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Improperia “Popule meus, quid feci tibi?”

Improperia “Popule meus, quid feci tibi?”
Improperia “Popule meus, quid feci tibi?”
O my people, what have I done to you?
Or wherein have I grieved you?
Answer me.

The Improperia are the reproaches which in the liturgy of the Office of Good Friday the Saviour is made to utter against the Jews, who, in requital for all the Divine favours and particularly for the delivery from the bondage of Egypt and safe conduct into the Promised Land, inflicted on Him the ignominies of the Passion and a cruel death.

It is during the Adoration of the Cross that these touching remonstrances are rendered by the choir. In all they consist of three distinct parts. Of these the third — composed of the antiphon “Crucem tuam adoramus”, the first verse of Psalm lxvi, the versicle “Crux fidelis”, and the hymn “Pange lingua gloriosi lauream” — does not belong to the Improperia strictly so called. The first part consists of three reproaches, namely, the Popule meus” (Micah 6:3), “Ego eduxi” (Jeremiah 2:21) and “Quid ultra” (Isaiah 5:2, 40), the Trisagion (Sanctus Deus, Santus fortis, Sanctus immortalis) being repeated after each in the Latin and Greek languages.

The second part contains nine reproaches pervaded by the same strain of remonstrance. Each of these is a verse taken from some portion of the Scriptures and followed in every instance by the “Popule meus” as a sort of refrain.

The Improperia appear in the Pontificale of Prudentius (846-861) and gradually came into use throughout Europe in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, finally being incorporated into the Roman Ordo in the fourteenth century.

Improperia “Popule meus, quid feci tibi?”

Popule meus, quid feci tibi?
Aut in quo contristavi te?
Responde mihi.
O my people, what have I done to you?
Or wherein have I grieved you?
Answer me.
Quia eduxi te de terra Aegypti,
Parasti Crucem Salvatori tuo.
Because I led you out of the land of Egypt:
You have prepared a Cross for your Saviour.
Hagios o Theos. Sanctus Deus.
Hagios Ischyros. Sanctus Fortis.
Hagios Athanatos, eleison himas.
Sanctus Immortalis, miserere nobis.
O Holy God. O Holy God.
O Holy Strong One. O Holy Strong One.
O Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us.
O Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us.
Quia eduxi te per desertum
Quadraginta annis,
Et manna cibavi te,
Et introduxi te in terram satis bonam,
Parasti Crucem Salvatori tuo.
Because I led you through the desert,
For forty years,
And fed you with manna,
And brought you into a land exceeding good,
You have prepared a Cross for your Savior.
Hagios o Theos. Sanctus Deus.
Hagios Ischyros. Sanctus Fortis.
Hagios Athanatos, eleison himas.
Sanctus Immortalis, miserere nobis.
O Holy God. O Holy God.
O Holy Strong One. O Holy Strong One.
O Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us.
O Holy and Immortal, have mercy upon us.
Ego propter te flagellavi Aegyptum
Cum primogenitis suis:
Et tu me flagellatum tradidisti.
For you I scourged Egypt,
And its firstborn,
And you have delivered me to be scourged.
Popule meus, quid feci tibi?
Aut in quo contristavi te?
Responde mihi.
O my people, what have I done to you?
Or wherein have I grieved you?
Answer me.
Ego te eduxi de Aegypto,
Demerso Pharone in mare Rubrum,
Et tu me tradidisti
Principibus sacerdotum.
I brought you out of Egypt,
And sank Pharaoh in the Red Sea,
And you bave delivered Me
To the chief priests.
Popule meus, quid feci tibi?
Aut in quo contristavi te?
Responde mihi.
O my people, what have I done to you?
Or wherein have I grieved you?
Answer me.
Ego ante te aperui mare,
Et tu aperuisti lancea latus meum.
I opened the sea before you,
And you have opened my side with a spear.
Popule meus, quid feci tibi?
Aut in quo contristavi te?
Responde mihi.
O my people, what have I done to you?
Or wherein have I grieved you?
Answer me.
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Aut in quo contristavi te?”