An Old Parisian Sequence for Thursday in the Octave of Pentecost

This article by Henri de Villiers was originally posted in 2014.

While in the use of Rome, the prose Veni, Sancte Spiritus is sung on the day of Pentecost and at all the Masses within the octave, the old use of Paris celebrates each day of the octave with a different sequence.

Here is how Paris used to arrange the sequences during the octave of Pentecost:

1. Pentecost Sunday: Fulgens præclara Paraclyti Sancti
   a subdivision of an old French prose for Easter, prior to the year 1000.
2. Pentecost Monday: Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia
   by Notker the Stammerer (c. 840 † 912). 
3. Pentecost Tuesday: Lux jucunda, Lux insignis
   by Adam of St. Victor († 1146).
4. Pentecost Wednesday: Simplex in essentia
   by Adam of St. Victor.
5. Pentecost Thursday: Qui procedis ab utroque
   by Adam of St. Victor.
6. Pentecost Friday: Alma chorus Domini
   an anonymous French composition, prior to 1000.
7. Pentecost Saturday Pentecost: Veni, Sancte Spiritus
   by Stephen Langton (c. 1150 † 1228).

It is notable that three of these compositions are the work of the famous hymnographer Adam, who, before ending his days in the abbey of Saint-Victor, at the foot of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, was the precentor of the cathedral of Paris from 1107 until roughly 1134. The proses Adam composed for Paris crossed the border of the diocese, and his work quickly spread throughout Europe. Adam’s sequences have a wide vocal range, typical of the school of chant of the cathedral of Paris, a fact which suggests the high vocal art standards which then reigned in our French capital.

Many other proses were subsequently built on the rhythms and songs of Adam; especially well know is the Lauda Sion for Corpus Christi, modeled by St. Thomas Aquinas on the Laudes Crucis by Adam of St. Victor.

Today I would like to present the text and the chant of the Parisian sequence for Thursday in the Octave of Pentecost: Qui procedis ab utroque, by Adam of St. Victor.

The liturgical texts dedicated to the Holy Spirit have become relatively rare in the Latin Church. It may be interesting to renew our acquaintance with this medieval hymnographic corpus of such high quality, as this magnificent repertoire is so rich, both spiritually and musically. Here is how dom Gueranger introduces this prose in his Liturgical Year:

This great liturgical poet of the western Church has surpassed himself in what he has written on the Holy Ghost; and more than once, during the octave, we will select from his rich store. But the hymn we give to-day is not merely a composition of poetic worth; it is a sublime and fervent prayer to the Paraclete, whom Jesus has promised to send us, and whom we are now expecting. Let us make these sentiments of the devout poet of the twelfth century our own; let us imitate him in his longings for the holy Spirit, who is coming that He may renew the face of the earth, and dwell within us.

Here is the chant of this prose, Qui procedis ab utroque, from the excellent Proper of Paris published in 1923-1925:

   

Here is a metrical translation by Digby S. Wrangham:

Comforter, from both together,
From the Son and from the Father,
Who proceedest equally!
Eloquent our utterance render;
With Thy splendour
Bright engender
In our hearts true warmth for Thee.

Love of Father, Son, together;
Equal of them both; with either
One: the same in every part!
All Thou fillest, all Thou lovest,
Stars Thou rulest, heaven Thou movest,
Though immovable Thou art.

Light the dearest!
Light the clearest!
Off Thou scarest,
As Thou nearest,
From the heart its gloomy night:
All the pure Thou purifiest,
Thou it is that sin destroyest,
And its mildew's baleful blight.

Knowledge of the truth Thou spreadest;
On the way of peace Thou leadest,
And the path of righteousness.
From Thee thrusting
Hearts unruly,
Thou all trusting
Hearts and holy
Dost with gifts of wisdom bless.

When Thou teachest,
Nought obscure is!
Where Thou reachest,
Nought impure is;
And, if present Thou wilt be,
Hearts in Thee then blithely glory,
And the conscience joys before Thee,
Gladdened, purified by Thee.

Elements their mystic dower,
Sacraments their saving power,
But through Thee alone possess:
What can harm us Thou repellest,
Thou exposest and Thou quellest,
Adversaries' wickedness.

Where Thou lightest,
Hearts are brightest;
Gloom-enshrouded
Clouds that brooded
There, before Thee disappear;
Fire all-holy!
Hearts Thou truly
Never burnest,
But thence yearnest,
When Thou comest, cares to clear.

Thou the heart, experience needing,
Languor pleading,
Little heeding,
Dost instruct and rouse to right;
Speeches framing, tongues endowing,
And bestowing
Love all-glowing,
Hearts Thou mak'st in good delight.

Sustentation
In dejection!
Consolation
In affliction!
Only refuge of the poor!
Give us scorn for things terrestrial,
And to care for things celestial
Lead our longings more and more!

Comfort wholly,
Founder solely,
Inmate truly,
Lover throughly,
Of those hearts that bow to Thee!
Concord, where is discord, raising,
Ills thence chasing,
Guilt effacing,
Bring us true security!

Thou, Who once by visitation
Didst inform, and consolation
To Thy scared disciples give!
Deign Thou now to come unto us:
If it please Thee, comfort show us,
And all nations that believe!

One excelling
Greatness sharing,
One as well in
Power appearing,
But one God three Persons are.
Coming forth from two together,
Thou co-equal art with either,
No disparity is there.

Such as is the Father Thou art;
Since so great and such Thou now art,
By Thy servants unto Thee,
With the Sire, and Son, in heaven
Our Redeemer, praise be given,
As is due, most reverently! Amen.

Some medieval Parisian manuscripts of this sequence may be seen in the French version of this post.

The Antiquity and Universality of Fore-Lent (Part 4)

This is the fourth and final part of Henri de Villiers’ examination of the various forms and traditions of the pre-Lenten period. Click the following links to read part 1, part 2 and part 3. The original French version was published in 2014 on the website of the Schola Sainte-Cécile.

Fore-Lent and Meditation on Human Frailty

Having demonstrated the antiquity and universality of Fore-Lent in the various rites, we conclude by highlighting some of the themes commonly used in this period in the liturgies of both East and West.

The reading of Genesis: meditation on the fall of Man and the need for Redemption

Adam was deprived of the delights of Paradise by the bitterness of the fruit; his gluttony made him reject the commandment of the Lord; he was condemned to work the earth from which he was formed; by the sweat of his brow was he obliged to earn the bread he ate. Let us look to temperance, lest we, like him, be made to weep before the gate of Paradise; but rather, let us struggle to enter therein. (Kathisma at Matins of Cheesefare Sunday, also known as the Sunday of the Expulsion from Paradise.)

A 16th century icon showing the Holy Trinity, the expulsion from Paradise, and monks contemplating the mortality of man as they preside over a burial.

The Byzantine hymns of the Sunday that immediately precedes the first day of Lent, which coincides with the Latin Quinquagesima, are dedicated to the Creation and the sin of Adam and Eve, and contrast the gluttony of our first father with Our Lord’s forty day fast in the desert. In fact, we frequently find readings from the book of Genesis at the beginning of Lent itself, or within the three-week period of Fore-Lent. In the Roman Rite, Genesis is begun at Matins of Septuagesima Sunday; both the Ambrosian and Byzantine Rites have a series of readings from Genesis and Proverbs at Vespers through most of the Lenten season.

The remembrance of death and the last things.

Meditation on the fall of Adam is naturally accompanied by further consideration of the frailty of man, his death, and the necessity of penance before Final Judgment. This is stated very eloquently in the Introit of the Roman Mass of Septuagesima.

Circumdederunt me * gémitus mortis, dolóres inférni circumdedérunt me: et in tribulatióne mea invocávi Dóminum, et exáudivit de templo sancto suo vocem meam.
The groans of death surrounded me: and pains of hell surrounded me; in my tribulation I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice from his holy temple.

The Media vita is another text often sung during Septuagesima in the Roman Rite. This antiphon, which seems to date back to the 8th century, was later transformed into a responsory, and in many Uses integrated into the liturgy of Lent. In the Middle Ages, this dramatic text was often sung on the battle field to encourage the enthusiasm of the troops.

