Prima pars

Quid vitam sine te,

Conjunx castissima, servo,

Cum mihi lux sine te grata nec esse queat?

Liquisti misero lacrymas gemitusque perennes,

Liquistique octo pignora parva viro,

Quae matris vultus

Matris quae colla requirunt, saepe vocant matrem,

Matre carere dolent.

Me miserum, suntne hæc thalami monumenta relicti,

Sic uxor servas dulcia
membra domus?

O sors, o pietas,
vis o saevissima fati:

In luctum per te gaudia nostra ruunt.

Sed nil in terris stabile est
expersque ruina

Et nos nil aliud quam levis aura sumus.

First Part [The Husband Mourns]

What life do I still have without you,

O thou purest spouse,
when I can’t even bear daylight without you?

You have left endless tears and groaning to me in my misery

You have left to your husband eight small children who pine for their mother’s face,
longing for her embrace,
who continually call for her
whom they miss terribly.

Wretched me, are these children not memories of an abandoned marriage

Is this the way you look after the sweet members of your household?

O Fate, and Family Duty, O most savage and violent Destiny:

Through you sorrow ruins all our joys.

But nothing on earth is steadfast and free from ruin;
even we are nothing but a gentle breeze.

Secunda pars

Parce tuis lacrymis,

Conjunx mitissime, nec te conficias:

Abii, o bone, non obii.

Me tulit ad superos celsi regnator
Olympi:

Perfruor aethereis nunc ego laeta choris.

Nec te sollicitet liberum pia
cura tuorum:

Ipse gerit curam Christus ubique tui.

Nunc ego praecessi tu pone
sequeris et ambos una fides,

Pietas junget et unus amor.

Coelitibus simul immixti vivemus et una nobiscum liberi

Praemia digna ferent:

Quare age ne tanto turbes mea gaudia luctu,

Sed laetus valeas
et memor usque mei.

Second Part [The Wife Responds]

Spare your tears, dearest husband, and do not wear yourself out.

I have not left, O good man; I have not died.

The Lord of high Heaven carried me off to the skies;

now I happily enjoy the heavenly choirs.

Let not dutiful concern for your children worry you:

Christ himself bears all your care.

Now I have gone before you, but then you will follow behind me, and we shall be joined together, both of us, one in faith and devotion and love.

We will live together among the heavenly beings and together with us.

Our children will have worthy rewards.

And so come now, do not disturb my joy with your mourning,

But be strong in joy,
and always remember me.

Laude Christo debita
Celebremus inclita
Nicolai merita.

Res miranda nimium
Infantuli ieiunium:
Doctus Dei digito
Ieiunat bis in sabbato.

Sacer a cunabulis
Claruit miraculis
Saeculorum saeculis.

Puer carnem domuit,
Adolescens studuit
Verbum Dei addiscere
Et in opus vertere.

Voce lapsa caelitus
Factus est divinitus
Dignus episcopio
Caeli testimonio.

Aurum clam exhibuit,
Sed palam prohibuit
Voluntatem criminum
Patris atque virginum.

Vocatur in tempestate
Fessis nautis quasa rate.
Tandem bene meritum
Caelo reddit spiritum.

Sepulcrum marmoreum
Sacrum stillat oleum,
Inde salus languidis
Venit multis multimodis.

Depulso per odium
Cessat stillicidium.

Magne Deus Adonai,
Nos ut nautas Nicolai
Duc de mundi turbine.

In hoc festo tui praesulis
Nunc adesto tuis famulis,
Salus in periculis
Et peccati vinculis.

O Narcisse, fons eloquio,
Flos respirans vitae praemio,
Princeps privilegio
Mortis et martyrio.

Inde nos divinitus
Unge, sancte spiritus.
Christe, lux et Gloria
Pacis, lucis hostia.

Fac nos ipsum te videre;
Hoc est totum vitae vere.
Fac nos frui cum beatis,
Tuae vultu maiestatis.

As we praise Christ,
We celebrate the well-deserved
renown of Nicholas.

It is a miracle beyond measure
How as a baby he fasted:
Made wise by the touch of God,
He fasted twice each week.

Holy even from his childhood
He became well-known for his miracles
From generation to generation.

As a boy he conquered fleshly passions,
As a youth he studied
and learned the Word of God
And in his work practised repentence.

With a flowing voice, that heavenly man
Was made worthy of the
godly rank of bishop
By the testimony of Heaven.

He made secret offerings of gold to
[needy] fathers and their daughters,
and openly stood against
the wicked plans of criminals.

He was called upon in storms
By exhausted sailors in a battered boat.
And in the end, well deservedly,
He gave his spirit back to Heaven.

A sacred oil dripped
from his marble tomb,
Which brought healing
to the sick in many ways.

(But it has been driven away by hatred
and has ceased to drip.)

Great Lord God
Lead us unto Nicholas the Sailor
From this whirling earth.

In this feast of thy bishop
Now come to the aid of thy servants,
[and give us] prosperity amid dangers
and the bonds of sin.

O Narcissus, fountain of eloquence,
Breathing in the flower of life in reward,
First in the privilege
of death and martyrdom:

Anoint us thence, holy man,
with the Holy Spirit.
Christ, thou art the light and the glory of peace, our sacrifice in light.

Make us to see Thee in truth—
that is what all true life is.
Make us to rejoice with the saints,
Before the glory of Thy face.