DESCRIPTION:
[O ruby blood
which flowed from on high
where divinity touched.

You are a flower
that the winter
of the serpent's breath
can never injure.]

Composed in honor of the martyrs St. Ursula and her companions, who were executed by the Huns in the fourth or fifth century, this antiphon bears the inscription on its manuscript "In evangelium," indicating it should be sung at Vespers, with the Magnificat, or at Lauds (comprised of canticles and psalms), with the Benedictus. The mystic Abbess Hildegard was a visionary, and her visions served as the inspirational source of her chant and poetry. This antiphon, O rubor sanguinis (O redness of the blood), exhibits her usual mystical style, while extolling the "flower" untouched by the "serpent's breath." (Robert Cummings, Rovi)


Image: 3268zauber @Wikimedia commons