R. In the midst of life, we are in death; whom shall we seek to help us, but Thee, o Lord, who for our sins art justly wroth? * Holy God, holy mighty one, holy and merciful Savior, hand us not over to bitter death. V. Cast us not away in the time of our old age, when our strength shall fail, forsake us not, o Lord. Holy God, holy mighty one etc.

In a similar vein, the Byzantine Rite reads the Gospel of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25, 31-46) on the preceding Sunday, to call the faithful to think of the Last Things.

Prayer for the Dead

Just as the liturgy of Fore-Lent reminds us of our mortal condition fallen though sin, this period has also become in many liturgical traditions a privileged time to pray for the dead.

In the Armenian Rite, the Thursday of Quinquagesima (the last before the beginning of Lent) is dedicated to the commemoration of all the faithful departed. The same holds true for the Saturday before the Sunday of the Last Judgment in the Byzantine Rite; this is attested in the Typikon of the Great Church in the 9th or 10th century, the most important document describing the arrangement of services at Hagia Sophia. The Assyro-Chaldean rite has a similar observance on the Friday of the second week before Lent.

Among the Maronites, the three Sundays of Fore-Lent are dedicated to the commemoration of the dead, the first to deceased priests, the second to the “just and righteous”, the last to all the faithful departed. The arrangement of the season among the Syrian Jacobites is undoubtedly the more primitive: the fast of the Ninevites from Monday to Friday of Septuagesima week, the Sunday of prayer for deceased priests on Sexagesima, and for all the faithful departed on Quinquagesima.

Conclusions

The creators of the reformed Missal of Paul VI inexplicably suppressed the season of Septuagesima, an ancient element of the Roman Rite, without regard for its antiquity and its universality, and even though it is preserved in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and in many Lutheran churches. These articles have sought to highlight and explain the following points:

1. In all liturgical traditions, Lent is preceded by a penitential period, originally the fast of the Ninevites in the third week before Lent, and the week immediately preceding it (Cheesefare / Quinquagesima / the fast of Heraclius). The most ancient witnesses to this period are from the fourth century: St Gregory the Illuminator, St Ephraem, Egeria’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Copts of Egypt and Ethiopia have two fasts, the Mozarabic Rite has only Quinquagesima, the Assyro-Chaldeans have only the Rogations of the Ninivites. Starting at the beginning of the 6th century, Fore-Lent is developed and extended to a full three-week period before Lent in the Roman, Ambrosian, Byzantine, Armenian, Syro-Jacobite and Maronite rites.

2. This time is observed as a progressive entry into Lent, allowing for a gradual approach to, and spiritual preparation for, the ascetic exercises of that season. This aspect is explained by Protopresyter Alexander Schmemann in his description of the Sundays of Fore-Lent.

“Three weeks before Great Lent officially begins, we enter a period of preparation. It is a constant characteristic of our liturgical tradition that each major liturgical event – Christmas, Easter, Lent, etc., is announced and prepared for far in advance. Aware of our lack of concentration, the ‘materialist’ condition of our life, the Church draws our attention to the important aspects of the event that approaches, She invites us to meditate upon its various ‘dimensions’; therefore, before we can begin to keep the Great Lent, we are given the theological basis for it.” (The Liturgical Structure of Lent)

3. Meditation on the Fall of Man and the Last Things, and consequently, the common institution of prayers for the faithful departed, are an important recurring element in the various rites.

The Antiquity and Universality of Fore-Lent (Part 3)

We continue with part 3 of Henri de Villiers’ examination of the various forms and traditions of the pre-Lenten period. Click the following links to read part 1 and part 2.

Synthesis of the fast of the Ninevites and Meatfare Week – the extension of Fore-Lent to three weeks.

We have seen that in the sixth century, the custom of preceding Lent by a week of abstinence from meat is well established in both East and West. The 24th canon of a council held at Orléans in 511 prescribes its observance, indicating that it was already spreading before that date in Merovingian France. Certain churches in the East added the fast of the Ninevites in the 3rd week before Lent. It was therefore natural to join these two periods together and extend Fore-Lent to three full weeks.

It is possible that in the East this liturgical “bridge” between Lent and the fast of Nineveh was first built in Armenia. The Armenian Fore-Lent is called Aratchavor, and comprises three weeks, the first of which, is called Barekendam, “the last day of fat.” The first week is quite strict, consecrated to the fasts of the Ninevites, instituted by St Gregory the Illuminator in the 4th century. The second and third week are less penitential, and the fast is kept only on the Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Cathedral of the Holy Cross, an Armenian church of the early 10th century built on Aghtamar island in Lake Van, now in the state of Turkey.

At Rome, Quinquagesima Sunday came to be preceded by two other Sundays, Sexagesima and Septuagesima, over the course of the 6th century. The old Gelasian Sacramentary (Vat. Reg. 316) and the Epistle book of Victor of Capua, dated to 546, attest the presence of Sexagesima in this period. The stations of the three Sundays were fixed by Popes Pelagius I (556-61) and John III (561-74) at the basilicas of St Lawrence Outside-the-Walls, St Paul and St Peter. We have homilies delivered by St Gregory the Great for all three of them. The oldest known Roman lectionary, known as the lectionary of Würzburg, was copied out in the first half of the 7th century for use in France, and largely corresponds to the arrangement of the old Gelasian Sacramentary; it also attests that the three Sundays were already established by that point.

St Gregory the Great, represented in the Sacramentary of Charles the Bald, (869-70). Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Latin 1141 

Fore-Lent also exists in the Ambrosian tradition, in which the three Sundays have the same names as in the Roman Rite. The Alleluia is not suppressed in this season, but rather, since the Borromean reform, on the First Sunday of Lent; before that, on the first Monday. The liturgical texts are quite different from those of the Roman Rite, which would likely not be the case if the season were not very ancient at Milan, rather than a mere Roman import. We may cite here the transitorium (the equivalent of the Roman Communio) of the Mass of Septuagesima, which proclaims the program of the season.

Convertímini * omnes simul ad Deum mundo corde, et ánimo, in oratióne, jejúniis et vigíliis multis: fúndite preces vestras cum lácrymis, ut deleátis chirógrapha peccatórum vestrórum, priusquam vobis repentínus superveniat intéritus, ántequam vos profundum mortis absórbeat, et cum Creátor noster advénerit, parátos nos inveniat.

Be ye all together converted to God, with pure heart and mind, in prayer, fasting and many vigils; pour forth your prayers with tears, that you may cancel the decree of your sins, before there come upon ye sudden destruction, before the depths of death swallow ye up; and so, when our Creator cometh, may He find us ready.

In this period, the Byzantine Rite reads a series of Gospels which prepare the people for the penance of Lent: the Publican and the Pharisee (Luke 19, 10-14), the Prodigal Son (Luke 15, 11-32), the Last Judgment (Matthew 25, 31-46), and Christ’s words on fasting from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6, 14-21.) The organization of the three weeks is attested in the Typikon of the Great Church, of the 9th-10th century; the lack of liturgical documents older than this does not permit us to speak more precisely about the origins of the arrangement. It must be noted that in the first week, following the Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee, the Byzantines completely suppressed all fasting, even the regular weekly fast on Wednesday and Friday, as a result of certain controversies in the Middle Ages, to distinguish their own practice from that of the Armenians in the same week.

Only a few rites, those isolated from the rest of the Christian word by the advance of Islam, did not developed the three-week period of Fore-Lent. The Mozarabic Rite has remained in the primitive stage before the beginning of the 6th century with a single week of preparation for Lent. The Sunday of this week is called “ante carnes tollendas – before the meat is taken away”, indicating that meat was removed from the diet, but not milk products or other non-vegetarian foods. Egypt and Ethiopia have both the fast of Nineveh and the fast of Heraclius, but have never joined them into a single Fore-Lent. However, among the Ethiopians, the Sunday corresponding to the Latin Sexagesima, although counted with the liturgical season after Epiphany, is fixed in relationship to the following Sunday, called “the Sunday of the Bridegroom”, in which antiphons are taken from the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Matthew 25, 1-13). This marks end the period in which marriages are permitted. The Assyro-Chaldeans have held to keeping the Rogations of the Ninevites, and do not have an equivalent to Quinquagesima.

