O blessed day when first was poured

O blessed day when first was poured. Sebastien Besnault (d. 1724), translated by John Chandler* (1806-1876) This is a translation of the Latin hymn by the Abbé Besnault, priest of St Maurice at Sens, and a contributor to the Cluniac Breviary of 1686. In the Paris Breviary of 1736 it began ‘Felix dies, quam proprio’. Chandler’s translation in seven stanzas was first published in his Hymns of the Primitive Church (1837). Chandler printed the Latin text in the ‘Hymni Ecclesiastici’ in that book, beginning Felix dies, quam proprio Jesu cruore consecrat! Felix dies, quâ gestiit Opus salutis aggredi. Vix natus ecce lacteum Profundit infans sanguinem: Libamen est hoc funeris, Amoris hoc...