Quem terra pontus

General information

Office hymn for the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, attributed to Venantius Fortunatus (530-609). Note: Pope Urban VIII in 1632 changed the last word of the first verse from aethera to sidera. See also O gloriosa Domina and O gloriosa Virginum.

Notes on selected settings

• Anonymous
  • Trent 88 (15c) SATT
  • D major, harm. Bernard Hellebusch SATB
  • A major, harm. Bernard Hellebusch SATB
• José Maurício Nunes Garcia SATB & organ

Settings by composers (automatically updated)

• Anonymous — Quem terra  Latin SATT
• Anonymous — Quem terra pontus  Latin SATB
• Anonymous — Quem terra pontus sidera  Latin SATB
• William Byrd — Quem terra, pontus, aethera  Latin ATB
• Ralph Harrison — The God whom earth and sea and sky  English SATB
• William Knapp — The God whom earth and sea and sky  English SATB
• Juan Montes — Quem terra, pontus, sidera  Latin ATB
• José Maurício Nunes Garcia — Quem terra pontus sidera  Latin SATB
• Michael Praetorius — The God whom earth and sea and sky  English SATB
• Franciszek Walczyński — Quem terra pontus (Men's Voices)  Latin TTB

Text and translations

Latin text Quem terra, pontus, aethera[sidera] colunt, adorant, praedicant, trinam regentem machinam claustrum Mariae baiulat. Cui luna, sol, et omnia deserviunt per tempora, perfusa caeli gratia, gestant puellae viscera. Beata Mater, munere, cuius supernus Artifex, mundum pugillo continens, ventris sub arca clausus est. Beata caeli nuntio, fecunda Sancto Spiritu, desideratus gentibus, cuius per alvum fusus est. Iesu, Tibi sit gloria,[or Gloria tibi, Domine,] qui natus es de Virgine, cum Patre, et almo[Sancto] Spiritu, in sempiterna saecula. Amen.

English translation The God whom earth, and sea, and sky adore, and laud, and magnify, who o'er their threefold fabric reigns, the Virgin's spotless womb contains. The God whose will by moon, and sun, and all things in due course is done, is borne upon a Maiden's breast, by fullest heavenly grace possessed. How blest that Mother, in whose shrine the great Artificer Divine, whose hand contains the earth and sky, vouchsafed, as in His ark, to lie. Blest, in the message Gabriel brought; blest, by the work the Spirit wrought; from whom the great Desire of earth took human flesh and human birth. All honour, laud, and glory be, O Jesu, Virgin-born, to Thee, whom with the Father we adore, and Holy Ghost for evermore. Amen. Translation by John Mason Neale

External links

• www.preces-latinae