Music for First Vespers of the Assumption

In the Roman Rite, there are traditionally only three hymns generally used on feasts of the Virgin Mary. These are Ave, Maris Stella, which is sung at Vespers, Quem terra at Matins, and O gloriosa Domina at Lauds; the second and third of these were originally two parts of the same hymn, divided for liturgical use. Among the many other hymns composed in the Middle Ages in honor of the Virgin, a standout is O quam glorifica, an anonymous composition of the ninth century, possibly earlier, which was adopted by several churches for use on the Assumption. At Sarum, it was sung at First Vespers of the feast, while the Parisian Use placed it at Matins, and from these extended it to the Little Office of the Virgin. It was incorporated into the Latin version of the Liturgy of the Hours, although it was not assigned to the Assumption, but to Lauds of Our Lady’s Queenship on August 22, which is now the de facto octave of the Assumption. This is a piece whose complex Latin meter makes for a rather odd word order, and a prime example of a work to which translation perhaps does more than a little injustice. It is here sung by the Trappist monks of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, in a recording from 1958; the Cistercian tradition also places it at first Vespers of the feast.

O quam glorifica luce coruscas, Stirpis Davidicae regia proles! Sublimis residens, Virgo Maria, Supra caeligenas aetheris omnes.	O with how glorious light thou shinest, royal offspring of David’s race! dwelling on high, O Virgin Mary, Above all the regions of heaven.
Tu cum virgineo mater honore, Caelorum Domino pectoris aulam Sacris visceribus casta parasti; Natus hinc Deus est corpore Christus.	Thou, chaste mother with virginal honor, prepared in thy holy womb a dwelling place for the Lord of heaven; hence God, Christ, was born in a body.
Quem cunctus venerans orbis adorat, Cui nunc rite genuflectitur omne; A quo te, petimus, subveniente, Abjectis tenebris, gaudia lucis.	Whom all the word adores in veneration, before whom every knee rightfully bends, From whom we ask, as thou comest to help, the joys of light, and the casting away of darkness.
Hoc largire Pater luminis omnis, Natum per proprium, Flamine sacro, Qui tecum nitida vivit in aethra Regnans, ac moderans saecula cuncta. Amen.	Grant this, Father of all light, Through thine own Son, by the Holy Spirit, who with liveth in the bright heaven, ruling and governing all the ages. Amen.

The Sarum and Dominican Uses also have a special Magnificat antiphon for First Vespers of the Assumption, much longer than those typically found in the Roman Use.

Aña Ascendit Christus super caelos, et praeparavit suae castissimae Matri immortalitatis locum: et haec est illa praeclara festivitas, omnium Sanctorum festivitatibus incomparabilis, in qua gloriosa et felix, mirantibus caelestis curiae ordinibus, ad aethereum pervenit thalamum: quo pia sui memorum immemor nequaquam exsistat. – Christ ascended above the heavens, and prepared for His most chaste Mother the place of immortality; and this is the splendid festivity, beyond comparison with the feasts of all the Saints, in which She in glory and rejoicing, as the orders of the heavely courts beheld in wonder, came to the heavenly bridal chamber; that She in her benevolence may ever be mindful of those that remember her.

The classic Vespers hymn of the Virgin, Ave Maris Stella, in Gregorian chant...

and in Palestrina’s splendid polyphonic setting.

A New Latin Hymn for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

In July of 2023, we shared a new hymn composed by a very talented young Latinist, Mr Sean Pilcher, commissioned by the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in honor of its patron Saint. The first letters of the five stanzas spell out the last name of Cardinal Burke, who founded the shrine when he was bishop of LaCrosse (1995-2004). Earlier this year, Mr Pilcher wrote a second hymn, which by the same device spells out His Eminence’s middle name, Leo, while the first letters of the lines of the last stanza spell AMEN.

The series has now been completed with a third piece, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Cardinal Burke’s priestly ordination, and thirtieth of episcopal consecration. This hymn spells out his first name in Latin, Raymundus; it will debut today at a solemn celebration at the Shrine in LaCrosse for the feast of the dedication of St Mary Major in Rome, also known as Our Lady of the Snows. The hymn recounts the origins of that basilica, and how its builder, Pope Liberius, was directed by the Virgin Herself to fulfill Her wishes, and those of a pious couple named John and Maria, who wanted to donate their patrimony to Her, by a miraculous snowfall on the Esquiline hill, which took place on August 5, 362. The parallel is drawn throughout between Pope Liberius’ foundation of Mary Major in Rome, and Cardinal Burke’s foundation of ‘this sanctuary,’ the Guadalupe Shrine in La Crosse. Mr Pilcher has been kind enough to share this third piece with NLM; notes are provided below to explain some of the allusions and provide historical information.

Romae gaudet Ecclesia hoc et in sanctuario, in festo tantae gloriae, In templo voces resonent.	The Church at Rome rejoices, And she also rejoices in this sanctuary, On this feast of such great glory, Let voices ring out in the temple.
Altari ordinatus vir, Virginis in servitio, Ut Vrbe ius protegeret, hic Christi oves pasceret.	The man was ordained for the altar, In Rome, in the service of the Virgin, In order that he might keep the law safe, Here that he might feed Christ’s sheep.
Ymnum canamus actuum, imaginis mirificae, domique Dei Altissimi, in summa collis culmine.	Let us sing a hymn of his deeds, Of the wondrous image, Of the house of God Most High, On the high-point of the hill.
Munus tributum a Petro, in populi regimine, eiusdem Pauli ordinis, triplo sacratus chrismate.	His charge was given before Peter, To rule over the people, He now held the same order as Paul, Thrice hallowed with chrism.
Virgo Maria Domina Pontifici hoc pignore Et Ioannis et coniugis Donum orationibus:	The Lady Virgin Mary, Gave a gift to the pontiff, With this bright white pledge, By the prayers of John and his wife.
Nives iecit mirifice Et fundamenta ecclesiae, Sacris cunis e Bethlehem, Et laudibus Deiparae.	God spread snow in a wondrous fashion, And laid the foundations of a church, For the sacred crib from Bethlehem, And praises for the God-bearer.
Dedicamus solemniter Signum ostendens omnibus, Voluntatem Dei Patris et Virginis imperium.	Let us solemnly dedicate, As a sign showing all men, Of God the Father’s will And the Virgin’s rule.
Vocibus exultantibus ut Liberi te oramus: Absconde nos semper tutos Caeruleo velamine.	With exultant voices, As children we pray you: Hide us always safe, Under your blue mantle.
Summo sit laus Deo Patri Honorque, virtus Filio, Paraclito qui inspirat, et sempiterna gloria. Amen.	Praise be to God the Highest Father, And honour, power to the Son, And to the Paraclete who inspires, Glory for ever and ever. Amen.

In the third stanza, the omission of an initial H, which was hardly pronounced by the Romans, in the word “hymnus”, and starting with Y to fit the acrostic, is attested in various early Christian poets. Mary Major holds the miraculous icon known as the Salus Populi Romani, and the shrine in LaCrosse has a mosaic copy of the Tilma from Guadalupe. Both churches are built on hills. The second stanza refers to the Cardinal’s study of canon law in Rome. Liberius held Peter’s office; Cardinal Burke was called to the episcopacy by Peter’s successor. The feast of Ss Peter & Paul, both named in this verse, is the Cardinal’s anniversary of priestly ordination. Mary Major was founded, according to the traditional story, with a large donation made by a man named John (Ioannes) and his wife Maria; this is also an oblique reference to the hymn’s author, of the same name in its Irish form, Sean. As referred to in the sixth stanza, the relic of the crib of Our Lord is also kept at Mary Major.

A statue of St Juan Diego holding the tilma. 

