Blakeney B Byrnes Daniel Fitzpatrick Julian Mulcahy LIST OF BOOKS AND ABBREVIATIONS = Twenty-four Hymns of the Western Church, by Edward Henry Blakeney = The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal, by Dom Matthew Britt, O.S.B. = Thesaurus Hymnologicus (Leipzig, 1855-6), in five volumes. Reference = Hymns from the Liturgy, by Rev. John Fitzpatrick, O.M.I. (Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1924). Metrical translation without Latin text or notes. References as in B. =A Dictionary of Hymnology, edited by John Julian; revised edition (Murray, 1908). In the 1908 edition there are, in addition to the main Dictionary, two Appendices and a New Supplement-each in alphabetical order, and together adding 250 or so pages to the work. Julian without a number refers to the discussion of the hymn in the main Dictionary. Julian with a page number refers either to another heading in the main part of the work or to the hymn under discussion in one of the Appendices or in the Supplement. =The Hymns of the Roman Breviary and Missal, by Very Rev. Canon Mulcahy (Browne and Nolan, Dublin, 1938). Metrical translation without Latin text or notes. References as in B. Oxford Medieval=The Oxford Book of Medieval Latin, compiled by Stephen Gaselee (Oxford, 1937). References as in B. Phillimore Pimont Raby Schuster = The Hundred Best Latin Hymns, by J. S. Phillimore (Gowans and Gray, 1926). Latin text only. References as in B. =Les Hymnes du Bréviaire Romain, by S. G. Pimont (Paris, 1874). References as in B. =A History of Christian-Latin Poetry from the beginnings to the close of the Middle Ages, by F. J. E. Raby (Oxford 1927 and 1953). = The Sacramentary: Historical and Liturgical Notes on the Roman Missal, by Trench W Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster. English translation in five volumes. (Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 1924), to which reference is made by volume and page. =Sacred Latin Poetry, by Richard Chevenix Trench, third edition (Macmillan, 1874). References usually by page. =Early Latin Hymns, by A. S. Walpole; edited for publication, after Walpole's death, by A. J. Mason (Cambridge Patristic Texts, 1922). References as in B. To find a hymn in W is sometimes a difficulty, as he gives the unrevised text, and the changing of the first lines of so many hymns by the revisers under Urban VIII causes confusion. In case of doubt, hymns which are ascribed with practical certainty to an author will be found in the first part under the author's name. Hymns which are anonymous are from hymn 41 to the end of the book, and are grouped according to hours and seasons. This collection of hymns does not contain medieval or later hymns. Books which are only mentioned occasionally are given their full title whenever they are quoted. Biblical quotations are mostly given in Latin, for they usually illustrate or explain the text of the hymns. Moreover the Latin Bible has the same relation to Christian Latin as the English Bible has to our own language. References to the Psalter must necessarily be to the Vulgate text, and quotations from the New Psalter are clearly indicated. The numbering of the psalms is according to the Vulgate (Douai) and not according to the Hebrew (A.V.). Patristic quotations are, as far as possible, given by reference to the Breviary, since most users of this book will have a Breviary. When a text is not (or cannot be recalled as being) in the Breviary, the reference is to Migne's Patrologia Latina, indicated by PL followed by the volume and column numbers. References to the Breviary are usually to the season or feast to which the hymn under discussion belongs, and the meaning to be attached to, e.g. 'second nocturn' or 'lesson 8' ought to be clear from the context. In the cases of octaves, an abbreviated form of reference is sometimes necessary. An example is the Octave of Corpus Christi, and the method of reference used is explained in the introduction to the hymns for that feast. The regulations of 23 March 1955 about the simplification of the rubrics of the Breviary have not, up to the present, made any change in its text. References, therefore, to feasts, octaves and vigils are to the existing text of the Breviary, even if the particular feast or octave has now disappeared. The only changes made in this book as a result of the regulations are in the last paragraph of the introduction to the hymns of the Days and Hours and in the Iste Confessor, 87, 3-4. T INTRODUCTION I. THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK HE Latin hymns of the Roman liturgy cover a period of sixteen centuries, the first ones being written by Saint Ambrose and the latest ones in recent years for the new feast of the Assumption. They are of great religious and literary interest. In the history of literature they are important for the way in which classical forms were adapted to Christian uses, for the medieval development of Christian Latin poetry and for a still later development, though this time for the worse, in the Renaissance period. Their religious value and interest lies in the fact that their contents are a witness to the faith of the Church and illustrate Christian devotion through the centuries. Moreover they have a particular value in their liturgical setting inasmuch as they are one of the points in the Church's prayer where the hour, season or festival is mentioned explicitly and so help us to recall the particular purpose of the Office or of one of its parts. But the hymns also have their difficulties and so are not always appreciated as they deserve. Perhaps one of the reasons for the neglect of these metrical prayers is that books about them are not numerous, though the literature on Latin hymns as a whole is enormous. As there is obviously a place for a commentary on the hymns of the liturgy, it is hoped that this book will go some way to satisfying such a need and that as a result the great spiritual treasure to be found in the hymns will be better appreciated and their value as prayers more clearly seen. However, it is easier to state the purpose of the book than to find a good way of effecting