Rorate Coeli

	Drop down ye heavens from above An excerpt of Rorate Coeli sung in English by the choir of All Saints, Margaret Street.
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Rorate coeli (or Rorate Caeli), from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 45:8) in the Vulgate, are the opening words of a text used in Catholic and, less frequently, Protestant liturgy. It is also known as The Advent Prose or by the first words of its English translation, "Drop down ye heavens from above."

It is used frequently sung as a plainsong at Mass) and in the Divine Office during Advent. where it gives expression to the longings of Patriarchs and Prophets, and symbolically of the Church, for the coming of the Messiah. Throughout Advent it occurs daily as an antiphon at Vespers, divided into a versicle and response:

Other uses

The Introit Rorate Coeli in square notation, a different melody than the sound file above.

The text is also used:

• as the Introit for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, for Wednesday in Ember Week, for the feast of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin, and for votive Masses of the Blessed Virgin during Advent;
• as a versicle in the first responsory of Tuesday in the first week of Advent;
• as the first antiphon at Lauds for the Tuesday preceding Christmas and the second antiphon at Matins of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin;
• in the second responsory for Friday of the third week of Advent and in the fifth responsory in Matins of the Expectation of the Blessed Virgin.

In the Anglican Communion, the Rorate Coeli is included in the music for Advent (735 in the English Hymnal and 501 in the New English Hymnal) and is translated as:

In the Book of Hymns (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 4, W. Rooke-Ley translates the text in connection with the O Antiphons:

The Introit plain-song may be found in the various editions of the Vatican Graduale and the Solesmes "Liber Usualis", 1908, p. 125. Under the heading, "Prayer of the Churches of France during Advent", Dom Guéranger (Liturgical Year, Advent tr., Dublin, 1870, pp. 155–6) gives it as an antiphon to each of a series of prayers ("Ne irascaris ", "Peccavimus", "Vide Domine", "Consolamini") expressive of penitence, expectation, comfort, and furnishes the Latin text and an English rendering of the Prayer. The Latin text and a different English rendering are also given in the Baltimore "Manual of Prayers" (pp. 603–4). A plain-song setting of the "Prayer", or series of prayers, is given in the Solesmes "Manual of Gregorian Chant" (Rome-Tournai, 1903, 313-5) in plain-song notation, and in a slightly simpler form in modern notation in the "Roman Hymnal" (New York, 1884, pp. 140–3), as also in "Les principaux chants liturgiques" (Paris, 1875, pp. 111–2) and "Recueil d'anciens et de nouveaux cantiques notés" (Paris, l886, pp. 218–9).

This text forms the basis for the hymn “O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf.”

Text

Gregorian Rorate at Wikimedia Commons

External links

• Catholic Encyclopedia article
• Choral Wiki article
• MIDI, MP3, and Gregorian Chant score

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.