The famous icon of the Virgin Mary titled “Salus Populi Romani,” painted in the 6th or 7th century, and now housed in the Borghese Chapel at Saint Mary Major. The jewels and crowns seen here have been removed in subsequent restorations.

A Medieval Hymn for Eastertide

Many medieval breviaries, including those of the Sarum Use, the Cistercians, Carmelites and Premonstratensians, have a hymn for the Easter season which is not found in the Roman Breviary, Chorus novae Jerusalem by St Fulbert, bishop of Chartres, who died in 1029. The original version of the Latin text, and the English translation of John Mason Neale (1867), are given below. In this recording, the monks of the French abbey of Ligugé sing the revised version which Dom Anselmo Lentini made for the Liturgy of Hours; the differences are explained in the notes below the table.

Chorus novae Jerusalem, Novam meli dulcedinem, Promat, colens cum sobriis Paschale festum gaudiis.	Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem! To sweet new strains attune your theme; The while we keep, from care releas’d, With sober joy our Paschal Feast:
Quo Christus, invictus leo Dracone surgens obruto Dum voce viva personat A morte functos excitat.	When Christ, Who spake the Dragon’s       doom, Rose, Victor-Lion, from the tomb, That while with living voice He cries, The dead of other years might rise.
Quam devorarat improbus Praedam refudit tartarus; Captivitate libera Jesum sequuntur agmina.	Engorg’d in former years, their prey Must Death and Hell restore to-day: And many a captive soul, set free, With Jesus leaves captivity.
Triumphat ille splendide, Et dignus amplitudine, Soli polique patriam Unam facit rempublicam	Right gloriously He triumphs now, Worthy to Whom should all things bow; And, joining heaven and earth again, Links in one commonweal the twain.
Ipsum canendo supplices, Regem precemur milites Ut in suo clarissimo Nos ordinet palatio.	And we, as these His deeds we sing, His suppliant soldiers, pray our King, That in His Palace, bright and vast, We may keep watch and ward at last.
Esto perenne mentibus Paschale, Jesu, gaudium, Et nos renatos gratiae Tuis triumphis aggrega.	(in the recording, but not in the original text)
Per saecla metae nescia Patri supremo gloria, Honorque sit cum Filio Et Spiritu Paraclito. Amen.	Long as unending ages run, To God the Father laud be done; To God the Son our equal praise, And God the Holy Ghost, we raise.

A literal translation of the hymn’s first two lines would read “Let the choir of the new Jerusalem bring forth the new sweetness of a song.” The word “meli – song” is the genitive singular form of the Greek word “melos” (as in “melody”); this is unusual in Latin, and the line was emended in various ways. The Premonstratensians, e.g., changed it to “nova melos dulcedine – Let the choir of the new Jerusalem bring forth a song with new sweetness.” Dom Lentini disturbed the original text less by changing it to “Hymni novam dulcedinem – the new sweetness of a hymn.”

This manuscript of the mid-11th century (British Library, Cotton Vesp. d. xii; folio 74v, image cropped), is one of the two oldest with the text of this hymn.

Unfortunately, he then decided to remove altogether the original doxology, which is unique to this hymn, in favor of his re-written version of the double doxology used at most hymns of the Easter season.

Esto perenne mentibus
Paschale, Jesu, gaudium,
Et nos renatos gratiae
Tuis triumphis aggrega.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui morte victa praenites,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu,
In sempiterna saecula.

“Be to our minds the endless joy of Easter, o Jesus, and join us, reborn of grace, to Thy triumphs. – Jesus, to Thee be glory, who shinest forth, death being conquered, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto eternal ages.”

It is not difficult to figure out the rationale behind this change, since it appears in other features of the reform as well. As the wise Fr Hunwicke noted two years ago, “The post-Conciliar reforms made much of Easter being 50 days long and being one single Great Day of Feast. They renamed the Sundays as ‘of Easter’ rather than ‘after Easter’, and chucked out the old collects for the Sundays after Easter ... because they didn’t consider them ‘Paschal’ enough.” (The “old” collects to which he refers are all found in the Gelasian Sacramentary in the same places they have in the Missal of St Pius V.) Likewise, St Fulbert’s original conclusion makes no direct reference to Easter. For further reference, see these articles about the supposed restoration of the 50 days of Easter:

http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2019/05/fifty-days-of-easter.html http://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2019/06/fifty-days-of-easter-part-2.html

Superb Recordings of the Hymns of Passiontide

As we are about to enter Holy Week, here are two genuinely outstanding recordings of the hymns for Passiontide Vexilla Regis and Pange lingua. These come from an album released by the choir of Westminster Cathedral in October of 2023, titled Vexilla Regis: A sequence of music from Palm Sunday to Holy Saturday; the 21 tracks are also available on a YouTube playlist. Both of these hymns were were written by St Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers in France, in the later sixth century, to celebrate the arrival there of a relic of the True Cross which was given by the Byzantine Emperor Justin II to Venantius’ dear friend St Radegund, Queen of the Franks. In the Divine Office, Pange lingua is divided into two parts, the first of which (five stanzas plus a doxology) is sung at Matins, and the second (five more stanzas plus the same doxology) at Lauds, while Vexilla Regis is sung at Vespers. They are also both used at the Mass of the Presanctified on Good Friday, the former during the adoration of the Cross, and the later while the Blessed Sacrament is brought back from the altar of repose to the main altar.

What I particularly like about both of these recordings is how they alternate the stanzas between the boys’ and men’s choirs, which then merge at the last stanza to powerful effect, while the organ accompaniment remains very light.

Pange lingua

Vexilla Regis

Passion Sunday 2025

The Vespers hymn for Passiontide Vexilla Regis, in alternating Gregorian chant, according to a different melody than the classic Roman one, and polyphony by Tomás Luis de Victoria.

The Annunciation 2025: Dante and the Virgin Mary

The specific date of birth of the great poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) is unknown, but this Thursday, March 27th, is the anniversary of his baptism, which took place during the Easter vigil of 1266. The language which we call “Italian” today originated as the dialect of his native region of Tuscany (more specifically, of the city of Florence, but with some small differences), essentially because of his best known work, The Divine Comedy, along with those of two other Tuscans, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75) and Francesco Petrarch (1304-74).

In the concluding cantos of the Divine Comedy (Paradiso 31-33), Dante is guided to the final vision of “the Love that moves the sun and the other stars” by St Bernard of Clairvaux, who at the opening of canto 33, delivers this beautiful prayer to the Virgin Mary. (Translation by Alan Mandelbaum.)

“Virgin mother, daughter of your Son,
more humble and sublime than any creature,
fixed goal decreed from all eternity,

you are the one who gave to human nature
so much nobility that its Creator
did not disdain His being made its creature.

That love whose warmth allowed this flower to bloom
within the everlasting peace—was love
rekindled in your womb; for us above,

you are the noonday torch of charity,
and there below, on earth, among the mortals,
you are a living spring of hope.

Lady, you are so high, you can so intercede,
that he who would have grace but does not seek
your aid, may long to fly but has no wings.

Your loving-kindness does not only answer
the one who asks, but it is often ready
to answer freely long before the asking.

In you compassion is, in you is pity,
in you is generosity, in you
is every goodness found in any creature.”

An illustration of the Divine Comedy by Giovanni di Paolo (1403 ca. - 1482), in a manuscript now in the British Library. At the left, Beatrice, Dante’s guide through heaven, introduces him to St Bernard, while at the right, the Angel Gabriel speaks to the Virgin Mary; below them are St Peter and St Anne. (Paradiso XXXII, 133-135; public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

In his encyclical In Praeclara Summorum, written for the 6th centenary of Dante’s birth in 1921, Pope Benedict XV beautifully sums up this passage as follows: “in this poem shines out the majesty of God One and Three, the Redemption of the human race wrought by the Word of God made Man, the supreme loving-kindness and charity of Mary, Virgin and Mother, Queen of Heaven, and lastly the glory on high of Angels, Saints and men.”