it, for the things to be explained are so diverse and the potential users of the book so varied. In the matter of Latin, for instance, practically everybody at some time or another has found awkward lines, while to some the Latin is a serious and fairly permanent difficulty. Some have had a good classical education and others, coming to Latin later in life, have had to content themselves with a more utilitarian approach. And almost everybody, whatever his grasp of the language, must work out the hymns for himself. Something similar is found in relation to the contents of the hymns, with some people already knowing or being quick to perceive the important place hymns have in public worship and others needing some mental stimulus before due appreciation comes to life in their souls. The only way of dealing with this is to follow the advice that Saint Gregory gives in one of the Breviary lessons, namely to aim at giving instruction to those who need it without boring those who do not. With all this in mind, the plan of the book is as follows. A prose translation is given of each hymn and linguistic points are considered in the notes. A word ought to be said about the translations. They are an attempt, however imperfect, to express in ordinary everyday English the thought and the words of the Latin text. 'Literal' translations are never elegant and seldom really helpful, and translations of religious texts are often so remote because they abound in the archaic and the exclamatory. But whatever merits the translations in this book may have, they are only aids for the study of the Latin; for it is the Latin that has to be understood as a text and eventually used as a means of prayer. The subject-matter of the hymns is dealt with in two ways. The sectional introductions suggest rather than elaborate the main points of the hymns and their relation to the Church's prayer, while individual points are considered in the notes. As the commentary deals with doctrinal, liturgical and historical details as well as with linguistic and textual ones, there was always the danger of it getting overloaded or that its different elements would get confused. The total commentary is relatively long, but individual notes must for the most part be brief and can do little more than suggest lines of thought and interpretation. The authorship of each hymn is given briefly, though in a few cases a longer discussion seemed necessary or desirable. A brief biographical note is given of the more important writers. The section on the metres of the hymns is relatively long for the sake of those who have had little chance of knowing about such things. The section on Accent and Rhyme may be of more general interest. Two works in particular have been of great help in the making of this book, as almost every page bears witness. They are: Early Latin Hymns (Cambridge Patristic Texts) by A. S. Walpole, and The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal by the American Benedictine, Dom Matthew Britt. So often are these books referred to that they are indicated respectively by the letters W or B. 2. HYMNS AND DOXOLOGIES St Augustine describes a hymn as the praise of God in song. 'Hymnus scitis quid est? Cantus est cum laude Dei. Si laudas Deum, et non cantas, non dicis hymnum. Si cantas, et non laudas Deum, non dicis hymnum. Si laudas aliud quod non pertinet ad laudem Dei, etsi cantando laudes, non dicis hymnum. Hymnus ergo tria habet, et cantum, et laudem et Dei. Laus ergo Dei in cantico, hymnus dicitur' (In Ps. 148, 17). St Ambrose wrote his hymns to be sung, and so have most hymn-writers since. To read a hymn is like reading a libretto; the composer is not justified and the reader is not satisfied. Unfortunately the regular choral celebration of the Office, through many different circumstances, became the exception and private recitation became the rule so that now the Breviary hymns are mostly read and seldom sung. This change of custom coupled with a pseudo-classicism led people to forget the claims of music, and revisers and poets of recent centuries do not seem to have considered this essential element of song. The results have been most unhappy, and some of them are noted in the course of this book. The Psalms are rightly called hymns, for they are the praise of God in song; but the name 'hymn' is now usually restricted to works of human composition. The Gloria in excelsis and other such compositions are also rightly called hymns, but the term is now usually applied only to verse compositions. Inasmuch as hymns sing the praise of God, they might also be called doxologies, but this term now has a special meaning. A doxology is a formula of praise, such as the Sanctus, the Gloria Patri, the Gloria in excelsis and Alleluia. Of these the Gloria in excelsis is known as the Greater Doxology. The Gloria Patri, or Lesser Doxology, is the specifically Christian formula which was added to the psalms in the Office and at Mass. When hymns were added to the Office, it was thought fitting that these 'private psalms' should end with a metrical equivalent of the Gloria Patri, and such endings are called doxologies. The text of these doxologies is not given in this book unless they were composed as an integral part of a particular hymn or have some point of interest, as in 4 and 68–70. The usual types, for iambic hymns, are Praesta, Pater piissime or, for most feasts of our Lord, a variant of Jesu tibi sit gloria, though Deo Patri sit gloria is used for Easter (and for Pentecost). 3. THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE LATIN HYMN The real father of Latin hymnody is St Ambrose, though St Hilary was also composing hymns about the same time. St Jerome mentions a book of hymns by Hilary, which was known only by this reference until a MS of them was found at Arezzo last century. But they were 'lost' almost as soon as they were written, for they are intricate and obscure and so ill-suited to public singing. St Hilary said that the Gauls were not very clever in singing hymns, presumably in comparison with the East where he had heard hymns sung. But the Gauls might have retorted that their bishop |