The chant In splendoribus sanctorum is the communion chant for the propers of Christmas midnight mass, sung during the distribution of holy communion. This short chant is a rare example of pure pentatonic music used in chant, and for this reason it is impossible to say which mode it belongs to. The Latin text of the chant, a passage from Psalm 110 (Vulgate 109) in the Old Testament, is: In splendoribus sanctorum, ex utero, ante luciferum, genui te which in English may be rendered "in the brightness of the saints: from the womb before the day star I begot you." (Douay Bible, 1610). Traditionally parallels are therefore made to the story of the nativity.
Famous quotes containing the word sanctorum:
“Think of admitting the details of a single case of the criminal court into our thoughts, to stalk profanely through their very sanctum sanctorum for an hour, ay, for many hours! to make a very barroom of the mind’s inmost apartment, as if for so long the dust of the street had occupied us,—the very street itself, with all its travel, its bustle, and filth, had passed through our thoughts’ shrine! Would it not be an intellectual and moral suicide?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)