusi.
Sancte...
3. Gloria Patri et Filio,
Et Spiritui Sancto.
Sancte...
English translation (1):
In the midst of life we are in death,
Who shall we seek for help
If not Thee, Lord
Thou who art justly angry for our sins
Holy God
Holy strong
Holy and merciful Savior
Do not deliver us over to bitter death
Now Thou canst dismiss Thy servant, Lord
According to Thy word in peace
For my eyes have seen Thy salvation
Which Thou hast prepared Before the face of all peoples,
A light for the revelation to the Gentiles
And the glory of Thy people Israel
We are in the midst of death
Who shall we seek for help
If not Thee, Lord
Thou who art justly angry for our sins
Do not cast us off in the time of old age
When our strength fails us
Do not abandon us, Lord
Holy God
Do not close Thy ears to our prayers, Lord
Holy and strong
Tho who knowest the secrets of the heart
Spare our sins, Lord
Holy and merciful Savior
Do not hand us over to bitter death
1. In Thee our fathers hoped, they trusted and Thou deliverest them.
Holy...
2. To Thee our fathers cried, they cried and they were not confounded.
Holy...
3. Glory be to the Father and to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit.
Holy...
The Penitent St. Jerome, by Francisco Salzillo (Murcia, 1707-1783).
Courtesy of La Hornacina, accessed here.
Count of Montalembert, Les moines d'Occident, depuis saint Benoît jusqu'à saint Bernard ("The Monks of the West, from Saint Benedict to Saint Bernard." Volume 6, pps. 158-159. Courtesy of the National Library of France,
here.
Anselm Schubiger, Histoire de l'école de chant de Saint-Gall du VIIIe au XIIe siècle : documents fournis à l'histoire du plain-chant pendant le moyen-âge ("History of the St. Gall School of Chant from the 8th to the 12th Century: Documents Contributing to the History of Plainchant during the Middle Ages"), p. 50. Courtesy of the National Library of France, accessed
here.
Lester K. Little, Benedictine Maledictions: Liturgical Cursing in Romanesque France, pp. 237-239.
