46
Lauda, Mater Ecclesia.
This Hymn, for S. Mary Magdalene's day, was the composition of S. Odo of Cluny, one of the brightest lights of that great Monastery. It found its way into the York Breviary. The variation of rhyme occurs in the original.
Exalt, O mother Church, to-day
The clemency of Christ thy Lord;
By seven-fold grace Who wipes away
The guilt of seven-fold crimes abhorred.
Sister of Lazarus that was dead,
She, that in such transgressions fell,
To the bright gates of Life was led
Up from the very jaws of Hell.
The great Physician she pursues,
Bearing the precious ointment cruse:
And by His only word is she
From manifold disease set free.
