Per unius casum grani
De valle Gethsemani
Grana surgunt plurima:
Orbem terrae, coeli gyrum
Ornat rosis martyrum
Vita Christi victima.

Praestat vires, quibus freti
Cuncta possent perpeti
Tormentorum genera,
Nec formidant poni cibus
Coeli volatilibus,
Suspensi per aera.

His indignus erat mundus:
Dum diei portant pondus
Et aestus incommoda,
Fracti corpus, fide recti,
Mori possunt, sed non flecti
Sub strage multimoda.

Hi certamen certant bonum
Qui, ut Christi passionum
Suppleant residua,
In melotis circumire
Casum omnem sortis dirae
Mente ferunt strenua.

Et hanc sortem nemo minus
Declinavit quam Quintinus;
Quern produxit stirps venusta
Gloriosum in Romanis;
Fatigavit Ambianis
Ut quiescat in Augusta.

Propter jugum Christi lene,
Premunt compes et catenae
Carcerali clausum cella;
Sed triumphat bonus bene
Universum genus poenae,
Famen, frigus, et flagella.

Rogo facis, haustu plumbi
Concremantur ejus lumbi,
Os detestans ydola;
Neque plumbi, neque rogi,
Potu, flamma potest cogi,
Ut fiat Jovicola.

Inter ungues, ictu gravi,
Defiguntur decern clavi
Cuspide quadrangula; 
Sudes ferri suunt dorsum
Descendentes in deorsum
Ab utraque scapula.

Rastris demum praeacutis
Exaratur ejus cutis
Propter verbi semina.
Lacerantur et lacerti,
Dum jubetur circumverti
Trochlearis machina.

De pretioso vertice
Subvolat mirifice,
Ut columba nivea:
Sublatum ab area,
Suffertur ad horrea
Granum sine palea,

Cujus contumelia
Gloriam, et gloria
Parturivit. Alleluia! 

Countless seeds spring up about us
From the fall of one seed, brought us
From the vale Gethsemane:
Life, for Christ, as victim given,
Decks earth's orb and vaulted heaven  
As with roses gracefully.

Strength, to stay them and embolden,
Gives it, by the which upholden,
Men can pain of all kinds bear:
Neither fear they to be given,
As their food, to birds of heaven,
Hung suspended in the air.

Of them was the world not worthy;
As, thus tortured, they endure the
Heat and burden of the day:
Sound in faith, stoned, sawn asunder.
They can die, but ne'er bend under
Slaughter's multiform array.

These have fought a good fight truly,
Who, that of Christ's sufferings fully
They might fill up what remained,
Bore, in sheepskins clad, to wander,
And a mind, still steadfast, under
Fortune's cruel lot maintained.

To escape this lot none ever
Less than Quintin did endeavour;
Glorious Rome itself confest him;
He, from fair stock there descended,
Toiled in Amiens, that, life ended,
He might in St. Quentin rest him.  

Since Christ's easy yoke doth bless him,
Clamps and clanking chains compress him.
Kept in close incarceration;
But God's Saint, both good and holy.
Triumphs o'er all torments throughly,
Famine, frost, and flagellation.

He is burnt with lighted torches.
Molten lead that bold mouth scorches,
Which their idols durst reprove:
Neither draught of lead can force him,  
Nor can flaming torch coerce him.
To adore the heathen Jove.

'Neath his nails, by hard blows riven,
Are ten nails then deeply driven
By a huge four-sided spear:
From each shoulder downward slanted,
Iron spits behind are planted.
And his flesh like needles tear.

With sharp-pointed rakes they flay him,
Ploughing off his skin, and slay him  
For that Word's sake by him sown:
Rudely are his arms too riven,
Till at last command is given,
And the fatal knife falls down.

From his precious head doth fly
Upward most mysteriously
What appeared a milk-white dove:
From the threshing-floor below
Is the winnowed grain borne now
To God's barn in heaven above.  

Glory this man's grief and shame
Have produced; that glory's fame
Alleluias to his name!

Adest dies specialis,
Dies festus et natalis
Praesulis Maglorii;
In hoc ergo spiritales
Et ipsius speciales
Jocundentur filii.

Angelus hunc erudivit
Integrumque custodivit
Vas coelestis gratiae;
Cum sit magnus gloria,
Velut ex industria,
Nomen habet gloriae.

Lucrum quaerens spiritale,
Culmen rexit principale
Minoris Britanniae;
Fugit tamen nutu Dei,
Quo vacaret totus ei,
Regimen Ecclesiae.

Curam tradens alii,
Compos desiderii,
[Fugit] sub silentio:
Sic latere voluit,
Nec abscondi potuit
Lucerna sub modio.

Consul adest, sed leprosus,
Ne lateret gloriosus
Pater sine gloria.
Preces ejus lepram mundant
Cujus jussis obsecundant
Aves, pisces, maria.

Vitae reddit mortuum,
Quem vorago fluctuum
Prius absorbuerat:
Ad hujus arbitrium
Piscis, turba piscium
Ministrans obtemperat.

Cultrum reddens servulo,
Victum dedit populo;
Navem rexit baculo,
Sed nec plaustro defuit;
Lingua mutae solvitur,
Servus pisci tollitur,
Nix hostilis vincitur,
Et serpens occubuit.

Culpam donat hic levitae;
Angelus huic panem vitae
Munit, mortis pretium;
Hostes fugat hic repente,
Partim visu, partim mente,
Vita nequam filium.

