Learning Latin with the Liturgy: the Felix Culpa in the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil Liturgy

There is no liturgical text more pregnant with theological implications than the famous Felix Culpa found in the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil Liturgy.

The concept that there could be a "Happy Fault" is found in the writings of Saint Augustine, who taught that:

Melius enim iudicavit de malis benefacere, quam mala nulla esse permittere.
For He judged it to be better to make good out of evil than to permit no evil things to be. (Enchiridion 8)

But I find the clauses immediately preceding Felix Culpa to be even more provocative. Our sin is termed, not just happy, but necessary.

Here is the Latin text, followed by a literal English translation and theological commentary.

O certe necessárium Adæ peccátum, quod Christi morte delétum est!
O truly necessary sin of Adam, which was destroyed by the death of Christ!

O felix culpa, quæ talem ac tantum méruit habére Redemptórem!
O Happy Fault, which deserved to have such and so great a Redeemer!

 A few thoughts before a full grammatical description. First off, the pointless argument over Adam's sin versus that of Eve is thankfully not even here. The Church does not prescribe a literal interpretation on the Creation Narrative. The "Fall of Man" is a primordial reality that somehow we humans fell from some original state of purity and harmony with God and Nature. 

The fact that the fossil record shows we murderously slashed our way around the planet, killing every other hominid we saw is archaeological proof of Original Sin.

But the Exsultet sings that this sin was necessary.

It was necessary because God did not create us to dwell endlessly and amorally in a primordial Garden.

For as long as we were free of sin, we were not virtuous, we were simply amoral. We were like the animals. The lion who kills the gazelle is not evil for doing so. The Cain who kills an Abel, however, is.

And only then can an act of charity be a virtue.

So God permitted evil in order that true good might be possible.

But our fledgling ability to produce moral good, made possible by the allowance of evil, was insufficient to bridge the gap--to heal the damage--that sin had produced.

And the implication of the Exsultet is that this was always part of a Grand Plan. 

Even as God created humans with the inevitable capacity to fall, he was doing so knowing he would then also incarnate to redeem them.

And so it was a Felix Culpa, which deserved to have such and so great a Redeemer. 

Think on the notion that the grammatical antecedent of quae is culpa. And quae is the grammatical subject of the verb meruit.

In other words, the Fault Deserves. 

It deserves? How can it deserve anything, let alone such and so great a Redeemer?

But that's what the Hymn proclaims. 

If our Primordial Sin deserved a Redeemer, and it received one, let us certainly not hold our simple daily sins from the Fount of Forgiveness of a Savior who promises to absolve whatever we repent of.

Here's how the Latin works:

Latin	English	Parsing	Grammar Points
O	Oh		interjection
certe	certainly		adv.
necessarium	necessary	voc. sing. neut. adj.	necessarius, necessaria, necessarium
Adae	of Adam	gen. sing. masc. name	Adam, Adae
peccatum	sin	voc. sing. neut. noun	peccatum, peccati
quod	which	nom. sing. neut. rel. pronoun	qui, quae, quod; with peccatum as antecedent, it is the subject of the verb deletum est.
Christi	of Christ	gen. sing. masc. noun	Christus, Christi
morte	(by) the death	abl. sing. fem. noun	mors, mortis; ablative of means or manner
deletum	destroyed	nom. sing. neut. past. part.	dēleō, dēlēre, dēlēvī, dēlētus; Past participle of active verb produces perfect tense passive periphrastically with past participle and forms of the verb esse in the singular.
est	[was] is	3rd pers. sing. ind. verb	sum, esse, fui
O	Oh		interjection
felix	Happy	voc, sing. fem. adj.	felix, felicis
culpa	Fault	voc. sing. fem. noun	culpa, culpae
quae	which	nom. sing. fem. rel. pronoun	qui, quae, quod; antecedent is culpa; quae is the subject of the verb meruit.
talem	such	acc. sing. masc. adj.	talis, tale
ac	and		conj.
tantum	so great	acc. sing. masc. adj.	tantus, tanta, tantum
meruit	deserved	3rd pers. sing. perf. act. ind. verb	mereō, merēre, meruī, meritus
habere	to have	pres. act. infinitive	habeō, habēre, habuī, habitus
Redemptorem	a Redeemer	acc. sing. masc. noun	Redemptor, Redemptoris