Hymn about the Holy Father Benedict

Among the eternal assemblies on high

Which maintain the begotten in sacred contest

You, Your Brilliance, shine with celestial merit

O Benedict.

Holy Old Age adorns your boyhood

No desire is able to grab hold of you

For you, the flower of the world has dessicated; to the heavens

Your mind is raised.

Whence, you must flee this fallen world, your fatherland, your parents

You must abandon, a fervent cultivator of the desert;

You tame your body and subject it to Christ,

You, a harsh disciplinarian.

So that you did not devote yourself only to secluded hermitages

The evidence of your good works makes you famous

Spread throughout the world, so quick to fly

Is your blessed fame.

You restore what is broken[1]with a powerful prayer,

You shatter the proferred deathly draught with a sign of the cross

A heedless[2]monk runs over the waves

As the father’s bids.

You beat the brother and the cruel enemy flees

The iron tool returns to your hand from the deep waters

You give an order to rock and it streams out rivers

Irrigating the fields.

A wild bird fulfills the things commanded to him,

Having glimpsed piety, you loosen the restraints of a captive

You witness the world in a single ray

Raised to the stars

You revive the dead to life by your prayer You, Prophet, penetrate the hearts of the many

You see that souls are raised up to the heavens

Glorified.

The ceaseless joyful iubilus of our choir,

praises you, O Divine Creator,

That You join our voices to the celestial choirs in heaven above

This we all beseech.

Amen.

[1]the vessel as a child

[2]his monk allowed a monk (unaware) to run on water