Adam of Saint Victor: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Missus Gabriel de Coelis

Adam of Saint Victor

“Missus Gabriel de Coelis” as printed in Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1867).

Adam of Saint Victor: Collected Lyrics Text 5 1867 · historical text
Public domainHymnMediaeval song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences, edited by John Mason Neale, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Gabriel, from the Heaven descending,

On the faithful Word attending,

Is in holy converse blending

With the Virgin full of grace:

That good word and sweet he plighteth

In the bosom where it lighteth,

And for Eva Ave writeth,

Changing Eva's name and race.

Verse 2

At the promise that he sendeth

God the Incarnate Word descendeth;

Yet no carnal touch offendeth

Her, the undefiled one.

She, without a father, beareth,

She no bridal union shareth,

And a painless birth declareth

That she bare the Royal Son.

Verse 3

Tale that wondering search entices!

But believe,—and that suffices;

It is not for man's devices

Here to pry with gaze unmeet:

High the sign, its place assuming

In the bush, the unconsuming:

Mortal, veil thine eyes presuming,

Loose thy shoes from off thy feet!

Verse 4

As the rod, by wondrous power,

Moistened not by dew or shower,

Bare the almond and the flower,

Thus He came, the Virgin's Fruit:

Hail the fruit, O world, with gladness!

Fruit of joy and not of sadness:

Adam had not lapsed to madness

Had he tasted of its shoot.

Verse 5

Jesus, kind above all other,

Gentle Child of gentle Mother,

In the stable born our Brother,

Whom the angelic hosts adore:

He, once cradled in a manger,

Heal our sin and calm our danger;

For our life, to this world stranger,

Is in peril evermore. Amen.

Credits

Written by Adam of Saint Victor

Words by Adam of Saint Victor. Historical text published in Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1867); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1867), edited by John Mason Neale, “Missus Gabriel de Coelis”

The 1867 published edition is in the public domain in the United States (pre-1931 publication). Entries whose credited author or translator died more than 70 years ago are also in the public domain in life-plus-70 jurisdictions; other entries are held.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-25. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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