Fr Anselmo Lentini OSB (1901-89), a monk of Monte Cassino and a skilled Latinist, led the subcommittee which revised the Latin hymns of the Liturgy of the Hours. It cannot be denied that they made many questionable decisions in their collective work, not the least of which is that Lentini himself became the single most represented author in the new corpus, by a margin of four-to-one over second-place Prudentius, and almost five-to-one over third-place St Ambrose. However, one of his best ideas was to translate this text into Latin, so it could be used as a hymn for the Saturday Office of the Virgin; the first part, which is assigned to Matins, would also be highly appropriate for today’s feast. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any recording of it available, but the meter is such that it could easily be sung with same music as the traditional hymns of the Virgin Mary for Matins and Lauds, or any other music that fits the 8-syllable iambic dimeter.

Here is the Latin text, and a prose translation.

O Virgo Mater, Filia
tui beata Filii,
sublimis et humillima
præ creaturis omnibus,

Divini tu consilii
fixus ab aevo terminus,
tu decus et fastigium
naturæ nostræ maximum:

Quam sic prompsisti nobilem,
ut summus eius Conditor
in ipsa per te fieret
arte miranda conditus.

In utero virgineo
amor revixit igneus,
cuius calore germinant
flores in terra cælici.

Patri sit et Paraclito
tuoque Nato gloria,
qui veste te mirabili
circumdederunt gratiæ. Amen.

O Virgin Mother, blessed daughter of Thy Son, exalted and most humble above all creatures, Thou art the goal of the divine counsel, fixed from eternity; Thou are the glory and highest dignity of our nature, which Thou didst manifest so noble that its Maker Most High, by marvelous design, through Thee became part of it. In the virginal womb that fiery love so revived by whose heat the flowers of heaven bud forth upon the earth. To the Father and the Paraclete and to Thy Son be glory, who clothed Thee in a wondrous garment of grace. Amen.

The second part is assigned to Lauds, and concludes with the same doxology.

Quæ caritatis fulgidum
es astrum, Virgo, superis,
spei nobis mortalibus
fons vivax es et profluus.

Sic vales, celsa Domina,
in Nati cor piissimi,
ut qui fidenter postulat,
per te securus impetret.

Opem tua benignitas
non solum fert poscentibus,
sed et libenter sæpius
precantum vota prævenit.

In te misericordia,
in te magnificentia;
tu bonitatis cumulas
quicquid creata possident.

Who art the gleaming star of charity, o Virgin, for those on high; for us mortals, the living and flowing font of hope. Such power Thou hast, o exalted Lady, over the most loving heart of Thy Son that he who asks with confidence surely obtaineth through Thee. Thy kindliness bringeth aid not only to them that ask, but often and willingly comes before their prayers. In Thee are mercy and magnanimity; Thou dost heap goodness on whatever any created thing possesseth.

Perhaps the most famous painting of the Annunciation by a Tuscan artist, a fresco of Fra Angelico in the convent of San Marco, the second Dominican church of Florence, 1442. 

In Purgatory X, 34-45, Dante describes a sculpted image of the Annunciation which he sees on the first ledge, where the vice Pride is cured (again in Mandelbaum’s translation).

The angel who reached earth with the decree
of that peace which, for many years, had been
invoked with tears, the peace that opened Heaven

after long interdict, appeared before us,
his gracious action carved with such precision,
he did not seem to be a silent image.

One would have sworn that he was saying, “Ave”;
for in that scene there was the effigy
of one who turned the key that had unlocked

the highest love; and in her stance there were
impressed these words, “Ecce ancilla Dei,”
precisely like a figure stamped in wax.

Perhaps the most famous sculpture of the Annunciation by a Tuscan artist, a work of Donatello known as the Cavalcanti Annunciation, in the Franciscan church of the Holy Cross in Florence, ca. 1435. The grey sandstone known as “pietra serena” is partly gilded; originally made for the now-lost tomb of the Cavalcanti family, this is one of the artist’s very few works still in its original location.

An Important New Online Resources: Dom Lentini’s Te Decet Hymnus

My colleague Matthew Hazell has uploaded to archive.org a scan of an important resource for the study of the reform of the Divine Office, Dom Anselmo Lentini’s book Te decet hymnus: L’innario della “Liturgia Horarum”. Dom Lentini (1901-89), a monk of the abbey of Montecassino, was the head of the coetus (subcommittee) that reformed the Office hymns, and this book is the official account of their work.

The bulk of the book is taken up with the hymns themselves, with information on the author and date of each one, if known, or if not, an estimate at least of the period in which it was composed. In the cases where hymns are excerpts from longer ones, it indicates which strophes of the original text are used. (This is not by any means an innovation of the reform.) It also indicates where relevant, some of the other which breviaries had the hymn in their repertoire, i.e. Dominican, Premonstratensian etc. Prior to the internet age, the tools for researching other medieval breviaries were very limited, and so this information is certainly useful, but far from comprehensive. There are also many bibliographical references to scholarly collections of hymnography in which the original texts have been collected, such as the Analecta hymnica.

There is also detailed information about the changes which were made to the hymns for various reasons. I have often referred to these changes in articles that I have written here, and my favorite adjective to describe them is “cack-handed”. As with the rest of the liturgy, the hymns were subjected to an aggressive campaign of ideological censorship, based on the Bright Ideas of the members of the each coetus as to what Modern Man™ could bear to hear in his prayers. So for example, all references to fasting in Lent are replaced by “abstinence” or something similar.

There is a common notion that the Liturgy of the Hours undid Pope Urban VIII’s classicizing reform of the Latinity of the hymns, and reverted to the original texts. This is largely true, but not entirely so. In addition to imposing the aforementioned ideological censorship, Dom Lentini also “corrected” many metrical irregularities, and changed unusual words. Many of these changes are well made, but many of them were unnecessary, and together, they have the unfortunate effect of homogenizing the hymns.

Lastly, I note that the non-Latin text (all the notes, the prenotanda etc.) is in Italian, but I hazard to guess that at least the more basic notes are simple enough as to be intelligible to those who know some Latin, or one of the other Romance languages.

Another New Latin Hymn for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

In July of 2023, we shared a new hymn composed by a very talented young Latinist, Mr Sean Pilcher, commissioned by the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, in honor of its patron Saint. The first letters of the five stanzas spell out the last name of Cardinal Burke, who founded the shrine when he was bishop of LaCrosse (1995-2004). (Photos by Mr Pilcher.)

Mr Pilcher has now completed another hymn, which by the same device spells out His Eminence’s middle name, Leo, while the first letters of the lines of the last stanza spell AMEN. The series will culminate in a third piece later this year, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Cardinal Burke’s priestly ordination, and thirtieth of episcopal consecration, and will spell out his first name; it is planned to debut at a solemn celebration of the feast of the dedication of Our Lady of the Snows on August 5th. Mr Pilcher has been kind enough to share this second piece in the series with NLM in time for us to publish it on the feast of St Raymond of Penyafort, Cardinal Burke’s patron both as his name Saint and as patron of canon lawyers. Some explanatory notes are given below.

