The procession as a practice of the Christian Church originates in the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. All four evangelists record the event and all four make mention of the hosannas and acclamations of the people which accompanied it.[1]True, the procession is older than Christianity and wider in observance. It seems to be a natural impulse of humanity in all ages and in all lands to make orderly progress from one place to another for the expression of communal joy or lamentation or to seek the aid and blessing of supernatural power in the activities and vicissitudes of life.
Processional ceremonies as they were observed in ancient oriental civilizations or in the culture of Greece and Rome are not considered here, except as they may have affected Christian origins. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the background and setting of processional forms which, in their evolution, gave rise to a continuity of hymns; to trace the origin, development and distinguishing features of such processional hymns in the Middle Ages and to display processional hymnody in its distinctive character as a separate category of medieval Latin hymnology.
Prior to the fourth century the record is obscure. Miscellaneous notices begin to appear in the last quarter of the century. Basil notes a procession in the form of a litany (c. 375). Ambrose mentions a procession of monks (c. 388) and also refers to a procession in Rome honoring Sts. Peter and Paul, in his hymn,Apostolorum passio, “The passion of the Apostles,” (A. H. 50. 17). Chrysostom was active in organizing processions in Constantinople to offset Arian influence (390-400).[2]At the same period, 379-388, Aetheria (St. Sylvia of Aquitania?) made herpilgrimage to the holy places of Palestine, describing in her journal in detail, the ceremonies enacted in the worship of the Christian Church at Jerusalem.[3]
Remarkable in all respects, Aetheria’s narrative is obviously written in a spirit of devotion with eager curiosity and joyful appreciation. She describes, among other observances, the Hour services, especially thelucernarewhen hymns were sung, the Sunday procession to the Anastasis or Church of the Resurrection which marked the tomb of Jesus and the procession and rites for the Feasts of the Epiphany, Ypapanti or Presentation of Christ in the temple, Palm Sunday and Easter.[4]Hymns in which the laity as well as the clergy participated are mentioned in connection with these ceremonies but no specific hymn is named. The immediate purpose of the processions at Jerusalem appears to have been the enactment of scenes in the life of Jesus in the places where they occurred, introducing a dramatic element which pervades medieval processional observances throughout their history.
Aetheria uses the words psalm, antiphon and hymn in connection with the musical parts of the worship she observed, but not indiscriminately. She was probably familiar with hymns as they had developed in the fourth century both in the eastern and western churches. It has been assumed that the hymn sung at the daily lighting of the candles wasPhos hilaron, “O gladsome light.”[5]The hymns she heard at the Good Friday observance have been tentatively identified as theIdiomelafor Good Friday, traditional in Byzantine ritual.[6]In any case they were true hymns, perhaps of a metrical, or more probably of a rhythmical type. It is impossible to identify the processional hymns of which she speaks. All that can be asserted is that non-scriptural, as well as scriptural hymns, were sung in the processions at Jerusalem.
In Constantinople, contemporary processions have already been mentioned. The practice of Jerusalem was also adopted there. In the sixth century under Justinian, the Feast of Ypapanti was introduced.[7]However, the history of Byzantine processions must be omitted from this study which is devoted primarily to the Latin West.
In Rome, the Christian procession had an independent origin, being derived in part from the memorial honors paid to the Christian martyrsand in part from the Christianization of pagan ceremonies. When the period of persecution of Christianity had come to a close and the triumphant Church was able to assert publicly her influence and authority at Rome, processions were made as early as the fifth century to the places where martyrs had suffered. This is the origin of the later station procession, followed by the celebration of mass in the various churches where the remains of martyrs removed from the catacombs were buried. A century earlier in Milan, Ambrose had discovered and removed the bodies of St. Protasius and of St. Gervasius from their original burial place to a church newly erected in their honor.[8]Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) observed the Roman stations and Pope Sergius (687-701) completed their organization.[9]The processions were accompanied by the chanting of psalms but there is no record of non-scriptural hymns. The symbolism of the procession, however, was enriched by the idea of pilgrimage to a spot made sacred by martyrdom, a continuing processional motive throughout the Middle Ages.
