Today, August 15, is the day when we Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, when the Mother of God was assumed body and soul into heaven to become the queen of heaven and earth. Most of us will go to Mass today and sing “Hail, Holy Queen” and perhaps a setting of the Magnificat or Salve Regina. We have a rich tradition of music with which to honor our mother.
But our brothers and sisters in the Orthodox Christian churches also have a rich devotion to the Blessed Mother, complete with their own set of really beautiful hymns written in a different musical idiom than we usually hear in Catholic churches, and very well worth listening to. So, here to put you in mind of our mother on this blessed day is sampling of Marian hymns borrowed from our brothers and sisters of the Orthodox faith.
The Angel Cried, hymn for the Paschal season
O Virgin Pure, Byzantine chant
Suplicatory Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever Virgin Mary
Thanks for these. I’ll listen to them soon. I’ve become intrigued with Byzantine Catholicism, and they, like the Orthodox, stress the Dormition of Our Lady. They call today’s feast The Dormition of the Theotokos, the falling asleep of the God-Bearer (Mother of God). St. John Damascene (d. 749) recorded this story that describes the Dormition occurring three days before the Assumption: “St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; where from the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.” Early Christian art shows Mary lying on a bier after her death with her soul either rising to heaven or being taken by Christ to heaven. Another tradition says sweetly that she died in a transport of love.
Very interesting. Thank you!