Lux populorum omnium, Praesertim nostrum columen, Decus, pratorum gloria, Et inter spinas lilium.	O light of all peoples, Especially the pillar of our own, Splendor (and) glory    of our meadows, A lily among the thorns.
Erubescente flumine, Fluxus cruoris martyrum Praeconium nunc addidit Conceptionis nomini.	As the (Great) River blushed red, A flow of the blood of martyrs Has now added praise To the name of the Conception.
O alma super segetes, Inter petras calcarias, Clivos et haec cacumina, Duc nos ad usque caelica.	O nurturing woman    above the fields of corn, Amidst the limestone, rocky cliffs, And among the hill-sides, Bring us unto the heavenly heights.
Aeterno Patri gloria, Mitique Leoni Iudae, Et ligna sacranti nece, Nobis qui mittat Spiritum.	Glory to the Eternal Father, And to the meek Lion of Judah, Who hallows even the woods    by His death; May he send us also the Spirit.

The expression “A lily amid the thorns” is taken from the Song of Songs, 2, 2, and traditionally applied to the Virgin Mary as a reference to the Immaculate Conception. The Great River is the Mississippi, which the Jesuit missionary Fr Jacques Marquette originally named the River of the Immaculate Conception. The martyrs in the second stanza are his Jesuit confreres who are collectively honored as the North American Martyrs. The lion of Judah in the last stanza is also, of course, an oblique reference to Cardinal Burke, as noted above.

A statue of St Juan Diego holding the tilma. 

St Ambrose’s Christmas Hymn Veni, Redemptor Gentium

The Roman Breviary traditionally has only two proper hymns for Christmas, Jesu Redemptor omnium, which is said at Vespers and Matins, and A solis ortus cardine at Lauds. The church of Rome took a long time to accept the use of hymns in the Office at all, and in its habitual liturgical conservatism, adopted fewer of them than other medieval Uses did; although the major liturgical seasons have three proper hymns, one for Matins, one for Lauds and one for Vespers, most feasts have only two, that of either Vespers or Lauds being sung also at Matins.

One of the gems which is therefore not found in the historical Roman Use is the Christmas hymn Veni, Redemptor gentium, which is attributed on strong evidence to St Ambrose himself. It is quoted by Ss Augustine and Pope Celestine I (422-32), both of whom knew Ambrose personally, the latter attributing it to him explicitly, as does Cassiodorus in the following century. It was sung at Vespers of Christmas in the Ambrosian Rite, of course, in the Sarum Use, and by the religious orders which retained their proper liturgical Uses after Trent, the Dominicans, Carmelites, and Premonstratensians.

In many parts of Germany, it was sung in Advent, rather than Christmas; the last stanza before the doxology “Praesepe jam fulget tuum – Thy cradle here shall glitter bright” was omitted, however, until it was sung for the last time at First Vespers of Christmas. In the post-Conciliar Office, it is sung in Advent without the German variant, and without the stanza “Egressus ejus a Patre.”

Here are two versions, one in plainchant, and a second in alternating chant and polyphony. The English translation by John Mason Neale (1851) is one of his finest such efforts, both for its literary merit as English and its exactitude as a translation.

Veni, Redemptor gentium,         Come, Thou Redeemer of the earth,
Ostende partum Vírginis:           And manifest Thy virgin birth:
Mirétur omne saeculum:            Let every age adoring fall;
Talis decet partus Deum.           Such birth befits the God of all.

Non ex viríli sémine,                   Begotten of no human will,
Sed mýstico spirámine               But of the Spirit, Thou art still
Verbum Dei factum caro,           The Word of God in flesh arrayed
Fructusque ventris flóruit.        The promised Fruit to man displayed.

Alvus tumescit Vírginis,             The virgin womb that burden gained
Claustra pudóris pérmanent,    With virgin honor all unstained;
Vexilla virtútum micant,            The banners there of virtue glow;
Versátur in templo Deus.           God in His temple dwells below.

Procédens de thálamo suo,       Forth from His chamber goeth He,
Pudóris aulo regia,                     That royal home of purity,
Géminae gigans substantiae     A giant in twofold substance one,
Alácris ut currat viam.               Rejoicing now His course to run.

Egressus ejus a Patre,                From God the Father He proceeds,
Regressus ejus ad Patrem:        To God the Father back He speeds;
Excursus usque ad ínferos        His course He runs to death and hell,
Recursus ad sedem Dei.            Returning on God’s throne to dwell.

Aequális aeterno Patri,              O equal to the Father, Thou!
Carnis trophaeo accíngere:      Gird on Thy fleshly mantle now;
Infirma nostri córporis             The weakness of our mortal state
Virtúte firmans pérpeti.            With deathless might invigorate.

Praesépe jam fulget tuum,        Thy cradle here shall glitter bright,
Lumenque nox spirat novum,   And darkness breathe a newer light,
Quod nulla nox intérpolet,        Where endless faith shall shine serene,
Fidéque jugi lúceat.                    And twilight never intervene.

Gloria tibi, Dómine,                   O Jesu, Virgin-born, to thee
Qui natus es de Vírgine,            Eternal praise and glory be,
Cum Patre et sancto Spíritu,    Whom with the Father we adore
In sempiterna sæcula. Amen.    And Holy Spirit, evermore.

St Robert Bellarmine’s Hymn for the Guardian Angels

St Robert Bellarmine was born in 1542, and in his youth, received a classical education typical of his era, showing himself to be a particular bright pupil at a very early age. It was an essential part of education in those days that people were trained not only to read and comment intelligently upon the Latin classics, but also to write their own Latin in both prose and verse, and Robert was already skilled at this as a boy. In his early years in the Society of Jesus, which he entered at age 18, he taught the classics in the order’s school in Florence. When he was transferred to Mondovi in Piedmont, he discovered that he was supposed to teach Cicero and Demosthenes, although he knew hardly any Greek at all; he therefore taught himself in one night the grammar lesson he was supposed to deliver the next day. In the midst of his vast output of theological writings, for which he was named a Doctor of the Church in 1931, and his many other scholarly achievements, he also continued to write poetry in both Latin and Italian throughout his life.

St Robert Bellarmine (Public domain image from Wikipedia.)

Formal liturgical devotion to the Guardian Angels is found sporadically in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but really began to establish itself in the Counter-Reformation period, of which St Robert was such an important protagonist. Pope Paul V (1605-21), who kept him as one of his most valued counselors, was also the first post-Tridentine Pope to formally approve a feast of the Guardian Angels, which he granted to the Holy Roman Empire at the request of Ferdinand II of Austria. When the feast was extended to the universal church by Pope Clement X in 1670, it was given a proper Office, which includes two hymns composed by St Robert: Custodes hominum, which is sung at Matins and both Vespers, and Aeterne rector siderum for Lauds.

Ancient Greek and Latin poetry was not based on rhyme, which was considered a blemish on verse in antiquity, but on alternations of long and short syllables, according to various established patterns. The oldest Christian hymns, such as those of St Ambrose or Venantius Fortunatus, were similarly constructed, although often rather more loosely than in the classical period. In the Middle Ages, when Latin vowel quantities were mostly not heard or pronounced, rhyme established itself as the norm for new liturgical composition, and even extended itself beyond the various types of hymns into non-metrical forms like responsories. The Renaissance, however, which sought to imitate the classical world in all the arts, rejected rhyme and returned to metrical composition based on vowel quantity; this classicizing spirit in the use of Latin lasted much longer than the Renaissance itself did, and is found in new liturgical compositions of every period, up to and including the most recent texts of the post-Conciliar rite. In the same spirit, Pope Urban VIII (1623-44) had the whole corpus of hymns in the Roman Breviary revised and classicized, giving rise to the famous remark “Accessit Latinitas, recessit pietas - Latinity came in, piety went out.”