The Antiquity and Universality of Fore-Lent (Part 2)

We continue with part 2 of Henri de Villiers’ examination of the various forms and traditions of the pre-Lenten period. Click here to read part 1.

Quinquagesima Week, the fast of Heraclius, Cheesefare Week

In both East and West, the week immediately before Lent took on a penitential character very early, beginning at first with abstinence from meat. We must remember that the early Church followed a strictly vegetarian diet for all of Lent. For the week immediately preceding Lent (the Latin Quinquagesima, Tyrophagia in the Byzantine Rite), although meat is removed from the diet, milk products, eggs and other animal products may still be consumed.

To better understand the origins of this week, we must also consider that Lent lasts for seven weeks in the East, and for six in the West. In the East, where there is no fast on either Saturday (except for Holy Saturday) or Sunday, this makes for a Lent of 36 fast-days. In the West, where the fast is kept also on Saturday, but never on Sunday, this gave the same number of days, following the Roman custom before the time of St Gregory the Great. To compensate for the missing days and to make the symbolic number of 40, the number of days of Christ’s fast in the desert, the Christians chose to anticipate the official beginning of Lent by a week. This was also done in consideration of the possible occurrence of feasts that displace the fast, principally the Annunciation.

The removal of meat from the diet in the week before Lent is attested early in the West. Quinquagesima Sunday is called in the ancient Latin books “Dominica ad carnes tollendas” or “levandas” (whence the term Carnival), indicating that one began to take away meat right after the Sunday, passing to the strict vegetarian diet only in the following week. The first week of Lent is then called “in capite jejunii – at the beginning of the fast.” Before the time of St Gregory, the Roman Lent began on the Monday after the First Sunday, the custom still followed by the Ambrosian and Mozarabic Rites. St Gregory set the fast to begin on the Wednesday of Quinquagesima, to make a complete period of 40 days. (To this very day, the Roman Rite retains the Office of Quinquagesima week even after Ash Wednesday, and the proper rubrics of Lent begin only with First Vespers of the First Sunday.)

The institution of Quinquagesima week is attributed by the Liber Pontificalis to the eighth Pope St Telesphorus (125 to 136–138). This attribution may be purely legendary, but since the notice of Telesphorus was written under Pope St Hormisdas (514-523), we can infer that this custom was already of immemorial use at the time, if it could plausibly be attributed to such an early predecessor. The so-called Leonine Sacramentary contains a Mass for Quinquagesima, the text of which seems to have been written in the reign of Pope Vigilius, ca. 538 A.D.

In the East, we can follow the same early indications of the establishment of Cheesefare Week (Tyrophagia). The pilgrim Egeria (Itinerarium 27, 1) reports that an eighth week of penance was kept at Jerusalem in the 4th century. Between the 5th and 6th centuries, the Georgian lectionaries, which are based on the Jerusalem liturgy of this period, bear witness to the existence of special readings for the two weeks before Lent.

In the 6th century, St Dorotheus of Gaza attests that the institution of a penitential week before Lent was already considered ancient in his time: “These are the Fathers who later agreed to add another week, both to train in advance and to urge on those who will give themselves over to the work of fasting, and to honor these fasts with the number of the Holy Forty Days which Our Lord Himself passed in fasting.” (Spiritual Works, 15, 159)

The custom of a week of ascetic practice before Lent, already attested before the 6th century (St Severus of Antioch counts it in his description of Lent), was sanctioned by official decision in the 7th century, in the reign of the Emperor Heraclius (610-41). The origin of his fast is uncertain. Most authors connect it with the events of the war which took place between the Byzantine Empire and the Persian Sassanid Empire from 602 to 628, during which the Jewish population of Palestine rebelled against the Christians and the power of Constantinople, and allied with the Persian troops. This led to the fall of Jerusalem to the Persians, the loss of the relics of the True Cross, and the massacre of 90,000 Christians. By the time Jerusalem was reconquered by the Byzantine armies, and Heraclius entered the city in triumph in 629, all the Christian churches, including the Holy Sepulcher, were in ruins. The Emperor ordered a massacre of the rebel Jewish forces, despite a previous promise of amnesty. In penance for this act of perjury, the Patriarch of Jerusalem instituted a week of fasting before the beginning of Great Lent.

This arrangement was at first supposed to last for only 70 years, but endures to this day with this name among the Copts of Egypt and Ethiopia. Alongside this more common explanation, another is generally neglected, namely, that Heraclius prescribed to his troops a week of abstinence from meat, and the reduction in the use of milk products, during the sixth year of his wars against the Persian, to implore God for victory. It is also possible that both explanations are true, and more than probable that they merely ratified a custom already widespread. In the following century, St John Damascene attests that Lent is preceded by a preparatory week. (cf. On the Holy Fast, 5).
The institution of a week of mitigated fasting before Great Lent, which was done very early in both East and West, has two virtues, one symbolic and the other practical. On the one hand, this week of semi-fasting was perceived as a way of fulfilling the sum of forty days; on the other, the transition to the strictly vegetarian diet was made easier by a gradual progression.

The Antiquity and Universality of Fore-Lent (Part 1)

This article by Henri de Villiers was originally published in French on the website of the Schola Sainte-Cécile in 2014. It will be reproduced here in my English translation in four parts, since it is fairly long, and definitely worth a careful read. In it, Henri examines the universal Christian tradition of the preparatory period before Lent in the various forms in which it is practiced by the Eastern and Western churches.

In all ancient Christian liturgies, one finds a period of preparation for the great fast of Lent, during which the faithful are informed of the arrival of this major season of the liturgical year, so that they can slowly begin the ascetical exercises that will accompany them until Easter. This preparatory period before Lent generally lasts for three weeks. In the Roman Rite, these three Sundays are called Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima, names which derive from a system used in antiquity, counting the periods of ten days within which each of these Sundays falls. They precede the first Sunday of Lent, which is called Quadragesima in Latin.

The churches of the Syriac and Coptic tradition have preserved an older state of things, comprising two shorter periods of fasting, the fast of the Ninevites, and the fast of Heraclius, which are probably the starting point for the presence of Fore-Lent in the other rites.

The reminder of human fragility, meditation on the last things, and consequently, prayer for the dead, are recurrent elements of this liturgical season.

Inexplicably, the modern rite of Paul VI suppressed Fore-Lent from its liturgical year, notwithstanding its antiquity and universality.

The Origins of Fore-Lent: The Fast of the Ninevites

“And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying: ‘Arise, and go to Nineveh the great city: and preach in it the preaching that I bid thee. And Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord: now Nineveh was a great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city one day’s journey: and he cried, and said, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed. And the men of Nineveh believed in God: and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least. And the word came to the king of Nineveh; and he rose up out of his throne, and cast away his robe from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published in Nineveh from the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying, ‘Let neither men nor beasts, oxen nor sheep, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water. And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and cry to the Lord with all their strength, and let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn, and forgive: and will turn away from his fierce anger, and we shall not perish?’ And God saw their works, that they were turned from their evil way: and God had mercy with regard to the evil which he had said that he would do to them, and he did it not.” (Jonah 3)

To commemorate the fast of the Ninevites, the churches of Syria instituted a fast which runs from Monday of the third week before the beginning of Lent (the Monday after the Roman Septuagesima). These days are called “Baʻūṯá d-Ninwáyé” in Syriac, which can be translated as the Rogation (or Supplication) of the Ninevites. It seems that this fast initially lasted the whole week, more precisely, from Monday to Friday, since fasting on Saturday and Sunday are unknown to the Orient. (However, abstinence without fast may continue through these days.) The fast of Nineveh was eventually reduced to three days: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, while Thursday became a “day of thanksgiving of the Ninevites” in the Assyro-Chaldean rite. Traditionally, the number of these three days of fasting is explained by the three days passed by Jonah in the whale. This fast of Nineveh, which is very strict, is still kept by the various Syriac churches of both the Eastern tradition (the Chaldean, Assyrian and Syro-Malabar churches) and of the Western (Syriac churches). Among the Assyro-Chaldeans, the book of Jonah is read at the Divine Liturgy of the third day. This fast remains very popular; some of the faithful drink and eat nothing at all for the three days. Alone among the churches of the Syriac tradition, the Maronite Church no longer has the fast of the Ninevites properly so-called, but has adopted the arrangement which we will discuss later on of the three weeks of preparation for Great Lent.

