The text of this motet is Responsory and Verse from the Vigil of Holy Saturday (the Tenebrae). ℟ = Prophecy of Isaiah 57,1-2 = prima pars ; ℣ = Psalm 75:3 = secunda pars. Also part of the Office for the Deceased (funeral music). Texts are polyseme. The rubric in Gallus publication is clear: De Passione Domini Nostri Iesu Christi.
[prima pars]
Ecce quomodo moritur iustus,
et nemo percipit corde,
viri iusti tolluntur,
et nemo considerat.
A facie iniquitatis sublatus est iustus,
Et erit in pace memoria eius.
[secunda pars]
In pace factus est locus eius,
et in Sion habitatio eius,
et erit in pace memoria eius.
[first part]
Behold, the (a) rigtheous one dies,
and no one cares,
rigtheous people are taken away,
no one is concerned.
From injustice the rigtheous is removed,
he will be remembered in peace.
[second part]
In peace, that’s where he is at home,
In Sion his dwelling place,
and he will be remembered in peace.
As said, the motet is based on the responsory of the vigils of Holy Saturday (Sabbato sancta – Tenebrae).
– See https://gregorien.info/chant/id/2698/10/fr.
Below a manuscript of the Tenebrae with this responsory. The lamentation that precedes it is also very famous (O vos omnes, qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus – Behold and see if there be any sorrow Handel’s Messiah)