To judge by St Robert’s compositions for the Guardian Angels, it is a pity that he did not live to contribute to Pope Urban’s project, which might have been more successful with his input. His vocabulary is almost entirely within the established usage of Christian Latinity. The metrical form is one used by Horace in his odes, called the Third Asclepiadean, but he mostly avoids the contorted word order which the classical poets and their later imitators often employed. Here is a splendid recording by the Ensemble Venance Fortunat, in alternating chant and polyphony; a pure Gregorian version sung by the Gloriae Dei Cantores, alternating women’s and men’s voices, is given below. The English translation is that of Alan Gordon McDougall (1896-1965).

Custodes hominum, psallimus Angelos, Naturae fragili quos Pater addi- dit, Caelestis comites, insidianti- bus, Ne succumberet hostibus.	Angel guardians of men, spirits and powers we sing, Whom our Father hath sent, aids to our weakly frame, Heavenly friends and guides, help from on high to bring, Lest we fail through the foeman’s wile.
Nam, quod corruerit proditor angelus, Concessis merito pulsus hono- ribus Ardens invidia pellere nititur Quos caelo Deus advocat.	He, the spoiler of souls, angel-traitor of old, Cast in merited wrath out of his honoured place, Burns with envy and hate, seeking their souls to gain Whom God’s mercy invites to heaven.
Huc, custos, igitur pervigil ad- vola, Avertens patria de tibi credita Tam morbis animi quam requi- scere Quidquid non sinit incolas.	Therefore come to our help, watchful ward of our lives: Turn aside from the land, God to thy care confides Sickness and woe of soul, yea, and what else of ill Peace of heart to its folk denies.
Sanctae sit Triadi laus pia jugi- ter Cujus perpetuo numine machi- na Triplex haec regitur, cujus in omnia Regnat gloria saecula. Amen.	Now to the Holy Three praise evermore resound: Under whose hand divine resteth the triple world Governed in wondrous wise: glory be theirs and might While the ages unending run.

A different and somewhat looser English version, by Fr Edward Caswall. (Fr Caswall, born in 1814, was an Anglican clergyman who converted to Catholicism in 1847. After the sudden death of his wife in 1849, he entered the Birmingham Oratory in 1850; he was ordained priest two years later, and died in 1878. He was a talented poet, and many of his English translations of the traditional Latin hymns were incorporated by John Crighton-Stuart, the Third Marquess of Bute, into his monumental English version of the Roman Breviary, including this one.)

Praise we those ministers celestial
Whom the dread Father chose
To be defenders of our nature frail,
Against our scheming foes.

For, since that from his glory in the skies
Th’ Apostate Angel fell,
Burning with envy, evermore he tries
To drown our souls in Hell.

Then hither, watchful Spirit, bend thy wing,
Our country’s Guardian blest!
Avert her threatening ills; expel each thing
That hindereth her rest.

Praise to the trinal Majesty, whose strength
This mighty fabric sways;
Whose glory reigns beyond the utmost length
Of everlasting days. Amen.

Music for First Vespers of the Exaltation of the Cross

O Crux, splendidior cunctis astris, mundo celebris, hominibus multum amabilis, sanctior universis: quae sola fuisti digna portare talentum mundi: dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulcia ferens pondera: salva praesentem catervam in tuis hodie laudibus congregatam. (Antiphon of the Magnificat at First Vespers of the Exaltation of the Cross.)

“O Cross, more splendid than all the stars, renowned in the world, much beloved of all men, holier than all things, who only were worthy to bear the Price of the world: o sweet wood, that bearest the sweet nails, the sweet burdens; save the present company, gathered this day in praise of thee.”

This is not, of course, the Gregorian version of this text for use as an antiphon, but a polyphonic motet made from it by the Netherlandish composer Adrian Willaert, (ca. 1490-1562), and sung by the ensemble Henry’s Eight. (They are named for King Henry VIII, the founder of Trinity College, Cambridge, where they originally formed in 1992.)

The Exaltation of the Cross also provides an opportunity to sing once again at Vespers the famous Passiontide hymn Vexilla Regis, one of the masterpieces of the 6th century writer St Venantius Fortunatus. Here the ensemble AdOriente (which is correct Italian, not Latin) alternates the classic Gregorian melody with an unnamed polyphonic setting.

The alternation of Gregorian and polyphony was a popular way of setting hymns especially in the Counter-Reformation, and some of the best examples are those of Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victória. This version is particularly interesting for two reasons; the melody of the Gregorian parts is quite different from the Roman one, and the text of the hymn is that used before it was revised by Pope Urban VIII, (given here with Spanish translation.)

In the Byzantine Rite, the Exaltation of the Cross is one of the few days on which the Trisagion, “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!” is replaced by a different text, “We adore Thy Cross, o Lord, and we glorify Thy holy Resurrection.” (The Trisagion is sung between the kontakia, the variable hymn of the Sunday or Saint’s feast, and the Prokimen which introduces the Epistle.) The latter text is also sung the 3rd Sunday of Lent, the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, as seen here in the Orthodox cathedral of Kropyvnytskyi in central Ukraine.

A Proper Hymn for St Augustine

Despite his overwhelming importance to Western theology, there was very little liturgical devotion to St Augustine in the Roman Rite during the first millenium. His feast does not appear in the majority of ancient liturgical books; his day was originally kept in Rome itself as that of an obscure martyr named Hermes, who is still celebrated as a commemoration on August 28th in the traditional rite. Towards the end of the eleventh century, however, as the great reform movement within the Western Church gained momentum, there emerged a huge number of new religious congregations of the sort which we now call canons regular, followed within a few generations by the mendicant friars. [1] Many of these, such as the Premonstratensians and Dominicans, took the Rule of St Augustine as their own, since it is very simple, and permitted a wide variety of adaptations and additional customs. Augustine himself then began to be honored in the liturgy as the great legislator of canonical life, just as St Benedict had long been honored as the great legislator of monastic life.

Sometime in the 12th century, a proper Office was composed for him, and widely adopted by many of the Augustinian orders in their various kinds. Here is the hymn which the Dominicans sing at Vespers and Matins, the Premonstratensians at Vespers and Lauds. The prose translation given below is my own.

Magne Pater Augustine, Preces nostras suscipe, Et per eas Conditori Nos placare satage, Atque rege gregem tuum Summum decus Praesulum.	Great Father Augustine, receive our prayers, and by them, seek thou to reconcile us to the Creator, and rule thy flock, o highest glory of bishops.
Amatorem paupertatis Te collaudant pauperes: Assertorem veritatis Amant veri judices: Frange nobis favos mellis De Scripturis disserens.	The poor praise thee as one who loved poverty: true judges love thee as a defender of the truth; share with us the sweetness as thou expound the Scriptures.
Quae obscura prius erant Nobis plana faciens, Tu de verbis Salvatoris Dulcem panem conficis Et propinas potum vitae De Psalmorum nectare.	Making plain to us what was once obscure, thou makest sweet bread from the Saviour’s words, and offer us the drink of life from the nectar of the Psalms.
Tu de vita clericorum Sanctam scribis regulam Quam qui amant et se-    quuntur Viam tenent regiam Atque tuo sancto ductu Redeunt ad patriam.	Thou didst write the holy rule for the life of clerics; and they that love and follow it, keep the royal way, and under thy holy leadership return to the Father’s land.
Regi regum salus, vita, Decus et imperium: Trinitati laus et honor Sit per omne saeculum: Qui concives nos adscribat Supernorum civium. Amen.	To the King of kings be life, salvation, glory and rule: to the Trinity praise and honor be through every age: and may He make us fellow- citizens of those that dwell in heaven. Amen.

The Office also includes a full complement of proper antiphons and responsories; here is the antiphon for the Magnificat at Second Vespers, set as a polyphonic motet by Sulpizia Cesis (1577-1619 ca.), an Augustinian nun from Modena, Italy.