The Egyptian Coptic Church, and likewise the Ethiopian, received from the Syrian churches this custom of the Supplication of the Ninevites. In the Coptic liturgy, these three days of rogation in memory of the Fast of Nineveh, also called “the fast of Jonah”, strictly follow the liturgical uses of Lent: the Eucharistic liturgy is celebrated after Vespers, the hymns are sung in the Lenten tone, without cymbals, and the readings are taken from the lectionary of Lent. The fast of Nineveh was adopted by the Coptic Church under the 62nd Patriarch of Alexandria, Abraham (or Ephrem, 975-78), who was of Syrian origin. It is possible that it was adopted more anciently in Ethiopia; the first bishop of Axum, St Frumentius, was of Syrian origin, and the Church of Ethiopia was reorganized in the 6th century by a group of nine Syrian Saints, who contributed enormously to the evangelization of the Ethiopian countryside. The fast of Nineveh (Soma Nanawe) is very strict for them, and no one is dispensed from it.

To what period does the fast of the Ninevites belong among the Syrians? Certain things indicate that it was probably practiced very anciently. Saint Ephrem, deacon of Edessa, composed hymns for the fast of the Ninevites; it seems that it lasted a week in that period, and not three days as it does today. The Armenian church has a fast of Nineveh that lasts for five days, beginning on the same Monday as the Syrians, and ends on the following Friday, on which the appeal of Jonah to the Ninevites is mentioned. This is also a full week of fasting, since the Armenians also do not fast on Saturday or Sunday, a constant in the East. These days have a fast and strict abstinence like that of Lent, and Armenian writers claim that it was established by St Gregory the Illuminator at the time of the general conversion of the Armenians in 301. It is likely that St Gregory simply continued a custom already in use among the neighboring Syrian Christians. The institution of this fast, which seems to be ancient among the Assyro-Chaldeans, may then have passed (or been re-established) in the 6th century among their Syrian Jacobite cousins at the behest of St Maruthua, the Jacobite Catholicos of Tagrit, during a plague in the region of Nineveh. It is possible that its reduction to a fast of three days instead of a week also dates to this period.

An Old Parisian Sequence for Thursday in the Octave of Pentecost

This article by Henri de Villiers was originally posted in 2014.

While in the use of Rome, the prose Veni, Sancte Spiritus is sung on the day of Pentecost and at all the Masses within the octave, the old use of Paris celebrates each day of the octave with a different sequence.

Here is how Paris used to arrange the sequences during the octave of Pentecost:

1. Pentecost Sunday: Fulgens præclara Paraclyti Sancti
   a subdivision of an old French prose for Easter, prior to the year 1000.
2. Pentecost Monday: Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia
   by Notker the Stammerer (c. 840 † 912). 
3. Pentecost Tuesday: Lux jucunda, Lux insignis
   by Adam of St. Victor († 1146).
4. Pentecost Wednesday: Simplex in essentia
   by Adam of St. Victor.
5. Pentecost Thursday: Qui procedis ab utroque
   by Adam of St. Victor.
6. Pentecost Friday: Alma chorus Domini
   an anonymous French composition, prior to 1000.
7. Pentecost Saturday Pentecost: Veni, Sancte Spiritus
   by Stephen Langton (c. 1150 † 1228).

It is notable that three of these compositions are the work of the famous hymnographer Adam, who, before ending his days in the abbey of Saint-Victor, at the foot of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, was the precentor of the cathedral of Paris from 1107 until roughly 1134. The proses Adam composed for Paris crossed the border of the diocese, and his work quickly spread throughout Europe. Adam’s sequences have a wide vocal range, typical of the school of chant of the cathedral of Paris, a fact which suggests the high vocal art standards which then reigned in our French capital.

Many other proses were subsequently built on the rhythms and songs of Adam; especially well know is the Lauda Sion for Corpus Christi, modeled by St. Thomas Aquinas on the Laudes Crucis by Adam of St. Victor.

Today I would like to present the text and the chant of the Parisian sequence for Thursday in the Octave of Pentecost: Qui procedis ab utroque, by Adam of St. Victor.

The liturgical texts dedicated to the Holy Spirit have become relatively rare in the Latin Church. It may be interesting to renew our acquaintance with this medieval hymnographic corpus of such high quality, as this magnificent repertoire is so rich, both spiritually and musically. Here is how dom Gueranger introduces this prose in his Liturgical Year:

This great liturgical poet of the western Church has surpassed himself in what he has written on the Holy Ghost; and more than once, during the octave, we will select from his rich store. But the hymn we give to-day is not merely a composition of poetic worth; it is a sublime and fervent prayer to the Paraclete, whom Jesus has promised to send us, and whom we are now expecting. Let us make these sentiments of the devout poet of the twelfth century our own; let us imitate him in his longings for the holy Spirit, who is coming that He may renew the face of the earth, and dwell within us.

Here is the chant of this prose, Qui procedis ab utroque, from the excellent Proper of Paris published in 1923-1925:

   

Here is a metrical translation by Digby S. Wrangham:

Comforter, from both together,
From the Son and from the Father,
Who proceedest equally!
Eloquent our utterance render;
With Thy splendour
Bright engender
In our hearts true warmth for Thee.

Love of Father, Son, together;
Equal of them both; with either
One: the same in every part!
All Thou fillest, all Thou lovest,
Stars Thou rulest, heaven Thou movest,
Though immovable Thou art.

Light the dearest!
Light the clearest!
Off Thou scarest,
As Thou nearest,
From the heart its gloomy night:
All the pure Thou purifiest,
Thou it is that sin destroyest,
And its mildew's baleful blight.

Knowledge of the truth Thou spreadest;
On the way of peace Thou leadest,
And the path of righteousness.
From Thee thrusting
Hearts unruly,
Thou all trusting
Hearts and holy
Dost with gifts of wisdom bless.

When Thou teachest,
Nought obscure is!
Where Thou reachest,
Nought impure is;
And, if present Thou wilt be,
Hearts in Thee then blithely glory,
And the conscience joys before Thee,
Gladdened, purified by Thee.

Elements their mystic dower,
Sacraments their saving power,
But through Thee alone possess:
What can harm us Thou repellest,
Thou exposest and Thou quellest,
Adversaries' wickedness.

Where Thou lightest,
Hearts are brightest;
Gloom-enshrouded
Clouds that brooded
There, before Thee disappear;
Fire all-holy!
Hearts Thou truly
Never burnest,
But thence yearnest,
When Thou comest, cares to clear.

Thou the heart, experience needing,
Languor pleading,
Little heeding,
Dost instruct and rouse to right;
Speeches framing, tongues endowing,
And bestowing
Love all-glowing,
Hearts Thou mak'st in good delight.

Sustentation
In dejection!
Consolation
In affliction!
Only refuge of the poor!
Give us scorn for things terrestrial,
And to care for things celestial
Lead our longings more and more!

Comfort wholly,
Founder solely,
Inmate truly,
Lover throughly,
Of those hearts that bow to Thee!
Concord, where is discord, raising,
Ills thence chasing,
Guilt effacing,
Bring us true security!

Thou, Who once by visitation
Didst inform, and consolation
To Thy scared disciples give!
Deign Thou now to come unto us:
If it please Thee, comfort show us,
And all nations that believe!

One excelling
Greatness sharing,
One as well in
Power appearing,
But one God three Persons are.
Coming forth from two together,
Thou co-equal art with either,
No disparity is there.

