This post is a !(TL;DR) version of the one posted in the comments of the Unequally Yoked bookclub discussion.

In this chapter, Cardinal Bergoglio cites a hymn of the liturgy of the hours. I’m not familiar with the Liturgy of the Hours, and to be quite honest I never prayed it before, although I’m aware it’s a precious source of prayers and hymns.

The citation presents a major problem to the translator.  The hymns in Spanish and English don’t match at all. I did some research in the various versions of the Liturgy of the Hours and I found what follows.

The quote from the book reads:

Vengo, Señor, cabe las ígneas huellas
de tus sacras heridas luminosas:
quíntuple abrir de inmarcesibles rosas,
suma constelación de cinco estrellas.

Vengo a poblar sus oquedades bellas,
a estudiar en sus aulas silenciosas,
y a beber con ternura dolorosas,
la miel de acíbar que pusiste en ellas.

Cuando zozobre mi valor, inerme,
y vaya en turbias ansias a abismarme
y llagado también llegue yo a verme,

deja a tus dulces llagas allegarme,
y en sus íntimos claustros escóndeme,
y en su divina suavidad curarme. Amén.

Notice, however, that the English version is not a translation of it but another hymn.

Stay with me,
Remain here with me,
Watch and pray.
Watch and pray.

Stay here and keep watch with me.
Watch and pray, watch and pray!
Watch and pray not to give way to temptation.

The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.
My heart is nearly broken with sorrow.
Remain here with me, stay awake and pray.

Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by.
Father if this cannot pass me by without my drinking it,
Your will be done.

More interesting is that the Spanish version is not a translation of the original latin hymn: “Vexílla regis pródunt”

Vexílla regis pródeunt,
fulget crucis mystérium,
quo carne carnis cónditor
suspénsus est patíbulo;

Quo, vulnerátus ínsuper
mucróne diro lánceæ,
ut nos laváret crímine,
manávit unda et sánguine.

Arbor decóra et fúlgida,
ornáta regis púrpura,
elécta digno stípite
tam sancta membra tángere!

Beáta, cuius brácchiis
sæcli pepéndit prétium;
statéra facta est córporis
prædam tulítque tártari.

Salve, ara, salve, víctima,
de passiónis glória,
qua Vita mortem pértulit
et morte vitam réddidit!

O crux, ave, spes única!
hoc passiónis témpore
piis adáuge grátiam
reísque dele crímina.

Te, fons salútis, Trínitas,
colláudet omnis spíritus;
quos per crucis mystérium
salvas, fove per sæcula. Amen.

And the most curious thing is that the Brazilian Portuguese version is an exact translation of the Latin hymn.

Do Rei avança o estandarte,
fulge o mistério da Cruz,
onde por nós foi suspenso
o autor da vida, Jesus.

Do lado morto de Cristo,
ao golpe que lhe vibraram,
para lavar meu pecado
o sangue e água jorraram.

Árvore esplêndida e bela,
de rubra púrpura ornada,
de os santos membros tocar
digna só tu foste achada.

Ó Cruz feliz, dos teus braços
do mundo o preço pendeu;
balança foste do corpo
que ao duro inferno venceu.

Salve, ó altar, salve vítima,
eis que a vitória reluz:
a vida em ti fere a morte,
morte que à vida conduz.

Salve, ó cruz, doce esperança,
concede aos réus remissão;
dá-nos o fruto da graça,
que floresceu na Paixão.

Louvor a vós, ó Trindade,
fonte de todo perdão,
aos que na Cruz foram salvos,
dai a celeste mansão.

I create a possible, and much probably not the best, English translation for the Spanish hymn:

I come, Lord, close to the igneous
footprints of your bright sacred wounds:
quintuple opening unfading roses
composes a constellation of five stars.

I come to dwell its beautiful hollows,
to study in their quiet classrooms,
drinking with painful tenderness
the aloe honey you put in them.

When helpless my courage capsizes,
and go in murky anxiety be engulfed
wounded also I see myself,

let your sweet sores rejoice me
let me hide in their cloisters
let me heal in its divine softness. Amen.