While the station processions developed in the vicinity of Rome, the litany processions arose in Gaul. Mametus, the Bishop of Vienne, 474, inaugurated thelitania minoror the public blessing of the fields and crops in the spring season. In 511, the Council of Orleans ordained the observance for Gaul, and the Council of Girona, in 517, for Spain. Thelitaniae minoresor rogations, perpetuate in their intent, processions of the Roman era. Thelitaniae maioreswhich were prescribed by Gregory the Great, 598, and Leo III (795-816), were of similar origin and purpose. Alitania septiformiswas also organized by Gregory on the occasion of a pestilence at Rome.[10]Thelitania maiorcame to be observed on April 25, St. Mark’s day, and thelitaniae minoresin the three days preceding Ascension. Psalms but not hymns in the sense of non-scriptural compositions were heard in the litanies. The procession of supplication common alike to pagan and Christian practice is illustrated in the litanies, a constant motive and a constant observance in medieval rites.
It seems clear, therefore, that primitive Christian processions in Rome consisted of stations and litanies. Festival processions were introduced into the west gradually. Ascension is spoken of as an ancient feast but there is no specific evidence of its observance before the middle ofthe fourth century. The Ascension procession, implied by Aetheria in her journal, is unknown in Rome at this time.[11]Pope Sergius imported into Rome the festival procession for Candlemas or the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin. The Feast of Ypapanti or Presentation, originally observed in Jerusalem and later adopted in Constantinople, as noted above, gained in the transfer a new feature. The carrying of lighted candles, not mentioned by Aetheria, seems to have been added in Byzantine practice. The words spoken by Simeon of the infant Jesus, “a light to lighten the Gentiles” (Luke 2. 32) made the symbolic use of lights almost inevitable. The date of the Feast of the Purification, February 2, was approximately that of the paganAmburbiumorAmburbale, an early Roman procession of lustration which had taken place in that month. Possibly the procession for the Feast is reminiscent of this pagan practice.[12]It might be of interest to follow in closer detail the origin of the medieval Candlemas, but attention must be directed to the Candlemas hymns later to be written and sung in procession at this Feast.
The period of Christian processional origins which may be considered to close with the seventh century, saw the development of the processions at Jerusalem, their adoption in Constantinople and the evolution of the stations and litanies in the west. Festival processions also, were slowly making their way into the Western Church.[13]
That the Latin processional hymn appeared first in Gaul should surprise no one. It has already been suggested that the hymns among theCarminaof Fortunatus were created in the atmosphere of freedom enjoyed by Gallic hymn writers in accordance with contemporary canons. Always a poet of the occasion, Fortunatus wrote three hymns for the reception of a relic believed to be of the true Cross, which was presented to Rhadegunda, his patron, by the Byzantine Emperor, Justin II and his wife Sophia, for the convent at Poitiers. As a final stage in the journey from Constantinople, the relic was borne in procession from Migné to Poitiers, accompanied by Euphronius, Bishop of Tours. On this day the hymn,Vexilla regis prodeunt, was first heard.[14]Two others,PangelinguaandCrux benedicta(seeChapter One) were devoted by Fortunatus to the same theme of the Holy Cross, although it cannot be proved that they were sung in the same procession.
The Resurrection hymn,Tempora florigero rutilant distincta sereno, “Season of luminous days, marked bright with the birth of flowers,” (Carm.3. 9), was originally written for the Easter baptismal rites celebrated by Felix, Bishop of Nantes (d. 582). It was a poem of 110 lines or 55 elegiac couplets, from which the cento of 28 lines beginningSalve festa dies, “Hail thee, festival day,” was later selected for an Easter processional.[15]
The metrical models provided byPange linguaof the trochaic pattern andSalve festa dies, the elegiac, continued to be employed throughout the Middle Ages for processional hymnody, the elegiac excelling in popularity. First in the original hymn, then in centos and finally in imitative verse adapted to a multitude of feasts,Salve festa dieswas never superseded but maintained the influence of Fortunatus for centuries.
Spain must have known the processional hymn soon after its appearance in Gaul, perhaps in the seventh century. Here, the Palm Sunday festival seems to have been the source of inspiration for the procession and blessing of palms is mentioned by Isidore of Seville as an observance of his day.[16]Contemporary evidence indicates a similar procession in Italy.[17]The use of a processional hymn, however, is not as clearly indicated.
It seems probable that the seventh century hymn,Magnum salutis gaudium(A. H.51. 73), “O great joy of salvation,” is one of the earliest to be assigned for Palm Sunday. It is a simple rendering in the Ambrosian style, of the events recounted in the biblical narrative.[18]In the early centuries when the concept of a specific processional hymn for a particular festival was almost unheard of, a familiar hymn from the old hymnals might be used in the new ceremonies. It has been suggested thatMagnum salutis gaudiumwas known to Theodulphus, who in the ninth century wrote the Palm Sunday processional hymn,Gloria laus et honor, for all the ages.