Such as is the Father Thou art;
Since so great and such Thou now art,
By Thy servants unto Thee,
With the Sire, and Son, in heaven
Our Redeemer, praise be given,
As is due, most reverently! Amen.

Some medieval Parisian manuscripts of this sequence may be seen in the French version of this post.

The Litany of St Martin

This article by Henri De Villiers was originally published in French on the website of the Schola Sainte-Cécile.

Until the time of the Revolution, and even beyond that to the beginning of the 19th century, some dioceses in France preserved the custom of singing a litany known from its opening words as Dicamus omnes. The ancient character of this text is unmistakable; prayers are offered for the Emperor and the Roman army, which may date it back to the fourth century.

This litany is probably one of the very few remnants of the ancient Gallican Rite, which was suppressed by Pepin the Short and Charlemagne in the 8th century in favor of the Roman Rite. It is found in a similar form in the rites of territories which border that of the Gallican Rite; in the Ambrosian Rite, it is still sung to this day at the beginning of the Masses of the 2nd and 4th Sundays of Lent, and in the ancient Celtic Rite of Ireland, it was sung between the Epistle and Gospel.

In the most precious witness to the latter, the Stowe Missal (Royal Irish Academy, Dublin; D ii 3, f° 16), which dates to the end of the 8th century, the litany is titled “Deprecatio Sancti Martini pro populo – St Martin’s prayer for the people.” The importation of a Gallican prayer into the Celtic liturgy is explained by the close ties between the monastic practice of Ireland and that observed early on in Gaul, in the time of St Martin.

The attribution of this prayer to him is perfectly plausible: the whole tone of the text takes us back “to the era when Caesar ruled the world.” Without being an exact translation of an Eastern diaconal litany, the similarity of expressions used therein indicates that the text is probably the reformulation of a model litany originally written in Greek. The people’s response, as in the East, is “Kyrie, eleison”, here translated into Latin, “Domine, miserere”, or, in the version in the Stowe Missal, “Domine, exaudi et miserere.”

Here is the chant notation for it from the Processional of Laon (Processionale Laudunense), published by Jean-François-Joseph de Rochechouart, bishop and duke of Laon (1755). Even in the middle of the 18th century, it preserves all the beauty of the primitive diaconal chant, in the third mode. The litany was probably originally sung at the beginning of the Mass, like the Great Litany of Peace in the Byzantine Rite, and the Ambrosian Litanies of the Sundays of Lent. Like certain other texts of the ancient Gallican liturgy, it was able to survive the Carolingian suppression by being incorporated among the chants used on the Rogation Days, which were instituted in Vienne in the 5th century, and from there passed into the Roman Rite.

V. Dicamus omnes, Domine, miserere. (Let us all say, Lord have mercy.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Ex toto corde, et ex tota mente, adoramus te. (With all our heart, and all our minds, we worship Thee.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Pro stabilissima pace, et prospera Imperii constitutione, supplicamus te. (For long-lasting peace, and the prosperous condition of the Empire, we beseech Thee.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Pro Congregatione Catholica, quæ est in hoc loco constituta, invocamus te. (For the Catholic Church, which is established in this place, we call upon Thee.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Pro imperatore nostro, et omni exercitu ejus, Rex regum. (For our emperor, and all his army, o King of Kings.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Pro aëris temperie, et fructibus ac foecunditate terræ, largitor bone. (For mildness of weather, and the fruits and fertility of the earth, Good Giver.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Pro civitate ista, et conservatione ejus, deprecamur te. (For this city and its preservation, we beseech Thee.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Pro his qui infirmantur et diversis languoribus detinentur, sana eos. (For those who are sick, and detained by various illnesses, heal them.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Pro remissione peccatorum, et emendatione eorum, invocamus te. (For the forgiveness of sins, and the correction of them.) R. Domine, miserere.
V. Exaudi nos, Deus, in omni oratione nostra, quia potens es. (Hear us, o God, in our prayer, for Thou art mighty.) V. Dicamus omnes. R. Domine, miserere.

With some modifications (see the text used for the Offertory in this Mass booklet), we sing the Litany of St Martin at the church of Saint-Eugène in Paris, especially on his feast day and on the Rogations.

Mass at the church of Saint-Eugène on the feast of St Martin in 2018; the Litany of St Martin begins at 1:03:25.

Video of Medieval Vespers of Easter in Paris (2020)

Second Vespers of Easter in the Use of Paris are celebrated according to a very particular form: after the first part, which is celebrated in the choir, the clergy and faithful process to the baptismal font, which is incensed, then return, making a station before a Cross in the nave. This ceremony did not originate in Paris, but rather in Rome, and goes back to the earliest days of the Church. It is described in the Ordines Romani of the 8th-11th centuries, which call it the “triple Vespers” from the three Magnificats. The Pope began the Office at St John in the Lateran, then went in procession to the baptistery, finishing at St Andrew of the Cross, a monastery attached to the Lateran basilica. The same ceremony was observed each day within the Easter Octave.

During the ceremony, numerous Alleluias were sung, with alternating verses in Greek and Latin. The presence of these chants and the evidence of St Gregory the Great indicate that the rite was brought to Rome at the time of Pope St Damasus I (366-384) by St Jerome, in imitation of the practice of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the very site of Christ’s Resurrection. Vespers of Easter and its octave began in the basilica, followed by a procession to the baptismal font, and ended at the chapel over the site of Golgotha. The catechumens baptized on Easter night participated in the procession in white robes, (hence the term “in Albis - in white garments” for the Easter octave), and the bishop of Jerusalem delivered to them each day a catechetical sermon, explaining the mysteries which they had received. (We have 23 of these Catechetical Lectures from St Cyril of Jerusalem.) The Use of Paris preserves a memory of this in the albs which the cantors wear in place of the normal copes.

The 70 years of Papal residence in Avignon in the 14th century led to the disappearance of this venerable office from the Roman basilicas; the Roman Office therefore simply repeats the antiphons of Lauds. However, most dioceses of France and the Rhineland continued to observe this tradition, which was included in their diocesean propers even into the 19th and 20th centuries. (Text thus far by Henri de Villiers.)

As I described in an article last year, there were a huge number of variations to this ceremony, depending on local customs; my article was based on the Sarum Use, since the rubrics of the Sarum liturgical books are unusually thorough and clear. The Parisian version is fairly long and complicated; fortunately, our friends from the Schola Sainte-Cécile are assiduous in making the liturgical texts of their ceremonies available. (Their work in this regard should be a model for all apostolates which celebrate the traditional rites!) At the following link, you can access a pdf with the complete text of the ceremony in Latin, with all of the music, rubrics, and a French translation. I know our readers will find the ceremony very interesting, and as always, enjoy the superb music.

https://schola-sainte-cecile.com/programmes/Vepres-stationnales.pdf

More on the Greek Mass of St Denis

As I noted in an article last week, the Abbey of St Denis near Paris had the custom of celebrating Mass in Greek on the octave day of its patron Saint, a custom which was maintained until the French Revolution. This was not the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, but the Mass of the Roman Rite translated into Greek, although the Canon and other silent parts of the Mass remained in Latin. The website of the Schola Sainte-Cécile has just made available in pdf the complete text of a work published in 1779, which gives an historical introduction to this tradition, followed by the ordinary of the Mass in Latin and French, and then the liturgical texts of the Greek Mass, including the chant. All of the following, which explains the orgins of this custom in much greater detail, comes from the article which accompanies it, written by Henri de Villiers.

As an example of the chant, here is the introit of the Greek Mass from the 1779 edition:

Compare this with the original:

The parts of the Latin Mass have been translated into Greek, and set to the same chant, with some adjustments for the change in accent.

The whole Mass of the octave was chanted in Greek; however, on the octave, the Epistle and Gospel were repeated in Latin, while on the feast day, they were sung first in Latin, and then repeated in Greek. This custom of doing the readings twice goes back to the Carolingian era, and was also done on Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, the feast of St Matthias, and that of the abbey’s dedication on February 24th. (Mercure de France, 1728).

