Urbs beata Jerusalem dicta pacis visio is the first line of a 7th or 8th-century hymn sung in the Office of the Dedication of a Roman Catholic church.
Text
The hymn comprises eight stanzas, together with a doxology. The text is scripturally inspired by Ephesians ii. 20, 1 Peter ii. 5, and Revelation xxi.[1] The translation below is by John Mason Neale.[2]
| Original Latin | Literal English | Verse translation (Neale) |
|---|---|---|
Urbs beata Jerusalem,
Quæ construitur in coelo [caelis]
Et angelis coronata
|
Blessed city of Jerusalem,
Built in heaven
And crowned by the angels
|
Blessed City, Heavenly Salem,
Who, of living stones upbuilded,
And, with angel cohorts circled,
|
The metre is a version of the trochaic septenarius rhythm, often used for hymns in the medieval period (see Trochaic septenarius#In Christian hymns). In the 17th century, under Pope Urban VIII, a group of correctors revised the hymn, replacing the unquantitative, accentual, trochaic rhythm with quantitative, iambic metre, and the stanza appeared in the Breviary with divided lines:
Coelestis Urbs Jerusalem,
Beata pacis visio,
Quæ celsa de viventibus
Saxis ad astra tolleris,
Sponsæque ritu cingeris
Mille Angelorum millibus.
Originally, the first four stanzas of "Urbs beata Jerusalem" were usually assigned, in the Office of the Dedication of a church, to Vespers and Matins, while the last four were given to Lauds. After the revision, the hymn for Lauds was changed to "Alto ex Olympi vertice".
References
- ↑ Henry, Hugh Thomas (1912). . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ↑ Schaff, Philip. History of the Christian Church, Volume IV: Mediaeval Christianity. A.D. 590-1073. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc4.titlepage.html
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Urbs Beata Jerusalem dicta pacis visio". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.