Aña Hodie gloriosus pater Augustinus, dissoluta hujus habitationis domo, domum non manufactam accepit in caelis, quam sibi, cooperante Dei gratia, manu, lingua fabrefecit in terris, ubi jam quod sitivit internum gustat aeternum, decoratus una stola securusque de reliqua. – Today our glorious Father Augustine, the earthly house of this habitation being dissolved, received a house not made by hands in heaven, which he built for himself with his hand and tongue, helped by God’s grace, where now he tastes within himself forever that for which he longed, graced by one stole, and sure of the other. (i.e., of the final resurrection.)

[1] See the introduction (p. 430) to the article “On the Prose Historia of St Augustine” by Janka Szendrei, in “The Divine Office in the Latin Middle Ages: Methodology and Source Studies, Regional Developments, Hagiography”, edited by Margot Fassler and Rebecca Baltzer; Oxford Univ. Press, 2000.

“Expert Consensus” in the Post-Vatican II Liturgical Reforms: More Half-Truths and Dated Scholarship

When the Consilium ad exsequendam was engaged in its work of radical liturgical reform in the 1960s, it was the ‘expert consensus’ that the so-called Apostolic Tradition was written by Hippolytus of Rome, and provided a witness to the liturgy more ancient than the Roman Canon. Thus, we were given various “restorations” in the Roman Rite, such as Eucharistic Prayer II, popularly known as the ‘Canon of Hippolytus,’ as well as an epiclesis in every one of the new eucharistic prayers, since this was thought to be a primitive feature of all liturgies that mysteriously went missing from the Roman Canon. Indeed, one still hears these sorts of things from time to time, even from people who ought to know better!

Of course, the current scholarly consensus is that the Apostolic Tradition is neither the work of Hippolytus or any other individual. Rather, it is now considered to be a composite work redacted over several centuries, and not at all representative of the early Christian liturgical tradition in Rome (being West Syrian in origin). [1] Eucharistic Prayer II is thus the best-known example of previously ‘assured results’ of historical-critical scholarship making their way into the post-conciliar reforms without, as it turns out, much of an ‘assured’ basis at all—in spite of the admonition of Sacrosanctum Concilium 23 that “there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing.”

It should not be terribly surprising, then, that there are many other examples of dated scholarship influencing aspects of the work of the liturgical reformers, and I would like to highlight one that recently jumped out to me. Is the famous passage from Philippians 2, 6-11, used in the post-Vatican II Liturgy of the Hours as a canticle at I Vespers of Sundays every week, really an early ‘Christ-hymn' that was used in the primitive liturgy?’

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient
to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2, 8)

Well, on a personal level, this is certainly what I was told by my biblical studies and theology lecturers back when I was at university. Many scholarly commentaries on Philippians claim that 2, 6-11 is an early Christian hymn. For example:

[T]his is a hymn devised for and taken from the context of public worship… [T]he unusual vocabulary of the hymn, with its many hapax legomena, the careful parallel construction, and the rhythm of the Greek original all suggest a pre-existing hymn. The passage is different in tone from what surrounds it, uses many non-Pauline terms and the sort of servant language that is largely absent from Paul’s other letters. On stylistic grounds it seems that Paul, like a good preacher, is using a pre-existing hymn illustratively in his exhortation to the Philippian congregation. Just as modern preachers may use a stanza or two of a well-known hymn to illustrate a point in a sermon precisely because the hymn is well known to the hearers, Paul is using a similar approach here. [Bonnie B. Thurston and Judith M. Ryan, Philippians and Philemon (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2009), pp. 85-86]

In what he says about Jesus Christ, the Apostle is not simply proposing him as a model for us to follow. Possibly transcribing an early liturgical hymn adding some touches of his own, he is—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—giving a very profound exposition of the nature of Christ and using the most sublime truths of faith to show the way Christian virtues should be practised. [The Navarre Bible: Saint Paul’s Captivity Letters (New York: Scepter Publishers, 2005), p. 102]

To give greater force to the plea which Paul has just addressed to his readers, he now introduces one of the earliest Christological hymns. This hymn embodies the essence of early Christian faith, the faith which acclaims the humiliation and exaltation of Christ… The stately and solemn ring of the words of this hymn are unmistakable even in English translation. The passage has a liturgical style, with its majestic rhythms, balanced clauses, and artful parallelisms. The hymn may be pre-Pauline, since it contains some uncommon words and ideas not found in other Pauline writings. [I-Jin Loh and Eugene A. Nida, A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (New York: United Bible Societies, 1995), p. 54]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church also makes the claim that Philippians 2, 6-11 is a hymn, on multiple occasions:

In a hymn cited by Saint Paul, the Church sings the mystery of the Incarnation: ‘Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…’ (CCC 461)

Like the inspired writers of the New Testament, the first Christian communities read the Book of Psalms in a new way, singing in it the mystery of Christ. In the newness of the Spirit, they also composed hymns and canticles in the light of the unheard-of event that God accomplished in his Son: his Incarnation, his death which conquered death, his Resurrection, and Ascension to the right hand of the Father [footnote 125: Cf. Phil 2, 6-11; Col 1, 15–20; Eph 5, 14; 1 Tim 3, 16; 6, 15-16; 2 Tim 2, 11113]. (CCC 2641)

The most usual formulation, transmitted by the spiritual writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt. Athos, is the invocation, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.” It combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2, 6-11 with the cry of the publican and the blind men begging for light. (CCC 2667)

In terms of liturgical studies, no less a figure than Klaus Gamber, taking the form-critical work of numerous other scholars such as H. Lietzmann, R. Deichgraber and J. Jeremias as reliable, wrote in 1970 that “The basis thesis, that this passage is itself a pre-Pauline (liturgical) hymn, has become almost universal today.” [2] However, as Ralph P. Martin pointed out in the late-1960s, “It is a singular fact that it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the unusual literary character of Philippians ii. 5-11 was detected and classified.” [3] This ought to have been a red flag for exegetes and interpreters, yet, as so often in academic biblical studies, theory and reconstructions quite quickly overtook the actual evidence—which, as Markus Bockmuehl noted in his 1997 commentary on Philippians, has always been basically non-existent:

Everyone agrees on the fact that exalted, lyrical, quasi-credal language is employed in these verses. There is an undeniable rhythm here, combined with typically poetic tension, repetition and a Hebraic-sounding parallelism (e.g. v. 7b, 8b), although occasional proposals to identify a clear meter have been forced and implausible… Despite continuing assertions of this ‘hymn’ being sung in one setting or another, we have in fact no contextual evidence of such use; nor is the passage ever cited in this connection in Christian literature of the first or second century… Perhaps another telling argument against a ‘hymnic’ reading of this passage is the observation that scholars have advanced at least half a dozen mutually incompatible proposals of how the different stanzas are to be arranged and divided. Some of these in fact depend on surgery on the text as it stands, involving various omissions or rearrangements… This lack of agreement about the very form and outline of our passage suggests that, even though poetic style and credal language are undoubtedly present, it is unwarranted and potentially misleading to call it a ‘hymn’ in the absence of evidence for its liturgical usage. [4]

As with the so-called Apostolic Tradition, more recent scholarship has moved away from the idea that Philippians 2, 6-11 (as well as other New Testament passages) was ever a ‘hymn’ at all. For example: 

The reconstruction of ‘Christ hymns’ and other formulaic pieces considered to originate from early Christian liturgy seemed to allow a deeper insight into the worship of the first Christians. These optimistic attempts found their climax in the thesis that 1 Peter as a whole (except for the epistolary frame) contained a complete baptismal service held at Rome, including all the songs and even the sermon!

