Today's sound file is about the Neophytes--the newly-initiated Christians who were baptized and chrismated and communicated at the Vigil of Easter. The chant "Isti sunt Agni novelli," is taken from the Cistercian collection "Laudes Vespertine," published in Westmalle, Belgium, in 1939. The precentrix on the recording is Evelyn F. Wagner.
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TRANSLATION OF TEXT:
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These are the lambs, newly-baptized,
who proclaimed the glad tidings: Alleluia!
recently come to the waters,
and full of God's light and splendor.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
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Lady, Queen, whom grace from heaven
Has preferred to all on earth,
Now renewed, the world is brightened
By your holy virgin-birth.
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These are the lambs...
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Oh, how lovely and how wondrous
Is the cure that saved us all:
Jesus, in His love, becomes now
Victim for His people's fall!
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These are the lambs..
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Now renewed through holy washing,
In the font of our rebirth,
Soon the chrism's oil and fragrance
Will give strength to us on earth!
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These are the lambs...
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To each Christian now is given
Christ's own Flesh as Bread of Life.
Christ's own Blood becomes the sweetest
Source of joy in all our strife!
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These are the lambs..
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