Crux fidelis

General Information

Crux Fidelis is part of a larger work by Saint Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus (c530-c609) beginning Pange lingua ('Sing, my tongue'). He wrote it for a procession that brought a part of the true Cross to Queen Radegunda in 570. This hymn is used on Good Friday during the Adoration of the Cross and in the Liturgy of the Hours during Holy Week and on feasts of the Cross.

Settings by composers

anonymous Gregorian chant attr. John IV of Portugal SATB Felice Anerio SATB Cesar Alejandro Carrillo Jacobus Clemens non Papa SATB Reinhold Kühnel SATB

José Maurício Nunes Garcia SATB Jean Roger-Ducasse SATB and S solo with organ Kathryn Rose SA with organ Oscar Santos SATB Anton Webern (Op. 16 No. 3, Copyright 1928) S, clarinet, bass clarinet Adrian Willaert SATTB

Text and translations

Latin text Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis: nulla silva talem profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulce pondus sustinet.   Korean translation 구더운 십자가 최상의 십자가 독존한 나무여. 어떤 나무가 너와 같이 잎을 꽃을 싹을 맺으랴. 달콤한 나무, 달콤한 쇠못, 네가 지탱하는 달콤한 무게.

English translation Faithful cross, above all other, One and only noble tree: None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peer may be. Sweetest wood and sweetest iron, Sweetest weight is hung on thee!   English translation Faithful Cross, among (them) all, the one noble tree/trunk; the wood offers nothing so great in flower, foliage/frond, (or) sprout. Sweet wood, sweet nail (or iron, depending on whether you're singing clavi or ferrum), sustaining sweet weight!