There are various other copies in the
British Museum, as well printed as in manuscript.]
Let them without change of vestments and without tapers in their hands,
proceed to the altar of St. Thomas the Martyr, chanting the requiem, the
chanter beginning,
_Req._ The grain lies buried beneath the straw;
The just man is slain by the spear of the wicked;
The guardian of the vine falls in the vineyard,
The chieftain in the camp, the husbandman in the threshing-floor.
Then the prose is said by all who choose, in surplices before the altar.
"Let the Shepherd sound his trumpet of horn."
Let the choir respond to the chant of the prose after every verse, upon
the letter [super litteram]. {202}
That the vineyard of Christ might be free,
Which he assumed under a robe of flesh,
He liberated it by the purple cross.
The adversary, the erring sheep,
Becomes bloodstained by the slaughter of the shepherd.
The marble pavements of Christ
Are wetted, ruddy with sacred gore;
The martyr presented with the laurel of life.
Like a grain cleansed from the straw,
Is translated to the divine garners.
But whilst the prose is being sung, let the priest incense the altar,
and then the image of the blessed Thomas the Martyr; and afterwards
shall be said with an humble voice: Pray for us, Blessed Thomas.
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