Vexilla Regis Prodeunt - The King's Banners Come Forth

Gregorian Chant - Ressurection
Vexilla Regis Prodeunt (A Capella Catholic Choir - Gregorian Chant)
Arrangement by Caitlin Foster 2024
Sung by: Caitlin Foster, Emma Nwobilor, Michael Foster, and John Griffith

Author: Venantius Fortunatus (530-609)
Meter: Iambic dimeter
Translation: W. K. Blount
Liturgical Use: Vespers hymn from Passion Sunday to Wednesday of Holy Week. It is also the Vespers hymn on the Feasts of the Finding (May 3) and of the Exaltation (Sept. 14) of the Holy Cross. The Vexilla Regis was originally intended as a Processional Hymn, and it is still so used on Good Friday, when the Blessed Sacrament is carried from the Repository to the High Altar. Neale justly styles the Vexilla Regis “a world-famous hymn” and “one of the grandest in the treasury of the Latin Church.” It was composed by Fortunatus on the occasion of the reception of a relic of the True Cross, which was sent by the Emperor Justin II to St. Radegunde. (Taken from Rev. Matthew Britt’s The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal).