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Title: The Medieval Latin Hymn
Author: Messenger, Ruth Ellis
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Medieval Latin Hymn" ***
The Medieval Latin Hymn
Ruth Ellis Messenger, Ph.D.
Te decet hymnus
Deus in Sion
_Psalm 65:1_
CAPITAL PRESS
1731—14th St., N. W.
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Copyright, 1953
_by_
Ruth Ellis Messenger
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
LITHOGRAPHED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
_To_
J. Vincent Higginson
Contents
Chapter Page
Preface ix
I. Early Middle Ages: Latin Hymns of the Fourth Century 1
II. Early Middle Ages: The Old Hymnal 9
III. The Ninth Century Revival: Hymns 19
IV. The Ninth Century Revival: Sequences 35
V. Late Middle Ages: Hymns and Sequences 46
VI. Late Middle Ages: Processional Hymns 61
VII. Influence and Survival of Latin Hymns 74
Illustrative Hymns 83
Notes 113
Bibliography 123
Index 135
Preface
The purpose of this volume is to trace the history of the medieval Latin
hymn from the point of view of usage. It must be evident to any student
of a subject which is spread over a thousand years of human experience
in the widening environment of an entire continent that a guiding thread
is needed to show the way. One must not, at the same time, ignore the
fact that a monumental religious literature in the poetic field is
involved. But the hymn is functional, having its greatest significance
as a lyric when employed in an act of worship. Latin hymnology,
moreover, is an aspect of ecclesiastical studies following the history
of the Church through the classical and medieval ages into modern times.
A wider cultural background than the immediate interest of theology and
religion is reflected in the hymns of any age. Here often lie secrets of
interpretation which make possible an appreciation of contemporary
thought.
As the study of the medieval hymn is followed from the standpoint of
life and usage, the antiquarian and the literary critic, who cannot
fully satisfy the quest of the student for reality, must give place to
the medieval worshiper himself who has revealed in its entirety each
successive phase of a hymnological history not yet ended.
For information about the Christian hymn as it existed prior to the
medieval era, the author’s _Christian Hymns of the First Three
Centuries, Paper IX_, a publication of The Hymn Society of America, may
be consulted. This account of primitive Christian hymnody, although
pre-medieval, serves as an introduction to the subject matter of the
present volume.
The pages which follow are intended for the general reader rather than
the specialist in medieval culture or in the classical languages.
Biographies of hymn writers have not been attempted since the literature
of this subject is already extensive. Documentation has been reduced to
a minimum. A bibliography has been provided for any who are interested
in specialized fields.
It is hoped that this brief study will have a modest part in opening up
to the general reader a field which has never been fully explored in any
language, especially English. An inclusive treatment is not offered here
but one which represents the fruits of a generation of research.
My grateful thanks are due to my friends and co-workers in the fields of
classical studies, hymnology and medieval history who have assisted me
in countless ways, particularly to Dr. Adelaide D. Simpson and Dr. Carl
Selmer, both of Hunter College of the City of New York, who have read
the entire manuscript and offered invaluable criticisms and suggestions.
Among the many librarians who have assisted me in varied centers of
study, I am most indebted to the staff of the Library of Union
Theological Seminary of New York, under Dr. William Walker Rockwell and
later under Dr. Lucy Markley. Finally, I wish to acknowledge my
obligation to those authors and publishers who have granted permission
to use certain translations of Latin hymns which appear in this volume.
CHAPTER ONE
Early Middle Ages: Latin Hymns of the Fourth Century
I. The Early Hymn Writers
The first mention of Christian Latin hymns by a known author occurs in
the writings of St. Jerome who states that Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers
(c. 310-366), a noted author of commentaries and theological works,
wrote a _Liber Hymnorum_.[1] This collection has never been recovered in
its entirety. Hilary’s priority as a hymn writer is attested by Isidore
of Seville (d. 636) who says:
Hilary, however, Bishop of Poitiers in Gaul, a man of unusual
eloquence, was the first prominent hymn writer.[2]
More important than his prior claim is the motive which actuated him,
the defense of the Trinitarian doctrine, to which he was aroused by his
controversy with the Arians. A period of four years as an exile in
Phrygia for which his theological opponents were responsible, made him
familiar with the use of hymns in the oriental church to promote the
Arian heresy. Hilary wrested a sword, so to speak, from his adversaries
and carried to the west the hymn, now a weapon of the orthodox. His
authentic extant hymns, three in number, must have been a part of the
_Liber Hymnorum_. _Ante saecula qui manens_, “O Thou who dost exist
before time,” is a hymn of seventy verses in honor of the Trinity;
_Fefellit saevam verbum factum te, caro_, “The Incarnate Word hath
deceived thee (Death)” is an Easter hymn; and _Adae carnis gloriosae_,
“In the person of the Heavenly Adam” is a hymn on the theme of the
temptation of Jesus.[3] They are ponderous in style and expression and
perhaps too lengthy for congregational use since they were destined to
be superseded.
In addition to these the hymn _Hymnum dicat turba fratrum_, “Let your
hymn be sung, ye faithful,” has been most persistently associated with
Hilary’s name. The earliest text occurs in a seventh century manuscript.
It is a metrical version of the life of Jesus in seventy-four lines,
written in the same meter as that of _Adae carnis gloriosae_.[4]
Pope Damasus, a Spaniard by birth (c. 304-384), is believed to have
written hymns in addition to the _Epigrams_ on the martyrs which
constitute his authentic poetry. It would seem probable that his
activities in identifying and marking the sites associated with the
Roman martyrs might have been supplemented by the production of hymns in
their honor. Two hymns bearing his name are extant, one in praise of St.
Andrew the Apostle and one for St. Agatha. Upon internal evidence the
ascription is dubious for they bear the mark of authorship too late to
be considered among the poems of this famous Pope.
As a matter of fact, Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (340-397), remains the
uncontested originator of the medieval Latin hymn as it becomes familiar
to us in a uniform series of metrical stanzas adapted to congregational
use. Like Hilary, Ambrose was born in Gaul.[5] He was the son of
Ambrose, Prefect of the Gauls, and like his father he attained official
appointment under the Roman government as Consular of Liguria and
Aemilia, with Milan as place of residence. Theological controversy
between the Arians and the orthodox was raging at Milan, the Bishop
himself, Auxentius, having adopted the Arian position. Ambrose at this
time was a catechumen but at the death of Auxentius was obliged to
preserve order when the election of his successor took place. At that
very moment the popular mandate created Ambrose Bishop of Milan at the
age of thirty-four years. The period immediately following his election
found him constantly battling for orthodoxy in a contest which passed
beyond the limits of theological debate to the actual siege of orthodox
churches by the Arian forces.
Ambrose was acquainted with the Syrian practice of hymn singing, and
like Hilary, he recognized the effective use of the hymn by the
proponents of the Arian heresy. It was not long before the congregations
in the basilica at Milan were chanting antiphonally the praises of the
Trinity in a similar form. Ambrose himself recorded his achievement, his
biographer Paulinus mentions the event and Augustine in his
_Confessions_ describes the congregational singing which he himself had
heard.
We, though as yet unmelted by the heat of Thy Spirit, were
nevertheless excited by the alarm and tumult of the city. Then it was
first instituted that according to the custom of the eastern regions,
hymns and psalms should be sung, lest the people should faint through
the fatigue of sorrow.[6]
Ambrose wrote hymns appropriate for morning and evening worship, four of
which now extant, can be proved to be of his authorship, _Aeterne rerum
conditor_, “Maker of all, eternal King,” _Deus creator omnium_, “Creator
of the earth and sky,” _Iam surgit hora tertia_, “Now the third hour
draws nigh,” and _Veni redemptor gentium_, “Come Redeemer of the
earth.”[7] Many others in keeping with his style and inspiration have
been preserved and subjected to critical study with the result that
eighteen hymns on varied themes are generally conceded to be Ambrosian.
Had Ambrose never conferred upon the church his gift of hymnody he would
still remain one of the great Latin Fathers of the fourth century, in
his functions as statesman, organizer and scholar. His contribution to
ecclesiastical poetry and music have made him influential century after
century. In this role he has spoken directly to multitudes of Christians
throughout the world, many of whom have been unacquainted with his name
or unaware that they were following the Ambrosian tradition of
congregational song. (See Illustrative Hymns, I. _Splendor paternae
gloriae_, “O Splendor of God’s glory bright.”)
Spain shares the honors with Gaul as the birthplace of the earliest hymn
writers, claiming first Damasus and then Prudentius, (348-413?), a
lawyer, judge and poet of his era. Little is known of his life aside
from his literary work which includes two collections of hymns, the
_Cathemerinon_, a series for the hours of the day and the ecclesiastical
seasons and the _Peristephanon_, a series of much longer poems in praise
of the great martyrs of the early church. In his effort to learn more of
the circumstances attending their martyrdom, Prudentius went to Rome to
visit the scenes made sacred by their death and sufferings. Neither of
these collections was written for liturgical use but for devotional
reading. Both were destined to be appropriated by compilers of
hymnaries, especially in Spain. Hymns from the _Cathemerinon_, either in
their original form or in centos, spread throughout the Christian church
while the martyr hymns were also drawn upon but to a lesser extent. The
hymns selected for festival use are perhaps most familiar today, for
example, for Advent, _Corde natus ex parentis ante mundi exordium_, of
which the translation “Of the Father’s love begotten,” suggests the
original meter. The Epiphany hymn, _O sola magnarum urbium_, “Earth hath
many a noble city,” is also well known.[8]
Considered merely as Latin poetry, the hymns of Hilary, Ambrose and
Prudentius are transitional in their literary character. They belong
neither to the poetry of the Silver Age of Latin literature nor do they
represent the medieval literary tradition. Of the metrical aspect
something will be said presently. By some the Ambrosian hymn is regarded
as a daring innovation and the model from which vernacular European
verse was later to develop. In that case, it constitutes a class by
itself. For evidence of the continuity of Latin poetry from the
classical to the medieval age we must turn to the _Carmina_ of Venantius
Fortunatus.
Fortunatus (c. 530-600) was born near Treviso and lived as a youth in
northern Italy, studying at Ravenna. The greater part of his life,
however, was spent in Gaul which he visited first as a pilgrim to the
shrine of St. Martin at Tours, who, he believed, had been instrumental
in restoring his eyesight. At Poitiers he met Queen Rhadegunda, wife of
Clothair, King of Neustria. She had founded a convent at Poitiers and
there lived in retirement. This was his introduction to a life of travel
and of intercourse with the great. He was acquainted with bishops,
noblemen and kings whose praises he sang in many graceful tributes,
occasional poems and epitaphs. Through the influence of Rhadegunda, his
lifelong patron and friend, he was ordained, and after her death he
became Bishop of Poitiers, 597, where he lived until his death. As a
churchman he was an admirer and biographer of the saints of Gaul,
preeminently St. Martin whose life and miracles he recounted in poetic
form.
Fortunatus seems to have carried with him from the Italian scenes
associated with the poetry of Virgil—an inspiration which was never
entirely lost. His poems suggest a familiarity with the literary
background of classical verse. During his mature life he lived in the
environment of sixth century Gallic society which was already assuming
its medieval Frankish outlines. Natural beauty and human companionship
were alike important to him. He was acquainted with men and women of
every degree from the monarch to the slave.
Although the spirit of religious devotion and of orthodox belief is
evident in many of the hundreds of lyrics which he composed, four only
may be classed as hymns. Three of these are concerned with the theme of
the Holy Cross, _Pange lingua, gloriosi proelium certaminis_, “Sing, my
tongue, the glorious battle,” _Vexilla regis prodeunt_, “The banners of
the king advance,” and _Crux benedicta nitet_, “Radiant is the blessed
cross.” The fourth, _Tempora florigero rutilant distincta sereno_,
“Season of luminous days, marked bright with the birth of the flowers,”
is a Resurrection hymn.[9] It is impossible to indicate here the
extraordinary influence which this group of hymns has exerted in the
evolution of Christian hymnody, continuing in Gaul the tradition, as it
were, which Hilary first established. The circumstances of their origin
and their lasting values will be considered in connection with
processional hymns in Chapter VI.
(See Illustrative Hymns, II. _Vexilla regis prodeunt_, “The banners of
the king advance.”)
II. Metrical Forms
The problem of metrical forms and the prosody of the earliest Latin
hymns, in general, is a phase of the same problem affecting Latin poetry
as a whole. The subject is both complicated and obscure, entangled with
that of Latin rhetorical prose style, the transition from the
quantitative accent of ancient classical poetry to the stress accent of
medieval and modern verse and with the origin of rhyme. It is a problem
for specialists among whom opinions are now divergent. Toward a
practical understanding of the metrical values of the hymns of Hilary,
Prudentius, Ambrose and Fortunatus, the pragmatic test of what is
singable may be applied. The ancient balanced rhythms of Semitic poetry
as illustrated in the Hebrew psalms had been sung for generations. The
metrical lyrics of ancient Greece were sung to an instrumental
accompaniment as were the Latin lyrics of the Golden Age of Rome. These
highly polished classical forms were for the elite. Of popular poetry
which was sung in the period immediately preceding the appearance of the
Latin hymn, very little is known. The early writers were experimenters.
Hilary used classical meters with alterations, of which the trochaic
tetrameter catalectic proved most acceptable.[10] It is illustrated in
_Adae carnis gloriosae_ and also in hymns by Prudentius and Fortunatus.
Prudentius used a variety of meters in addition to the trochaic which
proved adaptable in actual liturgical practice but by that time stress
accent was beginning to obscure the original quantitative values.
Ambrose used the unrhymed iambic dimeter, a simple and singable form
which has been in vogue ever since, at first unrhymed after the original
models and later rhymed. The popular trochaic meter familiarized by
Hilary, Prudentius and Fortunatus, when transformed by stress accent and
rhyme, is easily recognized both in Latin and the vernaculars.
Fortunatus popularized the elegiac meter in hymns for a thousand years
by demonstrating its use in _Tempora florigero_. Prior to the ninth
century revival of hymnody, the Ambrosian hymn, considered as a metrical
model, in comparison with all other existing models, dominates the field
equally with its prestige as an expression of Christian theology and
devotion.
III. Hymns in Worship
It is evident that the fourth century was one of innovation in the
custom of congregational singing as the Ambrosian hymn was more widely
diffused. Our knowledge of what actually took place is very incomplete,
based first upon the writing of Ambrose and his contemporaries and later
upon the hints derived from monastic usage. That morning and evening
services of prayer and praise were common is well known. That the
singing of the new fourth century hymns was an integral part of such
services is largely assumed. Prudentius wrote hymns for the evening
ceremony of the lucernare or lighting of the candles, a Christian
practice adopted from the Greek church, to which many references are
found. The fact that the hymns of Prudentius were in existence long
before they appeared in the records of formal worship points to early
Christian usage, however dimly perceived.
Concerning music we learn from the most recent researches that “nothing
definite is known of the melodies that were actually applied to the
hymns of St. Ambrose.”[11] The traditional liturgical music of Milan is
known as the Ambrosian Chant. It cannot be traced to Ambrose himself but
is supposed to have existed in a simpler form than that which appears in
available manuscripts beginning with the twelfth century. At least it
may be said to have existed prior to the Roman Chant and perhaps have
influenced the latter. With a frank acknowledgement of ignorance as to
the antiphonal melodies which thrilled St. Augustine at Milan, the
possibility must be admitted that they reflected to some extent the
formal music of the synagogue or the music of the Greeks or the elements
of contemporary folk music because these were the musical materials of
which the Christians had experience. All three may have been
represented, but for a hymn of the Ambrosian type, the chant as evolved
in rendering the Gospels or the Psalms may have given place to a form of
song more characteristic of the lyric.
IV. Themes
The tradition of Christian hymnology which upholds a way of life is
fundamental in Ambrosian and contemporary hymns. The “way” is the first
term by which Christianity was designated in the Scriptures. Thus to the
Scriptures the hymn writers turned for the living characterization of
their themes. The call to a virtuous life is sounded in _Splendor
paternae gloriae_ quoted above. Similarly throughout these hymns, the
high ideal of faith, purity, hope, patience, humility and love and the
ethical teachings derived from the words of Jesus and from the early
exemplars of the Christian religion are clearly expressed and enjoined.
Not alone for contemporaries in a period of crisis and controversy were
these hymns effective. They have continued to speak the same words in
the same spirit of joy and devotion derived from contact with the
earlier springs of faith to every succeeding century.
The writings of men familiar with Roman civilization and trained in
classical culture would naturally be presumed to retain the flavor of a
non-Christian literature. Christianity had already appropriated from the
pagan philosophers those teachings which were congenial to its own.
Ambrose reveals both in his poetic and prose writings his acquaintance
with classical thought and literary models. Prudentius mingles the
classical and the Christian. Fortunatus was inspired by classical poetry
to a Christian expression of beauty in form and content. But in every
case, these characteristics are marginal. The core of their hymns is the
scriptural narrative. Not only is the subject matter faithfully
reproduced but the actual text is sometimes embedded in the verse. The
result is a rare objectivity and a lack of embellishment especially in
the works of Ambrose which became the preferred standard for later
writers.[12]
The life of Jesus is a favorite theme particularly in those episodes
which were described and expanded in hymns for the Nativity, Epiphany,
Passion, Easter and Pentecost. From the episode of the Nativity the
praise of the Virgin was developed. The doctrine of the Trinity was
everywhere upheld in hymns, even as its defense had been influential in
their creation.
The group of hymns which praise the early Christian leaders, either
directly or by incidental mention, form a nucleus for the impressive
medieval hymnology of the saints. The Apostles have first place both in
chronology and importance. Prudentius praised the Roman martyrs and
Ambrose those of Rome and Milan as well. Both honored Laurence the
Deacon and Agnes the Virgin. To the praise of the whole group “the noble
army of martyrs,” the hymn _Aeterna Christi munera_, “The eternal gifts
of Christ the King,” was written, unrivalled as a martyr hymn in any
period of Latin hymnology.
(See Illustrative Hymns, III. _Aeterna Christi munera_, “The eternal
gifts of Christ the King.”)
CHAPTER TWO
Early Middle Ages: The Old Hymnal
I. The Hymn Cycles
We owe the preservation of the earliest Latin hymns to monastic
practice. When the founders of monasticism in the west, Caesarius and
Aurelian who were famous bishops of Arles (6th C.), and Benedict (d.
543), founder of the Benedictine Order, organized the regulations and
routine for the communities under their charge, they incorporated Latin
hymns already existing into the daily worship of the monastery.[1] These
were sung at the services of the canonical hours and were known as hour
hymns or office hymns.
A continuity can be traced, although faintly, from primitive Christian
observances. Beginning with the vigil of Saturday night in preparation
for the following Sunday, the first three centuries of Christian history
developed public services for prayer at candlelight, night time, and
dawn. By the fourth century, the tide of devotional practice had set in,
bringing with it daily worship in the church at the third, sixth and
ninth hours. At the end of the fourth and during the fifth century the
cycle was completed with new offices at sunrise and nightfall. The full
series, therefore, included the nocturnal cursus; vespers, compline,
matins (nocturns and lauds), and the diurnal cursus; prime, terce, sext
and nones.[2] An opportunity was afforded to unify the services and at
the same time to make use of the symbolic number seven by reference to
_Psalm 119: 164 (Ps. 118, Vulgate)_, “Seven times a day do I praise thee
because of thy righteous ordinances.” From the simple assemblies of
early Christianity, therefore, and the daily offices of prayer, a fully
elaborated cycle of hymns in time developed, appropriate to the
symbolism of the seven hours and to the needs of the annual feasts.
Constantly increasing in number and variety, these cycles were preserved
in psalters together with the psalms or in a hymnary by themselves. In
fact, the word _hymn_ came to mean specifically an office hymn later to
be associated with the breviary, and the word _hymnal_, a cycle or
collection of office hymns.
At first the cycles were brief. Five extant manuscripts reveal the sixth
century group of hymns of which the best representative, the so-called
Psalter of the Queen from the famous collection of Queen Christine of
Sweden, probably dates from the time of Charles Martel (d. 741).[3] This
group of hymns is usually referred to as the _Old Hymnal_, the initial
version of which numbers thirty-four hymns but at the close of the sixth
century had increased to perhaps sixty hymns in actual use.[4] The
thirty-four original hymns of the _Old Hymnal_ are listed in the
Appendix to this chapter where the appropriate location of each is
indicated, whether for daily or seasonal worship.
Due to the influence of Benedict who had enjoined the use of the
Ambrosian hymn, the authentic verse of Ambrose was preserved and
extensively imitated among the regular clergy. What had become of the
hymn in secular worship?
The old prejudice against non-scriptural hymns and in favor of the
Psalms had never died out. By a canon of the Council of Laodicea (c.
364), _psalmi idiotici_ or “private hymns” were forbidden, a mandate
which was valid during the lifetime of Ambrose who, nevertheless,
ignored a restriction intended to safeguard orthodoxy but hardly
applicable in his case. In the sixth century the secular clergy of Spain
were forbidden to use hymns by the Council of Braga, 563.[5] The paradox
of encouraging non-scriptural hymns in the monastery and forbidding
their use in the church at large has been explained by reference to the
contemporary appearance of early forms of vernacular speech in western
Europe. Latin, the language of the church, its liturgy and its clergy,
was now threatened by a possible inroad of the vernacular.[6] Hymn
writing was regarded, perhaps, as a prerogative of the clergy to be kept
within bounds. To throw open to the church everywhere these privileges
might be dangerous alike for theology and worship. Learning in the Latin
tongue tended to be concentrated in the monastery, for other centers of
scholarship were few and far between; hymnology became largely a
function of the monastic group.
It should be remembered that these centuries embraced a period of the
greatest political, economic and social confusion in western Europe
during which we know relatively little about Christian worship in
widespread congregations except for the rite of the mass. Yet in the
sixth century the opposite tendency toward greater freedom in writing
and singing hymns was apparent. The Council of Tours, 567, permitted the
secular clergy to use Ambrosian and other hymns.[7] If viewed in this
light, the religious verse of Fortunatus takes on a new significance,
illustrative of the freedom which the Church in Gaul, always highly
individual, now experienced in the realm of hymnology.
Gaul, then, was the scene of a conflict in which the Latin hymn was
contending, and that successfully, for its very life. On the monastic
side, anonymous clerics, using the Ambrosian model, gradually provided
the full complement of hymns for the annual festivals in harmony with
the liturgical year which began to emerge and resemble somewhat its
present form. Wherever the Benedictine Order penetrated into the
territories of western Europe, the use of hymns likewise increased.
Their diffusion must be regarded as comparable with that of an
organization which within two hundred years of the death of its founder
boasted hundreds of monasteries and convents throughout western
Christendom, augmented by Irish and other foundations which had adopted
the Benedictine Rule. Missionary zeal had played a significant role in
this expansion. Fulda, for instance, a community with 400 monks and many
missionaries at its disposal, was able under Willibald to extend its
influence through numerous subordinate monasteries and convents. Royal
favor, already enjoyed by St. Gall and now conferred upon new
establishments, rivalled that of popes and synods, which at the time of
Pippin’s coronation in 750 or 752, combined to insure the success of the
Benedictine program.[8]
On the side of secular worship, the hymnal used by Benedict and his
successors gradually gained a foothold in the church through diocesan
centers which adopted the monastic cycles. Or perhaps it may be said,
with the reservation that we are in the realm of theory and not of fact,
that the ancient hymns written prior to the sixth century had been
circulated and continued to be circulated in the west in a way not at
present understood, in connection with the Gallican or ancient liturgy
of Gaul. If so, the _Old Hymnal_ is the Gallican hymnal which Benedict
appropriated and his followers maintained to its acknowledged prestige
by the year 750.
An episode of significance for hymnology during the period under
consideration in this chapter is the activity of Gregory the Great who
occupied the papal throne from 590 to 604. A member of the Benedictine
Order, he is noted for his enthusiastic support of its missionary
program and for his interest in ecclesiastical music and poetry. His
role in the extension of the Roman Rite and of the Benedictine Order to
Britain is familiar to all.[9] His authority in the western church is a
matter not of controversy but of fact. That he was deeply interested
both in hymn writing and singing may be safely assumed for there are too
many reports of his activity to be ignored. His actual role in the
development of the chant which bears his name and the authorship of
eight to eleven hymns attributed to him, have not been determined. For
Gregory’s contribution to the ritual music of the church the reader is
referred to the discussion of this subject by specialists in the field
of liturgical music. For his contribution to the hymn cycles, modern
hymnologists have judged even the eight hymns singled out as Gregorian
by Benedictine editors, to be doubtful although the nocturn and vesper
hymns may be authentic.[10] Aside from critical research the fact
remains that all these hymns appear in the cycles of the day and several
have been in liturgical use to the present time. They are representative
of the hymnology of the transition between the _Old Hymnal_ and the
later cycles whose hidden origins Gregory may have influenced.
(See Illustrative Hymns, IV. _Nocte surgentes vigilemus omnes_, “Father
we praise Thee, now the night is over.”)
II. Mozarabic Contributions
The list of hymns in the _Old Hymnal_ (See Appendix) reveals at a glance
the presence of nine Mozarabic hymns. Mozarabic is a term applied to the
Christian inhabitants of Spain under Moslem rule and also to the rites
of the Christian Church prevailing throughout the Visigothic and Moslem
periods. It is the former or Visigothic period extending from the
foundation of the Kingdom by Euric, 466, to the entry of the Moslems in
711, which claims our attention here. Connections between Spain and Gaul
at this time were very close for the Visigoths ruled a large part of
what is now southern France from the Atlantic to the Maritime Alps. The
great churchmen of Spain, especially Isidore, Archbishop of Seville (d.
636), performed the same service for Christian hymns in Spain which the
monastic leaders performed in Gaul. In his _Etymologiae_ and his _De
officiis ecclesiasticis_, Isidore considers the subject of music and
liturgy. His _Regula monachorum_, built partly on older rules observed
in Spain, is an evidence of his interest in monastic reform. As
presiding bishop of the IV Council of Toledo, 633, he was at the height
of his reputation.[11] Braulio, Bishop of Saragossa, (631-651), his
pupil and literary executor, bears witness to his fame.[12] He himself
maintained the liturgical tradition which was continued with great
success by Eugenius II, Primate of Toledo, (646-657), Ildefonsus who
held the same rank, (659-667), and others. As the result of the literary
and liturgical movement initiated by these leaders, supported by the
councils and schools, the Mozarabic hymnology was rapidly developed. The
canons of the IV Council of Toledo, for which Isidore may have been
personally responsible, require uniformity of the rites and offices
throughout Spain and Gaul. The thirteenth canon upholds the validity and
appropriateness of hymns by Christian authors against those who would
restrict the hymnody of the Church to the Psalms of the Old Testament.
After a discussion of the old prohibitions and the reasons for approving
the new compositions, Canon 13 reads:
“As with prayers, so also with hymns written for the praise of God,
let no one of you disapprove of them but publish them abroad both in
Gaul and Spain. Let those be punished with excommunication who have
ventured to repudiate hymns.”[13]
Building upon the work of Ambrose, Sedulius and notably Prudentius,
their own countryman; adapting ancient traditions of congregational
worship and monastic usage, the liturgists of the seventh century must
have collated for the use of the clergy approximately sixty-five hymns
from sources originating prior to their own day. These ancient hymns
form the nucleus of the Mozarabic Hymnal, the earliest manuscript of
which dates from the tenth century. They reveal interrelations between
the Spanish and Gallican churches and they indicate a continuity of hymn
singing from primitive congregational usage like the Ambrosian to the
seventh century revival and extension of non-scriptural hymns.[14]
(See Illustrative Hymns, V. _Alleluia piis edite laudibus_, “Sing
alleluia forth in duteous praise.”)
III. Celtic Hymns
The Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles from the period of the
introduction of Christianity maintained individual features of liturgy
and organization, especially in their monastic groups. The contemporary
Saxon Church of the seventh century, however, had been drawn into the
Roman sphere of influence by Gregory the Great who was also in touch
with Celtic leadership. The ancient record of the interchange of hymns
written respectively by St. Columba of Iona and by Gregory preserves
more than a report incapable of proof.[15] It points to reciprocal
interest in the evolving hymnology of the sixth and seventh centuries in
Celtic and continental regions.
The so-called Bangor Antiphonary of the seventh century is the earliest
manuscript containing hymns, twelve in number.[16] Its contents are
otherwise miscellaneous, including a list of the abbots of Bangor.
Hilary’s supposed hymn from this collection, _Hymnum dicat turba
fratrum_, has already been cited. An ancient communion hymn, _Sancti
venite Christi corpus sumite_, “Draw nigh and take the body of the
Lord,” is included and _Mediae noctis tempus est_, “It is the midnight
hour,” an office hymn common to the hymnals of Spain and Gaul. Among
other important sources is the Irish _Liber hymnorum_, preserved in an
eleventh century manuscript of Dublin which contains Columba’s hymn,
_Altus prosator_, “Ancient of days,” honoring God the creator, and the
_Lorica_ or _Breastplate Hymn_ of St. Gildas (6th C.), _Suffragare
trinitatis unitas, unitatis miserere trinitas_, “Grant me thy favor,
Three in One, have mercy on me, One in Three.”[17]
On the whole Celtic hymns exhibit great variety in subject matter and
purpose with many departures from the type of hymn cycle in use on the
continent. Indeed, the group of from fifteen to twenty hymns produced in
the centuries under consideration are highly distinctive. The Ambrosian
tradition is not apparent. Non-Ambrosian meters are illustrated in all
three hymns cited above while alliteration, the _abcd_ form, repetition
of initial words and other metrical devices are found throughout the
collection. There are hymns for the offices and communion, metrical
prayers and a group of hymns for saints, some bearing witness to local
cults. Poetic individuality marks them all.[18] Contemporaneous with the
flowering of Celtic hymnology, the seventh century saw the beginning of
the cultural invasion of the continent by Celtic scholars, teachers and
missionaries whereby two streams of culture, previously isolated, united
with significant results for the hymnology of the future.
(See Illustrative Hymns, VI. _Sancti venite Christi corpus sumite_,
“Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord.”)
IV. Summary
The account of the Christian hymns of necessity accompanies that of the
Christian organization, moving from the shores of the Mediterranean and
the Christian centers in Roman provincial areas into the “regions
beyond” of missionary effort. Although congregational singing in the
Ambrosian sense appears to have been submerged in this process, the
traditional hymnody was preserved, new hymns added and the foundation
laid for the ninth century revival.
Anonymity is the rule and known authorship the exception for the hymns
produced in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth centuries. This
continued to be the rule during the whole medieval period since the
names of those who wrote the non-scriptural parts of religious rites
were lost or unknown or perhaps of little importance in communal
worship. The fact that the hymns which survive have been gathered from
liturgical manuscripts and not from the work of individual authors
except in rare cases, should make anonymity more intelligible.
Hymn sources are scanty and interconnections, dimly perceived, can
rarely be established. Continuity of evolution is often broken or
replaced by new poetical inspiration. However, the fourth century appeal
to the objective, the direct, the simple, is seldom varied by the
subjective theme. The biblical narratives and the symbolism connected
with the various offices and feasts add substance and character to the
cycles and to the concept of the liturgical year.
In the heart of the Dark Ages, popularly considered, western European
civilization was in confusion and its fate problematical. One could
scarcely expect the fruits of peace and security to flourish. Yet in
these very centuries there were created and circulated many of the best
loved hymns of Christianity, a number of which have been in unbroken use
to the present day. Among them are the illustrations inserted above and
_Lucis Creator optime_, “O blest creator of the light;” the Advent
hymns, _Verbum supernum prodiens_, “High Word of God who once didst
come,” and _Conditor alme siderum_, “Creator of the stars of night;” the
Easter hymn, _Claro paschali gaudio_, “That Easter day with joy was
bright;” for the dedication of a church, _Urbs beata Jerusalem_,
“Blessed city, heavenly Salem” with the more familiar second part,
“Christ is made the sure foundation.” Two hymns honoring the Virgin date
from this period: _Ave maris stella_, “Hail, Sea-Star we name Thee,” and
_Quem terra pontus aethera_, “The God whom earth and sea and sky,”
initiating the Marian hymnology of the Middle Ages.[19]
(See Illustrative Hymns, VII. _Ave maris stella_, “Hail, Sea-Star we
name Thee.”)
Created and preserved in a clerical and for the most part a monastic
environment these hymns express the Christian thought and faith of the
era which was thus treasured up for wider circulation and influence in a
later and more settled society. The words of the late Canon Douglas, a
great American hymnologist, are memorable in this connection:
“What does have a practical bearing on our subject is, that whatever
may have been the older cycle, it was enriched to an extraordinary
degree in the early medieval centuries. What began in Milan, and
achieved its permanent recognition at Monte Cassino, was soon to bring
about a Mozarabic Hymnal in Spain, a Gallican hymnal in northern
Europe, an Anglo-Irish cycle in Britain: and from all these various
increments not only enlarged the growing Hymnal but also richly
diversified it.”[20]
Appendix
_Old Hymnal_ (_See Anal. Hymn., 51, Introduction_ p. xx).
_Ad nocturnas horas_
_Mediae noctis tempus est_ (Mozarabic; in Bangor Antiphonary)
_Rex aeterne Domine_
_Magna et mirabilia_
_Aeterne rerum conditor_
_Tempus noctis surgentibus_
_Ad matutinas laudes_
_Deus qui caeli lumen es_
_Splendor paternae gloriae_
_Aeternae lucis conditor_ (Mozarabic)
_Fulgentis auctor aetheris_ (Mozarabic)
_Deus aeterni luminis_ (Mozarabic)
_Christe caeli Domine_
_Diei luce reddita_
_Ad parvas horas_
_Postmatutinis laudibus_
_Certum tenentes ordinem_ (Mozarabic)
_Dicamus laudes Domino_ (Mozarabic)
_Perfectum trinum numerum_ (Mozarabic)
_Ad vesperas_
_Deus creator omnium_
_Deus qui certis legibus_ (Mozarabic)
_Deus qui claro lumine_
_Sator princepsque temporum_
_Ad completorium_
_Christe qui lux es et dies_ (Mozarabic)
_Christe precamur adnue_
_Proprii de tempore_
_Intende qui regis_
_Illuminans altissimus_
_Dei fide qua vivimus_
_Meridie orandum es_
_Sic ter quaternis trahitur_
_Hic est dies verus Dei_
_Iam surgit hora tertia_
_Iam sexta sensim volvitur_
_Ter hora trina volvitur_
_Ad cenam agni providi_
_Aurora lucis rutilat_
_De communi martyrum_
_Aeterna Christi munera_
CHAPTER THREE
The Ninth Century Revival: Hymns
I. Background of Carolingian Culture
To explain fully the origin of a great literary movement must always be
difficult, for the subtle influences affecting its beginnings elude a
scientific analysis of facts. One observes the revival of Latin
hymnology between 750 and 900 A.D. with amazement. The voices of
Ambrose, his contemporaries and his immediate imitators had been
silenced for centuries. Venantius Fortunatus had stood forth, a solitary
survival of the old Latin poetic genius or, perhaps more accurately, a
solitary herald of the new medieval awakening. Then a flowering of
religious poetry spread over western Europe, not to be withered by new
barbarian invasions but to be the permanent possession of the Christian
Church.
In this period the older cycles of office hymns were revised and
expanded and fresh cycles created in such numbers as to justify the new
terminology of the _Later Hymnal_ or _Ninth Century Hymnal_. The
sequence arose in the formal worship of the mass, affording a new
inspirational to clerical poets and resulting in a body of sacred verse
of increasing influence. The processional hymn and its related forms
appeared in response to the new impulse toward a hymnic accompaniment to
ceremonial acts. In effect, the hymn during the period under
consideration, was well established in every aspect of formal worship.
In the background of the age which created this literature must be
sought the trends and motivation which make intelligible the voices of
its interpreters. Accordingly, in the years from 750 to 900 A.D. when
the Carolingian rulers, Pippin, Charlemagne, Louis the Pious and Charles
the Bald were guiding the destinies of the Franks, the various
influences affecting public worship must be surveyed. The most important
were the liturgical reforms undertaken or sponsored by the Carolingian
rulers; their promotion of ecclesiastical music and singing; their
interest in the reform and expansion of the Benedictine Order; the
literary activity of members of the Carolingian court circles who
devoted themselves to liturgical studies or poetic expression; the part
played by Celtic culture; the infiltration of Byzantine ideas and arts
and the rise of Germanic genius.
The introduction and permanent establishment of the Roman liturgy in
Frankish realms form the background of public worship in the Carolingian
era. When Pippin ascended the throne in 752, the Gallican Rite
prevailed. When the reign of Charles the Bald came to a close in 877,
the Roman Rite was supreme.[1] Charlemagne received the Gregorian
Sacramentary from Pope Hadrian I.[2] Stimulated by his desire to unify
the Germanic peoples under papal as well as imperial authority, he
brought about by royal edicts or capitularies a widespread reform in the
western continental church. Those features of his program which affected
hymnology include requirements that priests must be educated, that monks
observe their monastic rule, that the singing of the psalms and the
_gloria_ be improved, that schools of singing and grammar be founded in
monastic and diocesan centers, that both regular and secular clergy be
urged to acquire knowledge and skill in singing, that the Roman Chant be
ordained, that a singing school be established at Aix-la-Chapelle, that
the clergy read and sing well.[3] Charlemagne’s successors, Louis the
Pious and Charles the Bald continued his reforming policy.
In the legislation cited above, Charlemagne had followed his father’s
example which favored a training in Gregorian music under Roman
teachers, as developed in the schools of Rome.[4] Pippin’s interest had
resulted in the establishment of a musical center of great repute at
Metz[5] which also possessed a cathedral school representative of the
finest institutions which flourished at this time side by side with
monastic centers of learning.
Charlemagne was presented with a copy of the Benedictine Rule with choir
rules, office and festival hymns, by Theodomar, Abbot of Monte Cassino,
sometime between 787 and 797.[6] It became his chosen duty to promulgate
the Rule, to require its observance everywhere within his realms and
further to extend the influence of the Order in general. Consequently,
monastic centers of music arose, for example, at St. Gall where the
hymnody of the offices was fostered and gradually made available for the
bishoprics as well. Louis the Pious, (814-840), and Charles the Bald,
(843-877), in their turn continued the patronage of the Benedictine
Order. Already fortified by the efforts of Charlemagne, the Benedictines
entered a period of religious and cultural influence which was later
merged into the age of the universities. Linked directly with the
program for monastic reform, the impulse to write new hymns and the
encouragement to finer musical performance together created the annual
cycles of this period in which the older hymns were retained and
supplemented by the new.
The writers and literary leaders of the Carolingian period were by
virtue of their clerical profession actively engaged in liturgical
studies. Alcuin compiled the missal which established the Gregorian
Sacramentary in Frankish realms and constituted a recension acceptable
to the Roman Church.[7] A significant innovation for hymnology was the
decorative procession.[8] Alcuin was also influential through his
devotional works which supplemented the public worship of the mass and
offices. Paulus Diaconus and Angilbert were second to Alcuin in
promoting liturgical studies. The works of the great writers were
accompanied by numerous writings of lesser importance which bear
witness, as will be evident below, to the increasing practice of
hymn-singing. The influence of the Roman Rite, largely barren of hymns,
was at the same period, in contact with the influence of Benedictine
precedent in hymn singing which in the end prevailed.
The Latin poetry associated with the Carolingian era has been edited and
published in a monumental form under the title _Poetae Latini Aevi
Carolini_.[9] The collection, produced in the spirit of a classical
revival by a circle of court poets, includes secular as well as
religious verse.
Carolingian culture not only in the specific field of literature but in
the broader sense afforded a medium for the spread of Celtic, Byzantine
and Germanic genius. The Celtic portion of the poetry in the early
monastic cycles has already been described in connection with the _Old
Hymnal_. Prior to the eighth century, a transfer of Celtic scholarship
to the continent began to take place. The missionaries, Columbanus,
Gall, Foilan, Disibod and others, came first, during the seventh and
eighth centuries. Refugees, fleeing before the Norse invasions of the
late eighth and ninth centuries, followed. Wanderers and pilgrims
crossed the Channel, among them _peregrini_ who left their homeland to
live in new countries as a means of spiritual satisfaction and reward.
Scholars came also who hoped for a more sympathetic reception for their
teachings among the continentals.[10] On the whole, Celtic immigrants
found a welcome. Charlemagne himself favored them.[11] Celtic teachers
were proficient in orthography, grammar, Greek, scriptural and
liturgical subjects and the arts.[12] They brought with them
manuscripts, the influence of which was felt, not only in their subject
matter but in musical notation and characteristic scripts.[13] The
Bangor Antiphonary, the hymns of which have already been considered,
came to the continent at this time. Among the famous teachers of music
was Marcellus[14] who, at St. Gall, instructed Notker, Tutilo, Waltram
and Hartmann, a fraternity devoted to finer ecclesiastical music and
hymnody.
The role of Byzantine influence cannot be ignored in any account of the
cultural and historical background of ninth century literature. One
should recall that the Carolingian period was an era of general European
intercourse which could not fail to have an effect upon society. The
foreign relations of the Frankish Empire necessitated much traveling,
visiting and correspondence. Warlike as well as peaceful movement,
commercial or cultural, increased the interchange of ideas. There was an
overlapping of boundary lines, too, which amalgated populations. The
infiltration of Byzantine influence might be conceived as a by-product
of European intercourse.
Insofar as hymnology is concerned, musical contacts between the
Byzantine and Frankish realms were frequent. As early as Pippin’s reign,
Byzantine musicians appeared at the Frankish court with a gift of an
organ from the Emperor Constantinus Copronymus.[15] Many refugee monks
who fled to the west during the iconoclastic controversy remained there
even after its close in 787, enjoying monastic hospitality and imperial
favor. Charlemagne permitted them to use the Greek language in worship
and was so much impressed by the music employed in chanting the psalms
that he caused it to be adopted for the Latin version also.[16] The
paramount influence of Byzantine music upon liturgical practice in the
west will be considered more fully in connection with the sequence.
Verifiable traces of Byzantine influence had already appeared with the
activities of Gregory the Great and are entirely comprehensible, so far
as he is concerned, in view of his residence at Constantinople, 579-585,
as papal envoy of Pelagius II.[17] The importation of litanies into the
west illustrates this type of influence. When Charlemagne received the
Sacramentary from Pope Hadrian I, it was labelled “Gregorian.” But in
the interval between the lives of Gregory and Charlemagne, popes of
eastern origin, ruling at the end of the seventh and the beginning of
the eighth century were responsible for western practice.[18] The
influence of the Eastern upon the Western Church seems to have been
cumulative, with Charlemagne in his day acting as the agent for its
diffusion throughout the Frankish Church.
In matters concerning the church and its worship the Greeks were an
acquisition not only as musicians but as scholars and as experts in the
fine arts. Their scholarship was in demand in New Testament studies.
Illustrations of Greek and of oriental inspiration in general are
numerous in architecture, painting, sculpture, ivories, work in precious
metals and the decoration of manuscripts.[19] Perhaps it was a natural
desire to emulate the splendor and ornament of eastern rites which led
Charlemagne to favor Greek elements in western observance at the expense
of the Gallican.
In the midst of Gallic, Celtic, Italian, Byzantine and oriental
influences mingled in Carolingian culture, the presence of native genius
is strongly felt. Charlemagne has been criticized for his devotion to
classical rather than Germanic culture. Sacred poetry as produced in the
Carolingian literary circles, was written in Latin and clothed in
classical garb. It could hardly have been otherwise since Latin was
demanded by the Church and the vernacular languages of western Europe
were then in their early infancy. But in spite of the studied
artificiality of this verse, a note is sometimes heard in harmony with
the poetry of later centuries which emanates from Germanic sources.
Such in brief is the background of that revival of hymnody which appears
in the Carolingian period. It remains to trace, in detail, the evolution
of the monastic hymnal known as the _Later_ or _Ninth Century Hymnal_.
II. The Later Hymnal
The enlargement and diversification of the Hymnal to which Canon Douglas
referred in the words quoted at the close of Chapter Two, occurred
within the general historical limits of the Carolingian era and with the
exception of Spain and the British Isles, within the general
geographical limits of Carolingian political influence. The hymn cycles
of the period, recorded in manuscripts which reflect the numerical
increase in hymns as well as their diffusion upon the continent, are
associated with religious centers, for example, St. Martial, Laon,
Douai, Moissac, St. Germain-des-Prés, Corbie, Jumièges, Reichenau,
Treves, Schäftlarn near Munich, Murbach, Rheinau, St. Gall, Einsiedeln,
Bobbio, Monte Cassino, Benevento, Padua, Toledo, Canterbury, Naples and
many other places. The nucleus of the _Later Hymnal_ has been identified
with the hymn cycle found partly in a _hymnarium_ of the ninth century
from St. Paul’s in Lavantthal, Carinthia, and partly in a similar
manuscript from Karlsruh, both manuscripts being associated with
Reichenau.[20] The basic hymns from this group of sources current in the
Carolingian period are listed in the appendix to this chapter. A
complete list of the manuscript sources (prior to 1100), including the
above and others, with an index of the hymns which they contain,
approximately 800 in number, was provided by James Mearns, the English
hymnologist, in his _Early Latin Hymnaries_.[21]
So much for the evidence as to the actual hymns in use from sources
available at the period when the _Later Hymnal_ flourished. The origin
of the _Later Hymnal_, however, is far from clear. It has been defined
as a collection arising about the seventh century which superseded the
_Old Hymnal_ and has since prevailed.[22] This opinion advanced by Blume
and affirmed by Walpole, depends upon the theory that the later cycle
had been in use in the British Isles since the period of Gregory the
Great. An Anglo-Irish cycle therefore, was posited which took possession
of the continent, usurping the original Benedictine hymnal. As early as
1911, Blume’s theory was questioned by Wilmart, the Benedictine scholar,
who asserted that the early cycle constituted a Gallican hymnal only,—a
possibility mentioned above. He thought that the _Later Hymnal_ was a
new version of the Benedictine cycle representing a normal growth
through the centuries. Other critics of note have adopted one or the
other viewpoint, Frere following that of Blume; and Raby, that of
Wilmart.[23] A final solution is obviously impossible for lack of
manuscript evidence.
At the accession of Charlemagne, 768, the future of liturgical hymnody
was uncertain as the forces of Roman usage and Benedictine practice were
in conflict and the possibility of transferring the Benedictine heritage
to the church extremely doubtful, as the preceding survey has already
made clear. Secondary forces, however, were at work to achieve this very
end. First, the early gains made in compiling the Gallican Hymnal and
extending it to the secular clergy were never entirely lost. A precedent
had been set. Second, the Benedictine cycle was enjoined wherever the
Rule was effective and its use was further stimulated by royal
capitularies upon the subject of music and singing. Third, the
establishment of monastic centers of music in the leading Benedictine
abbeys was productive of literary as well as musical effort, attested by
the very manuscripts of hymn collections gathered there. The manuscripts
of St. Gall, for example, cover every department of contemporary
medieval hymnology.
Charlemagne was particularly interested in St. Gall but was also
concerned with the monastic centers at Mainz, Fulda, Treves, Cologne,
Bamberg, Hersfeld, Lorsch, Würzburg and Reichenau.[24] He founded
Neustadt and endowed twelve monasteries in Germany. Meanwhile missionary
zeal had guided Benedictine pioneers beyond the old boundaries, and
Bavaria and Frisia had already been opened to missions and incidentally
to the full round of Benedictine activities. Louis the Pious was active
in monastic reform through his association with Benedict of Aniane; he
was a special patron of St. Gall and he stimulated the efforts of
leaders from Corbie to found New Corbie. Charles the Bald was a
benefactor of Marchiennes, Compiègne, Prum and St. Denis.[25] Prior to
this period, the numerous and influential foundations established on the
continent by Irish monks had adopted the Benedictine Rule, swelling the
total number of centers devoted to religious and educational activities.
The numerical increase in the Benedictine abbeys offers in itself
presumptive evidence of a greater use of hymns. What is known of the
monastic centers and their store of hymnaries offers direct proof. A
closer bond between the Order and the cultural activities of the age is
found in the great personalities drawn from Benedictine ranks to serve
the imperial designs. Of particular interest here are the statements
regarding hymns and hymn singing which appear in contemporary writings.
Alcuin was chiefly interested in the Roman liturgy as such but he wrote
_De psalmorum usu_, _Officia per ferias_ and the _Epistolae_, the last
of which shows a special interest in music. Rabanus Maurus testifies to
the general use of hymns by secular as well as regular clergy. Amalarius
of Metz mentions the use of hymns outside the monasteries. Walafrid
Strabo traces the use of hymns from the time of Ambrose and repeats the
Canon of Toledo recommending hymns. He says that churches which do not
use hymns are exceptional.[26] The testimony is scattered but it points
to the adoption of the hymnal by the secular clergy. It should also be
recalled that the Ambrosian tradition of musical independence was
constantly maintained at Milan.
As the Latin language became more and more an exclusive clerical
possession, the old safeguards provided by monastic walls were no longer
necessary. The whole body of clergy whether regular or secular became
the custodians of the hymnaries used in monastic and diocesan centers of
music and scholarship.[27] The Christian laity of Europe at this period
may have been largely ignorant of their hymnic heritage because the
Carolingian extension of hymn writing and hymn singing occurred within
clerical ranks. There was at this time scant indication of the future
course of Latin hymnology which would ultimately restore to the layman
his original possession handed down from the Early Christian Church.
The poetical writings of the era included a substantial body of
religious verse from which hymns are attributed to the following
authors: Paulus Diaconus, 1; Paulinus of Aquileia, 7; Alcuin, 3;
Theodulphus, 1; Rabanus Maurus, 2; Walafrid Strabo, 5; Florus of Lyons,
2; Wandelbert of Prum, 1; Paulus Albarus of Cordova, 1; Cyprian and
Samson, 2; Sedulius Scottus, 2; Milo, 2; Ratbod, 2; Hucbald, 1;
Hartmann, 4; Ratpert, 4; Eugenius Vulgarius, 1; these with 73 of
doubtful authorship make a total contribution of 114 hymns.
(See Illustrative Hymns, VIII. _Ut queant laxis resonare fibris_, “In
flowing measures worthily to sing,” Paulus Diaconus.)
Ambrosian meters are set aside in favor of the classical meters of the
Greeks, the Sapphic and elegiac meters proving to be the most popular
thereafter. To what extent this influence is actually observable in hymn
cycles may be determined by a comparison of the list of Carolingian
hymns with the lists of hymns provided by Blume, Julian or Mearns.
Batiffol selected thirteen as found in later breviary lists[28] but the
actual direct contribution is much larger if other than breviary hymns
are admitted. Moreover, the literary and liturgical studies of the time
broadened the original Benedictine concept that the hymns of the
monastic cycle should be Ambrosian in style. The hymns of Sedulius and
particularly of Prudentius and Fortunatus were recognized, introduced or
freely adapted to ecclesiastical usage.
The direct influence of Celtic culture upon the new hymn cycles must be
associated with the introduction of biblical and liturgical works
containing hymns into Frankish territory. Later, hymns were written by
Celtic scholars, for instance, Samson, Sedulius Scottus (enumerated
above) and possibly others who are anonymous. Blume’s theory of the
Anglo-Irish hymn cycle, originally sponsored by Gregory the Great and
finally transferred to the continent, illustrates the most decisive form
which Celtic influence has so far been presumed to have exerted. The
list of hymns (see Appendix) bears, on the contrary, no resemblance to
the group of contemporary Celtic hymns.[29] It seems much more probable
that Gregory, the Benedictine Pope, approved the use in Anglo-Irish
lands, of the continental hymn cycle which the Order was responsible for
carrying northward with it when it entered Britain. In any case, the
Benedictine cycles from the ninth century onward are enriched from every
aspect of the diverse culture of the age, in which the Celtic
contribution, both direct and indirect, is important.
At this period hymnology in the Greek-speaking world was at its height.
Yet proof is sought in vain that Greek hymns were used in the west,
either in the Greek language or in translation. The hymnal of the
Western Church received from Greek sources its recorded tunes, not its
words. Although the earliest liturgical manuscript with musical notation
dates from the ninth century, the Greeks had already given their neumes
to the west. As for the hymn melodies which are crystallized in these
manuscripts when they do appear, theories of origin abound. A definite
system of notation was in existence from the seventh century but hymns
had been sung from the fourth century.
In modern times through the consecrated efforts of Benedictine students
of the chant, working chiefly at Solesmes, a collation of the existing
musical manuscripts produced in the Middle Ages, has been made. Their
object has been to determine the authentic melodies of the Benedictine
cycle throughout its long history. Today the results of their
scholarship are available to the public and the great hymns which they
have fostered may be heard as well as read in their medieval form.
The assimilation by the Franks, of alien cultures whether through
conquest or peaceful interchange, may have been to a certain extent
inevitable and involuntary. Such phenomena occur in every period of
history. It is the conscious appropriation by the Carolingian leaders of
a cultural heritage and its organization through existing institutions
which reveals their true genius. This same process had taken place when
Roman genius secured and conserved the achievement of the Greeks. In the
field of religious culture with which this volume is concerned, an
unbroken continuity had been maintained from the days of the primitive
church. Even in the minor category of Christian hymnology, the hymnal as
such, created in the fourth century, was to flourish all the way into
our own times and might have done so without any special intervention.
Historically speaking, in the ninth century and under Frankish auspices,
a transformation took place which must be attributed to the conscious
effort of Frankish churchmen who, receiving the old hymnology, restored
it to formal worship with a much larger content and a greatly
diversified form. Herein lies the fundamental contribution of Germanic
genius to the _Later Hymnal_.
Individual hymn writers of the Carolingian age have been named above as
far as they are known, of whom Theodulphus of Orleans, Rabanus Maurus
and Walafrid Strabo are perhaps the most notable.
A Goth by race, a Spaniard by birth, Theodulphus, (c. 760-c. 821),
belonged to that population dwelling north and south of the Pyrenees
which the Franks had amalgamated into their kingdom. He was learned in
all the wisdom of that age and a man of action in a sense understandable
in any age. Bishop of Orleans, courtier, officer in the administration
of Charlemagne, he served the church and the state with equal
distinction. Theodulphus as a poet of sacred verse is best known for his
Palm Sunday processional hymn, _Gloria, laus et honor tibi sit_, “All
glory, laud and honor,”[30] which he wrote during the period of his fall
from royal favor under Louis the Pious. This beautiful processional
hymn, a triumph of Carolingian verse, invested with all the attraction
of legend and religious pageantry, has been a favorite in every period
of Christian history. Theodulphus was not a member of the regular clergy
and he did not, as far as we know, write hymns for the monastic cycle.
He represents the contemporary trend which brought the hymn into new
areas of worship in the offices and ceremonies of the cathedral.
Rabanus Maurus, (780-856), of Germanic origin, was primarily a
theologian. His boyhood studies were completed at Fulda. As a young man
he became a pupil of Alcuin at Tours. In his maturity he returned to
Fulda reaching the climax of his career as Abbot of Fulda and later, as
Archbishop of Mainz. As a writer, Rabanus undertook to hand on, through
excerpts, the knowledge of his predecessors. He wrote commentaries on
the Bible, discussed ecclesiastical organization and discipline,
theology, liturgy and worship and the liberal arts. He made translations
into German with the collaboration of Walafrid and a Latin-German
glossary for the Scriptures. In connection with worship he became
interested in the Latin hymns which were rapidly spreading through the
west. He discussed the Psalms as hymns and then the hymns of Hilary and
Ambrose, saying of the Ambrosian hymns, how widespread had become their
prestige in his day. We know from other evidence that he was acquainted
also with the hymns of Sedulius, Columba and Bede. It seems almost
certain that he practiced the art of poetry although we are restricted
to a very small remnant of verse conceded to be his. The poems include a
number of hymns for the festivals of the seasons and of the saints,
illustrating the vogue for the classic in metrical forms. Like
Theodulphus, he wrote for processional ceremonies. The Pentecostal hymn,
_Veni, creator spiritus_, has been persistently associated with the name
of Rabanus but without adequate proof. It is a lasting hymn of the ninth
century.
(See Illustrative Hymns, IX. _Veni, creator spiritus_, “Creator-Spirit,
all-Divine.”)
Walafrid Strabo, (809-c. 849), was like Rabanus of Germanic origin and
like him a member of the regular clergy. At Reichenau he received his
early education and at Fulda his theological training under Rabanus.
Walafrid was drawn into the courtly circle of Louis the Pious whose son
Charles he tutored and whose wife Judith became his literary patron. His
life was one of scholarship, prosperity and contentment almost to the
end of his career. Louis had appointed him Abbot of Reichenau, a place
dear to him from boyhood. From these happy surroundings and from his
garden which he immortalized in careful and loving description, he was
ousted during the civil conflict following the death of the emperor. At
the end he was restored to Reichenau and there he died. His hymns like
those of Theodulphus and Rabanus, although few in number, were written
in the spirit of the classical revival. Some were intended for festivals
and others which will be described in connection with processional
hymnody, were written to honor royal patrons.
In reviewing the basic hymns of the _Later Hymnal_ (see Appendix), one
finds only two of Mozarabic origin whereas nine were duplicated in the
_Old Hymnal_ in Spain and Gaul. The new cycles in areas under Frankish
influence appear to diverge from the Mozarabic as they become more
diversified. At the same time, Mozarabic sources reveal a parallel
evolution of the hymnal in the Iberian peninsula. The existing
manuscripts were collated and edited in 1897 by Blume in volume
twenty-seven of the _Analecta Hymnica_ under the title _Hymnodia
Gotica_, comprising 312 hymns of which 210 were identified by him as
Mozarabic in origin.
The hymns of Spain, first assembled under the auspices of Gothic
churchmen as recounted in Chapter Two, continued to increase with the
encouragement and participation of Mozarabic liturgists, scholars and
prelates. The generation that supported Isidore of Seville was succeeded
two hundred years later by the group associated with Eulogius,
Archbishop of Cordova (d. 859), who fostered the old traditions under
Moslem control.[31] In spite of a ruling power alien in every aspect of
culture, Christian hymnology held its own. After the Moorish invasions,
it is estimated that between thirty and forty hymns were written,
several of which contain references to the yoke of the oppressor and
petitions for its removal.[32] When the movement toward the expulsion of
the Moors had been successfully initiated and the Roman Rite introduced
(1089) the Mozarabic hymnals were comparable to the finest of the
continental cycles. In certain instances the contacts between Spain and
Gaul were close and direct even under the rule of the Moslems.
Theodulphus of Orleans combined the Gothic and Carolingian trends.
Alcuin was indebted to Mozarabic sources in his reform of the Frankish
rites.[33] Hymns of Mozarabic origin appeared in other parts of western
Europe and vice versa.
(See Illustrative Hymns, X. _Deus immensa trinitas_, “O glorious
immensity.”)
The possible influence of Arabian music and poetry upon the Christian
hymn has been a tempting idea and one most elusive of pursuit. Studies
of medieval Spanish music and musical instruments have failed to
demonstrate that the ecclesiastical chant in Spain was thereby affected.
Such novelties as it may have possessed have been traced to influences
similar to those which had long before affected the Ambrosian chant and
been transmitted to the west. As for the tentative assumption that
Arabian lyric poetry influenced contemporary hymn writers in Spain, the
evidence narrows to the mono-rhyme or repeated end-rhyme common to
Arabian poetry and to several Mozarabic hymns.[34] The whole subject of
the Arabian impact, highly controversial as it is, appears to be
concerned with influences, which when scrutinized, are observed to
spring from cultures prior both to Christianity and to Islam.
The Mozarabic Hymnal in its fully developed version possessed an
unusually large number of hymns honoring local saints. This feature must
be referred to the history of the Roman persecution in the Iberian
peninsula where the complete destruction of the Church was intended and
martyrdom was the rule. Again the Hymnal is unique in its hymns for
public occasions either of mourning and intercession in time of war,
pestilence, drought and flood or of joy, in festivals of the
consecration of bishops, the coronation of kings and thanksgiving for
full harvests.
III. Characteristics
For the most part the hymn writers of the later hymn cycles are
anonymous, like their predecessors in this field. Anonymity is then the
first characteristic to be noted concerning the hymnal in this period,
which makes it necessary to survey the whole as an objective achievement
of the age, not of a few individuals.
Next to the anonymity of its authorship, possibly the most conspicuous
feature of the new hymnal is the enlargement of each of its general
divisions, the Common and the Proper of the Season and the Common and
the Proper of Saints. The old hymn cycle, it will be recalled, comprised
thirty-four hymns as listed by Blume. The later cycle in its nucleus
numbers thirty-seven hymns of which seven are repeated from the old
cycle. In ten representative tenth century hymnals, the hymns number
from about fifty to about one hundred, many of them common to several
lists.[35]
Not only is the total number of hymns increased but festival hymns are
multiplied, the ecclesiastical year as it was later known being fully
established in hymnology. Advent, Nativity, Epiphany, Lent, the Passion,
Easter, Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity have their own groups of hymns.
The various feasts of the Virgin and that of All Saints are honored.
Among the Apostles, Sts. Peter, John and Andrew are praised; of other
biblical saints, Sts. John the Baptist, Stephen, Paul; of the angels,
St. Michael; of martyrs, the Innocents and St. Laurence; of local
saints, Sts. Martin of Tours, Gall, Germanus, Martial, and a number of
others. So stands the record of manuscripts of the tenth century when
hymnal gains had been consolidated. The process went steadily onward as
Latin hymns for the offices continued to be written to the end of the
Middle Ages. A few have been added since the sixteenth century but, with
certain exceptions, the great body of office hymns of the medieval
church was permanently established by 1100, the date which Mearns
selected as a boundary line. The same sources enriched the present-day
Roman breviary which by a paradox of history, has preserved to modern
times the representative hymns to which the Roman liturgy of that early
period was so inhospitable.
As a matter of fact, in the interval between and including the fourth
and the eleventh centuries, the Latin hymn, considered in its literary
implications and in its liturgical usage, was founded for the ages.
Attaching to the word _hymn_ its strictest sense and narrowest function,
that of the office hymn, the student perceives the great significance of
this department of medieval hymnology as compared with the sequence,
processional and extra-liturgical hymns of the Middle Ages. It becomes
more evident that here is the core and heart of Latin hymnody. The
Church could and did in the event, dispense with much of its medieval
collection, but never with the hymnal. Here was preserved the ethics of
the Christian life, the intimacy of the scriptural narrative, the
presentment of the Christian feasts and the praise of God and of his
saints.
Appendix
_Later Hymnal_ (See _Anal. Hymn., 51, Introduction_ p. xx-xxi)
_Ad parvas horas_
_Iam lucis orto sidere_
_Nunc sancte nobis spiritus_
_Rector potens verax Deus_
_Rerum Deus tenax vigor_
_Ad vesperas_
_Lucis creator optime_
_Immense caeli conditor_
_Telluris ingens conditor_
_Caeli Deus sanctissime_
_Magnae Deus potentiae_
_Plasmator hominis Deus_
_Deus creator omnium_ (In Old Hymnal)
_O lux beata trinitas_ (Mozarabic)
_Ad nocturnas horas_
_Primo dierum omnium_
_Somno refectis artubus_
_Consors paterni luminis_
_Rerum creator optime_
_Nox atra rerum contegit_
_Tu trinitatis unitas_
_Summae Deus clementiae_
_Ad matutinas laudes_
_Aeterne rerum conditor_ (In Old Hymnal)
_Splendor paternae gloriae_ (In Old Hymnal)
_Ales diei nuntius_
_Nox et tenebrae et nubila_
_Lux ecce surgit aurea_
_Aeterna caeli gloria_
_Aurora iam spargit polum_
_Ad completorium_
_Christe qui lux es et dies_ (In Old Hymnal; Mozarabic)
_Te lucis ante terminum_
_Proprii de tempore_
_Ad cenam agni providi_ (In Old Hymnal)
_Aurora lucis rutilat_ (In Old Hymnal)
_De communi sanctorum_
_Martyr Dei qui unicum_
_Rex gloriose martyrum_
_Aeterna Christi munera_ (In Old Hymnal)
_Sanctorum meritis inclita gaudia_
_Virginis proles opifexque_
_Iesu corona virginum_
_Summe confessor sacer_
CHAPTER FOUR
The Ninth Century Revival: Sequences
I. Origin
The problem presented by the origin of the sequence is perhaps the most
difficult of all those connected with the evolution of medieval
hymnology. So far the available information on the subject has never
been brought together in one place. To do so is a baffling task which
has by no means been completed here nor is that which follows either
exhaustive or conclusive. It is merely an attempt to trace the origin
and early development as far as the evidence at hand makes it possible,
at the same time referring the reader to those scholars who have
investigated special topics in detail.
The _alleluia_ of the mass is the starting-point of the sequence.
Inherited from the synagogue and incorporated in the Byzantine rite, it
was nevertheless brought independently to Rome. The extension of the
final _a_ constituted a musical phrase, called a _iubilus_ or
_iubilatio_. This elaborated _alleluia_ with _iubilus_ is Gregorian.[1]
It became necessary for the sake of breathing, to divide the extended
_iubilus_ into musical phrases, each a _sequentia_ and the whole
_sequentiae_. Some _iubili_ however, remained single while others were
sung by two choirs with a repetition of phrases. The next step was the
composition of a text for some of the _iubili_, which text was written
below the musical notation. Finally a text was supplied for every such
melody, which resulted in the _sequentia cum prosa_.[2]
It is one thing to note the preceding succession of steps as objective
phenomena. It is quite another to explain the origin of the idea which
transformed the _alleluia_ into the larger _iubilus_. This is the most
obscure point in the musical development of the sequence, which, for
lack of manuscript evidence cannot at present be clarified. At least
three hypotheses have been offered. Arguing from the appearance of the
trope, some have suggested that the _iubilus_ is a musical interpolation
just as the trope is a textual interpolation. This is quite possible but
perhaps too simple for an adequate solution. A much more tempting
hypothesis has appealed to a variety of scholars,—that of the
introduction of Greek melodies.[3] To these students it has seemed more
than probable that the intercourse between western Europe and the
Byzantine realms in the reign of Charlemagne constitutes a sufficient
explanation for the appearance of fresh musical themes. Again, a
possibility only has been suggested. So far manuscript evidence for the
Greek melodies from which the Gregorian _alleluiae_ and their _iubili_
are derived, has not appeared. Blume, whose treatment of the subject
forms the basis of this chapter, not only questions the hypothesis of
Greek melodies but he offers a third suggestion and that tentatively;
Gregory, he thinks, shortened the _alleluia_ brought over by the Greeks.
When, later, a tendency was felt to elaborate the forms of worship, the
longer melodies were once more revived in the sequence. This very
interesting suggestion, if one day capable of proof, would harmonize the
Byzantine and Gregorian influences which produced the initial extension
of the final _a_ of the _alleluia_.
For purposes of clearness a differentiation should be made between the
musical and poetical development of the sequence as soon as the
_sequentia cum prosa_ is reached. Manifestly it is impossible to do so,
in any complete fashion, where words and music are so inextricably
interwoven in a common development. It is better, however, to attempt
the impossible and for the present, to ignore overlappings.[4]
The origin of the word _sequentia_ itself, in the phrase _sequentia cum
prosa_ has often been discussed because of its significance in tracing
the musical development of the forms in question. To some scholars
_sequentia_ means merely _sequela_, _i.e._ notes following the _a_ of
the _alleluia_, a simple and tenable theory. To the great majority,
however, _sequentia_ is a translation of the Greek _akoulouthia_. In
fact it has been generally accepted as such, although _sequentia_
conveys the idea of continuation in the Greek word rather than its
technical meaning of a continuation specifically of songs, etc. If this
is valid, Greek influence upon the origin of the sequence is
inferred.[5] Another form of the theory of Greek influence is evident in
the suggestion that _sequentia_ means _hirmos_, that is, a regular
continuation of tones. _Hirmos_ may refer to poetry also.[6] A
derivation of _sequentia_ from Greek terms, if proven, would of course,
buttress the theory of Byzantine influence upon the whole development;
but the weakness of the derivation from _akoulouthia_, for example, is
its dependence upon a misunderstanding of the Greek form of worship to
which the word applies.[7] An entirely different suggestion as to origin
arises from the formula used in the liturgy to announce the Gospel,
_Sequentia Sancti Evangelii secundum_ _etc._[8] Often some practical
consideration, extraneous condition or unrelated incidental circumstance
has affected liturgical change or development. Consequently, even a
slight suggestion like this provokes thought.
Whatever may be the correct origin of the word _sequentia_ the place of
origin of the sequence is generally conceded to have been France
sometime in the eighth century. The part played by other lands in the
origin of the _sequentia cum prosa_ cannot be wholly determined at
present. It must suffice to study the evidence available. It has been
demonstrated how the early French sequences have a closer tie with the
_alleluia_ and how the word is sometimes retained to introduce the
_prosae_ which accompany the music. There is considerable evidence
supporting French priority over the Germans in the creation of these new
musical forms, the chief centers of composition being St. Martial,
Luxeuil, Fleury-sur-Loire, and Moissac, the outstanding rival of St.
Martial. An origin for the sequence in France is independently probable
due to the interest in liturgical music stimulated by Charlemagne, who,
as shown in the preceding chapter, favored Gregorian and Byzantine
innovations at the expense of Gallican forms.
One of the suggestions mentioned to account for the original lengthening
of the _alleluia_ in the _iubilus_ is connected with the trope. The word
has long been defined as a textual interpolation.[9] Gastoué, however,
contends that it was originally and primarily musical, a vocalization in
the existing chant and that it was created in the music school. The
ancient form of trope is a _neuma triplex_ added to the response _In
medio_ _etc._ for the Feast of St. John the Apostle, or to _Descendit de
caelis_ for Christmas. This vocalism is described by Amalarius of Metz
and indeed Metz may be its place of origin. Alcuin has been named as the
possible originator, a theory strengthened by the fact that Amalarius
was one of his pupils.[10] At any rate Amalarius seems to have been the
first to call the melody following the _alleluia_, a _sequentia_,[11]
from which it is evident that the _iubili_ must have been regarded in
some other light prior to his writing. The _sequentia_ in connection
with the _alleluia_ may very reasonably have been considered a trope,
since vocalisms like these had already appeared elsewhere in rites of
worship, and sequences in addition to those which belong to the
_alleluia_ of the mass have been found in antiphonaries. To repeat,
Gastoué describes a musical interpolation or trope originating in the
music schools of the Franks and appearing in various liturgical
settings. He likens the _iubilus_ to a trope which Amalarius called a
_sequentia_. The original divisions created by the musical phrases in
the _iubilus_ now appear in a series, each repeated a certain number of
times with introduction and conclusion and thus the completed sequence
structure comes into being. The germ of its formal construction, Gastoué
finds in certain Gregorian sources. The ancient _alleluia_, _Justus ut
palma florebit_, shows such characteristics and reveals the liturgical
Latin origin of the sequence, its melody going back to the _versus
alleluiaticus_.
In spite of the evidence which would make the sequence a native musical
product of western Europe, the theory of Greek origin is still
persistently held by certain scholars. For that reason it must be
considered in greater detail. Gregory’s adoption of Greek novelties
forms the starting point of this theory, while Charlemagne’s well-known
enthusiasm for Greek innovations carries its proponents still further.
The fact that the original Greek melodies which are assumed to have been
used in the west, have never been produced in evidence, is not a proof
of their non-existence. An extensive study of certain sequence melodies
has been made in order to determine whether they are modeled upon Greek
originals, since the Greek names for these melodies and features of
notation point to such an origin.[12] But such names are secondary, the
original and natural name being the first phrase of the Latin words
accompanying the melodies and the Greek word a suggested title. A Greek
melody, called _Organa_, for instance, might be assumed to retain its
name in Latin. The opposite is the case for the name _Filia matris_ is
original and _Organa_ the suggested title.
Regarding the argument from notation it is a matter of common knowledge
that the _neume_ is native to Greek-speaking lands and may have existed
as early as the sixth century.[13] _Neumes_ took firm root at St. Gall,
the great German center for the propagation of the sequence, so much so,
that they persisted until the twelfth century even after the invention
of the staff and in the interval were spread by teaching. Moreover,
_neumes_ were written in the manner of the eastern church, _i.e._ in a
straight line, not at different levels to indicate pitch.[14] It is
unfortunate that the dearth of manuscripts showing _neumes_ makes a gap
in the evidence just where support is most needed, for the earliest
musical manuscripts with this notation date from the ninth century;[15]
but the assumption in favor of Greek originals is at least strong enough
to forbid its being ignored.
An additional circumstance which supports the theory of Greek origin is
the fact of musical parallelism in the structure of the sequence. This
is an important point of contact between the sequence and Byzantine
musical forms, although it has not been universally convincing. On the
contrary, some have traced this phenomenon of musical parallelism to one
of those extraneous conditions, affecting liturgical practice, namely,
the use of antiphonal choirs.[16]
Nothing can be more unsatisfactory to the student who is trying to force
the sequence into any particular theory of musical origin than the
contemplation of what is actually known on this subject, for the
question seems destined to remain undecided. A better perspective may be
reached by examining the poetical development of the sequence which
began with the _sequentia cum prosa_ and ended in a new form of Latin
hymn for which melodies were in turn composed.
The text written below the _alleluia_ melody is generally accepted as of
French origin and likewise the naming of that text. As the text became
important the melody too was named so that the melody and text were
differentiated from each other, the latter as a _prosa_. It is unknown
whether the name _sequentia_ instead of _prosa_ was chosen deliberately
as differing from the French usage. Amalarius was apparently the first
to use the word _sequentia_ in connection with the music. Later the term
was destined to supersede the name _prosa_ for the poetical text.
We owe to Notker, whose part in creating the sequence will be considered
in greater detail below, an account of his invention of words as an aid
to memorizing the elaborate melody of the _alleluia_ trope. Whether
Notker was the first to see the value of this device and to employ it,
is unknown.[17] As a theory of origin it has always been popular, being
held by Frere and many others. For the present it may be acknowledged
that it is a reasonable theory for, of course, only the choir leader had
a musical codex to refer to and the musical ability of the average monk
was unequal to the difficulties of memorization by ear alone. Moreover,
this theory can always be accepted with others, although it seems
inadequate by itself.
A second explanation of origin arises from the possibility that sequence
poetry originated in the imitation of Greek hymn models. The statement
has been made definitely that sequence poetry shows the transference of
the Byzantine structure of hymnody to Latin church poetry, especially
Notker’s.[18] With every circumstance favoring such a transfer it is
amazing that the Franks who heard so much of Greek hymns and could have
translated them into Latin and sung them to the same tunes, evidently
did nothing of the kind. Some other explanation of similarity must be
found. Metrical parallelism, which is characteristic of the Latin
sequence and contemporary Greek hymns, in Gastoué’s opinion, can be
accounted for only by reference to Hebrew poetry as the ultimate
inspiration of liturgical poetry.[19] Thus a Byzantine theory of origin
breaks down when metrical sources are subjected to closer scrutiny.
After all, the sequence is unknown in the Byzantine ritual and therefore
the Byzantine influence could never have been direct.
A third theory emphasizes the metrical form of the _alleluia_ melody as
the determining factor in creating a new poetical rhythm.[20] Here, the
desire to create fitting expressions of praise is not explained so much
as the form in which the praises are cast. Von Winterfeld thought that
rhythmical prose was inseparable from the liturgical music which had
already been composed, just as the Greek chorus and the Wagnerian music
drama found their complement in a dignified and sonorous prose
rhythm.[21] This theory may well be called the liturgical. It is most
significant for the lyrical movement in general since a new metrical
form is created differing from the Ambrosian meter or the revived
classical meters popular among Carolingian poets. The lyric is born
again, as Meyer expresses it, in the music of the church.[22] A poem
arises consisting of a series of parallel strophes with introduction and
conclusion, a lyric counterpart to the musical phrases of the
_sequentia_.
II. Sequences of the German School
The importance played by St. Gall in the development of the sequence has
given rise to the theory that it originated there. Present-day opinion,
as indicated above, concedes that sequences arose in France and that St.
Gall is not a place of origin but like St. Martial, a prominent center
for their composition and diffusion. Other centers were Metz, Murbach,
Fulda, Echternach, Kremünster and St. Florian. Reichenau, too, was
important in music and in the spread of sequence poetry.[23]
Notker Balbulus, (840?-912), was largely responsible for the enviable
reputation enjoyed by St. Gall. Born in Switzerland, Notker had entered
the Benedictine monastery at St. Gall as a child to be educated and
there he continued as a member of the Order until his death. A pupil and
later a teacher of the music school in the period of Louis the Pious and
Louis the German, he shared the life of the Abbey during the height of
its reputation, when its doors were open to travelers from every land
and every rank of society. Notker himself tells of the refugee from the
French monastery of Jumièges who brought with him his famous
Antiphonary. Tradition has it that Notker composed words to fit the
forms of the _alleluia-iubilus_, note for note, already in use in his
monastery, and thus originated the sequence, finding his inspiration,
not in the Ambrosian hymns but in the liturgy.[24] The Jumièges
Antiphonary reached St. Gall about 860, by which time _prosae_ were
already known in France. There is evidence, moreover, from manuscripts,
that texts existed before Notker’s time in St. Gall. He is not their
first composer nor are the sequences emanating from St. Gall necessarily
all Notker’s work. “Notkerian” means for sequences what “Ambrosian”
means for hymns.
The problem of the authentic Notkerian sequences was subjected to
critical study and variously solved by Schubiger in 1858, Wilmanns in
1872, and Werner in 1901. More recent students have re-examined the
evidence and expressed their critical opinions as to Notker’s poetical
and musical prestige: Singer in 1922, Van Doren in 1925 and Clark in
1926. Of more than 100 sequences attributed to Notker, 47 were judged to
be authentic and edited in volume 53 of the _Analecta Hymnica_. Notker’s
ability as a musician appears to be a matter of controversy. A new
review of the Notkerian problem and its literature has been offered by
the Swiss scholar, Wolfram von den Steinen, together with an edition of
the sequences of the St. Gall school.[25] What scholars in general have
taken away from Notker with one hand they return with the other, for if
not an originator he is conceded to be the leading agent in introducing
the sequence into Germany and setting a standard for this type of poetry
which included from Notker’s pen a notable group of sequences for the
festivals of the whole year. His sequence for Pentecost is
representative of the achievements of the German school.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XI. _Sancti spiritus adsit nobis gratia_, “The
grace of the Holy Ghost be present with us.”)
It is not surprising that scholars interested in the theory of Greek
influence upon sequence poetry should seek confirmation of their views
in Notker’s work. There is a majestic quality and a vigorous resounding
praise in these poems which has been thought a reflection of Byzantine
hymns. Reference has already been made to the Byzantine strophic system
and its probable influence upon Notker’s poetical technique. When one
considers that the monastery of St. Gall was always a port of call for
refugees and travelers from the east and in the preceding century may
have harbored many of them, it is reasonable to suppose that Notker was
acquainted with contemporary Greek hymnody. Whatever may be the
explanation of the metrical system employed by Notker, he undoubtedly
named his melodies in such a way as to suggest a Greek
identification.[26]
There remains another line of research, which is relatively unimportant,
yet should be noted when the question of Greek influence is raised. It
has been stated that Greek words are used in Latin sequences, thereby
proving contact with Greek-speaking contemporaries on the part of their
authors, or with Greek literary sources. Whenever this test is applied
to any medieval writing produced by churchmen it should not be forgotten
that the Vulgate was the one great continuous source, inspiration and
standard of the Latin language as employed in the Middle Ages.
Throughout the period, all Latin hymns which include a narrative element
or refer in any other way to biblical statements are greatly indebted to
the Vulgate. A considerable number of Greek words, naturally, appear in
the Vulgate. Applying the criterion of Greek words to Notker’s
sequences, one reaches no definitive results whatever. In the forty-one
sequences attributed to Notker by Wilmanns, some seven Greek words
appear which are not in the Vulgate.[27] If this proves anything in
Notker’s case, it is significant only in connection with other evidence
from Greek originals which has not been advanced.
Having considered the separate development of the musical and poetical
aspects of the sequence, as far as they can be sundered, it remains to
view certain factors which may have affected that development but have
not as yet been stated.
The history of medieval music, quite apart from the creation of the
_iubilus_ and the _sequentia_, should not be overlooked by the student
who is trying to understand liturgical music in this general period.
Perhaps during the eighth and certainly from the ninth century,
polyphonic and harmonic forms began to appear. New melodies for
sequences were in demand and were produced, which in turn were
influenced by popular and secular music, with an interaction of words
and music taking place, sometimes with words, sometimes with music
leading the way.[28] The history of the sequence, when complete, will
owe much to the studies of medieval music now in progress by
musicologists, some of whose conclusions have been noted above. The
history of musical instruments is relevant here but in any case it must
always be remembered that the church possessed the musical notation and
was able to dominate the field.
If the course of secular and ecclesiastical music accompanying the
sequence remains uncertain, so are the currents of medieval religious
and secular verse in Latin still uncharted. Which is the original
stream? Latin secular poetry existed contemporary with the early
sequence, the secular form of which was known as a _modus_,[29] which,
like the sequence, was inseparable from its musical accompaniment for
the minstrel both sang and played his unrhymed lay. Some have taken the
extreme point of view of the part played by secular influence and have
regarded the sequence as a popular lyric in worship, perhaps even a
_Volkslied_.[30] But the question as to the predominance of influence
whether religious or secular, remains open.
The argument for influence from vernacular verse upon the sequence is
equally weak. Prior to the ninth century vernacular lyrics in the
Germanic tongues are so rare as to be valueless in this discussion.
Celtic lyrics from the seventh and eighth centuries are also rare. It is
possible that they were known to Celtic teachers on the continent but
too much should not be assumed from this possibility or from the fact
that the oldest form of Celtic lyric exhibits rhythmic parallelism.[31]
French, Spanish and early English vernacular lyrics appear too late to
be significant in the problem of origins. In any case, the question
hinges upon metrical technique which can be adequately explained without
recourse to vernacular lyrics, which, insofar as they do exist, may be
regarded as themselves imitations of earlier Latin forms.
The evidence offered by secular lyrics, Latin or vernacular, in the
early Middles Ages points to an outstanding growth from the sequence
rather than a creative source for the sequence. As a matter of fact the
sequence breaks away from the church and itself becomes secular, as the
history of poetry in the later Middle Ages bears witness.
The above presentation of what is known as to the origin of the sequence
can scarcely be satisfactory to the scientific historian of medieval
culture. Full of inconvenient gaps and baffling inconsistencies the
evidence remains totally inadequate. One conclusion alone may be
advanced and that tentatively; the sequence appears to have been created
wholly within the liturgy of the mass. The _troparium_ or _tropary_,
later the gradual and missal contained the sequences for the annual
feasts just as the _hymnarium_ or _hymnary_, later the breviary had
contained the hymn cycles of the offices.
The appearance of the sequence in the history of medieval hymnody was an
episode of the greatest importance not only in the evolution of Latin
religious and secular poetry but in their vernacular counterparts. In
order to understand the extraordinary popularity and wide diffusion of
the sequence it must be emphasized that it is not just another hymn, but
an ornament to the mass, individually created for each and every
festival with a particular theme in mind. The seasons of Advent,
Nativity, the Passion, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, the Virgin
festivals of the Nativity, Annunciation, Visitation, Purification and
Assumption, the feasts of the Apostles and other biblical Saints, the
Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins formed a great series which challenged
the finest efforts of the clerical poets. Herein lies the essential
interest of this hymnody. The original Latin hymn was associated with
daily secular worship and then with the canonical hours of the
monastery. The sequence was associated with the celebration of the
divine sacrifice.
As a closing illustration for this chapter the Alleluiatic sequence has
been selected. Based upon the canticle, _Benedicite omnia opera_, and
often attributed to Notker, this superb sequence reaches a height of
expression comparable to the noblest hymns of the ninth century revival.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XII. _Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc Alleluia_,
“The strain upraise of joy and praise.”)
CHAPTER FIVE
Late Middle Ages: Hymns and Sequences
Beginning with the twelfth century the large number of new hymns and
sequences produced point to a degree of creative activity that continued
through the High Middle Ages. A recent historian of medieval literature,
De Ghellinck, sees the religious poetry of the twelfth century rivalling
the secular, and points out that ten thousand specimens of every type of
religious verse, from 1060 to 1220, are edited in the _Analecta
Hymnica_.[1] Maurice Hélin, whose attractive volume is available in
English translation, considers the poetic product of the twelfth century
the peak of Latin poetry and “its most original contribution to the
intellectual patrimony of the west.”[2]
It is easier to repeat such a statement than to present acceptably the
relevant evidence in the field with which this chapter is concerned. One
might expect a larger proportion of known authors but anonymity remains
the rule. The exceptions command recognition among the most notable
writers of hymns and sequences in any period of their production.
I. Sequences of the French School
The sequence, originally a product of France, already perfected as a
poetical form by Notker and the German school of ecclesiastical hymn
writers, attained a greater influence and popularity under Adam of St.
Victor. In 1130 Adam entered the Augustinian Abbey of St. Victor on the
outskirts of Paris and there he remained until his death. Whether a
native of France or England is unknown. Like Notker, he followed in his
poetic themes the annual festivals. To him have been attributed more
than 100 sequences which appear in the manuscripts of St. Victor. They
were published first by Leon Gautier in 1858 and in the later nineteenth
century were subjected to critical analysis by Misset who regarded 45
sequences as authentic.[3] Blume, who edited the Victorine sequences in
volumes 54 and 55 of the _Analecta Hymnica_, attributed 48 to Adam’s
authorship.
Adam’s poetical concepts are centered in the mystical interpretation of
biblical narratives and of Christian theology as it was taught in the
schools of Paris. Hugh and Richard of St. Victor were his contemporaries
but Adam was poet as well as theologian. Praise was to him an essential
harmony of voice and life. His verse departed from the earlier prose
rhythms of the German poets and was cast in a metrical form already
popularized in the hymn. A group of rhymed trochaic lines of eight
syllables with a caesura after the fourth syllable at the end of a word,
closes with a seven syllable line. This scheme with its many variants
characterizes the work of Adam and his imitators in countless Latin and
later, vernacular lyrics. Adam’s sequence for the Feast of St. Stephen
has been selected as illustrative of his finest work.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XIII. _Heri mundus exultavit_, “Yesterday with
exultation.”)
To appreciate fully the function of the sequence in worship at this time
as well as its appeal to popular imagination, one should isolate a
single theme for more intimate enjoyment. For this purpose, the
sequences written for the five feasts of the Virgin are best suited.
While manifold saints were honored in the hymnology of the day, the
veneration of the Virgin reached at this time, its pinnacle of
expression. Notker had provided sequences for her Nativity, Purification
and Assumption. Adam of St. Victor, poet of the Virgin, drew upon all
the resources of medieval symbolism in his _Salve, redemptoris mater_,
“Hail, mother of the Redeemer,” a masterpiece of medieval religious
verse. Clerical poets everywhere met the challenge of his example. The
result was indicative not only of their devotion and their poetic skill
which was at times indifferent, but of the actual use of the Virgin
sequences in the numerous feasts which honored her and their familiarity
to wide congregations of clergy and laity.
During this period great sequence writers appeared, some known and
distinguished, the majority anonymous. To the latter group belongs the
author of the Easter sequence, _Victimae paschali laudes_, “Christians,
to the Paschal Victim,” which represents the transition between the
Notkerian and Victorine styles. The growing relationship between Latin
hymnology and the arts becomes obvious in this sequence which was of
importance in building the liturgical drama for Easter. The dialogue
embedded in the poem,
“Speak, Mary, declaring
What thou sawest wayfaring?”
and her reply, ending
“Yea, Christ my hope is arisen:
To Galilee he goes before you.”
contributed, with other sources, to the fully developed Easter Play.
The so-called Golden Sequence for Pentecost, _Veni sancte spiritus_,
“Come, thou Holy Spirit, come,”[4] also of undetermined authorship,
attained perhaps the greatest prestige, having now been heard in
Christian worship for more than eight hundred years.
The activities of the French school are largely responsible for the
popularity of sequences in the twelfth century and for their
multiplication in every part of western Europe. Other factors played a
part. Just as the Latin hymn can best be understood in the historical
setting of the late Roman Empire or of the early Germanic kingdoms, so
the development of the sequence must be interpreted in connection with
the social and cultural environment of the age. The universities,
notably that of Paris, were dominating intellectual life. Economic
opportunity offered by the revival and expansion of craftsmanship,
commerce, urban life and geographical knowledge resembled the
achievement of Roman days. The European centralized states had emerged
and were assuming the national features which mark them today. The
modern languages of Europe were highly developed in their literary
treasures and in everyday speech. Under reforming popes such as Innocent
III, the church was entering an era of unity and spiritual renewal. Side
by side with the reformed Benedictine Order, the Augustinian canons with
their ancient prestige, the Franciscan, Dominican and other religious
orders were taking their part in the work for the regeneration of
society and the triumph of the Faith. Pilgrimages and crusades were in
vogue for two hundred years from 1095. The hymnody of the church took on
new vitality in an era of European awakening.
II. Later Hymns
Although the sequence had apparently occupied the center of attention,
the writing of office and festival hymns had never been interrupted and
certainly had never ceased. Gathering up the sources after the period of
ninth century influence described in Chapter Three, one pauses at the
verse of Peter Damian, (988-1072), Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Superior
of the monks of the Holy Cross. His theme was the joys of paradise in
the hymn _Ad perennis vitae fontem_, “To the fount of life eternal,” a
topic about which a distinguished hymnody was ultimately created.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XIV. _Ad perennis vitae fontem_, “To the fount
of life eternal.”)
Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres (d. 1028), is best known for his Easter
hymn, _Chorus novae Ierusalem_, “The chorus of the New Jerusalem,”[5] in
which the militant ideal in its knightly form finds expression as the
warriors of the faith acclaim the victory of their royal and divine
leader.
In the twelfth century, a complete new hymnary in all its parts was
written by Abelard, (1079-1142), for the Convent of the Paraclete of
which Heloise was the abbess.[6] A collection of 91 hymns, it has never
been highly praised by critics, yet it has provided the hymn, _O quanta
qualia_, “How mighty are the Sabbaths,” in praise of the Sabbath and the
Good Friday hymn, _Solus ad victimam procedis, Domine_, “Alone to
sacrifice Thou goest, Lord,” both of which have found a place in recent
hymnals. Helen Waddell’s translations of the two illustrate modern
renderings at their best. The same century saw the achievement of
Bernard of Cluny or Morlaix, (fl. 1122), whose long poem, _De contemptu
mundi_ furnished the selections on the heavenly country, _Hora
novissima_, popularized by the translations of John Mason Neale. Perhaps
the best-known of these, _Urbs Sion aurea_, “Jerusalem the Golden,” in
its English rendering has attained a vernacular status independently of
its Latin original. The great anonymous hymn, _Jesu dulcis memoria_,
“Jesu, the very thought of Thee,” is also of the twelfth century. Its
authorship has been variously ascribed but never certainly determined.
The thirteenth century was marked by the rise of hymn writing in the new
religious orders founded by St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic. The
Franciscan Bonaventura (1221-74), wrote _Recordare sanctae crucis_, “Be
mindful of the Holy Cross,” on the theme of the Cross. To read this hymn
side by side with the _Vexilla regis prodeunt_ of Fortunatus, is to
apprehend more fully the increasing subjectivity of the Latin hymn in
500 years of its history. The passion of Christ is, moreover, a favorite
theme and object of devotion of the friars, ever present to their
thinking. Thomas Aquinas, (1227-74), greatest of the Dominicans, wrote
the hymns for the Feast of Corpus Christi, established by Pope Urban IV
in 1265. Of these, _Pange lingua, gloriosi corporis mysterium_, “Sing my
tongue, the Saviour’s glory,”[7] modeled after the form of the _Pange
lingua_ of Fortunatus, is in its subject matter a poetic version of the
mystical subtleties implicit in the dogma of the feast. John Peckham,
Archbishop of Canterbury, (1240-92), wrote _Ave vivens hostia_, “Hail,
true Victim,” a fine hymn upon the same theme which suggests the
inspiration of Aquinas.
III. Later Sequences
From the sequences of the later Middle Ages only a few have gained
eminence but in certain cases as high a place as any in the whole range
of their composition. Thomas Aquinas shows himself master of the
sequence as well as the hymn in his _Lauda Sion Salvatorem_, “Praise, O
Sion, praise thy Saviour,” a model of the Victorine technique.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XV. _Lauda Sion Salvatorem_, “Praise, O Sion,
praise thy Saviour.”)
_Dies irae_, “Day of wrath,” most majestic of all sequences, universally
acknowledged as the greatest achievement of Latin hymnology, was
probably written by the Franciscan Thomas of Celano. It was originally
used at Advent, later for All Souls’ Day and for requiem masses. The
Judgment theme is obviously inspired by the words of the Prophet
Zephaniah (1:15) from which the opening line _Dies irae, dies illa_ is
taken. A special literature, together with a multitude of translations,
has grown up around this hymn which deserves consideration impossible
here. It should be read not only with reference to its biblical sources
but with the great Judgment portals of the medieval cathedrals in mind,
since the sculpture and literature of the age here find a meeting
place.[8] No less significant for its interpretation is the prevalence
of the Black Death in the ages which produced it.[9] The thought of a
period in which pain and death were so tragically familiar and before
which the medieval man stood helpless, is faithfully reflected in
contemporary hymns.
The lament in its poetic form is associated with the Marian hymnology of
the fourteenth century. The _Stabat mater dolorosa_, “By the Cross her
vigil keeping,”[10] its finest expression, like the _Dies irae_, needs
little comment in these pages.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XVI. _Stabat mater dolorosa_, “By the Cross her
vigil keeping.”)
In this period it seems, at least to the present writer, that the
Italian-born poets of the religious lyric come into their rightful
heritage. The poets of England and of the French, German and
Spanish-speaking lands had at one time or another held the palm in the
field of hymnody. At the very moment, so to speak, when the genius of
Dante and Petrarch had established the fame of Italian letters, the
Christian hymn found new spokesmen in a literary medium which had
originated in the same environment a thousand years before.
What has already been said of the multiplication of new feasts as the
medieval ages progressed, is true in an even greater degree in the later
centuries. The Feast of Corpus Christi is only one of many which marked
this period of religious devotion, and incidentally required new
sequences. If the collection of liturgical proses edited by Daniel in
his _Thesaurus Hymnologicus_ and reprinted in volumes 54 and 55 of the
_Analecta Hymnica_ be accepted as a guide, the new demands become clear.
From the period of Adam of St. Victor, 174 feasts were furnished with
sequences, many times over in the case of the more important festivals.
The actual liturgical collections from which the _Analecta Hymnica_ was
compiled constitute a more specific source of information. If the
attention of the student is fixed upon the sequences used in well-known
missals and troparies from the thirteenth century and later, in the
leading ecclesiastical centers of Europe, a wealth of material is
revealed. Many of these sequences in the great collections are
unfamiliar to the modern student, some have never been translated into
English, but as a whole they are truly representative of this body of
poetry in the period of its greatest interest. A tropary of St. Martial
of the thirteenth century contains an anonymous Easter sequence, _Morte
Christi celebrata_ (_A. H._ 8. 33), “Christ’s passion now is o’er,”[11]
which bears comparison with the better-known sequences which have been
named above.
IV. Liturgical Collections
To determine the actual usage of the hymn or sequence rather than its
mere existence as a specimen of religious verse, the liturgical
collection is indispensable. The old hymnaries and psalters and other
books used in the offices were examined by liturgists of the period who
compiled the breviaries of the later Middle Ages. Working under
episcopal or monastic authority they subjected the hymnic material at
their disposal to a selective process which necessarily discarded many
hymns in favor of those rendered sacred by their inclusion in the old
cycles, or of hymns of recognized merit. The Mozarabic Breviary had been
compiled and its hymns determined by this process in an earlier century.
After the re-conquest of the Spanish peninsula and the introduction of
the Roman Rite in 1089, a version of the Roman Breviary was introduced.
Episcopal centers in England, such as Hereford, York and primarily
Salisbury, compiled their service books and developed them continuously
to the close of the Middle Ages. The process was repeated throughout
Christian Europe.
From the troparies and local collections of sequences the selections for
the gradual and missal were made, just as the hymns had been for the
breviary. These liturgical sources offer to the modern student the range
of medieval hymnody at its best. The episcopal rites are, perhaps, more
official and authoritative in their selection of hymns and sequences but
the monastic rites often reveal the legends of local saints or the more
intimate flavor of traditional piety. It should be understood that in
countries where the Roman Rite prevailed there was no departure from its
authority in the matter of hymnody. At the same time the greatest
latitude was observable. A fine illustration is provided by the books of
the Rite of Salisbury, England, or the Sarum Rite, which were compiled
and developed by great liturgists from the time of Bishop Osmund in the
eleventh century to the close of the Middle Ages. The Sarum Breviary
contains 119 hymns, 25 of which were written after 1100 and the Missal
contains 101 sequences, 54 of which were written about 1100.[12] The
figures are revealing in the case of hymns, of the influence of the
older cycles and in the case of sequences, of the multiplication of
feasts in the later centuries of the Middle Ages.
The Processional book as a bearer of hymns will be treated in the
following chapter. It remains here, to mention the Books of Hours or
medieval Primers which also contained their quota of hymns. The _Horae_
may be defined as a series of devotions, at first additional to the
Seven Hours of the daily office but in the twelfth century elaborated in
a separate book. Specifically the additions consisted of the penitential
psalms, the Office of the Dead, the Cursus of All Saints, that of the
Holy Cross, and that of the Blessed Virgin. Even before its separation
from the Canonical Hours, the Cursus of the Blessed Virgin had assumed
an importance which gave to the new collection its characteristic title
of _Horae_ or _Hours of the Blessed Virgin Mary_. In the fourteenth
century the single volume came to be known in England as _Primarius
Liber_ or _Primarium_ from which the more familiar name Prymer or Primer
is derived.[13] Its popularity may be judged by the fact that 265
printed editions were later known in England and 1582 on the
continent.[14] Hymns are interspersed throughout the _Horae_. In the
York Hours there are eighteen hymns and sequences of varied periods of
which thirteen are centered in devotion to the Virgin.[15] In other
words, the hymns which were chosen for these books of popular devotion
are representative of later medieval favorites in hymnody, indicating to
what extent the older hymns were known and loved and to what extent
later poems had been accepted by lay folk as well as clergy. The _Horae_
are primarily valuable as a source for the later Marian hymns upon the
themes of the Joys and of the Sorrows of the Virgin. The appearance of
the beloved _Stabat mater dolorosa_, without doubt the finest expression
of the poetry of sorrow, bears witness to the discriminative process by
which the _Horae_ were compiled. It seems remarkable that the liturgists
of the later period, in which the Latin hymn was beginning to show signs
of deterioration, were able to skirt as successfully as they did, the
limits of trashy sentimentality and worse poetry which were passing
current under the name of hymnody.
To those who are interested in the relations between literature and the
fine arts an examination of the Virgin hymns, as of the _Dies irae_,
will yield similar interrelations. The hymns which were written from the
twelfth century onwards upon the Virgin theme may be closely correlated
with the sculptured forms which portray the Mother apart from the Son in
her Sorrows and more particularly in her Joys, laden with her
distinctive honors and regnant as the Queen of Heaven.
V. Influences affecting Hymnody
Once the typical hymns and sequences of the later period have been
reviewed, it remains to trace the influences operating from the
contemporary environment upon their evolution. The problem of possible
influence of an ultimately oriental origin has already arisen in
connection with earlier hymns. It has been considered in the relation of
Byzantine culture to the origin of the sequence, and also in the form of
Arabian influence upon the Mozarabic hymnody. In both fields the
evidence is tenuous and especially in the latter where the imprint of
Arabian cultural forms would seem to be most probable. In the centuries
which produced the troubadours, the problem takes the form of a possible
indirect influence from Arabian origins through the Provençal singers
upon the evolution of the sequence.[16] It is true that the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries boasted at least four hundred troubadours whose
poetry is extant. The names of others are known but not their poems. As
the popularity of their songs is unquestioned, an appreciable affect
upon religious lyrics might be presumed. Granted that the influence of
Arabian poetry may be demonstrated upon the metrical aspects of
troubadour lyrics, it must still be demonstrated that the impact of the
latter was felt upon the Latin hymn. Future studies may throw light upon
these problems of medieval literature where obscurity now prevails.
Metrical similarities undoubtedly exist between Arabian and Latin verse,
as already illustrated in the field of late Mozarabic hymns. Perhaps the
most convincing evidence, aside from these, is found in processional
hymns, the subject of a later chapter.
Much more obvious and one distinctly to be traced is the all-pervading
influence of the new religious orders upon medieval society and culture
in general. Hymn writers belonging, as cited above, to the Franciscan,
Dominican and other orders of friars, to say nothing of the Cistercians,
played a leading role among contemporary poets; their names and themes
have already been mentioned. Many others must be numbered with the
anonymous majority. The veneration of the Virgin reflected so faithfully
in contemporary hymns may be largely attributed to their devotion. As
itinerant preachers, moreover, the friars translated hymns into the
vernacular and brought them directly to their hearers, thus imparting
the lessons of faith and morals.[17] It might be asserted, at least
tentatively, that the friars were responsible for one of the earliest
attempts to bridge the gap between the ritual and the popular use of
hymns.
A less tangible influence was at work emanating from schoolmen. This was
the age of the universities in which thousands of students were pursuing
the studies of theology, law and medicine. Early theological discussion
in the schools of Paris, prior to the founding of the universities, is
implicit in the sequences of Adam of St. Victor. Later, Thomas Aquinas,
Professor of Theology at the University of Paris, created a poetical
counterpart in his hymns, to the prose exposition of dogma. No one else
reached his stature in this particular but hundreds of European clerics
having theological degrees or a partial preparation for them, were
active in the church and in secular life. It is only fair to suppose
that they must be included in the great anonymous group which assisted
in making that unique contribution to medieval literature which was
preserved in contemporary liturgical collections. Without the
university-trained cleric how is it explicable that in the very age in
which the vernacular languages came to their full development in speech
and in literature, Latin religious verse was at a peak of expression? In
the High Middle Ages the alumni of the great universities were
influential in every phase of society. It is conceivable, if not
demonstrable, that the clerics among their ranks played an important
although hitherto unrecognized role in the evolution of Latin hymnody.
Contemporary pilgrimages take the student far afield from the centers of
learning. The crusading enterprise of two centuries which carried the
knightly companies of Europe and their entourage to the East was a
pilgrimage of continental proportions. Local shrines favored by pilgrims
abounded in the West from Canterbury and Walsingham to Campostella. What
effect, if any, had this wave of religious zeal or of adventurous
self-seeking upon the hymnology of the age? We know that the familiar
Latin hymns of the breviary were sung by the clerics who conducted the
services of religion in the crusading armies. We possess the texts of a
variety of vernacular hymns and songs heard among the wandering bands
who traversed the highways of Europe or traveled by sea to distant
shrines. We are told of the singing of Latin hymns at the destination of
pilgrimage but their texts are rare. A formal collection of Latin hymns
associated with the shrine of St. James of Campostella, the _Carmina
Campostellana_, has been edited in the seventeenth volume of the
_Analecta Hymnica_. As might be supposed, they voice the praises of St.
James, _Ad honorem regis summi_, “To the honor of the King,” (_A. H._
17. 210) being a favorite in both Latin and vernacular versions.[18] As
a matter of fact, the hymnody of pilgrimage must have been largely
patronal, a conclusion supported by existing Latin texts. Unfortunately
we possess no great body of Latin hymns arising from the religious
impulse which animated the crusader or the devotee of local shrines. It
is possible, however, that the multiplication of hymns for saints at
this time may be attributed in part to the multiplication of shrines of
pilgrimage. If true, an influence is seen at work, which, from the time
when Ambrose built a church in Milan to receive the relics of St.
Gervasius and St. Protasius and wrote a hymn in their honor, never
ceased to operate in the intervening centuries.[19]
With the pilgrim we come face to face with the layman and are once more
confronted with the question of lay participation in the singing of
Latin hymns, which hinges upon the further question of the degree to
which the layman could sing or even understand the Latin hymn, from the
twelfth century onward. The pious injunctions of Alexander of Hales and
Henricus de Gorichen (15th C.) to sing hymns, merely repeat a dictum of
St. Apollonius regarding the observance of the Lord’s Day in the second
century and must not be taken too seriously by the modern student.[20]
It is indeed slight evidence for the singing of Latin hymns by the
laity. The problem is in reality linguistic and revolves about the
question of who was acquainted with Latin at this time. Setting aside
the clergy in their numerous ranks, who are often said to have had the
complete monopoly of the hymn in an age when congregational singing was
unknown, one must consider the remaining classes of society from the
point of view of contemporary education.
Beginning with the university it should be recalled that the text books
and other sources of information were in Latin and that Latin was the
medium of instruction. In this respect the aspirant for a degree in law
or medicine was on a par with the would-be clergyman. Many students took
degrees in two and occasionally in all three disciplines, and the
majority were destined for the church if only in minor orders. On the
other hand, it is certain that, as in our own day, a large number of
students never attained any degree although they had the Latin
qualification. In any case, the lay alumnus or former student of the
universities, with a Latin training, was a familiar figure in secular
affairs.
The degree and extent of elementary and secondary education upon which
the university instruction was necessarily founded, have been the
subject of several recent studies. It seems certain that schools for
children and youth existed from the ninth century onward in cathedral
and other centers and that, as Lynn Thorndike says, “in the period of
developed medieval culture elementary education was fairly wide-spread
and general.”[21] Without entering into the details of this program,
illuminating as they are, we note that the curriculum was founded upon
the Latin language and Latin studies. The contemporary growth of towns
involved an expansion of education which was marked by the appearance of
schools sponsored by municipal authority. The Latin school flourished
everywhere. There is evidence that every social class participated to
some extent in the new education although illiteracy must at the same
time have been common. It seems clear that the layman who had received
these early educational advantages could understand Latin hymns or read
them if the texts were available. Both sexes shared elementary education
and lay women as well as nuns occasionally had access to advanced
instruction. Such considerations as the above presuppose a degree of
familiarity especially with the breviary hymns, on the part of laymen,
even if singing or chanting was restricted to the choirs and clergy.
The university movement was accompanied by the rise of the wandering
scholars and poets whose verses, for example, from the _Carmina Burana_,
are familiar today in translation. Popular entertainers, they sang their
Latin lyrics at ale house doors and in the market places. They must have
been at least partially understood by the populace. Other municipal
entertainment was provided by the religious drama of the times which
made considerable demand upon the Latin resources of the spectator who
had to be somewhat bilingual if he were to enjoy the public presentation
of the mystery plays.
Again, the bilingual or macaronic poetry which sprang up in the period
of rivalry between Latin and the vernacular may be viewed both as a
means and a result of understanding Latin hymns. Macaronic verse was
both secular and religious in its forms, favorite phrases from
well-known Latin hymns often being combined with the vernacular tongue.
The practice might even have spread to the ritual of the Church had it
not been forbidden by ecclesiastical decree.[22] The _cantio_ of the
later medieval centuries and the familiar carol offer a wealth of
evidence that macaronic religious verse was extremely popular. Indeed,
this may have been the earliest manifestation of actual hymn singing on
the part of medieval laymen.
Even if congregational singing was not practiced, the use of Latin hymns
in private devotion is well authenticated. The _Horae_ which were
included in the liturgical collections listed above, were circulated
among laymen from the fourteenth century onward, and often used as text
books or Primers from which children were taught to read. The variant
title, _Lay Folks Prayer Book_, also bespeaks its popular availability.
While it would be unsound to infer a universal knowledge of Latin
hymnody among the laity of Europe upon any or all of the evidence here
assembled, it is logical to suppose that this treasury of verse lay
within the boundaries of average education and cultural ability.
Combined with the effectiveness of visual means of conveying religious
truths through architecture, sculpture and stained glass, popular
acquaintance with the teachings of Christian hymnody must be supposed to
have overflowed the limits of clerical restriction, if indeed, any such
existed.
VI. Characteristics
To close this somewhat rambling account of the Latin hymn and sequence
in the later medieval centuries, which is necessarily discursive even as
the civilization itself was everywhere expanding, the characteristics of
this poetry should be reviewed in comparison with those of earlier Latin
hymns.
An increasing variety of subject matter is first to be noted, to
accompany the diversification of worship brought about by new feasts and
the appearance of new religious agencies. Hymns for the festivals of
saints provide the best illustrations of this tendency which has been
amply treated above.
A marked trend toward the compilation of local liturgical collections
and the differentiation of service books accompanies the unification of
rites in various European lands. This tendency was observed in earlier
centuries, particularly in Spain where the Mozarabic hymnal prevailed.
St. Gall had provided a monastic center of influence in German-speaking
lands in its day. Now, the great diocesan and monastic centers, on a
much larger scale, are furnished with a full complement of ritual books
and guides to hymnody. In England, the Sarum collection achieved great
prominence, acquiring national rather than diocesan proportions.
Within the hymnic poetry itself changes are seen both in form and
spirit. A full development of metrical forms takes place, some of which
had appeared much earlier in isolated examples and were now widely
accepted; others were characteristic of late medieval literary art. The
meters and rhythm of sequence poetry were popularly favored. Subjective
qualities and attitudes which had been infrequent in the earlier hymns
devoted to biblical themes and theological expression are much more
obvious in later hymns. The personal petition and the direct address to
deity and the saints are frequent. It has been suggested above in
considering hymns upon the theme of the Cross, that a comparison of
hymns from the earlier and later groups is instructive. But any of the
great themes may be selected for this purpose, for example, the
Pentecostal theme, with a group of hymns in which the earlier ones are
simple narratives following the biblical account of the descent of the
Holy Spirit; the later ones are exemplified by _Veni, sancte spiritus_,
“Come, Thou Holy Spirit, come,” already cited, in which the Spirit is
addressed and invoked for personal blessings and the sevenfold gifts.
With the waning of the medieval centuries came a characteristic
decadence in the poetical quality of Latin hymns and in their spiritual
vitality. This was true of the sequence and most obvious, perhaps, in
those which were devoted to the praise of the saints. Reference to this
phenomenon will be made in a later chapter in connection with the
possible reason for the loss of religious significance which must be
admitted although deplored by students of the subject.
Finally, one observes that certain hymns of these later centuries rival,
if not surpass, the representative hymns of the first half of the Middle
Ages. Four of the five sequences retained in the present-day Roman
Missal were all selected from this group, namely: _Lauda Sion
Salvatorem_, _Veni sancte spiritus_, _Dies irae_, and _Stabat mater
dolorosa_. Other illustrative hymns and sequences mentioned above prove
to be almost as familiar.
On the contrary, decadent hymns have tended to disappear. Unworthy of
their theme and purpose, a multitude of examples may be unearthed from
their present burial places in the _Analecta Hymnica_ or other
collections by the curious investigator. So far as actual usage is
concerned they have been gradually discarded and forgotten in the
process of time. Similarly those of greater merit have possessed a
survival value sufficient to insure recognition in every succeeding
century.
CHAPTER SIX
Late Middle Ages: Processional Hymns
I. Origins
The procession as a practice of the Christian Church originates in the
triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. All four evangelists record the
event and all four make mention of the hosannas and acclamations of the
people which accompanied it.[1] True, the procession is older than
Christianity and wider in observance. It seems to be a natural impulse
of humanity in all ages and in all lands to make orderly progress from
one place to another for the expression of communal joy or lamentation
or to seek the aid and blessing of supernatural power in the activities
and vicissitudes of life.
Processional ceremonies as they were observed in ancient oriental
civilizations or in the culture of Greece and Rome are not considered
here, except as they may have affected Christian origins. The purpose of
this chapter is to describe the background and setting of processional
forms which, in their evolution, gave rise to a continuity of hymns; to
trace the origin, development and distinguishing features of such
processional hymns in the Middle Ages and to display processional
hymnody in its distinctive character as a separate category of medieval
Latin hymnology.
Prior to the fourth century the record is obscure. Miscellaneous notices
begin to appear in the last quarter of the century. Basil notes a
procession in the form of a litany (c. 375). Ambrose mentions a
procession of monks (c. 388) and also refers to a procession in Rome
honoring Sts. Peter and Paul, in his hymn, _Apostolorum passio_, “The
passion of the Apostles,” (A. H. 50. 17). Chrysostom was active in
organizing processions in Constantinople to offset Arian influence
(390-400).[2] At the same period, 379-388, Aetheria (St. Sylvia of
Aquitania?) made her pilgrimage to the holy places of Palestine,
describing in her journal in detail, the ceremonies enacted in the
worship of the Christian Church at Jerusalem.[3]
Remarkable in all respects, Aetheria’s narrative is obviously written in
a spirit of devotion with eager curiosity and joyful appreciation. She
describes, among other observances, the Hour services, especially the
_lucernare_ when hymns were sung, the Sunday procession to the Anastasis
or Church of the Resurrection which marked the tomb of Jesus and the
procession and rites for the Feasts of the Epiphany, Ypapanti or
Presentation of Christ in the temple, Palm Sunday and Easter.[4] Hymns
in which the laity as well as the clergy participated are mentioned in
connection with these ceremonies but no specific hymn is named. The
immediate purpose of the processions at Jerusalem appears to have been
the enactment of scenes in the life of Jesus in the places where they
occurred, introducing a dramatic element which pervades medieval
processional observances throughout their history.
Aetheria uses the words psalm, antiphon and hymn in connection with the
musical parts of the worship she observed, but not indiscriminately. She
was probably familiar with hymns as they had developed in the fourth
century both in the eastern and western churches. It has been assumed
that the hymn sung at the daily lighting of the candles was _Phos
hilaron_, “O gladsome light.”[5] The hymns she heard at the Good Friday
observance have been tentatively identified as the _Idiomela_ for Good
Friday, traditional in Byzantine ritual.[6] In any case they were true
hymns, perhaps of a metrical, or more probably of a rhythmical type. It
is impossible to identify the processional hymns of which she speaks.
All that can be asserted is that non-scriptural, as well as scriptural
hymns, were sung in the processions at Jerusalem.
In Constantinople, contemporary processions have already been mentioned.
The practice of Jerusalem was also adopted there. In the sixth century
under Justinian, the Feast of Ypapanti was introduced.[7] However, the
history of Byzantine processions must be omitted from this study which
is devoted primarily to the Latin West.
In Rome, the Christian procession had an independent origin, being
derived in part from the memorial honors paid to the Christian martyrs
and in part from the Christianization of pagan ceremonies. When the
period of persecution of Christianity had come to a close and the
triumphant Church was able to assert publicly her influence and
authority at Rome, processions were made as early as the fifth century
to the places where martyrs had suffered. This is the origin of the
later station procession, followed by the celebration of mass in the
various churches where the remains of martyrs removed from the catacombs
were buried. A century earlier in Milan, Ambrose had discovered and
removed the bodies of St. Protasius and of St. Gervasius from their
original burial place to a church newly erected in their honor.[8] Pope
Gregory the Great (590-604) observed the Roman stations and Pope Sergius
(687-701) completed their organization.[9] The processions were
accompanied by the chanting of psalms but there is no record of
non-scriptural hymns. The symbolism of the procession, however, was
enriched by the idea of pilgrimage to a spot made sacred by martyrdom, a
continuing processional motive throughout the Middle Ages.
While the station processions developed in the vicinity of Rome, the
litany processions arose in Gaul. Mametus, the Bishop of Vienne, 474,
inaugurated the _litania minor_ or the public blessing of the fields and
crops in the spring season. In 511, the Council of Orleans ordained the
observance for Gaul, and the Council of Girona, in 517, for Spain. The
_litaniae minores_ or rogations, perpetuate in their intent, processions
of the Roman era. The _litaniae maiores_ which were prescribed by
Gregory the Great, 598, and Leo III (795-816), were of similar origin
and purpose. A _litania septiformis_ was also organized by Gregory on
the occasion of a pestilence at Rome.[10] The _litania maior_ came to be
observed on April 25, St. Mark’s day, and the _litaniae minores_ in the
three days preceding Ascension. Psalms but not hymns in the sense of
non-scriptural compositions were heard in the litanies. The procession
of supplication common alike to pagan and Christian practice is
illustrated in the litanies, a constant motive and a constant observance
in medieval rites.
It seems clear, therefore, that primitive Christian processions in Rome
consisted of stations and litanies. Festival processions were introduced
into the west gradually. Ascension is spoken of as an ancient feast but
there is no specific evidence of its observance before the middle of the
fourth century. The Ascension procession, implied by Aetheria in her
journal, is unknown in Rome at this time.[11] Pope Sergius imported into
Rome the festival procession for Candlemas or the Feast of the
Purification of the Virgin. The Feast of Ypapanti or Presentation,
originally observed in Jerusalem and later adopted in Constantinople, as
noted above, gained in the transfer a new feature. The carrying of
lighted candles, not mentioned by Aetheria, seems to have been added in
Byzantine practice. The words spoken by Simeon of the infant Jesus, “a
light to lighten the Gentiles” (Luke 2. 32) made the symbolic use of
lights almost inevitable. The date of the Feast of the Purification,
February 2, was approximately that of the pagan _Amburbium_ or
_Amburbale_, an early Roman procession of lustration which had taken
place in that month. Possibly the procession for the Feast is
reminiscent of this pagan practice.[12] It might be of interest to
follow in closer detail the origin of the medieval Candlemas, but
attention must be directed to the Candlemas hymns later to be written
and sung in procession at this Feast.
The period of Christian processional origins which may be considered to
close with the seventh century, saw the development of the processions
at Jerusalem, their adoption in Constantinople and the evolution of the
stations and litanies in the west. Festival processions also, were
slowly making their way into the Western Church.[13]
II. Evolution in the Early Middle Ages
That the Latin processional hymn appeared first in Gaul should surprise
no one. It has already been suggested that the hymns among the _Carmina_
of Fortunatus were created in the atmosphere of freedom enjoyed by
Gallic hymn writers in accordance with contemporary canons. Always a
poet of the occasion, Fortunatus wrote three hymns for the reception of
a relic believed to be of the true Cross, which was presented to
Rhadegunda, his patron, by the Byzantine Emperor, Justin II and his wife
Sophia, for the convent at Poitiers. As a final stage in the journey
from Constantinople, the relic was borne in procession from Migné to
Poitiers, accompanied by Euphronius, Bishop of Tours. On this day the
hymn, _Vexilla regis prodeunt_, was first heard.[14] Two others, _Pange
lingua_ and _Crux benedicta_ (see Chapter One) were devoted by
Fortunatus to the same theme of the Holy Cross, although it cannot be
proved that they were sung in the same procession.
The Resurrection hymn, _Tempora florigero rutilant distincta sereno_,
“Season of luminous days, marked bright with the birth of flowers,”
(_Carm._ 3. 9), was originally written for the Easter baptismal rites
celebrated by Felix, Bishop of Nantes (d. 582). It was a poem of 110
lines or 55 elegiac couplets, from which the cento of 28 lines beginning
_Salve festa dies_, “Hail thee, festival day,” was later selected for an
Easter processional.[15]
The metrical models provided by _Pange lingua_ of the trochaic pattern
and _Salve festa dies_, the elegiac, continued to be employed throughout
the Middle Ages for processional hymnody, the elegiac excelling in
popularity. First in the original hymn, then in centos and finally in
imitative verse adapted to a multitude of feasts, _Salve festa dies_ was
never superseded but maintained the influence of Fortunatus for
centuries.
Spain must have known the processional hymn soon after its appearance in
Gaul, perhaps in the seventh century. Here, the Palm Sunday festival
seems to have been the source of inspiration for the procession and
blessing of palms is mentioned by Isidore of Seville as an observance of
his day.[16] Contemporary evidence indicates a similar procession in
Italy.[17] The use of a processional hymn, however, is not as clearly
indicated.
It seems probable that the seventh century hymn, _Magnum salutis
gaudium_ (_A. H._ 51. 73), “O great joy of salvation,” is one of the
earliest to be assigned for Palm Sunday. It is a simple rendering in the
Ambrosian style, of the events recounted in the biblical narrative.[18]
In the early centuries when the concept of a specific processional hymn
for a particular festival was almost unheard of, a familiar hymn from
the old hymnals might be used in the new ceremonies. It has been
suggested that _Magnum salutis gaudium_ was known to Theodulphus, who in
the ninth century wrote the Palm Sunday processional hymn, _Gloria laus
et honor_, for all the ages.
Processions, thus far, have been thought of chiefly, as wholly or in
part outside the church edifice. Processions within the edifice were
also frequently observed. A procession of the clergy, in connection with
which psalms and antiphons were sung, preceded the Sunday high mass;
another took place as the Gospel codex was carried to its place for
reading. Other ceremonies within the church, aside from the liturgy
proper, were sometimes accompanied by hymns.[19]
Perhaps the earliest hymn in use at a special ceremony, once more a
selection from the hymnal, was _Audi, iudex mortuorum_ (_A. H._ 51. 80),
“Hear Thou Judge of the dead,” sung on Holy Thursday at the consecration
of the chrism.[20] The words _O redemptor, sume carmen temet
concinentium_, “O Redeemer, accept the hymn of Thy people magnifying
Thee,”[21] formed a refrain, a metrical feature which came to be the
unmistakable mark of the processional hymn.
In this early period from the sixth to the tenth century, a new idea and
a new practice came into being, the use of hymns apart from those of the
canonical hours and the sequences of the mass. The ninth century revival
of hymnody in all its branches was taking place in western Europe just
as this period came to a close, in connection with which the
processional hymn was inevitably affected as the office hymn and the
sequence had been by a fresh inspiration to poetry and worship. The
movement came to fruition at St. Gall where the musical and ceremonial
aspects of that great monastic center were so highly developed, a center
which had contributed so heavily to the Carolingian revival of
literature and the arts.
The French liturgical scholar, Leon Gautier, whose contributions to the
study of medieval hymnology have already been mentioned, was the first
to identify the processional hymn as a trope or liturgical
interpolation. In a study of the St. Gall processional hymns he observed
that they were classified by the name _versus_ which in itself points to
a separate hymnic category. Other earlier hymns used in processions were
there called _versus_. Gautier discovered that musical notation always
appeared with the _versus_, an indication that these hymns were
invariably chanted and he noted that the _versus_, in the manner of the
hymn _O redemptor, sume carmen_, cited above, was without exception,
accompanied by a refrain.[22]
The processional hymns of St. Gall, like the sequences, bore the
characteristic marks of the hymnic group to which they belonged. From
this stage in their evolution they were set apart by their music,
classification and refrain.
The wider circle of Carolingian liturgical interest included hymn
writers other than those of St. Gall: Theodulphus of Orleans, Walafrid
Strabo of Reichenau, Rabanus Maurus of Fulda, Radbert of Corbie, who
with Waldram and Hartmann of St. Gall wrote processional hymns. The
hymns of Theodulphus and of Rabanus Maurus have been considered above.
Other great festivals of the ecclesiastical year and of the saints were
now observed with processional honors for which new hymns were written;
special ceremonies also, were thus recognized. Hartmann wrote the
elegiac hymn _Salve, lacteolo decoratum sanguine festum_ (_A. H._ 50.
251), “Hail festival, graced with the blood of the Innocents,” for the
Feast of the Holy Innocents. The processional hymns of Rabanus Maurus
were heard at Nativity, Easter and possibly the Feast of the
Purification. The dramatic spirit, always present in the true
processional is felt in all these hymns while the refrain reiterates the
message of the feast:
for Easter,
R. Surrexit quia Christus a sepulcro,
Collaetetur homo choro angelorum. (_A. H._ 50. 190)
Since Christ has risen from the tomb,
Let man rejoice with the choir of angels.
for the Nativity,
R. Christo nato, rege magno
totus orbis gaudeat. (_A. H._ 50. 186)
Since Christ is born, the mighty king,
let the whole earth rejoice.
Processional hymns for saints are represented by Radbert’s hymn honoring
St. Gall,
R. Annua, sancte Dei, celebramus festa diei,
Qua, pater, e terris sidera, Galle, petis. (_A. H._ 50. 241)
We celebrate, O Saint of God, our yearly feast on this day
When thou, father Gallus, dost leave the earth for heaven.
To celebrate the life and miracles of a patron saint was frequently the
inspiration of a medieval procession, which, in the case of St. Gall,
passed beyond the precincts of the monastery into the streets of the
town.[23] It is no wonder that the tradition of these processions,
furnished with all the splendor of festival vestments, of robed choirs,
of monastic treasures and sacred banners should have made St. Gall
unique.
The Sunday processions were sometimes accompanied by imposing hymns in
the form of litanies. It should not be forgotten that the ancient
Christian processions were, in great part, of this nature. Waldram,
Hartmann and Radbert wrote such hymns but Hartmann’s was evidently a
favorite, _Summus et omnipotens genitor, qui cuncta creasti_, “Mighty
and omnipotent father, who hast created all things,” with the refrain,
R. Humili prece et sincera devotione
Ad te clamantes semper exaudi nos. (_A. H._ 50. 253)
With humble prayer and pure devotion,
Ever hear us as we cry to Thee.
It seems probable that the custom of singing a hymn in the procession
before the reading of the Gospel originated at St. Gall. Hartmann
provided a beautiful _versus_ for this purpose,
Sacrata libri dogmata
Portantur evangelici. (_A. H._ 50. 250)
The sacred words of the
Gospel are borne.
A _versus_ for the reception of the Eucharist was written by Radbert,
_Laudes omnipotens, ferimus tibi dona colentes_ (_A. H._ 50. 239), “In
reverence, Almighty, we bring our praises as gifts to Thee.” The
Blessing of the Font on Holy Saturday inspired his _Versus ad Descensum
fontis_ (_A. H._ 50. 242-3). Among the ceremonies most characteristic of
medieval piety was that of _Mandatum_ or foot-washing, commemorating the
act of Jesus in washing his disciples’ feet, (_John_ 13; 1-15). The name
“Maundy Thursday” is a modern survival of the ancient terminology.[24]
The hymn associated with this rite appears first in Gaul in the eighth
or ninth century and may have been current in Italy in monastic centers.
The antiphon, _Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est_, “Where charity is and
love, God is there,” is at once the motive and refrain of this hymn,
_Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor_ (_A. H._ 12. 24), “The love of
Christ has united us,” which follows the scriptural account.[25]
The student must turn once more to the great monastic centers of the
Germanic world for processional hymns honoring royalty. Visits of kings
and emperors to St. Gall and other noted monasteries were by no means
uncommon; that colorful processions and demonstrations of loyalty were a
part of their reception cannot be doubted. Walafrid Strabo celebrates
the visit of Lothair to Reichenau with the hymn,
R. Imperator magne, vivas
semper et feliciter. (_A. H._ 50. 176)
Live, O mighty emperor
ever in felicity.
Walafrid Strabo praised Charles, son of Louis the Pious, and Radbert,
the Empress Richgard. Other processionals could be used on the occasion
of the coming of any royal visitor.
Vatican manuscripts offer evidence of contemporary processions in Italy
and Rome, the city of their origin. From this source is derived the
processional hymn _Sancta Maria, quid est?_ (_A. H._ 23. 74), “Sancta
Maria, what meaneth this?” written for the procession which marked the
eve of the Feast of the Assumption, about the year 1000. Specific
directions for the route, the order of precedence and every detail of
the ceremonial are available, while the hymn itself depicts the devotion
and human appeal attending this night time scene in Rome.[26]
III. Evolution in the Later Middle Ages
For the evolution of the processional hymn from this point to the close
of the Middle Ages, we have in addition to hymnic manuscripts, the
service books and manuals devoted to, or including, processional
practice. The _Ritual_ or _Roman Pontifical_ was the earliest to include
directions for processions, an illustration of which has been presented
above in the case of _Sancta Maria, quid est?_ In the course of time,
since so many medieval processions were not thus provided for, the
_Processional_ came into existence, containing the order of processions
for a particular diocese or monastery.[27] The St. Gall _Processionals_,
for instance, are informative as to customs already described above. The
specific name _versus_ gave rise to the title _Versarius_ for a book of
processional hymns.[28]
In addition to the collections, liturgical writers discussed the
procession. Of these, none was more influential than Durandus, Bishop of
Mende, who, about 1286, produced his _Rationale divinorum officiorum_
which among many other liturgical subjects, included processional
rites.[29] Durandus was a leading authority upon ecclesiastical
symbolism. Accordingly, he dwells upon every minute detail of the great
processions for Easter, Ascension, Palm Sunday and the Purification as
well as the Sunday procession and others of lesser importance, ascribing
to each act a wealth of symbolic meaning. Much of this figurative
interpretation is obvious and inherent in the feast to be celebrated but
in other cases he gives full play to his sense of the symbolic, a phase
of contemporary thought already so characteristic of Adam of St. Victor
and other writers on religious themes. Finally he declares that whatever
else is suggested, “the true procession is a progress to the celestial
country.” (_Ipsa vero processio, est via ad coelestem patriam._)[30] If
the fundamental concepts which entered into their origins be reviewed,
medieval processions apparently carried with them the familiar ideas of
supplication, of dramatic representation or of pilgrimage to sacred
places. Durandus reiterates and sublimates these concepts, giving them
an added significance.
The processional manuals, especially of the English rites observed at
Salisbury, York, Canterbury and other cathedral centers, offer
descriptions and sometimes illustrations showing the order and vestments
of the clergy, the position and functions of the choir, the appropriate
acts involved, together with the complete text of the antiphons, psalms,
other scriptural passages, hymns, prayers and rubrics. Turning to the
processional hymns which were rendered in these centuries, one is
impressed by the gradual disappearance of hymns typical of the efforts
of the St. Gall school and its contemporaries. A tremendous vogue of the
original _Salve festa dies_ of Fortunatus which had never been lost
sight of, together with its centos, variants and copies, takes
possession of the field. There were in all, perhaps, from one hundred to
one hundred and fifty true processional hymns in circulation throughout
the whole medieval period, if one enumerates those which are edited in
the _Analecta Hymnica_. One half of these may be considered to be of the
_Salve festa dies_ type while similar elegiac metrical forms are found
in half of the remainder.
What has been said of the cultural background in which the sequence
developed and multiplied is equally true for the processional hymn. The
same influences which created new seasonal feasts and additional feasts
for the saints, produced new processional hymns to accompany them. There
is, however, a great disparity between the number of sequences and
processional hymns that were written. The sequence was regnant in sacred
and secular verse, both in Latin and the vernaculars. Office hymns, too,
far outnumbered processionals. This may be another way of saying that
the office hymns and the sequences had a liturgical function and
setting, while the processional was always extra-liturgical and either
superfluous or purely ornamental from this point of view. The antiphons
and psalms were sufficient to satisfy the essential choral demands of
any procession.
Unfortunately Thomas Aquinas did not include a processional hymn when he
furnished the hymnody for the Feast of Corpus Christi. He could hardly
have envisaged the thousands of Corpus Christi processions throughout
Catholic Christendom which have marked the Feast even to this day. Nor
could he have foreseen that his hymn _Pange lingua gloriosi corporis
mysterium_, written in the tradition of Fortunatus, would be widely
appropriated for that purpose. Other processionals for Corpus Christi
appeared almost at once, especially of the _Salve_ type.
Contemporary devotion to the Virgin Mother and her festivals was felt in
the expansion of the Marian hymnology for processions. The establishment
of St. Osyth in Essex was a center in which new hymns were used for the
Visitation,
Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,
Qua Christi mater visitat Elizabeth. (_A. H._ 11. 51)
Hail thee, festival day, blest day that is hallowed forever,
On which Christ’s mother visits Elizabeth.
and the Assumption,
Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,
Qua fuit assumpta virgo Maria pia. (_A. H._ 11. 55)
Hail thee, festival day, blest day that is hallowed forever,
On which the holy Virgin Mary was assumed.
A lengthy hymn of twenty stanzas for the Feast of the Purification which
had been observed for so many centuries, appears in a twelfth or
thirteenth century manuscript from Kremsmünster, _Laetetur omne
saeculum_ (_A. H._ 4. 54), “Let every age rejoice.” The biblical scene
of the Presentation in the Temple is described and reference is made to
the carrying of lighted candles.
Later medieval practice perpetuated other earlier customs. From the
original station processions at Rome had developed the ceremonies to
celebrate the translation of relics of saints in western European lands.
Pope Callistus II (d. 1124) wrote a processional hymn honoring St. James
of Campostella, _Versus Calixti Papae, cantandi ad processionem sancti
Jacobi in solemnitate passionis ipsius et translationis ejusdem_ (_A.
H._ 17. 194), or _Versus of Pope Callistus, to be sung at the procession
of St. James in the celebration of his passion and translation_. A hymn
for St. Kyneburga (d. 680) commemorated the restoration of her relics to
their original burial place in Peterborough Minster from which they had
been removed during the Danish invasions.[31] (_A. H._ 43. 218)
A procession in which the relics were carried for the veneration of the
worshipers was familiar in many places. Records from St. Gall testify
that St. Magnus was honored with such a procession and an appropriate
hymn of praise (_A. H._ 50. 261). The relics of saints treasured at
Exeter were borne in procession with the singing of a hymn which
mentions their miraculous powers. (_A. H._ 43. 277)
In an era marked by municipal drama and civic display as well as
religious festivals, the pageantry of the procession was understandably
popular. Rome always had its great processions. Accounts are extant of
ceremonies accompanied by hymns, in Tournai, Strasburg, Nuremberg and
other medieval towns, aside from those prescribed by episcopal and
monastic manuals of the day for the great cathedrals and abbeys.
The music to which the processional hymn was sung is, in some cases,
available. The St. Gall manuscripts, as Gautier noted, were furnished
with musical notation. This is occasionally true of later manuscripts,
especially as we enter the closing medieval centuries. The traditional
melodies of certain hymns, like the _Salve festa dies_ and _Gloria laus
et honor_ are known to-day. Musicologists and students of liturgical
music are currently engaged in bringing this music to present-day
knowledge. For example, the hymn used in procession before the reading
of the Gospel appears in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as a
_conductus_ or _conductum_ which, in turn, is related to the
_cantio_.[32] A _conductus_ for the festival of St. James of Campostella
(_A. H._ 17. 199), illustrates the evolution of a minor type of
processional hymn from Hartmann’s solemn _versus_, mentioned above, to
the festive style of the late medieval period. The recent study of the
_conductus_ by Leonard Ellinwood reflects the growing interest of
musicians in these forms, both secular and religious, which preceded the
Renaissance.[33]
To summarize the characteristic marks of the processional hymn which are
constant and quite independent of the date of their appearance, the
student must recall the underlying motives: 1) supplication in the
litanies, 2) re-enactment of biblical scenes and 3) religious
pilgrimage. Respecting usage, the special interest of a ceremony devoted
to a particular occasion is present in processional hymns, additional to
other rites. Lastly, a group of hymns has come into existence, not to be
classified with the more formal categories of the office hymn and the
sequence but dedicated to an extra-liturgical purpose.
As a group, the processional hymns are not well-known or frequently used
in translation with the exception of the ageless hymns of Theodulphus
and especially of Fortunatus whose processionals usurped the medieval
field for over one thousand years and are still current to-day.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XVII. _Salve festa dies_, “Hail thee, festival
day.”)
CHAPTER SEVEN
Influence and Survival of Latin Hymns
I. Late Medieval Influence
From the creation of the Latin hymn in the fourth century by the
earliest writers to the efforts of poets heralding the Renaissance,
Christian hymnody left its imprint upon contemporary verse both secular
and religious. The field of inquiry suggested by this thesis has never
been fully explored although it abounds in fascinating possibilities for
the student of medieval culture. The subject, of course, cannot be
treated within the limits of this chapter but such hints may be offered
as have resulted from a partial study of particular areas or fall within
the bounds of reasonable assumption.
Perhaps the most pervading influence and the simplest to trace is the
metrical. The iambic dimeter of Ambrose, both in its quantitative and in
its rhythmical form, became a standard for poetry of all types,
appearing even in the modern age as the long meter of the metrical
versions of the Psalms. Trochaic verse, initiated in hymns by Hilary,
employed most effectively by Fortunatus and always a favorite, rivalled
the iambic in the vernaculars. As the metrical features of the Victorine
sequence became increasingly popular, they were taken over bodily by
secular poets writing both in Latin and in the modern European
languages. Classical meters fostered by Prudentius and later by the
Carolingian poets showed less vitality as poetical models. The
liturgical hymn and the sequence are of prime importance in their
metrical aspects but the meters of the _piae cantiones_ and other
religious lyrics were also widely appropriated. The origin of rhyme is a
related problem which in the opinion of W. B. Sedgwick “centers around
the Christian hymn.”[1] Numerous publications by scholars who, like
Sedgwick, have spoken with authority, bear witness to the general
linguistic and literary interest attaching to these subjects of
research.
Aside from aspects of meter and rhyme, medieval secular verse in Latin
borrowed generously from the hymn; witness the songs of the wandering
scholars as recorded in the collection edited under the title _Cambridge
Songs_ and also the goliardic poetry of the _Carmina Burana_.[2]
Well-known hymns are frequently parodied and, in general, the liturgical
models are employed to create humorous allusion or pungent satire. The
student song _Gaudeamus igitur_ is a familiar illustration of this
general group.
The adaptation of the sequence to secular purposes resulted in a novel
type of verse, the _modus_, already cited in connection with the origin
of the sequence, illustrated by the _Modus florum_ of which many
examples have been preserved varying in beauty and poetic conceit.
Reference has been made in an earlier chapter to the deeper problems
underlying sequence origins on the poetical side. Discussion among
scholars as to the priority of the religious or secular Latin lyric is
still active.[3] Some would say that popular Latin verse arose by virtue
of the hymnodic influence. Others would posit a vernacular impulse which
eventuated in the Latin lyric both secular and religious.[4]
Apart from the lyric, there are in the general field of Latin verse many
resemblances to hymnic models. The lengthy narrative poems of the
_Peristephanon_ in which Prudentius recounted the sufferings of the
martyrs, St. Laurence, St. Vincent, St. Agnes, St. Eulalia and others,
and celebrated their spiritual victories, have been called hymns. It has
been argued that they were actually sung,[5] in full, upon the festival
days of the saints in question although the praises of St. Vincent, for
example, are expanded to 576 lines, other hymns varying from 66 to 1140
lines. It may have been possible in the more leisurely tempo of medieval
life to render the martyr hymns of Prudentius in their entirety. A far
more provocative suggestion makes them the starting point for the
medieval saints’ legend of which illustrations exist in lengthy Latin
poems and later, in vernacular verse.
The contribution of hymns to the liturgical drama of the Church has been
noted in connection with the sequence, _Victimae paschali laudes_. It is
nowhere contended that the hymn created the drama but that the dramatic
phraseology is often reminiscent of the hymn and that the role of the
singers in the _schola cantorum_ and the choir, as actors in the
liturgical play, becomes significant in connection with the hymnic
origins of these productions within the church.[6]
Finally, an interesting group of Latin poems having an interrelation
with the hymn is illustrated by _O Roma nobilis_, a tenth century lyric
praising the apostles and martyrs of the Eternal City (_A. H._ 51.
219).[7]
The transition from Latin to vernacular languages took place as soon as
the latter were sufficiently developed to produce Christian verse. The
Gospels were rendered into Germanic rhymed verse in the ninth century by
Otfried the Frank who inserted a hymn of ten stanzas as a poetic version
of the opening of St. John’s Gospel. It is written in seven-syllable
couplets with four or six to a stanza.[8] Otfried is said to have been
influenced by Rabanus Maurus and with good reason since the latter was a
recognized leader in mediating Latin patristic and other writings to the
Germanic world of his day.
Otfried was the first of many medieval poets whose religious lyrics in
the vernacular, often revealing the inspiration of the Latin hymn, have
been preserved. Their verse appears in Wackernagel’s great collection in
which he has edited 1448 specimens from the time of Otfried to that of
Hans Sachs.[9]
Celtic churchmen were pioneers among medieval Latin hymnists, their
earliest contribution dating from the sixth century. Religious lyrics in
the Celtic tongue must have been produced and recorded before the Danish
invasions although the destruction of these manuscripts delayed the
compiling of new vernacular collections until the eleventh century. The
hymn _Hymnum dicat turba fratrum_, written in trochaic tetrameter, and
preserved in the Bangor Antiphonary, to which reference has been made in
Chapter One, apparently influenced the metrical system of Celtic poetry.
The metrical pattern used by Otfried, a quatrain of seven-syllable lines
with rhymed couplets, is commonly found.[10] Latin influence is at least
tentatively acknowledged by scholars in the rhyme and stanza structure
of Celtic poetry prior to the eleventh century.[11]
After the creation of the Latin sequence, vernacular poetry is
overwhelmingly affected by this new type of hymn. Germanic poets
followed the leadership of Notker. The Victorine school, rejecting the
strophic system and rhythmic model of the Germans, built the couplet and
rhyme, already existing in hymns, into a characteristic structure which
proved to be easily transferable to vernacular uses. It has been
asserted that the lyric poetry of the Middle Ages, in German, French,
Provençal and English was reborn in this conquest of the vernacular by
the Latin sequence.[12] At the same time, the possible influence of the
vernacular over the Latin must not be ignored. There is a resemblance,
for instance, between the narrative elements of sequences written in
honor of saints and the ballads of secular poetry.[13] Whatever the
conflicting currents may have been in the period of origins, the
smooth-flowing stream of the vernacular religious lyric with its many
tributaries, refreshed the spirit of medieval man and recalled to memory
his religious heritage.
The vitality of this new religious poetry which flourishes in the later
centuries, in which the Latin hymn suffered so marked a deterioration,
suggests that the future of the hymn, like other media of Latin
literature, was to be realized in a new linguistic environment. It was
not the verity but the language that was destined to change.
In order to appreciate the variety and interest of that vernacular lyric
poetry which arose within the sphere of influence of the Latin hymn,
illustrations may be culled from many parts of Europe. _Mary-Verse in
Meistergesang_ is the title chosen by Sister Mary Schroeder for her
study of one aspect of the German lyric.[14] A very large proportion,
perhaps two-thirds of the songs are religious in content, showing to a
degree, their dependence upon hymnal poetry, while nearly one-fourth of
them are devoted to the praise of the Virgin. Occasionally, a Latin
sequence has been freely translated, paraphrased or elaborated.
The Swedish vernacular is represented by the patriotic poem of Bishop
Thomas of Strängnäs, who, in the fourteenth century, wrote in praise of
the national hero, Engelbrekt. Metrical and stanza form are both of the
hymnal type.[15]
The Romance languages afford myriad examples of the sequence form. St.
Martial, near Limoges, already cited as a center in the production of
the sequence, and Paris, the home of the Victorine school, are both
places of origin for vernacular lyrics. A close connection has been
traced between the sequence and the French romantic lyric, especially
the _lai_, a connection amply illustrated and tabulated for the
convenience of the student.[16] More familiar, perhaps, than the _lais_
are the appealing lines of François Villon, “Dame des cieulx, regente
terrienne,” which possesses all the charm of the Marian lyric at its
best.
About the year 1270, Alfonso X of Castile made a collection of 400 poems
in the Galician-Portuguese dialect, the _Cántigas de Santa María_ around
which a considerable literature has grown up. All are devotional in
subject matter. Alfonso X was a literary patron. Ramon Lull (c. 1315)
was himself a poet who wrote in the Catalan tongue although his mystical
writings are better known than his poetry. His _Hours of our Lady St.
Mary_ was modeled upon the hymn and set to a hymn tune.[17]
The Italian poets of religious verse flourished as writers both in the
vernacular and in Latin. St. Francis of Assisi, (1181-1226), whose
_Cantico di fratre sole_[18] is known and loved by countless persons in
our own day, was among the earliest poets of the _Laudi spirituali_. The
origin of the _laudi_ has been traced in part to the ejaculations of the
flagellants of northern Italy where bands of these penitents were
commonly seen in the thirteenth century. A century earlier, religious
societies of singers, the _laudisti_, were in existence in Venice and
Florence. Arezzo knew such a group as early as 1068.[19] Included among
the known writers of _laudi_ are Jacopone da Todi, (1230-1306), and
Bianco da Siena, (c. 1307), both classified today as writers of hymns.
The movement represented by the _laudisti_ spread to France,
German-speaking lands, the Low Countries and Poland. Everywhere the
vernacular was used with popular unison melodies. As we approach the
Renaissance, Florence is still conspicuous for her authors of the
religious vernacular lyric, among them Lorenzo di Medici and Savonarola,
(1452-1498), better known as the Florentine preacher whose passionate
denunciations of the evils of his day brought him into conflict with the
Church and resulted in his execution. His _Laude al crucifisso_ has been
translated in part by Jane F. Wilde as a hymn, “Jesus, refuge of the
weary.”
The English religious lyrics of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries may be read with enjoyment in the collections of Carleton
Brown whose appraisement of this poetry was the fruit of great learning
and a sympathetic discernment of human values.[20] Here the Latin hymn
may be found as it was translated, adapted and imitated in English
verse. The Latin sequence, as it increased in popularity, was taken over
by English poets with great success. Some of these writers who
appropriated the Latin models, like William Herebert, Jacob Ryman and
John Lydgate, are known to us by name while others are anonymous. Their
poetic themes are varied but Marian verse appears in many forms: hymns,
laments, and rhymed petition. Incidentally, a knowledge of the Latin
original must be presupposed on the part of the English laity of this
period. Chaucer wrote for the layman who must have understood his use of
the sequence _Angelus ad Virginem_ in the “Miller’s Tale” and the
sequence _Alma redemptoris mater_ in the “Prioress’ Tale.”
English macaronic verse best reveals the Latin hymn. Over and over
again, Latin quotations are used, sometimes embedded in the text,
sometimes added as refrains, an understanding of which is always vital
to the appreciation of the poem.
The carol, although extraneous to true hymnody, because of its
non-liturgical character and usage, was related to Latin origins; to
some extent, to the _cantio_ and the _conductus_. A form of vernacular
lyric, the carol often shares the macaronic features which were common
in the blended phraseology of the European languages with Latin in this
popular type of late medieval verse. It is relevant here as a religious
lyric which bears the unmistakable mark of the hymnic inheritance.
Whatever is true of the English carol is equally true of the carol in
other lands. To-day these lyrics are of great interest and of increasing
usage in the Christian Church at large. Their musical and poetic aspects
are both subjects of enthusiastic research. Many persons in our modern
society who have never studied the classical languages are able to sing
the Latin words and phrases they contain, with understanding, as did
their medieval predecessors.
II. Influence and Survival of Latin Hymns since the Middle Ages
The writing of Latin hymns by no means died out with the medieval era in
the sixteenth century. The great prestige of Latin studies fostered by
the Renaissance alone would have been sufficient to perpetuate the
practice. The Church, too, was engaged in a movement to standardize and
improve the Latinity of the breviary hymns which resulted in the
Trentine cycle as we know it today. A concurrent movement toward
uniformity of rites appreciably reduced the number of breviaries and the
variety of their hymns, but those breviaries which maintained an
independent existence had their own complete cycles. Such were the
Cluniac Breviary of 1686 and the Paris Breviary of 1736 for which new
hymns were written and sung side by side with those of medieval origin.
Among post-Renaissance poets represented in these collections were the
Frenchmen Jean-Baptiste de Santuil and his brothers Claude and Baptiste.
Freshly inspired by classical studies, the new hymn writers repudiated
medieval ruggedness and stylistic neglect in favor of the smooth and
finished Latinity affected by contemporary poets. From the substantial
body of verse produced in these centuries, _Adeste fideles_, “O come,
all ye faithful,” has proved a favorite. Sometimes classified as a hymn,
sometimes as a carol, it originated in the English colony at Douay about
the year 1740, from the pen of John Francis Wade.[21]
The continuity of the Roman Use, however, was not disturbed. The Roman
Breviary had acquired its cycle of hymns in the processes of evolution
which have been traced in the preceding chapters. Trentine revisions
under the guidance of Pope Urban VIII, (1623-1644), made with the
highest motives but often deplored by later scholars, transformed the
medieval originals into products of the Renaissance. The Trentine
Breviary contains many of the finest medieval hymns which, although they
have suffered alterations, have carried the traditional heritage into
modern times.[22]
By virtue of its prestige and its world-wide circulation, the Roman
Breviary has been the vehicle by which the Latin hymn has penetrated
into the modern vernacular languages in translations. It is a subject of
frequent comment that the full treasury of hymns has not been drawn upon
by the Catholic Church since the hymns of the Roman Breviary have
monopolized the field. The historical reason for this is clear and also
for the fact that in the Roman Missal only five sequences, each of
recognized superiority, have been retained.
The restriction of Latin hymns in Roman Catholic liturgical usage to a
relatively small number allows certain exceptions. The Benedictine and
other religious orders use their own cycle of breviary hymns and
present-day Catholic hymnals in popular use often contain translations
of hymns and sequences additional to those of the Roman Breviary and
Missal.
Protestant Churches are not limited in their selection of Latin hymns
for translation, making their choices from the entire medieval store.
The revival of Latin hymns in a translated form, which marked the Oxford
Movement in the Anglican Church in the mid-nineteenth century, drew upon
the Sarum Breviary as one native to English soil and therefore
appropriate to the English Church. That these hymns were largely
represented in the Roman Breviary, was well-known but the earlier and
unrevised texts were preferred. In his function as a translator, John
Mason Neale was preeminently a leader in the task of making known to the
adherents of the Church of England their heritage of hymns.
An attempt was made at this time to perpetuate not only the words but
the Gregorian Chant as a suitable musical setting for the vernacular.
Here the innovators were only partly successful and the chant, although
enthusiastically employed at first was gradually abandoned in the
English Church as the sole musical vehicle for the Latin hymn in
translation. Similarly Latin hymns have been taken over into other
modern languages by translators of Protestant as well as Catholic
allegiance.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the influence of Latin hymn
meters continued to be felt in vernacular hymnody. Metrical versions of
the Psalms made by Isaac Watts are often illustrative of old Latin forms
which may also be recognized in his own hymns. This may not have been a
conscious imitation of Latin originals for by this time hymn meters were
ingrained in English poetry, but merely an indirect reflection, for
example, of the Ambrosian model.
More subtle has been the influence in modern times of the most ancient
canons of hymnic expression; objective presentation of scriptural
narrative, doctrinal emphasis and a certain joyful austerity in the
praise of God. During the three and a half centuries which have passed
since the era of the Protestant Reformation, the Christian hymn has
experienced a succession of literary movements, reflecting, for example,
the spirit of the Age of Reason and of the Romantic Era. Contemporary
musical evolution has, in turn, been vitally important to the growth of
the hymn as it has been mated with the melodies of the Genevan Psalter,
the chorales of Bach, the musical novelties of instrumental origin, the
folk song and latterly the native music of regions open to missionary
enterprise.
Throughout this varied experience the stream of medieval Latin hymnody
has continued its course. As an accompaniment of Roman Catholic worship
this was only to be expected. The conquest by the Latin hymn of areas
beyond the limits of the Roman Church is more significant. The most
recent hymnals of leading Protestant denominations, to which the Latin
hymn in translation has made a modest but genuine contribution, bear
witness to the ageless character of this hymnody. Modern investigation
of hymn sources, their origins, authorship and influence, has created
the study of documentary hymnology as it is known today. In the
processes of this inquiry the medieval Latin hymn has been invested with
new interest in the minds of a multitude of worshipers, both Catholic
and Protestant, who have hitherto been unaware of, or indifferent to,
their common heritage.
Illustrative Hymns
I. _Splendor paternae gloriae_
1. Splendor paternae gloriae,
De luce lucem proferens,
Lux lucis et fons luminis,
Dies dierum illuminans,
1. O Splendor of God’s glory bright,
O Thou that bringest light from light,
O Light of light, light’s living spring,
O Day, all days illumining;
2. Verusque sol illabere,
Micans nitore perpeti,
Iubarque sancti Spiritus
Infunde nostris sensibus.
2. O Thou true Sun, on us thy glance
Let fall in royal radiance,
The Spirit’s sanctifying beam
Upon our earthly senses stream.
3. Votis vocemus et Patrem—
Patrem perennis gloriae,
Patrem potentis gratiae—
Culpam releget lubricam,
3. The Father, too, our prayers implore,
Father of glory evermore,
The Father of all grace and might,
To banish sin from our delight:
4. Informet actus strenuos,
Dentem retundat invidi,
Casus secundet asperos,
Donet gerendi gratiam.
4. To guide whate’er we nobly do,
With love all envy to subdue,
To make all-fortune turn to fair,
And give us grace our wrongs to bear.
5. Mentem gubernet et regat,
Casto fideli corpore;
Fides calore ferveat,
Fraudis venena nesciat.
5. Our mind be in his keeping placed,
Our body true to him and chaste,
Where only Faith her fire shall feed
To burn the tares of Satan’s seed.
6. Christusque nobis sit cibus,
Potusque noster sit fides;
Laeti bibamus sobriam
Ebrietatem Spiritus.
6. And Christ to us for food shall be,
From him our drink that welleth free,
The Spirit’s wine, that maketh whole,
And mocking not, exalts the soul.
7. Laetus dies hic transeat,
Pudor sit ut diluculum,
Fides velut meridies,
Crepusculum mens nesciat.
7. Rejoicing may this day go hence,
Like virgin dawn our innocence.
Like fiery noon our faith appear,
Nor know the gloom of twilight drear.
8. Aurora cursus provehit,
Aurora totus prodeat,
In Patre totus Filius,
Et totus in Verbo Pater.
8. Morn in her rosy car is borne;
Let Him come forth our perfect Morn,
The Word in God the Father one,
The Father perfect in the Son.
Tr. Robert Bridges, from _The Yattendon Hymnal_ (edited by Robert
Bridges & H. Ellis Wooldridge) by permission of the Clarendon Press,
Oxford.
II. _Vexilla regis prodeunt_
1. Vexilla regis prodeunt,
Fulget crucis mysterium,
Quo carne carnis conditor
Suspensus est patibulo.
1. The banners of the king advance,
The cross with mystery doth flame,
And from the tree the Flesh of flesh,
Word Incarnate, hangs in shame.
2. Quo vulneratus insuper
Mucrone dirae lanceae,
Ut nos lavaret crimine,
Manavit unda, sanguine.
2. The lance’s edge hath pierced His side,
O look on Him that for our good
Cleansed us of the stain of sin,
Washed out with water and with blood.
3. Inpleta sunt quae concinit
David fideli carmine,
Dicendo nationibus:
Regnavit a ligno Deus.
3. Now is fulfilled what was foretold
By David in prophetic song:
Suspended from the rood Our God
Will rule. To Him shall nations throng.
4. Arbor decora et fulgida,
Ornata regis purpura,
Electa digno stipite
Tam sancta membra tangere.
4. O glorious and radiant tree
In royal crimson richly decked,
His sacred limbs to touch and hold
Thee did our Lord, fair rood, elect.
5. Beata, cuius bracchiis
Pretium pependit saeculi.
Statera facta est corporis
Praedam tulitque tartari.
5. Thou blessed cross upon whose arms
The body of the Savior fell;
As with a balance thou didst weigh
The Christ that bore us out of Hell.
6. Fundis aroma cortice,
Vincis sapore nectare,
Iocunda fructu fertili
Plaudis triumpho nobili.
6. Thy wood is all a sweet perfume,
Thou art like nectar very sweet;
Rejoicing in thy fruit thou mak’st
A perfect triumph more complete.
7. Salve ara, salve victima
De passionis gloria,
Qua vita mortem pertulit
Et morte vitam reddidit.
7. Altar and sacred victim, hail!
In thy passion is our glory.
Life from death thou bringest back,
Life in death shall be our story.
8. O crux ave, spes unica,
Hoc passionis tempore,
Auge piis iustitiam,
Reisque dona veniam.
8. Hail thou cross, O hail thou only
Hope that agony may win;
To believers bring salvation,
Take the sinner from his sin!
The 8th stanza is a later addition. Stanza 2 omitted.
Tr. Howard M. Jones (Allen, P. S., _The Romanesque Lyric_. Chapel
Hill, Un. of N. C. Press, 1928, p. 146-7. Quoted by permission of
publishers.)
III. _Aeterna Christi munera_
1. Aeterna Christi munera
Et martyrum victorias,
Laudes ferentes debitas
Laetis canamus mentibus.
1. The eternal gifts of Christ the King,
The Martyrs’ glorious deeds we sing;
And while due hymns of praise we pay,
Our thankful hearts cast grief away.
2. Ecclesiarum principes,
Belli triumphales duces,
Caelestis aulae milites,
Et vera mundi lumina;
2. The Church in these her princes boasts,
These victor chiefs of warrior hosts;
The soldiers of the heavenly hall,
The lights that rose on earth for all.
3. Terrore victo saeculi,
Poenisque spretis corporis,
Mortis sacrae compendio
Vitam beatam possident.
3. The terrors of the world despised,
The body’s torments lightly prized,
By one brief space of death and pain
Life everlasting they obtain.
4. Traduntur igni martyres
Et bestiarum dentibus;
Armata saevit ungulis
Tortoris insani manus.
4. To flames the Martyr Saints are hailed:
By teeth of savage beasts assailed;
Against them, armed with ruthless brand
And hooks of steel, their torturers stand.
5. Nudata pendent viscera,
Sanguis sacratus funditur,
Sed permanent immobiles
Vitae perennis gratia.
5. The mangled frame is tortured sore,
The holy life-drops freshly pour:
They stand unmoved amidst the strife,
By grace of everlasting life.
6. Devota sanctorum fides,
Invicta spes credentium,
Perfecta Christi caritas
Mundi triumphat principem.
6. ’Twas thus the yearning faith of saints,
The unconquered hope that never faints,
The love of Christ that knows not shame,
The Prince of this world overcame.
7. In his paterna gloria,
In his voluntas filii,
Exultat in his spiritus;
Caelum repletur gaudiis.
7. In these the Father’s glory shone;
In these the will of God the Son;
In these exults the Holy Ghost;
Through these rejoice the heavenly host.
8. Te nunc, Redemptor, quaesumus,
Ut ipsorum consortio
Iungas precantes servulos
In sempiterna saecula.
8. Redeemer, hear us of thy love,
That, with the glorious band above,
Hereafter, of thine endless grace,
Thy servants also may have place.
Tr. John Mason Neale, _Hymnal Noted_.
IV. _Nocte surgentes vigilemus omnes_
1. Nocte surgentes, vigilemus omnes,
Semper in psalmis meditemur, atque
Viribus totis Domino canamus
Dulciter hymnos.
1. Father, we praise thee, now the night is over,
Active and watchful, stand we all before thee;
Singing we offer prayer and meditation:
Thus we adore thee.
2. Ut pio regi pariter canentes
Cum suis sanctis mereamur aulam
Ingredi caeli, simul et beatam
Ducere vitam.
2. Monarch of all things, fit us for thy mansions;
Banish our weakness, health and wholeness sending;
Bring us to heaven, where thy Saints united
Joy without ending.
3. Praestet hoc nobis Deitas beata
Patris ac Nati pariterque sancti
Spiritus, cuius reboatur omni
Gloria mundo.
3. All-holy Father, Son and equal Spirit,
Trinity blessed, send us thy salvation;
Thine is the glory, gleaming and resounding
Through all creation.
Tr. Percy Dearmer, from _The English Hymnal_ by permission of the
Oxford University Press.
V. _Alleluia_
1. Alleluia piis edite laudibus,
Cives aetherei, psallite naviter
Alleluia perenne.
1. Sing alleluia forth in duteous praise,
Ye citizens of heav’n; O sweetly raise
An endless alleluia.
2. Hinc vos perpetui luminis accola,
Assumet resonans hymniferis choris,
Alleluia perenne.
2. Ye powers who stand before th’ Eternal Light,
In hymning choirs re-echo to the height
An endless alleluia.
3. Vos urbs eximia suscipiet Dei,
Quae laetis resonans cantibus excitat
Alleluia perenne.
3. The Holy City shall take up your strain,
And with glad songs resounding wake again
An endless alleluia.
4. Felici reditu gaudia sumite
Reddentes Domino glorificos melos,
Alleluia perenne.
4. In blissful antiphons ye thus rejoice
To render to the Lord with thankful voice
An endless alleluia.
5. Almum sidereae iam patriae decus
Victores capitis, quo canor est iugis
Alleluia perenne.
5. Ye who have gained at length your palms in bliss,
Victorious ones, your chant shall still be this,
An endless alleluia.
6. Illic regis honor vocibus inclitis
Iucunda reboat carmina perpetim
Alleluia perenne.
6. There, in one glad acclaim, forever ring
The strains which tell the honour of your king,
An endless alleluia.
Stanzas 7, 8, 9 omitted.
Tr. John Ellerton
VI. _Sancti venite_
1. Sancti venite, Christi corpus sumite,
Sanctum bibentes, quo redempti sanguinem.
1. Draw nigh, and take the Body of the Lord,
And drink the Holy Blood for you outpoured.
2. Salvati Christi corpore et sanguine,
A quo refecti laudes dicamus Deo.
2. Saved by that Body, hallowed by that Blood,
Whereby refreshed, we render thanks to God.
3. Hoc sacramento corporis et sanguinis
Omnes exuti ab inferni faucibus.
3. Salvation’s Giver, Christ the Only Son;
By that His Cross and Blood the victory won.
4. Dator salutis, Christus filius Dei,
Mundum salvavit per crucem et sanguinem.
4. Offered was He for greatest and for least:
Himself the Victim, and Himself the Priest.
5. Pro universis immolatus Dominus
Ipse sacerdos exstitit et hostia.
5. Victims were offered by the Law of old,
That, in a type, celestial mysteries told.
6. Lege praeceptum immolari hostias,
Qua adumbrantur divina mysteria.
6. He, Ransomer from death and Light from shade,
Giveth His holy grace His Saints to aid.
7. Lucis indultor et salvator omnium
Praeclaram sanctis largitus est gratiam.
7. Approach ye then with faithful hearts sincere,
And take the safeguard of salvation here.
8. Accedant omnes pura mente creduli,
Sumant aeternam salutis custodiam.
8. He That in this world rules His Saints, and shields,
To all believers Life Eternal yields:
9. Sanctorum custos, rector quoque, Dominus,
Vitae perennis largitor credentibus.
9. With Heavenly Bread makes them that hunger whole;
Gives Living Waters to the thirsty soul.
10. Caelestem panem dat esurientibus,
De fonte vivo praebet sitientibus.
11. Alpha et omega ipse Christus Dominus
Venit, venturus iudicare homines.
10. Alpha and Omega, to Whom shall bow
All nations at the Doom, is with us now.
Tr. John Mason Neale, _Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences_, London.
Masters, 1867, p. 13.
Neale omits Latin stanza 3.
VII. _Ave maris stella_
1. Ave maris stella,
Dei mater alma
Atque semper virgo,
Felix caeli porta.
1. Hail, Sea-star we name thee,
Ever-maid acclaim thee,
God His Mother, Portal
To the life immortal.
2. Sumens illud Ave
Gabrielis ore
Funda nos in pace,
Mutans nomen Evae.
2. Ave was the token
By the Angel spoken:
Peace on earth it telleth,
Eva’s name re-spelleth.
3. Solve vincla reis,
Profer lumen caecis,
Mala nostra pelle,
Bona cuncta posce.
3. Free the worldly-minded
Luminate the blinded,
Every ill repressing,
Win us every blessing.
4. Monstra te esse matrem,
Sumat per te preces,
Qui pro nobis natus
Tulit esse tuus.
4. Plead, and play the Mother!
He will, and no other,
Born for our salvation,
Hear thy supplication.
5. Virgo singularis,
Inter omnes mitis,
Nos culpis solutos
Mites fac et castos.
5. Maiden meek and lowly,
Singularly holy,
Loose the sins that chain us;
Sanctify, sustain us.
6. Vitam praesta puram,
Iter para tutum,
Ut videntes Iesum
Semper collaetemur.
6. Help us live in pureness,
Smooth our way with sureness,
Till we also eye Thee,
Jesu, ever nigh Thee.
7. Sit laus Deo Patri,
Summo Christo decus,
Spiritui Sancto:
Tribus honor unus.
7. Doxology.
Tr. G. R. Woodward
VIII. _Ut queant laxis resonare fibris_
(St. John the Baptist)
1. Ut queant laxis resonare fibris
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti labii reatum,
Sancte Ioannes.
1. In flowing measures worthily to sing
The wonders which of old by thee were done,
To lips unclean let Heaven remission bring,
O Holy John!
2. Nuntius celso veniens Olympo,
Te patri magnum fore nasciturum,
Nomen et vitae seriem gerendae
Ordine promit.
2. From highest Heaven a herald sent to earth
Thy future greatness to thy father told;
Thy name and life in order from thy birth
Entire unrolled.
3. Ille promissi dubius superni,
Perdidit promptae modulos loquelae,
Sed reformasti genitus peremptae
Organa vocis.
3. Yet doubting of the promise of his Lord
His palsied tongue of language lost the power;
By thee was all his faltering speech restored
Thy natal hour.
4. Ventris obtruso recubans cubili,
Senseras regem thalamo manentem,
Hinc parens nati meritis uterque
Abdita pandit.
4. Thou didst within the narrow womb discern
The King in that his chamber lie concealed;
Each parent her Son’s dignity in turn
To each revealed.
5. Sit decus Patri, genitaeque Proli,
Et tibi, compar utriusque virtus,
Spiritus semper, Deus unus, omni
Temporis aevo.
5. Now whilst Heaven’s citizens proclaim thy praise
God ever One and yet coequal Three
For pardon we our suppliant voices raise
Redeemed by Thee!
Tr. J. D. Chambers. Stanzas 6-13 omitted.
IX. _Veni creator spiritus_
1. Veni creator Spiritus
Mentes tuorum visita,
Imple superna gratia,
Quae tu creasti pectora.
1. Creator-spirit, all-Divine,
Come, visit every soul of thine,
And fill with thy celestial flame
The hearts which thou thyself didst frame.
2. Qui Paraclitus diceris,
Donum Dei altissimi,
Fons vivus, ignis, caritas,
Et spiritalis unctio.
2. O gift of God, thine is the sweet
Consoling name of Paraclete—
And spring of life and fire and love
And unction flowing from above.
3. Tu septiformis munere,
Dextrae Dei tu digitus,
Tu rite promisso Patris
Sermone ditas guttura.
3. The mystic sevenfold gifts are thine,
Finger of God’s right hand divine;
The Father’s promise sent to teach
The tongue a rich and heavenly speech.
4. Accende lumen sensibus,
Infunde amorem cordibus,
Infirma nostri corporis
Virtute firmans perpeti.
4. Kindle with fire brought from above
Each sense, and fill our hearts with love;
And grant our flesh, so weak and frail,
The strength of thine which cannot fail.
5. Hostem repellas longius,
Pacemque dones protinus,
Ductore sic te praevio
Vitemus omne noxium.
5. Drive far away our deadly foe,
And grant us thy true peace to know;
So we, led by thy guidance still,
May safely pass through every ill.
6. Da gaudiorum praemia,
Da gratiarum munera,
Dissolve litis vincula,
Adstringe pacis foedera.
6. To us, through Thee, the grace be shown
To know the Father and the Son;
And Spirit of them both, may we
Forever rest our faith in Thee.
7. Per te sciamus, da, Patrem,
Noscamus atque Filium,
Te utriusque Spiritum
Credamus omni tempore.
7. To Sire and Son be praises meet,
And to the Holy Paraclete;
And may Christ send us from above
That Holy Spirit’s gift of love.
8. Sit laus Patri cum Filio,
Sancto simul Paraclito,
Nobisque mittat Filius
Charisma sancti Spiritus.
Tr. J. A. Aylward
X. _Deus immensa trinitas_
(Mozarabic, Common of Saints)
1. Deus, immensa trinitas,
Unita semper gloria,
Pater, Christe, Paraclite,
Rerum invicte Domine.
1. O glorious immensity
And one eternal Trinity,
Father and Comforter and Word,
Of all that is, unconquered Lord,
2. Qui largitatem muneris
Quo praestasti martyri,
Cuius festa votissima,
Quam celebramus hodie.
2. The saint for whom our chants of praise
Consenting on this feast we raise,
With princely guerdons thou didst bless:
Thy crown, thy palm, thy happiness.
3. Tormenta qui saevissima
Ac varia supplicia
Victrice tua dextera
Mente robusta pertulit.
3. In tortures, great and cruel pain
Thou didst with thy right hand sustain
Thy servant, who with steadfast heart
Bore the tormentor’s every art.
4. Huius, adclines, Domine,
Te deprecamur, precibus,
Aetherea consortia,
Celsa dona fastigia.
4. Thy gracious ear, O Christ divine,
Unto thy servant’s prayer incline,
To whom thy fairest gifts are given
Within the gracious halls of heaven.
5. Qui princeps esse principum
Rex mysticus agnosceris,
Agnita nostra crimina
Large dele clementia.
5. Thee Prince of Princes, we proclaim,
The King that bears the mystic name:
Blot out in thy great love, we pray,
The sins that mar this holy day.
6. Adventus ut cum fulgidus
Tuus, Christe, patuerit,
Tuo ducante martyre
Laeti pergamus obviam.
6. That so when Thou shalt come again,
O Christ, in light, on earth to reign,
Led by thy martyr, we may dare
To rise to meet thee in the air.
7. (added)
Deo Patri sit gloria
Eiusque soli Filio
Cum Spiritu Paraclito
Et nunc et omne saeculum.
7. (added)
To God the Father glory be,
And God the Son eternally,
With God the Holy Paraclete
Through endless ages, as is meet.
Tr. Alan G. Mcdougall (_Pange Lingua_ _etc._, Burns, Oates &
Washbourne, London, 1916. p. 71. Quoted by permission of publishers.)
XI. _Sancti spiritus assit nobis gratia_
1. Sancti spiritus assit nobis gratia,
1. The grace of the Holy Ghost be present with us;
2. Quae corda nostra sibi faciat habitaculum
2. And make our hearts a dwelling place to itself;
3. Expulsis inde cunctis vitiis spiritalibus.
3. And expel from them all spiritual wickedness.
4. Spiritus alme, illustrator hominum,
4. Merciful Spirit, Illuminator of men,
5. Horridas nostrae mentis purga tenebras.
5. Purge the fearful shades of our mind.
6. Amator sancte sensatorum semper cogitatuum,
6. O holy Lover of thoughts that are ever wise,
7. Infunde unctionem tuam clemens nostris sensibus.
7. Of Thy mercy pour forth Thine Anointing into our senses.
8. Tu purificator omnium flagitiorum spiritus,
8. Thou purifier of all iniquities, O Spirit,
9. Purifica nostri oculum interioris hominis,
9. Purify the eye of our inner man,
10. Ut videri supremus genitor possit a nobis,
10. To the end that the Father of all things may be seen by us,
11. Mundi cordis quem soli cernere possunt oculi.
11. He, Whom the eyes of none save the pure in heart can behold.
12. Prophetas tu inspirasti, ut praeconia Christi praecinuissent
inclita;
12. Thou didst inspire the Prophets to chant aforehand their glorious
heralding of Christ.
13. Apostolos confortasti, uti tropaeum Christi per totum mundum
veherent.
13. Thou didst confirm the Apostles, so that they shall bear Christ’s
glorious trophy through the whole world.
14. Quando machinam per verbum suum fecit Deus caeli, terrae, marium,
14. When by His Word, God made the system of heaven, earth, seas,
15. Tu super aquas foturus eas numen tuum expandisti, spiritus.
15. Thou didst stretch out Thy Godhead over the waters, and didst
cherish them, O Spirit!
16. Tu animabus vivificandis aquas fecundas;
16. Thou didst give virtue to the waters to quicken souls;
17. Tu aspirando das spiritales esse homines.
17. Thou, by Thine Inspiration, grantest to men to be spiritual.
18. Tu divisum per linguas mundum et ritus adunasti, Domine;
18. Thou didst unite the world, divided into tongues and rites, O
Lord!
19. Idolatras ad cultum Dei revocas, magistrorum optime.
19. Thou recallest idolaters to the worship of God, best of Masters!
20. Ergo nos supplicantes tibi exaudi propitius, sancte spiritus,
20. Wherefore of Thy mercy hear us who call upon Thee, Holy Ghost:
21. Sine quo preces omnes cassae creduntur et indignae Dei auribus.
21. Without Whom, as the faith teaches, all our prayers are in vain,
and unworthy of the ears of God,
22. Tu, qui omnium saeculorum sanctos Tui numinis docuisti instinctu
amplectendo, spiritus,
22. Thou, O Spirit, who by embracing the Saints of all ages, dost
teach them by the impulse of Thy Divinity;
23. Ipse hodie apostolos Christi donans munere insolito et cunctis
inaudito saeculis
23. Thyself, by bestowing upon the Apostles of Christ a gift immortal,
and unheard of from all ages,
24. Hunc diem gloriosum fecisti.
24. Hast made this day glorious.
Tr. John Mason Neale, _Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences_, London.
Masters, 1867, p. 29.
XII. _Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc Alleluia_
1. Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc,
_Alleluia_.
1. The strain upraise of joy and praise,
Alleluia.
2. In laudibus aeterni regis
haec plebs resultet
_Alleluia_.
2. To the glory of their King
Shall the ransomed people sing
Alleluia.
3. Hoc denique caelestes chori
cantant in altum
_Alleluia_.
3. And the Choirs that dwell on high
Shall re-echo through the sky
Alleluia.
4. Hoc beatorum
per prata paradisiaca
psallat concentus
_Alleluia_.
4. They through the fields of Paradise that roam,
The blessed ones, repeat that bright home
Alleluia.
5. Quin et astrorum
micantia luminaria
iubilant altum
_Alleluia_.
5. The planets glitt’ring on their heavenly way,
The shining constellations, join, and say
Alleluia.
6. Nubium cursus,
ventorum volatus,
fulgurum coruscatio
et tonitruum sonitus
dulce consonent simul
_Alleluia_.
6. Ye clouds that onward sweep!
Ye winds on pinions light!
Ye thunders, echoing loud and deep!
Ye lightnings, wildly bright!
In sweet consent unite your
Alleluia.
7. Fluctus et undae,
imber et procellae,
tempestas et serenitas,
cauma, gelu, nix, pruinae,
saltus, nemora pangant
_Alleluia_.
7. Ye floods and ocean billows!
Ye storms and winter snow!
Ye days of cloudless beauty!
Hoar frost and summer glow!
Ye groves that wave in spring,
And glorious forests, sing
Alleluia.
8. Hinc, variae volucres,
creatorem
laudibus concinite cum
_Alleluia_.
8. First let the birds, with painted plummage gay,
Exalt their great Creator’s praise, and say
Alleluia.
9. Ast illinc respondeant
voces altae
diversarum bestiarum
_Alleluia_.
9. Then let the beasts of earth, with varying strain,
Join in Creation’s Hymn, and cry again
Alleluia.
10. Istinc montium
celsi vertices sonent
_Alleluia_.
10. Here let the mountains thunder forth, sonorous,
Alleluia
There let the valleys sing in gentler chorus,
Alleluia.
11. Illinc vallium
profunditates saltent
_Alleluia_.
11. Thou jubilant abyss of ocean, cry
Alleluia.
Ye tracts of earth and continents, reply
Alleluia.
12. Tu quoque, maris
iubilans abysse, dic
_Alleluia_.
12. To God, Who all Creation made,
The frequent hymn be duly paid:
Alleluia.
13. Necnon terrarum
molis immensitates:
_Alleluia_.
13. This is the strain, the eternal strain, the Lord of all things
loves:
Alleluia.
This is the song, the heav’nly song, that Christ Himself approves:
Alleluia.
14. Nunc omne genus
humanum laudans exsultet
_Alleluia_.
14. Wherefore we sing, both heart and voice awaking,
Alleluia.
And children’s voices echo, answer making,
Alleluia.
15. Et creatori
grates frequentans consonet
_Alleluia_.
15. Now from all men be outpour’d
Alleluia to the Lord;
With Alleluia evermore
The Son and Spirit we adore.
16. Hoc denique nomen audire
iugiter delectatur
_Alleluia_.
16. Praise be done to Three in One.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
17. Hoc etiam carmen caeleste
comprobat ipse Christus
_Alleluia_.
18. Nunc vos, O socii,
cantate laetantes
_Alleluia_.
19. Et vos, pueruli,
respondete semper
_Alleluia_.
20. Nunc omnes canite simul
_Alleluia_ Domino,
_Alleluia_ Christo
Pneumatique _Alleluia_.
21. Laus trinitati aeternae:
_Alleluia, Alleluia,_
_Alleluia, Alleluia,_
_Alleluia, Alleluia._
Tr. John Mason Neale, _Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences_, London.
Masters, 1867, p. 43.
Stanzas 10-13 translate Latin 10-21.
XIII. _Heri mundus exultavit_
1. Heri mundus exultavit,
Et exultans celebravit
Christi natalitia:
Heri chorus angelorum
Prosecutus est caelorum
Regem cum laetitia.
1. Yesterday, with exultation
Joined the world in celebration
Of her promis’d Saviour’s birth;
Yesterday the Angel nation
Pour’d the strains of jubilation
O’er the Monarch born on earth.
2. Protomartyr et Levita,
Clarus fide, clarus vita,
Clarus et miraculis,
Sub hac luce triumphavit,
Et triumphans insultavit
Stephanus incredulis.
2. But to-day, o’er death victorious,
By His faith and actions glorious,
By His miracles renown’d,
Dared the Deacon Protomartyr
Earthly life for Heav’n to barter,
Faithful midst the faithless found.
3. Fremunt ergo tanquam ferae,
Quia victi defecere
Lucis victi adversarii:
Falsos testes statuunt,
Et linguas exacuunt
Viperarum filii.
3. In a hopeless strife engaging,
They like savage beasts are raging,
Adversaries of the light;
False the witnesses they set;
Tongues like swords the rabble whet,
Viper brood of darkest night.
4. Agonista, nulli cede;
Certa certus de mercede,
Perservera, Stephane:
Insta falsis testibus,
Confuta sermonibus
Synagogam Satanae.
4. Forward, champion, in thy quarrel!
Certain of a certain laurel,
Holy Stephen, persevere!
Perjur’d witnesses confounding
Satan’s Synagogue astounding
By thy doctrine true and clear.
5. Testis tuus est in caelis,
Testis verax et fidelis,
Testis innocentiae.
Nomen habes coronati,
Te tormenta decet pati
Pro corona gloriae.
5. Lo! in Heaven thy Witness liveth:
Bright and faithful proof He giveth
Of His Martyr’s blamelessness:
Thou by name a Crown impliest;
Meetly then in pangs thou diest
For the Crown of Righteousness!
6. Pro corona non marcenti
Perfer brevis vim tormenti,
Te manet victoria.
Tibi fiet mors, natalis,
Tibi poena terminalis
Dat vitae primordia.
6. For a crown that fadeth never,
Bear the torturer’s brief endeavour;
Victory waits to end the strife:
Death shall be thy birth’s beginning,
And life’s losing be the winning
Of the true and better Life.
7. Plenus Sancto Spiritu
Penetrat intuitu
Stephanus caelestia.
Videns Dei gloriam
Crescit ad victoriam,
Suspirat ad praemia.
7. Whom the Holy Ghost endueth,
Whom celestial sight embueth,
Stephen penetrates the skies;
There God’s fullest glory viewing
There his victor strength renewing
For his near reward he sighs.
8. En a dextris Dei stantem
Iesum, pro te dimicantem,
Stephane, considera.
Tibi caelos reserari,
Tibi Christum revelari
Clama voce libera.
8. See, as Jewish foes invade thee,
See how Jesus stands to aid thee!
Stands to guard His champion’s death:
Cry that opened Heaven is shown thee:
Cry that Jesus waits to own thee:
Cry it with thy latest breath!
9. Se commendat Salvatori,
Pro quo dulce ducit mori
Sub ipsis lapidibus.
Saulus servat omnium
Vestes lapidantium,
Lapidans in omnibus.
9. On his Saviour’s aid relying,
Sweet to him the pain of dying,
’Neath the fearful rain of stone:
Paul amidst the stoning throng,
Guarding garments, makes the wrong
Of the angry Jews his own.
10. Ne peccatum statuatur
His, a quibus lapidatur,
Genu ponit et precatur,
Condolens insaniae:
In Christo sic obdormivit,
Qui Christo sic obedivit,
Et cum Christo semper vivit,
Martyrum primitiae.
10. As the dying Martyr kneeleth,
For his murderers he appealeth,
And his prayer their pardon sealeth,
For their madness grieving sore;
Then in Christ he sleepeth sweetly,
Who His pattern kept completely,
Martyr first-fruits, evermore!
Tr. John Mason Neale, _Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences_, London.
Masters, 1867, p. 134.
St. 3, tr. Stephen A. Hurlbut. Quoted by permission of author. Stanzas
11, 12 omitted.
XIV. _Ad perennis vitae fontem_
1. Ad perennis vitae fontem mens sitivit arida;
Claustra carnis praesto frangi clausa quaerit anima:
Gliscit, ambit, eluctatur exul frui patria.
1. To the fount of life eternal cries the soul with longing thirst,
And the spirit, flesh-imprisoned, seeks the bars of flesh to burst;
Strives to gain that heavenly country, exiled now and sin-accurst.
2. Dum pressuris ac aerumnis se gemit obnoxiam,
Quam amisit, dum deliquit, contemplatur gloriam,
Praesens malum auget boni perditi memoriam.
2. Sore beset with care and danger, groans the spirit for release,
Still beholds, though lost in Eden, glory forfeited and peace;
Former good, in memory dwelling, doth the present ill increase.
3. Nam quis promat summae pacis quanta sit laetitia,
Ubi vivis margaritis surgunt aedificia,
Auro celsa micant tecta, radiant triclinia?
3. Who can tell how great the joy of that Peace surpassing all,
Where of living pearls constructed rise the stately buildings tall,
Where with gold the rooftree glitters, shines with gold the
banquet-hall.
4. Solis gemmis pretiosis haec structura nectitur;
Auro mundo, tamquam vitro, urbis via sternitur;
Abest limus, deest fimus, lues nulla cernitur.
4. All of precious stones compacted rise those structures of delight;
Purest gold as crystal shining paves the heavenly city bright;
Never mire nor filth defiling stains the streets of radiant light.
5. Hiems horrens, aestas torrens illic numquam saeviunt;
Flos perpetuus rosarum ver agit perpetuum;
Candent lilia, rubescit crocus, sudat balsamum.
5. Chilling winter, burning summer, neither rages in that land,
But the crimson bloom of roses doth an endless spring demand;
White the lilies, red the crocus, fragrant doth the balsam stand.
6. Virent prata, vernant sata, rivi mellis influunt;
Pigmentorum spirat odor, liquor et aromatum;
Pendent poma floridorum non lapsura nemorum.
6. Green the pastures, flower-besprinkled, fed by streams with honey
filled;
All the air is sweet with incense from the odorous herbs distilled;
Never fails the ripened fruitage, nor is bloom by winter chilled.
7. Non alternat luna vices, sol, vel cursus siderum;
Agnus est felicis urbis lumen inocciduum;
Nox et tempus desunt ei, diem fert continuum.
7. Waxeth not the moon nor waneth, need not sun or stars to be,
But the Lamb in that blest city shines a Sun eternally;
There the daylight is unbroken, night and time have ceased to be.
8. Nam et sancti quique velut sol praeclarus rutilant;
Post triumphum coronati mutuo coniubilant,
Et prostrati pugnas hostis iam securi numerant.
8. Shine the blessed with a splendor like the splendor of the sun;
Crowned in triumph stand they singing that the race of life is run;
Now secure, they count the glories of the contest they have won.
9. Omni labe defaecati carnis bella nesciunt,
Caro facta spiritalis et mens unum sentiunt;
Pace multa perfruentes scandalum non perferunt.
9. Cleansed from every stain of evil, they from carnal strife are
free;
Flesh made spirit, with the spirit doth for evermore agree,
There, released from all temptation, they shall Peace unbroken see.
20. Probes vires inexhausto laboranti proelio,
Nec quietem post procinctum deneges emerito,
Te que merear potiri sine fine praemio!
20. Strength supply, in heat or conflict, ceaseless struggle to
maintain;
Grant thy servant, warfare ended, well-deserved rest to gain;
Grant that I, Thyself deserving, may Thyself as prize attain!
Tr. Stephen A. Hurlbut. Quoted by permission of author.
XV. _Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem_
1. Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem,
Lauda ducem et pastorem
In hymnis et canticis:
Quantum potes, tantum aude,
Quia maior omni laude,
Nec laudare sufficis.
1. Praise, O Sion, praise thy Saviour,
Shepherd, Prince, with glad behavior,
Praise in hymn and canticle:
Sing His glory without measure,
For the merit of your treasure
Never shall your praises fill.
2. Laudis thema specialis,
Panis vivus et vitalis
Hodie proponitur;
Quem in sacrae mensa cenae
Turbae fratrum duodenae
Datum non ambigitur.
2. Wondrous theme of mortal singing,
Living bread and bread life-bringing,
Sing we on this joyful day:
At the Lord’s own table given
To the twelve as bread from heaven,
Doubting not we firmly say.
3. Sit laus plena, sit sonora
Sit iucunda, sit decora
Mentis iubilatio:
Namque dies est sollemnis
Qua recolitur perennis
Mensae institutio.
3. Sing His praise with voice sonorous;
Every heart shall hear the chorus
Swell in melody sublime:
For this day the Shepherd gave us
Flesh and blood to feed and save us,
Lasting to the end of time.
4. In hac mensa novi Regis
Novum pascha novae legis
Phase vetus terminat:
Iam vetustas novitati,
Umbra cedit veritati,
Noctem lux eliminat.
4. At the new King’s sacred table,
The new law’s new pasch is able
To succeed the ancient rite:
Old to new its place hath given,
Truth has far the shadows driven,
Darkness flees before the Light.
5. Quod in cena Christus gessit,
Faciendum hoc expressit
In sui memoriam:
Docti sacris institutis,
Panem, vinum in salutis
Consecramus hostiam.
5. And as He hath done and planned it—
“Do this”—hear His love command it,
“For a memory of me.”
Learnèd, Lord, in thy own science,
Bread and wine, in sweet compliance,
As a Host we offer Thee.
6. Dogma datur Christianis,
Quod in carnem transit panis,
Et vinum in sanguinem:
Quod non capis, quod non vides,
Animosa firmat fides,
Praeter rerum ordinem.
6. Thus in faith the Christian heareth:
That Christ’s flesh as bread appeareth,
And as wine His precious blood:
Though we feel it not nor see it,
Living faith that doth decree it
All defects of sense makes good.
7. Sub diversis speciebus,
Signis tamen et non rebus,
Latent res eximiae:
Caro cibus, sanguis potus,
Manet tamen Christus totus
Sub utraque specie.
7. Lo! beneath the species dual
(Signs not things), is hid a jewel
Far beyond creation’s reach!
Though His flesh as food abideth,
And His blood as drink—He hideth
Undivided under each.
8. A sumente non concisus,
Non confractus, non divisus,
Integer accipitur:
Sumit unus, sumunt mille,
Quantum isti, tantum ille,
Nec sumptus consumitur.
8. Whoso eateth it can never
Break the Body, rend or sever;
Christ entire our hearts doth fill:
Thousands eat the bread of heaven,
Yet as much to one is given:
Christ, though eaten, bideth still.
9. Sumunt boni, sumunt mali,
Sorte tamen inaequali
Vitae, vel interitus:
Mors est malis, vita bonis:
Vide, paris sumptionis
Quam sit dispar exitus!
9. Good and bad, they come to greet Him:
Unto life the former eat Him,
And the latter unto death;
These find death and those find heaven;
See, from the same life-seed given,
How the harvest differeth!
10. Fracto demum sacramento
Ne vacilles, sed memento
Tantum esse sub fragmento,
Quantum toto tegitur;
Nulla rei fit scissura,
Signi tantum fit fractura,
Qua nec status, nec statura
Signati minuitur.
10. When at last the bread is broken,
Doubt not what the Lord hath spoken:
In each part the same love-token,
The same Christ, our hearts adore:
For no power the thing divideth—
’Tis the symbols He provideth,
While the Saviour still abideth
Undiminished as before.
11. Ecce, panis angelorum
Factus cibus viatorum,
Vere panis filiorum,
Non mittendus canibus;
In figuris praesignatur,
Cum Isaac immolatur,
Agnus paschae deputatur,
Datur manna patribus.
11. Hail, angelic bread of heaven,
Now the pilgrim’s hoping-leaven,
Yea, the bread to children given
That to dogs must not be thrown:
In the figures contemplated,
’Twas with Isaac immolated,
By the Lamb ’twas antedated,
In the manna it was known.
12. Bone pastor, panis vere,
Iesu, nostri miserere,
Tu nos pasce, nos tuere,
Tu nos bona fac videre
In terra viventium.
Tu qui cuncta scis et vales,
Qui nos pascis hic mortales,
Tuos ibi commensales,
Cohaeredes et sodales
Fac sanctorum civium.
12, O Good Shepherd, still confessing
Love, in spite of our transgressing,—
Here Thy blessed food possessing,
Make us share Thine every blessing
In the land of life and love:
Thou, whose power hath all completed
And Thy flesh as food hath meted,
Make us, at Thy table seated,
By Thy saints, as friends be greeted,
In Thy paradise above.
Tr. H. T. Henry (_Eucharistica_, Dolphin Press, Phila., 1912, p.
39-43. Quoted by permission of publishers.)
XVI. _Stabat mater dolorosa_
1. Stabat mater dolorosa
Iuxta crucem lacrimosa,
Dum pendebat filius,
Cuius animam gementem,
Contristantem et dolentem
Pertransivit gladius.
1. By the Cross her vigil keeping
Stands the Queen of sorrows weeping,
While her son in torment hangs;
Now she feels—O heart afflicted
By the sword of old predicted!—
More than all a mother’s pangs.
2. O quam tristis et afflicta
Fuit illa benedicta
Mater unigeniti,
Quae maerebat et dolebat
Et tremebat, dum videbat
Nati poenas inclyti.
2. Sad and heavy stands beside him
She who once had magnified him
One—begotten, only—born;
While she sees that rich atoning,
Long the moaning, deep the groaning
Of her mother—heart forlorn.
3. Quis est homo, qui non fleret,
Matrem Christi si videret,
In tanto supplicio?
Quis non posset contristari,
Piam matrem contemplari
Dolentem cum filio?
3. Who Christ’s Mother contemplating
In such bitter anguish waiting,
Has no human tears to shed?
Who would leave Christ’s Mother, sharing
All the pain her Son is bearing,
By those tears uncomforted?
4. Pro peccatis suae gentis
Vidit Iesum in tormentis
Et flagellis subditum;
Vidit suum dulcem natum
Morientem, desolatum,
Dum emisit spiritum.
4. Victim-priest of Jewry’s nation,
There he hangs in expiation;
Scourge and nail have had their will;
Earth and heaven his cause forsaking,
Now his noble heart is breaking,
Now the labouring breath is still.
5. Eia mater, fons amoris,
Me sentire vim doloris
Fac, ut tecum lugeam;
Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
In amando Christum Deum,
Ut sibi complaceam.
5. Mother, fount whence love flows truest,
Let me know the pain thou knewest,
Let me weep as thou hast wept;
Love divine within me burning,
That diviner love returning,
May thy Son this heart accept.
6. Sancta mater, istud agas,
Crucifixi fige plagas
Cordi meo valide;
Tui nati vulnerati,
Tam dignati pro me pati,
Poenas mecum divide.
6. Mother, if my prayer be granted,
Those five wounds of his implanted
In my breast I fain would see;
Love exceeding hangs there bleeding,
My cause pleading, my love needing—
Bid him share his cross with me.
7. Fac me vere tecum flere,
Crucifixo condolere,
Donec ego vixero;
Iuxta crucem tecum stare,
Te libenter sociare
In planctu desidero.
7. Till life fails, I would not fail him,
Still remember, still bewail him,
Born thy Son, and crucified;
By the cross my vigil keeping
I would spend those hours of weeping,
Queen of sorrows, at thy side.
8. Virgo virginum praeclara,
Mihi iam non sis amara,
Fac me tecum plangere;
Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
Passionis fac consortem
Et plagas recolere.
8. Virgin, boast of all creation,
Heed my tears, nor consolation
In thy bitterness repel;
At thy side his livery wearing,
His cross bearing, his death sharing,
Of these wounds the beads I’ll tell.
9. Fac me plagis vulnerari,
Cruce hac inebriari,
Et cruore filii;
Inflammatus et accensus,
Per te, virgo, sim defensus
In die iudicii.
9. Wounds of Christ, in spirit bruise me,
Chalice of his blood, bemuse me,
Cross of Christ, be thou my stay!
Lest I burn in fires unending,
Sinless Maid, my cause befriending,
Shield me at the judgement day!
10. Fac me cruce custodiri,
Morte Christi praemuniri,
Confoveri gratia.
Quando corpus morietur,
Fac, ut animae donetur
Paradisi gloria.
10. Jesus, when earth’s shadows leave me,
Through thy Mother’s prayers receive me
With the palm of victory;
When my body lies forsaken
Let my ransomed soul awaken
Safe, in Paradise, with thee.
Tr. Ronald A. Knox (_Westminster Hymnal_, Burns, Oates & Washbourne,
London, 1940, no. 37. Quoted by permission of publishers.)
XVII. _Salve, festa dies_
(Sarum Processional)
1. Salve, festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,
Qua Deus infernum vicit et astra tenet.
1. Hail thee, Festival Day! blest day that art hallowed forever;
Day wherein Christ arose, breaking the kingdom of death.
2. Ecce, renascentis testatur gratia mundi
omnia cum Domino dona redisse suo.
2. Lo, the fair beauty of earth, from the death of winter arising,
Every good gift of the year now with its Master returns.
3. Qui crucifixus erat, Deus ecce per omnia regnat,
Dantque creatori cuncta creata precem.
3. He who was nailed to the cross is God and the ruler of all things;
All things created on earth worship the maker of all.
4. Pollicitam sed redde diem, precor, alma potestas,
Tertia lux rediit; surge, sepulte Deus.
4. God of all pity and power, let thy word be assured to the doubting;
Light on the third day returns: rise, Son of God, from the tomb!
5. Non decet ut humili tumulo tua membra tegantur,
Neu pretium mundi vilia saxa premant.
5. Ill doth it seem that thy limbs should linger in lowly dishonor,
Ransom and price of the world, veiled from the vision of men.
6. Indignum est cuius clauduntur cuncta pugillo,
Ut tegat inclusum rupe vetante lapis.
6. Ill it beseemeth that thou by whose hand all things are
encompassed,
Captive and bound shouldst remain, deep in the gloom of the rock.
7. Lintea tolle, precor, sudaria linque sepulchro,
Tu satis es nobis, et sine te nihil est.
7. Rise now, O Lord, from the grave and cast off the shroud that
enwrapped thee;
Thou art sufficient for us: nothing without thee exists.
8. Funeris exsequias pateris vitae auctor et orbis,
Intras mortis iter dando salutis opem.
8. Mourning they laid thee to rest, who art author of life and
creation;
Treading the pathway of death, life thou bestowedst on man.
9. Redde tuam faciem, videant ut saecula lumen,
Redde diem, qui nos te moriente fugit.
9. Show us thy face once more, that the ages may joy in thy
brightness;
Give us the light of day, darkened on earth at thy death.
10. Eripis innumerum populum de carcere mortis,
Et sequitur liber, quo suus auctor adit.
10. Out of the prison of death thou art rescuing numberless captives;
Freely they tread in the way whither their maker has gone.
11. Tristia cesserunt infernae vincula legis,
Expavitque chaos luminis ore premi.
11. Jesus has harrowed hell; he has led captivity captive:
Darkness and chaos and death flee from the face of the light.
Tr. Maurice F. Bell, from _The English Hymnal_ by permission of the
Oxford University Press.
Notes
Chapter One
Early Middle Ages: Latin Hymns of The Fourth Century
[1.] Jerome, _Liber de viris illustribus_, 100 (_MPL_ 23, 699).
[2.] _Hilarius autem, Gallus episcopus Pictaviensis, eloquentia
conspicuus, hymnorum carmine floruit primus. De ecclesiasticis
officiis 1_, 6 (_MPL_ 83, 743).
[3.] W. N. Myers, _The Hymns of Saint Hilary of Poitiers in the Codex
Aretinus_ (Phila., Un. of Penn., 1928) 12, 29, 53, 67. For a
discussion of other hymns attributed to Hilary, see p. 14; also A.
S. Walpole, _Early Latin Hymns_ (Cambridge, 1922) 1-4. Translations
by W. N. Myers.
[4.] _Antiphonary of Bangor_, edited by F. E. Warren, _Henry Bradshaw
Society Publications_, vols. 4, 10 (London, 1893, 1895). For
discussion of authorship see vol. 10, 36.
[5.] Or perhaps Treves.
[6.] Augustine, _Confessions_ 9, 7 (_MPL_ 32, 770). Translation from
_Confessions of S. Augustine, Ancient and Modern Library of Theol.
Literature_ (London, 1886).
[7.] Translations of first lines: W. J. Copeland, C. Bigg, R. E.
Messenger, J. M. Neale.
[8.] Translations of first lines: J. M. Neale, E. Caswall.
[9.] Translations of first lines: J. M. Neale, H. M. Jones, R. E.
Messenger, S. Hurlbut.
[10.] Myers, _op. cit._ (see note 3) 18-22.
[11.] G. Reese_, Music in the Middle Ages_ (New York, 1940) 104.
[12.] Caelius Sedulius, 5th C., an early imitator of Ambrose, wrote a
well-known alphabetic hymn, _A solis ortus cardine_.
Chapter Two
Early Middle Ages: The Old Hymnal
[1.] _Regula Sancti Benedicti_, IX.
[2.] P. Batiffol, _Historie du Breviare romain_, translated by A. M. Y.
Bayley (London, 1912), chap. I.
[3.] Dom A. Wilmart, “Le Psautier de la Reine,” (_Cod. Vat. Reg. II_),
_Revue Benedictine XXVIII_ (1911) 376 ff.
[4.] Walpole, _Early Latin Hymns_, (ch. 1, note 3), xi-xiv.
[5.] Laodicea, c. 364, Canon 59. See G. D. Mansi, _Sacrorum
conciliorum—collectio_ (Florence, Venet. et Par., 1763) ii, 573;
Braga, 563, Mansi ix, 778.
[6.] H. F. Muller, “Pre-History of the Medieval Drama,” _Zeitschrift f.
romanische Philologie_ 44 (1924) 544-575.
[7.] Tours, 567, Mansi xiv, 803.
[8.] H. Heimbucher, _Die Orden und Kongregationen der katholischen
Kirche_, 3 vols. (Paderborn, 1907) vol. I, 224-236, _Ausbreitung der
Benediktinerregel_.
[9.] F. H. Dudden, _Gregory the Great_ (London, 1905), 2 vols., II,
chap. 8.
[10.] See _A. H._ (_Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi_) 51.24-41, notes. The
hymns excepted are nos. 23-30; 34-40; J. Julian, _Dictionary of
Hymnology_. _Gregory I., St., Pope_; C. Blume, “Gregor der Grosse
als Hymnendichter,” _Stimmen aus Maria-Laach_, 1908, 269 ff.
[11.] H. LeClercq, _L’Espagne chrétienne_ (Paris, 1906) 304-5.
[12.] Migne, _PL_ 80, 642-700, Braulio’s Letters.
[13.] IV Council of Toledo, 633, Canon 2, Mansi x, 616; Canon 13, Mansi
x, 622-3. _Sicut igitur orationes, ita et hymnos in laudem Dei
compositos, nullus vestrum ulterius improbet, sed pari modo Gallia,
Hispaniaque celebret: excommunicatione plectendi, qui hymnos
rejicere fuerint ausi._
[14.] See R. E. Messenger, “The Mozarabic Hymnal,” _TAPhA_ 75 (1944)
103-126.
[15.] _The Irish Liber Hymnorum_, edited by J. H. Bernard and R.
Atkinson, _Henry Bradshaw Soc. Pub._ 13, 14 (London, 1897, 1898),
14, 23-6.
[16.] _Antiphonary of Bangor_, chap. I, note 4; for history of the
manuscript now in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, p. xii-xiii.
[17.] Translations of first lines, 1) J. M. Neale, 2), 3), 4) R. E.
Messenger.
[18.] The Celtic hymns are edited in _A. H._ 51, Part II. See also J. F.
Kenney, _Sources for the Early History of Ireland_, 2 vols. (New
York, 1929) 252-3, 258-274, _Hymns_.
[19.] Translations of first lines in Summary by J. M. Neale except 2) C.
Bigg, 7) G. R. Woodward.
[20.] C. W. Douglas, _Church Music in History and Practice_ (New York,
1937) 168.
Chapter Three
The Ninth Century Revival: Hymns
[1.] J. M. Neale and G. H. Forbes, _The Ancient Liturgies of the
Gallican Church_ (Burntisland, 1855) p. v.
[2.] P. Jaffé, _Regesta Pontificum Romanorum_ (Lipsiae, 1885-8) 2473
(1900).
[3.] _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Legum sectio_, II, _Capitularia
Regum Francorum_, I, _Capitulare primum_, 769; _Capitulare
Haristallense_, 779; _Admonitio generalis_, 789; _Synodus
Franconofurtensis_, 794; _Epistola de litteris colendis_, 780-800;
_Epistola generalis_, 786-800; _Capitulare missorum generale_, 802;
_Capitularia missorum specialia_, 802; _Synodus et conventus
aquisgrani habita_, 802; _Capitulare de examinandis ecclesiasticis_,
802; _Capitulare missorum_, 803; _Capitulare de causis etc_., 811;
_Capitulare aquisgranense_, 801-813; _Capitulare cum episcopis
etc_., 780-790; _Capitulare mantuanum primum_, no date, p. 194;
_Pippini capitulare Italicum_, 801-810.
[4.] _MGH, Legum sectio_, II, _Capitularia Regum Francorum_, I,
_Epistola generalis_, no. 30, p. 80; P. Jaffé, _Bibliotheca Rerum
Germanicarum_, vol. IV, _Monumenta Carolina_ (Berlin, 1867) 139,
140.
[5.] Dom R. Van Doren, _Étude sur l’influence musicale de l’abbaye de
Saint-Gall_ (Louvain, 1925) ch. vi, Metz.
[6.] E. Mühlbacher, _Deutsche Geschichte unter den Karolingern_
(Stuttgart, 1896) 211; Jaffé, _Monumenta Carolina_, 358ff.
[7.] E. Bishop, _Liturgica Historica_ (Oxford, 1918) 49-55.
[8.] A. Fortescue, _The Mass_ (London, 1914) 183.
[9.] In _Monumenta Germaniae Historica—Poetarum latinorum medii aevi_,
vol. iv, edited by P. von Winterfeld (Berlin, 1923).
[10.] W. Turner, “Irish Teachers in the Carolingian Revival of
Learning,” _Cath. Un. Bulletin_, XIII (Washington, 1907) 384-5; J.
J. O’Kelly, _Ireland: Elements of her Early Story_ (Dublin, 1921)
ch. viii, _Early Irish on the Continent_.
[11.] Einhard, _Vita Caroli_, 21.
[12.] L. Gougaud, _Gaelic Pioneers of Christianity, VI-XII Century_
(Dublin, 1923) 60-3. Translated by Victor Collins.
[13.] S. Singer, _Die Dichterschule von St. Gallen_ (Leipzig, 1922)
_Introd._ (by Peter Wagner) 11.
[14.] Turner, _supra_, 570; J. M. Clark, _The Abbey of St. Gall as a
Center of Literature and Art_ (Cambridge, 1926) 31.
[15.] _Annales Laurissenses, anno 757_ (_MGH, SS_, I, 140).
[16.] _Jaffé, Regesta_, 2346 (1799); Notker Balbulus, _Epistolae_
(_MPL_, 131, 1172); _Gesta Caroli_, II, 7.
[17.] F. H. Dudden, _Gregory the Great_ (ch. 2, note 9) I, ch. _VI
Gregory at Constantinople_.
[18.] P. Wagner, “Morgen- und Abendland in der Musikgeschichte,”
_Stimmen der Zeit_, Bd. 114 (1927) 138.
[19.] Clark, _The Abbey of St. Gall etc._, 112; C. Diehl, _Manuel d’Art
Byzantin_ (Paris, 1910) 359-360, 362-3; M. Hauttmann, _Die Kunst des
frühen Mittelalters_ (Berlin, 1929) 51-62; J. Strzygowski, _Origin
of Christian Church Art_ (Oxford, 1923) 84.
[20.] _Anal. Hymn._, 51, _Introduction_, xvii-xix; extended lists of the
later Latin hymns appear in J. Julian, _Dictionary of Hymnology_
(London, 1925) 546, 547.
[21.] J. Mearns, _Early Latin Hymnaries_ (Cambridge, 1913).
[22.] Walpole, _Early Latin Hymns_, (ch. 1, note 3) xi.
[23.] Walpole, _ibid_, xii; W. H. Frere, Introduction to _Hymns Ancient
and Modern Historical Edition_ (London, 1909); Wilmart, _Le Psautier
de la Reine etc_., 362-3; F. J. E. Raby, _Christian Latin Poetry_
(Oxford, 1927) 38-41. See also R. E. Messenger, “Whence the Ninth
Century Hymnal?,” _TAPhA 69_ (1938) 446-464.
[24.] Gesta Caroli, I, 10; Einhard, _Vita Caroli_, edited by Garrod and
Mowat (Oxford, 1915), Appendix, p. xxxvii.
[25.] Heimbucher, _Die Orden und Congregationen_ etc., vol. I, 235,
237-9; _Jahrbücher der deutschen Geschichte_ (Berlin & Leipzig,
1866-1902), _Geschichte des Ostfrankischen Reichs_, vol. II, 39, 42,
46.
[26.] Alcuin, _De psalmorum usu_ (_MPL_, 101), _Officia per ferias MPL_,
101, _Epistolae_ 84, 94, 164, 227 (_MPL_, 101): Rabanus Maurus, _De
clericis institutés_, II, 49 (_MPL_, 107, 362): Amalarius of Metz,
_De officiis divinis_ (continuation) in J. Mabillon, _Vetera
Analecta_ (Paris, 1723) 99; Walafrid Strabo, _De ecclesiasticarum
rerum exordiis_ etc., ch. xxv (_MPL_, 114, 952ff.).
[27.] H. De Boor, _Die deutsche Literatur_ 770-1170 (München, 1949) 21.
[28.] P. Batiffol, _History of the Roman Breviary_ (London, 1912) 143-4.
[29.] _Anal. Hymn_. 51.
[30.] Translation of first line, J. M. Neale.
[31.] Dom P. B. Gams, _Die Kirchengeschichte von Spanien_ (Regensburg,
1862-1879) II, Pt. 2, 302, 326-9; Z. García Villada, _Historia
eclesiástica de España_ (Madrid, 1929-36) V, 85.
[32.] De Urbel, “Los himnos mozárabes,” _Revista ecles. Silos_ 58 (1927)
56-61.
[33.] E. Bishop, “Spanish Symptoms,” _Liturgica Historica_ (Oxford,
1918) 168.
[34.] L. Wiener, _Contributions toward a History of Arabico-Gothic
Culture_ (New York, 1917-21) 101; H. G. Farmer, _Historical Facts
for the Arabian Musical Influence_ (London, 1930) 23.
[35.] _Anal. Hymn_. 51, _Introduction_.
Chapter Four
The Ninth Century Revival: Sequences
[1.] Fortescue, _The Mass_ (See ch. 3, note 8) 268-9.
[2.] See _Introduction_ to _A. H._ 53, by C. Blume and H. M. Bannister.
This _Introduction_ has been used as the basis for the discussion of
sequence origins. Theories and opinions of others are noted from
time to time.
[3.] W. H. Frere, Introduction to _Hymns Ancient and Modern_ (See ch. 3,
note 23) xxviii; P. Wagner, _Introduction to Gregorian Melodies_
(London, 1907) 223, translation by Orme and Wyatt.
[4.] G. Reese, _Music in the Middle Ages_ (ch. 1, note 11) _passim_.
This book contains an excellent standard account of the musical
aspect of the sequence.
[5.] G. Schnürer, _Kirche und Kultur im Abendland_ (Paderborn, 1926) II,
88.
[6.] W. Christ, “Über die Bedeutung von Hirmos, etc.,” _Sitzungberichte
der kön. bay. Akad. der Wissenschaft zu München_, II (1870) 89f.
[7.] A. Gastoué, “Les Types byzantins de la Sequence,” _Tribune de
Saint-Gervais_, Dec. 1922, 1, 2.
[8.] Frere, _Introduction, supra_, xxiv.
[9.] L. Gautier, _Histoire de la poésie liturgique au Moyen âge_ (Paris,
1886) 1.
[10.] A. Gastoué, “Les Origines liturgiques de la séquence,” _Tribune de
Saint-Gervais_, June, 1922. See also Wetzer and Welte,
_Kirchenlexicon, Sequenzen_: an important article.
[11.] Amalarius, _De ecclesiasticis officiis_, III, 16 (_MPL_, 105,
1123).
[12.] J. Ottenwälder, “Griechisch-byzantinische Einflüsse,” _Theol.
Quartalschr_. XCVII (1915), 564-7.
[13.] Reese, _Music in the Middle Ages, supra_, 133.
[14.] S. Singer, _Die Dichterschule von St. Gallen_ (ch. 3, note 13),
_Introduction_, 14, 15.
[15.] The earliest manuscript is _Antiphonale missarum S. Gregorii_,
codex 239 of Laon; see _Paléographie musicale_, X. A. Gastoué, _Les
Origines du Chant Romain_ (Paris, 1907) 250f.
[16.] Wetzer und Welte, _supra, Sequenzen_.
[17.] Frere, _Introduction, supra_, xxviii-xxix; Notker Balbulus, _Liber
sequentiarum, Praefatio_ (_MPL_, 131, 1003).
[18.] P. Wagner, “Morgen- und Abendland in der Musikgeschichte,” (ch. 3,
note 18) 139; Schnürer, _supra_, II, 88.
[19.] Gastoué, “Les Types byzantins de la Séquence,” _supra_, 2.
[20.] W. Meyer, _Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur mittellateinischen Rythmik_
(Berlin, 1908) 37.
[21.] P. Von Winterfeld, _Stilfragen aus der lateinischen Dichtung des
Mittelalters_ in _Deutsche Dichter etc_. (München, 1922) 442.
[22.] W. Meyer, _supra_, 41: “So ist die lyrische Dichtung des
Mittelalters durchaus dem Kirchengesang neu geboren worden.”
[23.] E. Wellesz, _Eastern Elements in Western Chant. Studies in the
Early History of Ecclesiastical Music_ (Oxford, 1947) Pt. IV, ch. 1,
_Origin of sequences and tropes_, an excellent summary of the
subject as investigated to 1947.
[24.] Notker, _supra_, note 17.
[25.] P. A. Schubiger, _Die Sängerschule St. Gallens vom viii.-xii.
Jahrhundert_ (Einsiedeln, 1858); W. Wilmanns, “Welche Sequenzen hat
Notker verfasst?,” _Zeitschrift f. deutsches Altertum_, XV (1872)
267f.; J. Werner, _Notkers Sequenzen. Beiträge zur Geschichte der
Lat. Sequenzendichtung_ (Aarau, 1901) III, IV; S. Singer, _supra_;
Van Doren, (ch. 3, note 5) ch. 9; Clark, (ch. 3, note 14) 175. W.
von den Steinen, _Notker der Dichter und seine geistliche Welt_, 2
vols. (Bern. 1948). This author reviews previous literature.
[26.] Ottenwälder, _supra_, 464-5.
[27.] They are _Canopica_, _Styx_, _Phlegethon_, _sophia_, _herous_,
_Myrmidonas_, _spermologos_.
[28.] P. S. Allen, _Romanesque Lyric_ (Un. of North Carolina Press,
1928) 66, 221, 222; Schnürer, _supra_, 89; Wellesz. _supra_, 165; W.
B. Sedgwick, “Origin of Rhyme,” “_Revue Bénédictine_” XXXVI (1924),
341.
[29.] Several attractive illustrations of the _modus_ may be found in
Karl Breul’s edition of _The Cambridge Songs_ (Cambridge, 1915).
[30.] Schnürer, _supra_, 89; R. Molitor, _Die Musik in der Reichnau_,
reviewed in _Jahrbuch f. Liturgiewissenschaft_ VI (1926) 331.
[31.] See Chapter VII.
Chapter Five
Late Middle Ages: Hymns and Sequences
[1.] J. De Ghellinck, S. J., _L’Essor de la Littérature Latine au XIIe
Siècle_, 2 vols. (Brussels, 1946) II, 285.
[2.] M. Hélin, History of _Medieval Latin Literature_ (New York, 1949),
translated by J. C. Snow from _Littérature d’occident: Histoire des
Lettres latines du Moyen Age_, 79.
[3.] L. Gautier, _Oeuvres poétiques d’Adam de Saint-Victor_, 2 vols.
(Paris, 1858-9); E. Misset et P. Aubry, _Les Proses d’Adam de
Saint-Victor_ (Paris, 1900).
[4.] Translations of first lines: R. Messenger, Anon, E. Caswall.
[5.] Translations of first lines: S. A. Hurlbut, R. Messenger.
[6.] _A. H._ 48. 141-232.
[7.] Translations of first lines: 1 and 2, H. Waddell; 3 and 5, E.
Caswall; 4, R. Messenger.
[8.] Hélin, _supra_, 117.
[9.] P. Wagner, _Introduction to the Gregorian Melodies_ (ch. 4, note 3)
241.
[10.] Translations of first lines: 1 and 4, R. A. Knox; 2, H. T. Henry;
3, W. J. Irons.
[11.] Translation of first line: R. Messenger.
[12.] R. E. Messenger, “Hymns and Sequences of the Sarum Use,” _TAPhA_,
59 (1928) 99-129.
[13.] E. Bishop, _Liturgica Historica_ (Oxford, 1918) 211-37.
[14.] E. Hoskins, _Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis etc_. (London, 1901); H.
Bohatta, _Bibliographie des livres d’heures_ (Wien, 1924), 2nd
edition.
[15.] R. E. Messenger, “Hymns in the Horae Eboracenses,” _Classical
Weekly_, 38 (Jan., 1945) 90-5.
[16.] S. Singer, “Arabische und europäische Poesie im Mittelalter,”
_Zeitschrift f. deutsche Philologie_, LII (April, 1927); K. Burdach,
“Über den Ursprung des mittelalterichen Minnesangs, etc.” in
_Vorspiel_ I (Halle, 1925) 311; A. F. von Schack, _Poesie und Kunst
der Araber etc_., 2 vols. (Stuttgart, 1877) II, 101-5.
[17.] C. F. Brown, _Religious Lyrics of the 14th Century_ (Oxford,
1924). Translations of William Herebert (d. 1333) xiii.
[18.] _Ad honorem Regis summi_, translation of first line: R. E.
Messenger. See C. Daux, _Les Chansons des Pèlerins de St. Jacques_
(Montauban, 1899).
[19.] A. S. Walpole, _Early Latin Hymns_, (ch. 1, note 3) 87-92.
[20.] E. Rodgers, _Discussion of Holidays in the Later Middle Ages_ (New
York 1940) 33. Miss Rodgers sums up the evidence here, reaching an
affirmative conclusion.
[21.] L. Thorndike, “Elementary and Secondary Education in the Middle
Ages,” _Speculum_, 15 (1940) 400-8, p. 401.
[22.] W. O. Wehrle, _Macaronic Hymn Tradition etc_. (Washington, 1933).
Chapter Six
Late Middle Ages: Processional Hymns
[1.] _Matt_. 21: 4-ll; _Mark_ 11: 7-11; _Luke_ 19: 35-38; _John_ 12:
12-5.
[2.] Basil, _Ep_. 207, _Ad Neocaes, MPG_ 32. 765; Ambrose, _Ep._ 40. 16,
_Ad Theodosium, MPL_ 16. 1107; Sozomen, _Hist. Eccles._ VIII, 8; see
also Tertullian, _Ad uxorem_, II, 4, MPL 1. 1294.
[3.] _S. Silviae, quae fertur, Peregrinatio ad loca sancta, in Itinera
Hierosolymitana, Saeculi III-VIII_, ed. P. Geyer (Vindobonae, 1898)
_CSEL_ 39. 35-101.
[4.] _Ibid._ XXIV, 1-7, 8-12; XXV, 7; XXVI; XXXI; XL, 1-2.
[5.] A. Bludau, _Die Pilgerreise der Aetheria, Studien zur Gesch. u.
Kultur d. Altertums XV_, 1/2, (Paderborn, 1927) 56. Translation,
Robert Bridges.
[6.] A. Baumstark, _Die Idiomela der byzantinischen Karfreitagshoren
etc._ Reviewed in _Jahrbuch f. Liturgiewissenschaft_, 10 (1930)
339-40.
[7.] P. Batiffol, _Études de liturgie et d’archéologie chrétienne_,
(Paris, 1919) ch. VI, _La Chandeleur_, p. 200.
[8.] Ambrose, _Ep_. 11(53), _MPL_ 17. 743-4; Augustine, _De Civ. Dei_
22. 8; _Conf._ 9. 7; See also the hymn _Grates tibi, Jesu, novas_,
attributed to Ambrose, _A. H._ 50. 17.
[9.] G. H. Cobb, “Early Catholic Outdoor Processions,” _The Month_, 148
(1926) 539-542.
[10.] For Mamertus, see Greg. Turonen., _Hist. franc._ 2. 34, _MPL_ 71.
230-32. _Councils_. Council of Orleans, 511, canon 17, Mansi VIII,
355; Council of Girona, 517, _Capit._ 2 & 3, Mansi, VIII, 549; see
also 17th Council of Toledo, 694, _Capit._ 6, Mansi XII, 99-100.
_Litaniae maiores_, Greg. Magnus, _Ep._ V, 11, Litany on Feast of
St. John Baptist, _MPL_ 77, 732-3; _Litania septiformis_, Greg.
Turonen., _Hist. franc._ 10, 1, _MPL_ 71. 519-20; Joh. Diac., _Vita
Greg. Magn._, 1. 41, 42, MPL 75. 80.
[11.] L. Duchesne, _Christian Worship_, (London, 1904) 240, 515.
[12.] P. Batiffol, (note 7) 197-201; L. Eisenhofer, _Handbuch der
Katholischen Liturgik_, 2 vols. (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1923) I,
582-6.
[13.] At this point the definition of _processio_ in Canon Law is of
interest: _Nomine sacrarum processionum significantur solemnes
supplicationes quae a populi fideli, duce clero, fiunt eundo
ordinatim de loco sacro ad locum sacrum, ad excitandam fidelium
pietatem, ad commemoranda Dei beneficia eique gratias agendas, ad
divinum auxilium implorandum_. Can. 1290. ç I.
[14.] B. M. Peebles, “Fortunatus, Poet of the Holy Cross,” _Amer. Church
Monthly_ 38 (1935, July-Sept.) 152-166. His account is based upon
Greg. Turonen., _Hist. franc._, IX, 40; Baudonovia, _Vita S. Rad._,
II. 16.
[15.] R. E. Messenger, _Salve festa dies, TAPhA_, 78 (1947) 208-222.
Translation, S. A. Hurlbut; for _Salve festa dies_, traditional.
[16.] Dom M. Férotin, _Liber ordinum_, in _Monumenta ecclesiae
liturgica_, 5 (Paris, 1904) 178-87; Isidore of Seville, _De
ecclesiasticis officiis_, 1. 38.
[17.] Férotin, _supra_, 179.
[18.] A. S. Walpole, _Early Latin Hymns_, (ch. 1, note 3) 337-340.
Translation, 1st line, Walpole.
[19.] Duchesne, _supra_, 162-4.
[20.] Walpole, _supra_, 342-4.
[21.] Translations in this chapter, unless otherwise noted, are
furnished by the author.
[22.] L. Gautier, _Histoire de la Poésie liturgique etc._ (ch. 4, note
9) ch. VI, _Versus_.
[23.] Von den Steinen, _Notker der Dichter etc._ (ch. 4, note 25) I,
40-42.
[24.] Eisenhofer (see note 12) I, 522-3.
[25.] Dom A. Wilmart, _Auteurs spirituels etc._ (Paris, 1932) 26-36.
[26.] R. E. Messenger, _Sancta Maria quid est?, Cath. Choirmaster_,
June, 1950.
[27.] Eisenhofer, _supra_, I, 100-102.
[28.] Du Cange, see _versarius_.
[29.] Gulielmus Durandus, _Rationale divinorum officiorum_ (Lugdini,
1612) Bk. IV, _De accessu sacerdotis ac pontificis ad altare et de
Processione_.
[30.] _Ibid._ fol. 102.
[31.] D. Attwater, _Dictionary of Saints_ (London, 1938) 180.
[32.] G. Reese, _Music in the Middle Ages_ (ch. 1, note 11) 201.
[33.] L. Ellinwood, “The Conductus,” _Musical Quarterly_, 27 (1941) 2.
165-203.
Chapter Seven
Influence and Survival of Latin Hymns
[1.] W. B. Sedgwick, “The Origin of Rhyme,” (ch. 4, note 28) 333.
[2.] For translations see Helen J. Waddell, _Medieval Latin Lyrics_
(London, 1929); _The Wandering Scholars_ (New York, 1949), new
edition.
[3.] P. S. Allen, _Romanesque Lyric_ (ch. 4, note 28), Ch. XII,
especially p. 223.
[4.] F. J. E. Raby, _History of Secular Latin poetry in the Middle
Ages_, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1934) II, 332.
[5.] E. M. Sanford, “Were the Hymns of Prudentius actually sung?”
_Classical Philology_ 31 (1936) 71.
[6.] For the texts of liturgical plays, see K. Young, _The Drama of the
Medieval Church_, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1933).
[7.] B. M. Peebles, “O Roma nobilis,” _Amer. Benedictine Review_, I
(1950) no. 1.
[8.] R. Stroppel, _Liturgie und geistliche Dichtung_ (Frankfurt am Main,
1927) 53-5: S. Singer, “Karolingische Renaissance,”
_Germanisch-Romanisch Monatschrift_, 13 (1925) 200-1.
[9.] K. E. Wackernagel, _Das deutsche Kirchenlied etc._, 5 vols.
(Leipzig, 1864-77) vol. I.
[10.] K. Meyer, Selections from _Ancient Irish Poetry_ (London, 1911)
_Introd._ 13.
[11.] J. Pokorny, _Die älteste Lyrik der grünen Insel_ (Halle S., 1923)
13, 14.
[12.] W. Meyer, “Liturgie, Kunst und Dichtung in Mittelalter,”
_Gesammelte Abhandlungen_ (Berlin, 1905) 371.
[13.] P. von Winterfeld, “Stilfragen der lateinischen Dichtung des
Mittelalters,” _Deutsche Dichter des lateinischen Mittelalters_
(München, 1922) 440.
[14.] Washington, D. C., Catholic Un. Press, 1942, especially p. 221,
231, 248, 266.
[15.] H. Koht, “Medieval Liberty Poems,” _Amer. Hist. Review_, 48 (1943)
no. 2, 281-290.
[16.] H. Spanke, “Über das Fortleben der Sequenzenform in den
Romanischen Sprachens,” _Zeitschrift f. Rom. Philol._ 51 (1931)
309-334.
[17.] E. A. Peers. _Ramon Lull_ (London, 1929) 140.
[18.] See translation by H. C. Robbins, 1939, “Most High, Omnipotent,
Good Lord.”
[19.] For a brief account, see J. Pulver, “Laudi spirituali,” _Musical
Opinion_, March, 1938, 503-4; April, 1938, 602-3; May, 1938, 691-2.
[20.] See Bibliography for these titles.
[21.] Dom Jean Stéphan, _The Adeste fideles_, “Publications,” Buckfast
Abbey, South Devon, England, 1947. Translation, Frederick Oakeley.
[22.] M. Britt, _Hymns of the Breviary and Missal_ (New York, 1922,
1948), a standard and indispensable work.
Bibliography
I. Bibliographies
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Reese, G., _Music in the Middle Ages_. New York, 1941. Contains
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II. Collections and Indices
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Publications
_Ethical Teachings in the Latin Hymns of Medieval England_, Columbia Un.
Studies in History, Economics and Public Law (New York, 1930) 210 p.
_Articles_
_Papers of the Hymn Society of America_, Editor, Carl F. Price, New
York.
No. III, “The Praise of the Virgin in Early Latin Hymns,” 1932,
reprinted 1944, 10 p.
No. IX, “Christian Hymns of the First Three Centuries,” 1942,
reprinted 1949, 25 p.
No. XIV, “Latin Hymns of the Middle Ages,” 1948, 14 p.
_Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological
Association_
“Hymns and Sequences of the Sarum Use,” vol. 59 (1928) 99-129.
Abstract: “Origin of the Sequence,” vol. 64 (1933) lxv-lxvi.
“The Descent Theme in Medieval Latin Hymns,” vol. 67 (1936) 126-57.
“Whence the Ninth Century Hymnal?,” vol. 69 (1938) 446-64.
“Recent Studies in Medieval Latin Hymns,” vol. 71 (1940) 248-261.
“The Mozarabic Hymnal,” vol. 75 (1944) 103-126.
“Salve Festa Dies,” vol. 78 (1947) 208-222.
“Medieval Processional Hymns before 1100,” vol. 80 (1949) 375-392.
“Processional Hymns of the Later Middle Ages,” vol. 81 (1950)
185-199.
_Miscellaneous articles_
_Catholic Choirmaster_
“Notker Balbulus,” Sept. 1946, 101-5, 139.
“Sancta Maria quid est?,” June, 1950, 59-61, 81.
“Rabanus Maurus,” Summer, 1951, 55-57.
_Classical Outlook_
“Medieval Easter Hymns,” April, 1944, 65-6.
“Adam of St. Victor,” Feb., 1947, 49-51.
“Greek Hymns of the Nativity,” Dec., 1948, 25-6.
“The Eighth Day,” May, 1950, 88-9.
_Classical Weekly_
“The Legend of St. Agnes in Early Latin Hymns,” Nov. 29, 1943, 75.
“The Legend of St. Eulalia in Mozarabic Hymns,” Oct. 9, 1944,
12-3.
“Hymns in the Horae Eboracenses,” Jan. 15, 1945, 90-5.
_Folia_
“Sources of the Sequence Scalam ad Caelos,” May, 1947, 55-63.
“Classical Influence in the Hymns of St. Ambrose,” vol. 4, nos.
1-3 (1949) 1-5.
“Aurelius Prudentius Clemens,” vol. 6, no. 2 (1952) 78-99.
_The Hymn_
“John Mason Neale, Translator,” Oct., 1951, 5-10.
_Speculum_
“Hymnista,” Jan., 1947, 83-4.
_Traditio_
“Mozarabic Hymns in Relation to Contemporary Culture in Spain,”
vol. 4 (1946) 149-77.
Index
Index of Latin Hymns
A
_Ad cenam agni providi_, 17, 34
_Ad honorem regis summi_, 56
_Ad perennis vitae fontem_, 49, 103
_Adae carnis gloriosae_, 1, 6
_Adeste fideles_, 80
_Aeterna caeli gloria_, 34
_Aeterna Christi munera_, 8, 17, 34, 86
_Aeternae lucis conditor_, 17
_Aeterne rerum conditor_, 3, 17, 33
_Ales diei nuntius_, 34
_Alleluia piis edite laudibus_, 14, 88
_Alma redemptoris mater_, 79
_Altus prosator_, 14
_Angelus ad virginem_, 79
_Annua, sancte Dei, celebramus festa diei_, 67
_Ante saecula qui manens_, 1
_Apostolorum passio_, 61
_Audi, iudex mortuorum_, 66
_Aurora iam spargit polum_, 34
_Aurora lucis rutilat, 17_, 34
_Ave maris stella_, 16, 91
_Ave vivens hostia_, 50
C
_Caeli Deus sanctissime_, 33
_Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc Alleluia_, 45, 98
_Certum tenentes ordinem_, 17
_Chorus novae Ierusalem_, 49
_Christe caeli Domine_, 17
_Christe precamur adnue_, 17
_Christe qui lux es et dies_, 17, 34
_Christo nato, rege magno_, 67
_Claro paschali gaudio_, 16
_Conditor alme siderum_, 16
_Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor_, 69
_Consors paterni luminis_, 33
_Corde natus ex parentis_, 4
_Crux benedicta nitet_, 5, 65
D
_Dei fide qua vivimus_, 17
_Deus aeterni luminis_, 17
_Deus creator omnium_, 3, 17, 33
_Deus immensa trinitas_, 31, 94
_Deus qui caeli lumen es_, 17
_Deus qui certis legibus_, 17
_Deus qui claro lumine_, 17
_Dicamus laudes Domino_, 17
_Diei luce reddita_, 17
_Dies irae_, 50, 60
F
_Fefellit saevam verbum factum te, caro_, 1
_Fulgentis auctor aetheris_, 17
G
_Gloria, laus et honor_, 29, 65
H
_Heri mundus exultavit_, 47, 101
_Hic est dies verus Dei_, 17
_Hymnum dicat turba fratrum_, 2, 14, 76
I
_Iam lucis orto sidere_, 33
_Iam sexta sensim volvitur_, 17
_Iam surgit hora tertia_, 3, 17
_Illuminans altissimus_, 17
_Immense caeli conditor_, 33
_Imperator magne, vivas_, 69
_Intende qui regis_, 17
J
_Jesu corona virginum_, 34
_Jesu dulcis memoria_, 49
L
_Laetetur omne saeculum_, 72
_Lauda Sion Salvatorem_, 50, 60, 105
_Laudes omnipotens, ferimus tibi dona colentes_, 68
_Lucis creator optime_, 16, 33
_Lux ecce surgit aurea_, 34
M
_Magna et mirabilia_, 17
_Magnae Deus potentiae_, 33
_Magnum salutis gaudium_, 65
_Martyr Dei qui unicum_, 34
_Mediae noctis tempus est_, 14, 17
_Meridie orandum est_, 17
_Morte Christi celebrata_, 52
N
_Nocte surgentes vigilemus omnes_, 12, 87
_Nox atra rerum contegit_, 33
_Nox et tenebrae et nubila_, 34
_Nunc sancte nobis spiritus_, 33
O
_O lux beata trinitas_, 33
_O quanta qualia_, 49
_O Roma nobilis_, 76
_O sola magnarum urbium_, 4
P
_Pange lingua, gloriosi corporis mysterium_, 50, 71
_Pange lingua, gloriosi proelium certaminis_, 5, 50, 64, 65
_Perfectum trinum numerum_, 17
_Plasmator hominis Deus_, 33
_Postmatutinis laudibus_, 17
_Primo dierum omnium_, 33
Q
_Quem terra pontus aethera_, 16
R
_Recordare sanctae crucis_, 50
_Rector potens verax Deus_, 33
_Rerum creator optime_, 33
_Rerum Deus tenax vigor_, 33
_Rex aeterne Domine_, 17
_Rex gloriose martyrum_, 34
S
_Salve festa dies.... Qua deus infernum vicit_, 73, 110
_Sacrata libri dogmata_, 68
_Salve festa dies.... Qua Christi mater visitat_, 71
_Salve festa dies.... Qua fuit assumpta Maria_, 72
_Salve, lacteolo decoratum sanguine festum_, 67
_Salve redemptoris mater_, 47
_Sancta Maria, quid est?_, 69
_Sancti spiritus assit nobis gratia_, 42, 95
_Sancti venite Christi corpus sumite_, 14, 15, 89
_Sanctorum meritis inclita gaudia_, 34
_Sator princepsque temporum_, 17
_Sic ter quaternis trahitur_, 17
_Solus ad victimam procedis, Domine_, 49
_Somno refectis artubus_, 33
_Splendor paternae gloriae_, 3, 7, 17, 33, 84
_Stabat mater dolorosa_, 51, 53, 60, 108
_Suffragare trinitatis unitas_, 14
_Summae Deus clementiae_, 33
_Summe confessor sacer_, 34
_Summus et omnipotens genitor_, 68
_Surrexit quia Christus a sepulchro_, 67
T
_Te lucis ante terminum_, 34
_Telluris ingens conditor_, 33
_Tempora florigero rutilant_, 5, 6, 65
_Tempus noctis surgentibus_, 17
_Ter hora trina volvitur_, 17
_Tu trinitatis unitas_, 33
U
_Urbs beata Jerusalem_, 16
_Urbs Sion aurea_, 49
_Ut queant laxis resonare fibris_, 26, 92
V
_Veni, creator spiritus_, 29, 93
_Veni redemptor gentium_, 3
_Veni sancte spiritus_, 48, 60
_Verbum supernum prodiens_, 16
_Versus ad descensum fontis_, 68
_Vexilla regis prodeunt_, 5, 50, 64, 85
_Victimae paschali laudes_, 47, 75
_Virginis proles opifexque_, 34
General Index
A
Abelard, 49
Adam of St. Victor, 46-7, 51, 55, 70
Advent, 4, 16, 32, 44, 50
Aetheria, 61-2
Alcuin, 21, 26, 37
Alfonso X of Castile, 78
Amalarius of Metz, 26, 37, 38, 39
Ambrose, B. of Milan, 2, 8, 56, 63
Ambrosian chant, 7
Arabian influences, 31, 54
Ascension, 44, 63, 70
Augustine, St., 3
Aurelian, B. of Arles, 9
B
Bangor Antiphonary, 14, 76
Benedict, St., 9, 11-2
Benedictine Order, 9, 11, 20, 27
Benedictine Rule, 11, 20, 25
Bernard of Cluny (Morlaix), 49
Bonaventura, 50
Book of Hours, 53
Braulio, B. of Saragossa, 13
Breviary, Roman, 80, 81
“By the Cross her vigil keeping,” 51, 108
Byzantine influences, 22, 23, 36, 40, 42
C
Caesarius, B. of Arles, 9
_Cambridge Songs_, 75
Canonical Hours, 9
_Cantico di fratre sole_, 78
_Cántigas de Santa María_, 78
_Carmina Burana_, 58, 75
Carol, 79
_Cathemerinon_, 3
Celtic Hymns, 14-5
Celtic influences, 21-2, 27, 44
Charlemagne, 19, 20, 22, 23, 36, 37
Charles the Bald, 19, 20, 21, 25
Columba, St., of Iona, 14
_Conductus_, 73
Corpus Christi, 50, 51, 71
Council of Braga (563), 10
Council of Laodicea (364), 10
Council of Orleans (511), 63
Council of Toledo, IV, (633), 13
Council of Tours (567), 11
Council of Girona (517), 63
“Creator-Spirit, all Divine,” 29, 93
D
Damasus, Pope St., 2
“Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord,” 15, 89
Durandus, B. of Mende, 70
E
Easter, 16, 32, 44, 47, 52, 65, 67, 70
Epiphany, 4, 32
Eugenius II, Primate of Toledo, 13
Eulogius, Archb. of Cordova, 30
F
“Father we praise Thee,” 12, 87
Fortunatus, Venantius, 4, 11, 27, 64
Francis, St. of Assisi, 78
Fulbert, B. of Chartres, 49
Fulda, 11, 25, 29, 30
G
_Gaudeamus igitur_, 75
Greek influences, 23, 27, 38, 42
Gregorian chant, 12, 81
Gregory the Gt., Pope St., 12, 14, 23, 27, 36, 63
H
“Hail, Sea-Star we name Thee,” 16, 91
“Hail thee, festival day,” 73, 110
Hartmann of St. Gall, 67
Hilary B. of Poitiers, 1, 74
_Horae_, 53, 58
Hymn cycles, 9-10
_Hymnarium or hymnary_, 24, 44
I
Ildefonsus, Primate of Toledo, 13
“In flowing measures,” 26, 92
Isidore of Seville, 1, 13, 30, 65
J
James, St., of Campostella, 56
_Jumièges Antiphonary_, 41
Jerome, St., 1
L
_Later Hymnal_, 19, 23, 24-5, 28, 30, 33
_Laude al crucifisso_, 78
Laudi spirituali, 78
Lent, 32
Louis the Pious, 19, 20, 21, 25, 30
M
Macaronic verse, 58
Mary the Virgin, St., feasts of, 32, 44, 47, 64, 67, 69, 70, 71,
72
Metrical forms of Latin hymns, 5, 6, 26, 27, 65, 74, 76
Metz, 20, 37, 41
_Modus_, 43, 75
Monte Cassino, 16, 20
Mozarabic Hymns, 12-4, 30-1, 54, 59
Music, 6-7, 12, 20, 22, 27-8, 35, 39, 43, 73, 81-2
N
Nativity, 8, 32, 44, 67
Neumes, 27, 38-9
_Ninth Century Hymnal_, see _Later Hymnal_
Notker Balbulus, 22, 39, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 77
O
“O glorious immensity,” 31, 94
“O Splendor of God’s glory,” 3, 84
_Old Hymnal_, 10, 12, 17, 30
Osmund, B. of Salisbury, 52
Otfried the Frank, 76
P
Palm Sunday, 65, 70
Passion, 32, 44, 62
Paulus Diaconus, 21, 26
Peckham, John, Archb. of Canterbury, 50
Pentecost, 32, 44, 48
_Peristephanon_, 3, 75
Peter Damian, 49
_Phos hilaron_, 62
Pilgrimage hymns, 56
Pippin, 11, 19, 20, 22
“Praise, O Sion, praise thy Saviour,” 50, 105
_Processional_ (Book), 53, 70
Processions (Litany), 63, 68
Processions (Station), 63
_Primer_, 53
_Prosa_ or _prose_, 35, 37, 41
Prudentius (Aurelius Prudentius Clemens), 3, 8, 27, 74, 75
_Psalmi idiotici_, 10
R
Rabanus Maurus, 26, 29, 67
Radbert of Corbie, 26, 67, 68
Reichenau, 24, 25, 30, 69
Roman chant, 7, 20
Roman Rite, 12, 20, 52
S
St. Gall (monastery), 11, 22, 24, 25, 41, 42, 59, 66-70 (passim),
72, 73
St. Martial, 24, 37, 41, 77
Saints, feasts of, 8, 32, 44, 47, 56, 61, 67, 72, 75
Salisbury, 52, 53, 70
Sarum, see Salisbury
Savonarola, 78
Sedulius, 13, 27, 29
Sergius, Pope (687-701), 63-4
Sequence, origin of, 35-40
“Sing alleluia forth,” 14, 88
Solesmes, 28
T
“The grace of the Holy Ghost,” 42, 95
“The strain upraise,” 45, 98
“The banners of the king,” 5, 85
“The eternal gifts of Christ the King,” 8, 86
Theodulphus, B. of Orleans, 26, 28, 31, 67
Thomas Aquinas, St., 50, 55, 71
Thomas of Celano, 50
“To the fount of life eternal,” 49, 103
Trinity, 32, 44
_Troparium_ or _tropary_, 44, 52
_Trope_, 37
V
Vernacular religious lyrics, 77-9
_Versus_, 66
Villon, François, 78
W
Walafrid Strabo, 26, 30, 67, 69
Y
“Yesterday with exultation,” 47, 101
Transcriber’s Notes
--Generated an original cover image for free and unrestricted use with
this eBook.
--Copyright notice provided as in the original—this e-text is public
domain in the country of publication.
--Silently corrected palpable typos; left non-standard spellings and
dialect unchanged.
--In the text version only, italicized text is delimited by
_underscores_.
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