Maglori pater, visita
Nos pietate solita:
Tuae preces et merita
Culpae relaxant debita.

Per te vincatur Zabulus,
Et vitiorum populus,
Per te, victores saeculi,
Christo vacemus seduli. Amen. 

See a special day returning,
A bright festival's bright morning,
Bishop Magloire's natal day;
All his sons in God should therefore,
Those he specially doth care for,
Their delight on it display.

'Twas an angel helped his training,
And a vessel thus, containing
Grace celestial, kept all-pure:
Great his glorying may be,
That, as 'twere designedly,
He a name of 'glory' bore.

Seeking to be rich in spirit,
He the highest post did merit
In the Church in Brittany:  
But that Church's helm he quitted
At God's will, to be thus fitted
For His service utterly.

Yielding to another man
His great charge, - this end to gain, -
Quietly away he fled:
Though he would have lain concealed,
Still his candle stood revealed,
'Neath whatever bushel hid.

So, lest, hid, this glorious Father
Should no further glory gather,
Leprous was the Consul there:
He, whose word seas, fish, obeying,
Served, and birds that fly, by praying,
Leprosy did from him clear.

He a dead man brings to life.
Whom the waves' devouring strife
Just before had swallowed down:
All the fishes of the sea
Wait upon his just decree,
In obedience to it shown.

He restored his servant's blade.
Gave a starving people bread,
With his staff a vessel led.
Neither failed to help a wain:
 
Loosed is tongue of maiden dumb.
Raised a slave from fish's womb.
Hostile snow is overcome
By him, and a serpent slain.

He a deacon's fault forgiveth,
And life's bread, death's price, receiveth
From an angel, when he needs:
Foes he puts to sudden flight,
Part through thought, and part by sight;
By his life a son's misdeeds.

Magloire, our father! from above
Come to us with thy wonted love:
For strong thy prayers and merits prove
Our debt of evil to remove.

Through thee may Satan be o'erthrown,  
And all the crowd of evil done;
Through thee, this world o'ercome, may we
Be free to serve Christ zealously! Amen.

Gratiani grata solempnitas
Nos ad laudes invitat debitas;
Gratianus, laudis materia,
Multiformi redundat gratia.

Gratiani dulcis praesentia,
Dulcis amor, dulcis memoria,
Gratiani dulces reliquiae,
Gratiani nomen est gratiae.

Gratiani felix victoria
Nova nobis inspiret gaudia; 
Sacrum diem sacra laetitia,
Nos devota decent obsequia.

Nos ad glebam sacri corpusculi 
Excubemus in laude seduli;
Gratianum fideles servuli 
Laudent simul et laudent singuli!

Attestante fama martyrio,
Modum mortis delet oblivio,
Ne fidelem perturbet populum
Quod lictorum latet vocabulum.

Ne quo tamen erroris nubilo
Tenebrescat lumen Ecclesise,
Christi virtus probat in corylo
Gratianus quantae sit gloriae.

Sub festivae noctis vigilia
Repubescit in gemmas virgula:
Sic, ad missam, sub hora tertia,
Novas uvas offert arbuscula.

Res infausta casu contigerat:
Sacris igne correptis [aedibus,]
Arbor sacer pene perierat
Vix superstes ipsis radicibus.

Revoluto dierum circulo,
Grandiori Christus miraculo
Gratianum commendat saeculo,
Desperato dans fructum surculo.

Virga Levi murmur compescuit,
Haec cruoris venena diluit;
Virgae prior praesenti congruit:
Ilia semel, haec saepe profuit.

Gratiane, martyr egregie,
Sis devotae memor familiae;
Summi regis adstans praesentiae,
Nos praesenta coelesti curiae. Amen. 

Now Gratian's welcome feast-day with its rites
To praise, which is his due, our Hps invites:
Gratian, the subject of our present praise,
O'erflows with grace in endless forms and ways.

Sweet were it Gratian present here to see;
Sweet is his love and sweet his memory;
Sweet are the relics we can of him trace;
The name of Gratian is a name of grace.

May Gratian's ever-blessed victory
Inspire our hearts with fresh felicity;  
A holy joy this holy day would see,
And all our rites thereon devout should be.

Beside the spot where his blest corpse was thrown
Our vigil keep we still with praise ne'er done;
Gratian let those, who have true service shown,  
Praise all together and each one alone!

Tradition tells that he a martyr died:
His mode of death oblivion's veil doth hide:
Let not disquietude believers fill
For what no lictor's record doth reveal.

But, lest a cloud of error there should be
To dim the lustre of the Church's light,
Christ's virtue proves upon a filbert-tree
How great is Gratian's glory and how bright.

During the vigils on his feast-days' eves
Each tender branch renews its buds and leaves:
So that at Mass, by the third hour, it heaves
'Neath the fresh fruit the little shrub receives.

A luckless accident there chanced to be;
The sacred buildings were destroyed by fire,  
And well nigh perished all that sacred tree;
The very roots were scarcely left entire.

Soon as, their round complete, the days allow,
Christ, by a miracle far grander, now,
His praise of Gratian to the world to show,
Bids fruit on that nigh hopeless tree to grow.

The rod of Aaron murmurs did allay;
This one clears poison from the blood away:
That rod of old resembles this, I say;
That one was useful once, this many a day.

O Gratian, martyr of high dignity!
Forget not thy devoted family;
But, as thou standest 'neath the great King's eye,
Present us to the heavenly host on high! Amen.