    From the middle of the 1960s to the early 1970s, several monographs summed up the discussion on the early Christian hymns that had meanwhile been discovered, so that a certain scholarly consensus was reached. Ever since, early Christian “hymns” or “songs” have been an integral part of introductions and handbooks to the New Testament…

    Phil. 2, 6-11 has turned out to be a ‘praise of Christ’ written by Paul himself and firmly interwoven with its immediate context (2, 1-11) as well as with the letter as a whole. Appropriate to the subject-matter, it is written in an elevated, one can even say “hymnic” style. But the passage is neither poetic (because of the lack of meter) nor is it a hymn (because of the lack of the typical three-part structure)…

    [It is] a ‘praise of Christ’ within the letter, but is neither a hymn nor pre-Pauline. Since this text is often introduced as the principal witness for ‘hymns’ in the New Testament, the result of my investigation raises reasonable doubt concerning the other comparable passages. [5]

The Consilium would go on to fall prey to the erroneous 1960s scholarly consensus regarding these so-called New Testament ‘hymns.’ In September 1966, Coetus III of the Consilium proposed that canticles from the New Testament [6] be introduced to Vespers in the reformed Divine Office. They admit this is an innovation, [7] but they give the following reasons for this, among which is a “resurgence of biblical studies on the New Testament”:

1. Tradition. Regarding this, [such canticles] are not present in the tradition of the Roman rite. But in the Mozarabic liturgy, there are some excerpts from the New Testament, which are called canticles: Matthew 22, 23-32; 1 Timothy 6, 12 and 4, 12-16; Revelation 15, 1-4; Revelation 19:, 5-8. (Cf. Porter, “Cantica mozarabica officii,” in Ephemerides liturgicae [49], 1935, [pp. 126-145].)

    2. Utility. The resurgence of biblical studies on the New Testament has highlighted sections where a hymnic literary genre is prominent. The clearest examples are the canticles from the Apocalypse. Their literary form is similar to that of laudatory psalms, which begin with an invitation and continue with reasons for praise, e.g., “Praise the Lord, all nations, for great is his steadfast love…” (Ps. 116 [117]). They are also similar to prefaces for the same reason. Therefore, such canticles can excellently foster the spirit of liturgical prayer.

    Additionally, the faithful and priests of our time have a certain difficulty in reciting the psalms because the psalms inherently carry the spirit of the Old Testament. However, since the [time of the] Fathers, they have been sung in a figurative sense about Christ and the Church. Therefore, it will be essential to teach everyone, especially priests, how to chant the psalms in the spirit of the New Testament. If, besides the psalms, everyone can sing something specifically Christian, it will greatly assist in a Christian understanding of the psalter.

    Moreover, the psalms speak of the mystery of Christ only prophetically and indirectly, whereas the canticles of the New Testament do so directly. Thus, whoever recites these canticles after the prophetic psalms experiences spiritual joy in meditating on the glory of Christ.

    3. Possibility. In Coetus IX, there was extensive discussion about the placement of new canticles in the Divine Office, and it seemed to us that canticles of this kind could most fittingly occupy the fifth place in Vespers. In this way, after the prophecy of the psalms, the hearts of those who recite [these canticles] will ascend to the truth of the mystery of Christ, perfectly prepared for the climax of the entire Hour, namely, the canticle from the Gospel, with exultation: Magnificat. [8]

So, we can see that Coetus III justified the general introduction of New Testament canticles into the Roman Office on several dubious grounds:

• first, though never part of the Roman tradition, we can freely import them from the Mozarabic liturgy—this seems highly questionable, and not consistent with what Vatican II says about “innovations” in the liturgy (SC, n. 23);
• second, as we now know certain passages of the New Testament, including some not used in the Mozarabic liturgy (such as Philippians 2, 6-11), were hymns composed and used by the ancient Church, we should use them in the same way today—except this seems to be a 20th century scholarly fiction, with no actual evidence to back it up—and even if there was evidence, this would be the sort of archaeologism and antiquarianism condemned by Pope Pius XII (Mediator Dei, nn. 61-64);
• third, that this innovation will alleviate the alleged ‘difficulties’ clergy and laity have with praying the psalms, and imbue the psalter with the ‘spirit of the New Testament’—yet if the Christological nature of the psalter had been lost by ‘modern man,’ such an innovation does not seem sufficient to rectify this—and in any case, the psalter in the Liturgy of the Hours still ended up censored because of “certain psychological difficulties” (General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours, n. 131)!

With regard to the so-called Apostolic Tradition, the liturgist John Baldovin wrote in 2003 that “[t]here is a very real possibility that the Apostolic Tradition describes liturgies that never existed.” [9] Likewise, there is a very real possibility that the ‘hymns’ of the New Testament used at Vespers in the reformed liturgy never existed as hymns. They are just yet another item on the long list of scholarly fictions, myths and “restorations” that the liturgical books of the Novus Ordo are currently saddled with. It is to be hoped that these historical falsehoods will be corrected by younger generations who do not treat the work of the Consilium as absolutely identical with the intentions of the Second Vatican Council.

NOTES

[1] Paul F. Bradshaw, Maxwell E. Johnson and L. Edward Phillips, The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2002), p. 14:

[W]e judge the work to be an aggregation of material from different sources, quite possibly arising from different geographical regions and probably from different historical periods, from perhaps as early as the mid–second century to as late as the mid–fourth, since none of the textual witnesses to it can be dated with any certainty before the last quarter of that century. We thus think it unlikely that it represents the practice of any single Christian community, and that it is best understood by attempting to discern the various individual elements and layers that constitute it.

See also Matthieu Smyth, “The Anaphora of the So-called Apostolic Tradition and the Roman Eucharistic Prayer”, Usus Antiquior 1.1 (2010), pp. 5-25, at p. 24:

The purpose was to enrich the patrimony of eucharistic prayers of the Church of Rome; that which was done was based on the belief of the Romanitas and of the supposed antiquity of this document [i.e. the Apostolic Tradition], which [Bernard] Botte had defended with so much ardour. What a paradox for a document that in reality never had a relationship with the city and which in many respects was less ancient than the Roman Canon, the authentic eucharistic prayer proper to the Church of Rome!

[2] Klaus Gamber, “Der Christus-Hymnus im Philipperbrief in liturgiegeschichtlicher Sicht”, Biblica 51.3 (1970), pp. 369-376, at p. 369: “Die Grundthese, daß es sich hierbei um einen vorpaulinischen (liturgischen) Hymnus handelt, hat sich heute fast allgemein durchgesetzt…”

[3] Ralph P. Martin, Carmen Christi: Philippians ii. 5-11 in Recent Interpretation and in the Setting of Early Christian Worship (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), p. 24. Of course, this is not a problem for Martin, who goes on in his monograph to treat the so-called “hymnic character” of Philippians 2, 6-11 as an important 20th-century form-critical discovery, hidden to all previous generations!

[4] Markus Bockmuehl, The Epistle to the Philippians (BNTC; London: Continuum, 1997), pp. 116-117. See also the comments of Michael Peppard, “‘Poetry’, ‘Hymns’ and ‘Traditional Material’ in New Testament Epistles or How to Do Things with Indentations”, Journal for the Study of the New Testament 30.3 (2008), pp. 319-342, at p. 322: “most of the major scholarship on this subject has not so much argued for the hymnic qualities of certain New Testament texts as much as it has assumed these qualities and then analyzed them.”

[5] Ralph Brucker, “‘Songs’, ‘Hymns’, and ‘Encomia’ in the New Testament?”, in Clemens Leonhard and Hermut Löhr (eds.), Literature or Liturgy? Early Christian Hymns and Prayers in their Literary and Liturgical Context in Antiquity (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), pp. 1-14, at pp. 2 and 7-8. See also Benjamin Edsall and Jennifer R. Strawbridge, “The Songs we Used to Sing? Hymn ‘Traditions’ and Reception in Pauline Letters”, Journal for the Study of the New Testament 37.3 (2015), pp. 290-311; Paul A. Holloway, Philippians: A Commentary (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2017), p. 116; Gordon D. Fee, “Philippians 2:5-11: Hymn or Exalted Pauline Prose?”, Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 (1992), pp. 29-46.

