«AD REGIAS AGNI DAPES». - A hymn for Vespers in Eastertide, by an unknown author, but already found in manuscripts of the sixth century. It may be called “the song of the triumph of the risen Christ and of his people delivered from death” (Pimont, p. 80). It begins with the invitation to the banquet of the Lamb who immolates himself upon the altar. This recalls the ancient Passover, the destroying angel who spares the houses of the Hebrews marked
by the blood of the lamb, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army. But now the Christian’s Passover is Christ; and the solemnity is marked by three wonders: hell subdued, death conquered, and the reward won. The ancient text, which began with the verse Ad caenam Agni Providi, underwent many not always felicitous alterations by the Commission created by Urban VIII (v. INNOGRAFIA).