The Father’s sole-begotten Son
did through a virgin come to us,
hallowing our baptism by the cross, begetting all his faithful souls. (One
Hundred Latin Hymns: Ambrose to Aquinas [trans. Peter G. Walsh and
Christopher Husch; Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 18; Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 2012], 249)
1.3 baptisma cruce consecrans: The revised Breviary prefers the
Mozarabic version of the hymn, which has baptismi rore consecrans (“consecrating
us with the water of baptism”). But the notion that the Cross consecrates our
baptism is a traditional theme. See Ambrose, De mysteriis 20: “What is
water without Christ’s cross?” (Ibid., 470)
