Tota pulchra es Maria
Tota pulchra es Maria is an ancient Christian prayer that has been documented since the fourth century. It is composed of verses from the Old Testament which are interpreted as referring to Mary or her immaculate conception . The first line after which the prayer is named comes from the Song of Songs in the version of the Vulgate : Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et macula non est in te. ( Hld 4,7 EU ) The line Vestimentum tuum… refers to the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 17.2 EU or Mt 28.3 EU ). The last verse is taken from the biblical book Judit ( Jdt 15.9 EU ).
Already Ephrem the Syrian applied the verse Song of Songs 4,7 in the Carmina Nisibena to Mary's sinlessness: You alone [Christ] and your mother are beautiful above all, there is no blemish in you, O Lord, in your mother. The word originalis , which relates to original sin (peccatum originale), was inserted by the Franciscan theologian Johannes Duns Scotus . Prayer in its current form has been widespread since the 14th century.
Liturgically, the individual verses are used as the Alleluia call before the Gospel at the celebration of mass and as antiphons at Vespers on the feast of Mary's conception (December 8th).
text
Original text
Tota pulchra es, Maria
et macula originalis non est in te.
Vestimentum tuum candidum quasi nix, et facies tua sicut
sol.Tota pulchra es, Maria,
et macula originalis non est in te.
Tu gloria Hierusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri.
Tota pulchra es, Maria.
Free translation
You are very beautiful, Maria,
and there is no flaw in you.
Your clothes are light as snow, and your figure like the sun.
You are very beautiful, Maria,
and the fault of inheritance is not in you.
You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you are the honor of our people.
You are very beautiful, Maria.
(You advocate of sinners. Mary, you wisest of virgins, you mildest of mothers,
pray for us with our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Musical implementation
From the Gregorian repertoire , an alleluia and the antiphons for the Vespers of the solemn feast of the Virgin and Mother of God Mary, received without original sin, have been handed down in the first tone in Liber Usualis .
The prayer was set to numerous settings, for example by Guillaume Du Fay (15th century), Francisco Guerrero (16th century), Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (1694), Robert Schumann (in: Missa sacra op. 147, 1852/53), Ernest Chausson (19th century) as well as Maurice Duruflé (in: Quatre Motets sur des Thèmes Grégoriens op.10 for choir a cappella, 1960) and Pablo Casals (20th century).
Which is often listed motet by Anton Bruckner in Phrygian key (WAB 46).
literature
- Nikolaus von Kues : Tota pulchra es, amica mea (Sermo de pulchritudine). Edited and introduced by Giovanni Santinello. Societa cooperativa tipografica, Padua 1958.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Carm. nisib. 27.44f. quoted from BKV
- ↑ See Liber Usualis , the 8 Decembris, In conceptione Immaculate BMV , pages 1318 and 1320.