The work linked above is the second edition, after a first issued in 1777, and was clearly made to help the faithful to follow the Mass. Various witnesses of the 17th and 18th centuries attest that this unusual celebration, which was done with great magnificence and a large number of ministers in sacred vestments, was attended by large numbers of pilgrims, especially since, for the entire octave, the abbey would solemnly expose the relic of St Denis’ head, and the silver reliquary which contained his body and that of his companions, Ss Rusticus and Eleutherius, for the veneration of the faithful.

The origin of the Greek Mass of St Denis

The oldest surviving liturgical book from the royal abbey of Saint-Denis is a sacramentary of the second half of the ninth century, (BnF Latin 2290), at the beginning of which we find the Gloria, Creed, Sanctus and Agnus Dei in the Greek language, but written with Latin letters, and with the Latin text added between the lines.

There is also a fragment of the Gloria written in the same fashion in a sacramentary (Laon 118 f° 145v°) which the monks of Saint-Denis made in the later part of the 9th century or beginning of the 10th, and gave to the chapter of Laon as a gesture of thanksgiving for taking them in during a Norman invasion.

The second book which we have from St Denis is a missal written between 1041 and 1060 (BnF Latin 9436), which at the beginning has several parts of the ordinary in Greek and Latin, and also their musical notation in campo aperto (i.e., with notes, but no staff): three Kyries, a Gloria in Greek, followed by three others in Latin, and the Credo in Greek (but not in Latin!), then three each of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei in Latin only.

Another very notable rarity is the Cherubic hymn, one of the most famous pieces of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, translated into Latin to be used as a second Offertory at the Mass of the Trinity (f° 58v°).

“Qui cherubin mystice imitamur et vivifice Trinitatis ter sanctum hymnum offerimus, omnem nunc mundanam deponamus sollicitudinem sicuti regem omnium suscepturi cui ab angelicis invisibiliter ministratur ordinibus, alleluia. – We, who mystically represent the Cherubim, and chant the thrice-holy hymn to the Life-giving Trinity, let us set aside the cares of life, that we may receive the King of all, Who comes invisibly escorted by the Divine Hosts.”

The following is a reconstruction of it, since there is no manuscript which gives this version on staff notation.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

Mutual Enrichment: O Salutaris Hostia after Bortniansky

Here is an interesting example of mutual liturgical enrichment between the East and the West, published last year on the blog of the Schola Sainte-Cécile; somehow, I missed it when it was originally posted, but happened to stumble across it yesterday. Towards the end of the Byzantine Hour of Orthros, a chant called an exapostilarion is sung right before the Laudate Psalms (148-149-150.) Many exapostilaria speak of Christ as the Light, since they would originally have been sung around the time of sunrise; they are therefore also called “hymns of light” (φωταγωγικόν - светилен). On Easter Sunday, the text is as follows: “Having fallen asleep in the flesh as a mortal, O King and Lord, on the third day Thou didst rise again, raising up Adam from corruption, and abolishing death, o Pascha of incorruption, Salvation of the world!” Dmitry Bortniansky (1751-1825), one of the greatest Slav composers of ecclesiastical music, set this to his own polyphonic version, as he did many famous parts of the Byzantine Rite. Henri de Villiers, who directs both the Schola Sainte-Cécile and the choir of the Russian Catholic Church in Paris, adapted Bortniansky’s setting of it for this version of O salutaris hostia, from St Thomas’ Office of Corpus Christi, which is often sung at Mass and Benediction.

Lenten Stations in the Ancient Rite of Paris (Part 6)

We present the sixth and final part of Henri de Villiers’ article on the Lenten stations observed by the church of Paris, in an English translation by Gerhard Eger. The French original was published on the blog of the Schola Sainte-Cécile; since it is fairly lengthy, we have broken it up into six parts, each covering the stations celebrated that particular week. See part one for a general introduction.

Jules-Adolphe Chauvet, the ruins of Saint Magloire ca. 1842, before their destruction under the July Monarchy to make way for the Rue Rambuteau.

14. Monday of Passion Week: station at the abbatial church of Saint-Magloire rue Saint-Denis (Sanctus Maglorius in vico Sancti Dionysii)

St Magloire lived at the end of the 6th century and was one of the many saints from the insular Britain (Great Britain) who crossed the English Channel to evangelize continental Britain (Brittany). He was born in Glamorgan in Wales and was formed by St Illtud. A cousin of St Samson, he succeeded him as archbishop of Dol, before renouncing this office in favour of St Budoc, in order to withdraw to the island of Sark and there lead a monastic life together with 62 disciples until his death. The relics of this holy man were taken from Sark to the Abbey of Léhon (near Dinan) during the reign of Nominoe, a king of Brittany who died in 851 (doubtlessly on account of the first Viking invasions). Around 910, the Vikings showed up in the region of Dinan, so the monks fled to Paris bearing with them the relics of St Magloire. With the support of King Hugh Capet, they founded a new abbey dedicated to him in the capital on the right bank of the Seine, which then became their motherhouse after the return of the monks to Léhon. In 1318, the holy body of St Magloire was placed in a magnificent silver reliquary. In 1572, Catherine de’ Medici decided to move the monks of Saint-Magloire to Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas; the relics of St Magloire and his disciples were then transferred to the Hôpital Saint-Jacques, which became a convent. These relics were secretly buried during the Revolution, and were not recovered until 1835, when a new high altar was installed in Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas. The old abbatial church of Saint-Magloire on the right bank (situated in what is today 82 Rue Saint-Denis) was destroyed during the Revolution. The July Monarchy tore down the last ruins of Saint-Magloire to make way for the Rue Rambuteau.

15. Wednesday of Passion Week: station at the abbatial church of Saint-Martin rue dudit (Sanctus Martinus in vico ejusdem)

The chevet of St-Martin-des-Champs, a masterpiece of the late Romanesque (12th century)

Archeological excavations carried out in 1993-94 revealed the presence of a Merovingian funerary basilica built in the 6th or 7th century, mentioned for the first time in a charter of 709. An abbey attached to this basilica was founded at an unknown date; at the end of the 9th century, both were destroyed by the Normans. In 1059-60, King Henry I founded a collegiate church on the site before dying; construction was continued by his son Philip I and its dedication, in honour of St Martin of Tours, was celebrated on 29 May 1067. After the death of the first dean of the canonical chapter in 1079, Philip I entrusted the church and its lands to the abbey of Cluny, which was already present in the region with a priory at Longpont. St Hugh, abbot of Cluny, named Ursio (Ursus) first prior of Saint-Martin-des-Champs. Two bell-towers flanking the apse were erected a few years after the arrival of the Cluniac monks; the south bell-tower and the vestiges of its apsidiole are today the sole remnants of these beginnings of the priory.

Saint-Martin-des-Champs quickly became one of the most important and richest priories of the order, especially thanks to the protection of Kings Louis VI of France and Henry I of England. In the beginning of the 12th century, thirty priories spread out across some ten dioceses were already dependent on Saint-Martin-des-Champs, which was styled from this time forward as a daughter of Cluny. Its domain extended even into England; according to Peter the Venerable, the number of monks at this time reached 300. At the initiative of Prior Theobald II (1132-42), who became bishop of Paris in 1143, the wall surrounding the abbey was fortified, and the construction of the splendid choir of the church—a masterpiece of the late Romanesque—was carried out around 1134 or 1135. During the rule of Prior Baldwin (probably between 1225 and 1235), a Gothic cloister was built at the north of the church. A new refectory, a masterpiece of the Rayonnant Gothic, was apparently built during this time. A fourth great work of construction took place during St Louis’ reign: a new fortified wall was erected, many towers and wall portions of which are still visible in the Rue du Vertbois. Indeed, as its name reveals, Saint-Martin-des-Champs was located outside Philip Augustus’ wall, but within that of Charles V. In 1426, Philippe de Morvilliers, the first president of the Parlemant of Paris, together with his wife Jehanne du Drac, established a funerary foundation in favour of Saint-Martin-des-Champs and endowed the church with sumptuous furnishings. Under Henry III, a monumental portal, giving access to the monastery courtyard, was built next to the Rue Saint-Martin. The construction of a Doric cloister in place of the Gothic, begun in 1702 on plans by Pierre Bullet, was finished in 1720. Most of the mediæval buildings were replaced one by one, under the direction of several successive architects, including Jacques-Germain Soufflot. The new dormitory was finished in 1742. In 1769, the church’s façade was redone in the Jesuit style by the architect Sylvain Edmé Bonnamy.

