Stabat Mater

The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ.

[1][2][3] The title comes from its first line, "Stabat Mater dolorosa", which means "the sorrowful mother was standing".

1230–1306), but this has been strongly challenged by the discovery of the earliest notated copy of the Stabat Mater in a 13th-century gradual belonging to the Dominican nuns in Bologna (Museo Civico Medievale MS 518, fo.

[8] The first English translation by Edward Caswall is not literal but preserves the trochaic tetrameter rhyme scheme and sense of the original text.

Stabat mater dolorósa juxta Crucem lacrimósa, dum pendébat Fílius.

Quae mœrébat et dolébat, pia Mater, dum vidébat nati pœnas ínclyti.

Quis non posset contristári Christi Matrem contemplári doléntem cum Fílio?

Pro peccátis suæ gentis vidit Jésum in torméntis, et flagéllis súbditum.

Eja, Mater, fons amóris me sentíre vim dolóris fac, ut tecum lúgeam.

Sancta Mater, istud agas, crucifíxi fige plagas cordi meo válide.

Tui Nati vulneráti, tam dignáti pro me pati, pœnas mecum dívide.

Fac me tecum pie flere, crucifíxo condolére, donec ego víxero.

Virgo vírginum præclára, mihi iam non sis amára, fac me tecum plángere.

Flammis ne urar succénsus, per te, Virgo, sim defénsus in die iudícii.

Christe, cum sit hinc exire, da per Matrem me veníre ad palmam victóriæ.

Christ above in torment hangs; She beneath beholds the pangs Of her dying glorious Son.

Bruis'd, derided, curs'd, defil'd, She beheld her tender Child All with bloody scourges rent;

While my body here decays, May my soul thy goodness praise, Safe in Paradise with Thee.

– Translation by Edward Caswall[10] The sorrowful mother was standing beside the Cross weeping, while the Son was hanging.

Grant that I might bear the death of Christ, Make [me] kindred in the passion, and contemplate the wounds.