Caelestis Urbs Jerusalem

«CAELESTIS URBS IERUSALEM». — Hymn of Vespers for the feast of the Dedication of the Church, of lofty poetic and mystical inspiration. In the heavenly Jerusalem is represented the Church triumphant, for which the Church militant in the world is a preparation and which lives in expectation of divine peace. The sublime visions of the Apoc. (chap. 21) animate the verse that symbolizes, in the heavenly City, built with the rarest stones and adorned with the most precious gems, the consecrated edifice destined to be a worthy dwelling of God. The hymn, found in manuscripts of the 8th and 9th centuries, was completely revised under Urban VIII, and consists of six iambic dimeters instead of the original trochaic dimeters. Silverio Mattei