During the Revolution, the priory was closed in 1790 and nationalized. It was to be transformed into a armement manufacturing factory, but a decree of 22 June 1798 finally granted part of the buildings of the old priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs to the new Conservatory of Arts and Crafts. The church itself was not originally included in this project, but was finally incorporated on 2 April 1799. The buildings were never again used for worship thereafter.

16. Friday of Passion Week: station at the abbatial church of Sainte-Marie de Montmartre (Sancta Maria de Monte Martyrum)

The Royal Abbey of Montmartre with the two abbatial churches, upper and lower; by Etienne Martellange,1625.

The choice of this church as the final Lenten station was doubtlessly due to the fact that the Parisian rite celebrated the feast of the Compassion of Our Lady (a feast better known today under the name of Our Lady of Sorrows) on Passion Friday. Since the 6th century at least, a place of worship dedicated to St Dionysius existed in Montmartre (otherwise called the “Mount of Martyrs”, where Dionysius, Rusticus, and Eleutherius were beheaded). Of this Merovingian basilica, five capitals and four marble columns, taken from an ancient pagan temple, survive in the present church. The basilica was ravaged by the Normans during the Siege of Paris in 885, and then by a storm in 944, but was apparently repaired after each of these damaging events. In 1134, King Louis VI the Fat decided to found an abbey on the site, in reparation for a conflict he had had against the Holy See. The preceding year, he exchanged the churches of Saint-Martin-des-Champs and Saint-Denis-de-la-Chartre on the Île de la Cité for 13 hectares of possessions which the monks of Cluny had at Montmartre: vineyards, presses, mills, an orchard, a hamlet, old ruins, a church at the summit of the mound, and at mid-slope, a paleo-Christian necropolis, as well as a little chapel dedicated to the martyrdom of St Dionysius (the Sanctum Martyrium). The church—currently that of Saint-Pierre-de-Montmartre—was then restored, conventual buildings were constructed to its east and south, and the new abbey was entrusted to the Benedictines who came from Saint-Pierre-des-Dames in Rheims. The dedication of the new church, on Easter Monday 1147, was an exceptional ceremony. It was celebrated by the pope himself, in the presence of two of the greatest religious figures in Christendom at the time, St Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter the Venerable. In 1153, Queen Adelaide, widow of Louis VI the Fat, retired to the Abbey of Montmartre. She died there a year later and was buried: her gravestone is still visible today in the nave.

The Royal Abbey of Montmartre quickly became one of the most important in France. The church’s choir being reserved to the religious under the invocations of Our Lady and St Dionysius, the nave, dedicated to St Peter, was used for parish worship. A cloister was built at the south of the church in the beginning of the 13th century, and served as a cemetery for the simple religious as well; abbesses were buried in the church’s choir. St Thomas Becket passed through the abbey during his exile in France between 1164 and 1170, and St Joan of Arc did as well during the siege of Paris in 1429. The vaults of the nave and the crossing of the transept, in the Flamboyant Gothic style, were redone around 1470, when the church needed important repairs in the wake of the Hundred Years’ War. During the repairs of the little chapel of the Sanctum Martyrium ordered by Abbess Marie de Beauvilliers at the beginning of the 17th century, the workers fortuitously discovered a very ancient subterranean crypt, built into the gypsum-stone behind the chevet. This caused a great sensation, for it was thought that a paleo-Christian place of worship had been discovered, with an altar where St Dionysius himself might have celebrated Holy Mass. Pilgrimages multiplied, and Marie de Beauvilliers took advantage of this to restore and enlarge this ancient chapel in 1622, and then to begin the construction of a new priory on the side (near the present Place des Abbesses). On account of the dilapidated state of the late mediæval abbey, most of the religious ended up installing themselves in this lower priory. Thus, what had originally been intended to be a dependency ended up becoming the abbey itself. During the abbacy of Françoise de Lorraine (1657-1682), the lower abbey was attached to the higher by a long covered passageway about 400 metres long, and the former was further enlarged in 1686 using stones from the latter, which then ceased to exist. The religious now possessed a new abbatial church within the lower abbey and hence no longer had need of the upper church of Saint-Pierre, which was therefore was given over entirely to parish worship, but continued to depend on the Royal Abbey of Montmartre. A parish cemetery was created at the north of the upper church and a new bell-tower was built in 1697. In 1765, a new façade in the Neo-Classical style was placed before the old one and the nave was rearranged.

During the Revolution, the Royal Abbey was forced to make a declaration of its goods in the beginning of 1790. In 1792, all the buildings were confiscated and the abbey was vacated on Sunday 19 August 1792, and then profaned and pillaged. Having been nationalized, the lower abbey buildings were sold in an auction in several lots, and those who bought them soon demolished them. Even the venerable crypt of the chapel of the Sanctum Martyrium was ruined. The upper church of Saint-Pierre escaped this fate, for it is the only parish church in Montmartre. Following the example of most of the churches which were not sold, it was transformed into a Temple of Reason after Christian worship was banned during the Reign of Terror. The last abbess, Louise de Montmorency-Laval, was beheaded on 2 July 1794 at the age of 71, despite being deaf and blind. Antoine Fouquier-Tinville condemned her to death for “having deafly and blindly conspired against the Republic.” The cemetery surrounding the upper church, the cimitière du Calvaire (opened in 1688), was vandalized. Above the choir, a tower meant to support Claude Chappe’s semaphore telegraph was built in 1794, and remained in place until 1840, the choir itself serving as the junk room. The church was not reopened for worship until 1803 or 1806, but remained in a very bad state throughout the 19th century, despite certain attempts at partial restorations. The late 17th-century bell-tower was demolished in 1864. Under the Commune, the church was again profaned and transformed into an ammunition magazine and workshop for the making of clothes. In 1876, the basilica of Sacre-Cœur de Montmartre was erected east of the chevet of the church of Saint-Pierre, partially on parish lands. All attention was focused on this new basilica, and the church of Saint-Pierre was almost forgotten. In 1890, its choir threatened to collapse, and in 1896, a section of the wall crumbled; a commission declared that it was dangerous and irreparable. It was “definitively” closed as a security measure and its demolition seemed a mere matter of time. Nevertheless, on 12 October 1897, the municipal council finally decided that the church would be entirely preserved; the architect Louis Sauvageot was charged with working out a project, which was approved by the Ministry of Fine Arts. Restoration work began on 1900 and lasted five years. The Society of Old Montmartre demanded that the church install its museum there, but Fr Marie Charles François Patureau (1853-1930) valiantly defended the use of the church as a place of worship, and was named curé on 23 February 1908.

Lenten Stations in the Ancient Rite of Paris (Part 5)

We present the fifth part of Henri de Villiers’ article on the Lenten stations observed by the church of Paris, in an English translation by Gerhard Eger. The French original was published on the blog of the Schola Sainte-Cécile; since it is fairly lengthy, we have broken it up into six parts, each covering the stations celebrated that particular week. See part one for a general introduction.

Turpin de Crissé, Corpus Christi Procession departing from Saint-Germain-L’Auxerrois, 1830

11. Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent: station at the collegiate church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois entre le Louvre et le Pont-Neuf (Sanctus Germanus Antissiodorensis inter Luparam et Pontem novum).

