Keep in mind dear readers, that Vespers is chanted in Latin at most Charterhouses. Thus, the English below is nothing "official" but merely a translation of the Latin that the Carthusians pray at First Vespers for the Solemnity of Holy Father Bruno.Hymn:
Serve Dei, qui unicum
Servant of God, whose strength was steeled
Serve Dei, qui unicum
Servant of God, whose strength was steeled
To follow close God’s only Son,
Well didst thou brave thy battlefield,
And well thy heavenly bliss was won!
Now join thy prayers with ours, who pray
That God may pardon us and bless;
For prayer keeps evil’s plague away,
And draws from life its weariness.
Long, long ago, were loosed the chains
That held thy body once in thrall;
For us how many a bond remains!
O Love of God release us all.
All praise to God the Father be,
All praise to Thee, eternal Son;
All praise, O Holy Ghost, to Thee
While never ending ages run.
Sole Antiphon for the Psalms
Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands.
Psalms (Latin Vulgate numbering)
113a
Sole Antiphon for the Psalms
Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands.
Psalms (Latin Vulgate numbering)
113a
113b
114
115
116
128
Capitulum, Isaiah 56:7
I will bring them into My holy mount, and will make them joyful in My house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please Me upon My altar: for My house shall be called the house of prayer, for all nations.
R. Thanks be to God
Response
Blessed is the servant, whom when the Lord shall come, He shall find watching: Amen I say to you, He shall set him over all his goods.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Savior.
He shall set him over all his goods.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Blessed is the servant, whom when the Lord shall come, He shall find watching: Amen I say to you, He shall set him over all his goods.
Magnificat antiphon
Be ready like men who wait for their Lord, when He shall return from the wedding.
Prayer
Lord God, You chose Saint Bruno to give mankind an example of how the one thing necessary must be sought. Grant that by following in his footsteps, we may faithfully bear witness both to Your Divine Majesty and to our union with Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
Capitulum, Isaiah 56:7
I will bring them into My holy mount, and will make them joyful in My house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please Me upon My altar: for My house shall be called the house of prayer, for all nations.
R. Thanks be to God
Response
Blessed is the servant, whom when the Lord shall come, He shall find watching: Amen I say to you, He shall set him over all his goods.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from God his Savior.
He shall set him over all his goods.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Blessed is the servant, whom when the Lord shall come, He shall find watching: Amen I say to you, He shall set him over all his goods.
Magnificat antiphon
Be ready like men who wait for their Lord, when He shall return from the wedding.
Prayer
Lord God, You chose Saint Bruno to give mankind an example of how the one thing necessary must be sought. Grant that by following in his footsteps, we may faithfully bear witness both to Your Divine Majesty and to our union with Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