[6] The list of “canticles” given in Schema 185 (De Breviario, 40), Adnexa, 19 September 1966, p. 1, is as follows:

• 1 Corinthians 13, 1-7
• Ephesians 1, 3-10
• Colossians 1, 12-20
• Philippians 2, 6-11
• Revelation 4, 11 + 5, 9-10, 12
• Revelation 11, 17-18 + 12, 10b-12a
• Revelation 15:, 3-4
• Revelation 19, 1b-2a + 4b + 5b + 6b-8a

[7] As does the liturgist Rubén M. Leikam, “The Liturgy of the Hours in the Roman Rite,” in Anscar Chupungco (ed.), Handbook for Liturgical Studies, V: Liturgical Time and Space (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), pp. 59-98, at p. 83: “It must be noted that, historically, the introduction of a canticle from the New Testament into the psalmody of the Vesper hour was an innovation.”

[8] Schema 185, pp. 1-2:

1. De Traditione. C[ir]ca talia non adsunt in ritu romano cum traditione sua. Sed in Liturgia mozarabica inveniuntur nonnulla excerpta e N.T., quae ut cantica dicuntur: Mt 22, 23-32; 1 Tim 6, 12 et 4, 12-16; Apc 15, 1-4; Apc 19, 5-8. (Cf Porter Cantica mozarabi officii in EL 1935.)

    2. De utilitate. Renascentia studiorum biblicorum de N.T. in lucem posuit sectiones in quibus viget genus litterarium hymnicum. Exempla clarissima sunt cantica apocalypseos. Forma litteraria similes sunt psalmis laudatoriis, qui incipiunt cum invitatione et prosequuntur cum motivis, e. gr. “Laudate Dominum omnes gentes, quoniam confirmata est ---” (Ps 116). Similes sunt etiam praefationibus ex eadem ratione. Quapro[p]ter talia cantica optime fovere possunt spiritum orationis liturgicae.

    Accedit, quod fideles et sacerdotes nostrae aetatis quandam difficultatem habent in recitatione psalmorum, quia psalmi ex se habent spiritum Veteris Testamenti. Sed iam a Patribus in figura cantantur de Christo et Ecclesia. Quare valde laborandum erit, ut discant omnes, maxime sacerdotes, modum talem psallendi in spiritu Novi Testamenti. Si vero praeter psalmos omnes possunt aliqua saltem specifice christiana cantare, valde iuvabuntur adintelligentiam christianam psalterii.

    Insuper psalmi de mysterio Christi loquuntur prophetice tantum et indirecte, cantica autem N.T. directe. Ita qui post psalmos propheticos haec cantica dicit, spirituali laetitia gaudet in meditatione gloriae Christi.

    3. De possibilitate. In coetu IX multum disceptatum est de loco novorum canticorum in officio divino et visum est nobis cantica huius generis optime locum habere posse quinto loco Vesperarum. Ita post prophetiam psalmorum corda recitantium ascendunt ad veritatem mysterii Christi optime praeparata ad culmen totius Horae, canticum nempe de evangelio, cum exultatione: “Magnificat”.

[9] John F. Baldovin, S.J., “Hippolytus and the Apostolic Tradition: Recent Research and Commentary”, Theological Studies 64.3 (2003), pp. 520-542, at p. 542.

St Ambrose’s Hymn for St Lawrence

The revised breviary issued by St Pius V in 1568 derives from the tradition which the Papal curia followed in the high Middle Ages, formally codified at the beginning of the 13th century in a document known as the Ordinal of Pope Innocent III (1198-1216). As I have noted several times, this tradition was in many ways extremely conservative, much more so than most other Uses of the Roman Rite, and especially in regard to its repertoire of hymns. Thus we find that even some of the most important Roman Saints, such as the martyr Lawrence, whose feast is kept today, take their Office hymns from the commons.

The basilica of St Lawrence in Milan, originally built in the very late 4th and early 5th centuries, but subsequently rebuilt several times. Photo by Nicola de’ Grandi.

The Ambrosian liturgy, on the other hand, is rather more generous in its use of proper hymns, although the hymn for Matins is completely invariable, and on many feasts, including that of St Lawrence, the same proper hymn is said at both Vespers and Lauds. This is due in no small part to a justifiable pride in the fact that it was St Ambrose himself who introduced the use of metrical hymns into the Western liturgy. Here then is his hymn for St Lawrence, an important witness to the early Roman traditions about the great martyr’s life. It appears that none of the great translators of hymns such as Fr Caswall or John Mason Neale ever put their hand to it, so we must be content with my simple prose translation.

Apostolorum supparem,
Laurentium archidiaconum,
Pari corona martyrum
Romana sacravit fides.
   (The faith of Rome has made sacred one nearly equal to the Apostles, the archdeacon Lawrence, with the crown of all the martyrs.)

The Roman basilica of St Lawrence Outside-the-Walls, originally built by the emperor Constantine over his tomb. Photo by our dear friend Agnese, the Roman pilgrim, from the 2018 Roman station church series.

Xystum sequens hic martyrem,
Responsa vatis retulit:
Mœrere, fili, desine:
Sequere me post triduum.
   (Following the martyr Sixtus, he received as it were a prophecy: ‘Cease thy mourning, my son; thou shalt follow me after three days.’)

Nec territus pœnæ metu,
Hæres futurus sanguinis,
Spectavit obtutu pio
Quod ipse mox persolveret.
   (Not frightened by fear of punishment, soon to be heir of (Sixtus’) blood, he looked with dutiful resolve to that which he would soon do.)

Jam tunc in illo martyre
Egit triumphum martyris;
Successor æquus syngrapham
Vocis tenens et sanguinis.
   (Already then in that other martyr, he triumphed as a martyr; a worthy successor, having the promise of his word and his blood.)

St Sixtus Bids Farewell to St Lawrence, ca. 1465, by the Austrian painter Michael Pacher (1435-98); public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

Post triduum iussus tamen
Census sacratos prodere,
Spondet pie, nec abnuit
Addens dolum victoriæ.
   (After three days, ordered to hand over (prodere - also ‘betray)’ the sacred treasures, he dutifully promises (to do so), and does not refuse, adding artifice to victory.) 

Spectaculum pulcherrimum!
Egena cogit agmina,
Inopesque monstrans prædicat:
Hi sunt opes Ecclesiæ.
   (A most beautiful sight! He gathers the needy crowds, and showing the poor, preaches, ‘These are the riches of the Church!’) 

Lucro piorum perpetes
Inopes profecto sunt opes;
Avarus illusus dolet,
Flammas et ultrices parat.
   (The poor are indeed its everlasting riches, to the benefit of the pious; the greedy man, deceived, prepares the avenging flames.)

St Lawrence Distributing the Treasures of the Church, ca. 1625, by Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644); public domain image from Wikimedia Commons. 

Fugit perustus carnifex,
Suisque cedit ignibus:
Versate me, martyr vocat,
Vorate coctum, si lubet.
   (The executioner is burned and flees, and yields to his own flames; the martyr calls out ‘Turn me over, eat what is cooked, if you like!’)

The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, by Titian, 1567, in the Spanish Royal Monastery of the Escorial.

Patri simulque Filio
Tibique, Sancte Spiritus,
Sicut fuit, sit iugiter
Sæclum per omne gloria. Amen.
   (To the Father and to the Son, and to Thee, o Holy Spirit, as there was, let there always be glory through every age. Amen.)