A first church is said to have been built on this site during the several Parisian visits of St Germanus, who was bishop of Auxerre from 418 to 448, and who confirmed St Genevieve’s vocation. The church was rebuilt in 540 and placed under his protection by King Childebert I and Queen Ultragotha. A second reconstruction was ordered by Chilperic I, but the assassination of the king in 584 left the work unfinished. This 6th-century church had the shape of a rotunda, and was hence known for a long time as Saint-Germain-le-Rond to distinguish it from the abbatial church of Saint-Germain-des-Près on the right bank of the Seine, which kept the relics of St Germanus of Paris). This old church was destroyed during the Viking siege of Paris in 885-886, then rebuilt in the 11th century under King Robert II the Pious. There remains no visible trace of King Robert’s church. During the 12th century, the Romanesque tower of the chevet was erected, which is still visible today. (It was formerly surmounted by a spire that was torn down around 1754 and replaced by the current balustrade). Since the portal was falling into ruin, the building was again rebuilt at the end of the 13th century in the reign of Philip IV the Fair; the central nave from this period survives, as well as the first aisle of the choir, the sides of the right flank of the nave, and the portal. The appellation “Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois” dates from this time.

It became the preferred church of the royal family when the Valois installed themselves again at the Louvre, in the 14th century, dethroning Saint-Barthélémy on the Île de la Cité as the parish of the kings of France. At this time the western portal, choir, and Lady chapel were erected. From 1420 to 1425, the central nave and the side aisles of the nave, except the Lady chapel, were rebuilt. From 1431 to 1439, the master mason Jean Gaussel built the porch and the chapels of the left flank of the nave. In 1541, a magnificent rood-screen was constructed following the plans of Pierre Lescot, which was later destroyed, in 1745, during the “screenoclasm” fad that struck France and Paris in particular. Molière was married here on 20 February 1662 and Rameau on 25 February 1726. The 18th century saw efforts to update the church according to the tastes of the day: in 1728, the stained glass windows were replaced by grisailles, and in 1756, the architect Claude Bacarit and his brother-in-law, the sculptor Louis-Claude Vassé, classicized the church choir, which was adorned in 1767 with gates by the locksmith Pierre Deumier.

At the beginning of the Revolution, after the forced return of the royal family from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace, the future Louis XVII made his first communion here. During the Terror, Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois was emptied of its furnishings and made into a barn, then into a printing press, then a police station, and finally a saltpetre factory. In 1795, it was profaned by a Theophilanthropic ritual. The church was returned to the true worship in 1802, and restored by Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Victor Baltard between 1838 and 1855. It was actually able to escape destruction by Baron Haussmann, a Protestant who feared that he might be reproached for ordering the demolition of such an emblematic historical edifice, the place from which the signal was given that set off the events of St Bartholomew’s Day. Nevertheless, after the demolition of the old buildings that surrounded it, a very large space was cleared on the side facing the colonnade of the Louvre, but the church was effectively set in a recess on one of its sides, ruining the appearance of the area.To restore a sense of equilibrium, Haussman asked the architect Jacques Hittorff to erect a building inspired by the religious edifice on the opposite side of the space, to house the town council of the 1st arrondissement. Hittorff reproduced the principal façade of the church almost identically (a porch surmounted by a rose window) which he flanked with constructions in the style of the era. Between the old church and the new town hall, Théodore Ballu, winner of the 1840 Prix de Rome, built a bell tower (or belfry) in the flamboyant neo-Gothic style, attached on each side to the two other buildings by two doors in the same style. Begun in 1858, this architectural ensemble was finished in 1863 and it remains the state we know today.

12. Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent: station at the collegiate church of Sainte-Opportune rue Saint-Denis (Sancta Opportuna in vico Sancti Dionysii).

Saint-Opportune on the Turgot plan of 1739

The foundation of this church goes back to a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Woods, built during the Late Empire, a time when the northwest part of Paris was still covered by the forest of Rouvray, of which the ‘Bois de Boulogne’ park is a vestige. During the 9th century, the bishops of Sées in Normandy, chased away from their region by the Vikings, sought refuge in Paris and placed in this church the relics of St Opportuna (a rib and an arm), abbess of the Abbey of Almenêches, near Sées, who died in 770. Miracles attributed to the intercession of the Saint multiplied there, and the church soon became a place of pilgrimages. After Louis the Stammerer (846-879) donated the adjoining lands on the north (the Champeaux, that is to say, the current Halles), the chapel was replaced by a church surrounded by a cloister, and a chapter of canons was founded. During the 12th century, Sainte-Opportune became a parish church over a rather limited territory. Louis VII (1120-1180) granted this church feudal jurisdiction over all the meadows and woods up to Montmartre. The church was reconstructed during the 13th and 14th centuries. Suppressed and nationalized in 1790, it was sold on 24 November 1792 as a stone quarry and quickly destroyed. Its memory subsists in the Sud des Halles in the names of the Rue Sainte-Opportune and the Rue des Lavandières-Sainte-Opportune, as well as in the Place Sainte-Opportune, which occupies the site of the old cloister; a little statue of the Saint still adorns one of the façades of the latter.

13. Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent: station at the collegiate church of Saint-Merri rue Saint-Martin (Sanctus Medericus in vico Sancti Martini).

The choir of St Merri

This was once the site of the old oratory of Saint-Pierre-des-Bois. St Medericus (of whose name “Merry” or “Merri” are variants), abbot of Saint-Martin in Autun, had come there while on pilgrimage to Paris to see the tombs of St Dionysius and his companion, St Germain of Autun. Tired and ill, he chose to settle on the right bank of the Seine in a poor hermitage situated near this chapel of Saint-Pierre-des-Bois; he died here on 29 August 700 and was buried in the chapel. Numerous miracles took place at his tomb, such that in 884, Joscelin, bishop of Paris, had his remains exhumed and placed in a reliquary. (The elevation of relics over the altars was the form for the canonization of a saint at that time). During the 10th century when the chapel had become too small and was falling into ruin, it was rebuilt and transformed into a basilica by a royal officer, Odo the Falconer; during the reconstruction of the church in the 16th century, the skeleton of a warrior wearing gilt leather boots was discovered in the old cemetery, with the inscription “Hic jacet vir bonae memoriae, Odo Falconarius, fundator hujus ecclesiae.”) St Medericus then became the patron saint of the right bank of the city.

Around 1010, the bishop of Paris, Renaud of Vendôme, gave it over to the cathedral chapter; it thus became a collegiate church, served by a community of seven canons from the cathedral chapter and led by a chevecier. They all had to swear an oath of fidelity to the cathedral chapter, were bound to reside in the cloister, and had to be ordained priests if they had care of souls. Together with Saint-Sépulchre, Saint-Benoît-le-Bétourné and Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, Saint-Merry was thus one of the four “daughters of Notre-Dame”, and the only one that survives today. In 1200, the church was made into a parish under the name of Saint-Merri and its curé was a cardinal of Paris; the Italian writer and poet Boccaccio, and St Edmund, future archbishop of Canterbury, were both parishioners.

The current building was built between 1515 and 1612. The crypt, nave, and aisles date from 1515-1520, the arms and crossing of the transept from 1526-1530, the choir and the apse—the work of the master mason Pierre Anglart—were finished in 1522, while the works were concluded in 1612, when the bell tower was raised by a level. (A fire in 1871 destroyed this third level.) As happened with Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, the 18th-century saw efforts to update the church according to the tastes of the day, with some real success: the rood-screen of 1558 was destroyed in 1709 (one of the first manifestations of “screenoclasm” in the capital). A vast Communion chapel was erected in 1743 by Pierre-Louis Richard, following plans by Gabriel-Germain Boffrand; this chapel was originally separate from the church, but Richard made a path between the two buildings in 1760. In 1759, the brothers Slodtz were charged with considerable modifications of the choir, whose pointed arches were curved and covered, like the pillars, with a veneer of marble and stucco. The floor was covered with a magnificent marble paving, the furniture was renovated, and the stained-glass was in part replaced with grisailles. Closed in 1793 by the Revolution, the church became a saltpeter factory. Between 1797 and 1801, the Theophilanthropes transformed it into a “temple of Commerce”. It was finally returned to true worship in 1803. On October 2013, Saint-Merri was enrolled in the World Monuments Fund’s list of monuments at risk. Its ornaments, classed as historical monuments, are today in serious danger.