Processions, thus far, have been thought of chiefly, as wholly or in part outside the church edifice. Processions within the edifice were also frequently observed. A procession of the clergy, in connection with whichpsalms and antiphons were sung, preceded the Sunday high mass; another took place as the Gospel codex was carried to its place for reading. Other ceremonies within the church, aside from the liturgy proper, were sometimes accompanied by hymns.[19]
Perhaps the earliest hymn in use at a special ceremony, once more a selection from the hymnal, wasAudi, iudex mortuorum(A. H.51. 80), “Hear Thou Judge of the dead,” sung on Holy Thursday at the consecration of the chrism.[20]The wordsO redemptor, sume carmen temet concinentium, “O Redeemer, accept the hymn of Thy people magnifying Thee,”[21]formed a refrain, a metrical feature which came to be the unmistakable mark of the processional hymn.
In this early period from the sixth to the tenth century, a new idea and a new practice came into being, the use of hymns apart from those of the canonical hours and the sequences of the mass. The ninth century revival of hymnody in all its branches was taking place in western Europe just as this period came to a close, in connection with which the processional hymn was inevitably affected as the office hymn and the sequence had been by a fresh inspiration to poetry and worship. The movement came to fruition at St. Gall where the musical and ceremonial aspects of that great monastic center were so highly developed, a center which had contributed so heavily to the Carolingian revival of literature and the arts.
The French liturgical scholar, Leon Gautier, whose contributions to the study of medieval hymnology have already been mentioned, was the first to identify the processional hymn as a trope or liturgical interpolation. In a study of the St. Gall processional hymns he observed that they were classified by the nameversuswhich in itself points to a separate hymnic category. Other earlier hymns used in processions were there calledversus. Gautier discovered that musical notation always appeared with theversus, an indication that these hymns were invariably chanted and he noted that theversus, in the manner of the hymnO redemptor, sume carmen, cited above, was without exception, accompanied by a refrain.[22]
The processional hymns of St. Gall, like the sequences, bore the characteristic marks of the hymnic group to which they belonged. Fromthis stage in their evolution they were set apart by their music, classification and refrain.
The wider circle of Carolingian liturgical interest included hymn writers other than those of St. Gall: Theodulphus of Orleans, Walafrid Strabo of Reichenau, Rabanus Maurus of Fulda, Radbert of Corbie, who with Waldram and Hartmann of St. Gall wrote processional hymns. The hymns of Theodulphus and of Rabanus Maurus have been considered above.
Other great festivals of the ecclesiastical year and of the saints were now observed with processional honors for which new hymns were written; special ceremonies also, were thus recognized. Hartmann wrote the elegiac hymnSalve, lacteolo decoratum sanguine festum(A. H.50. 251), “Hail festival, graced with the blood of the Innocents,” for the Feast of the Holy Innocents. The processional hymns of Rabanus Maurus were heard at Nativity, Easter and possibly the Feast of the Purification. The dramatic spirit, always present in the true processional is felt in all these hymns while the refrain reiterates the message of the feast:
for Easter,
R.Surrexit quia Christus a sepulcro,Collaetetur homo choro angelorum. (A. H.50. 190)
R.Surrexit quia Christus a sepulcro,
Collaetetur homo choro angelorum. (A. H.50. 190)
Since Christ has risen from the tomb,Let man rejoice with the choir of angels.
Since Christ has risen from the tomb,
Let man rejoice with the choir of angels.
for the Nativity,
R.Christo nato, rege magnototus orbis gaudeat. (A. H.50. 186)
R.Christo nato, rege magno
totus orbis gaudeat. (A. H.50. 186)
Since Christ is born, the mighty king,let the whole earth rejoice.
Since Christ is born, the mighty king,
let the whole earth rejoice.
Processional hymns for saints are represented by Radbert’s hymn honoring St. Gall,
R.Annua, sancte Dei, celebramus festa diei,Qua, pater, e terris sidera, Galle, petis. (A. H.50. 241)
R.Annua, sancte Dei, celebramus festa diei,
Qua, pater, e terris sidera, Galle, petis. (A. H.50. 241)
We celebrate, O Saint of God, our yearly feast on this dayWhen thou, father Gallus, dost leave the earth for heaven.
We celebrate, O Saint of God, our yearly feast on this day
When thou, father Gallus, dost leave the earth for heaven.
To celebrate the life and miracles of a patron saint was frequently the inspiration of a medieval procession, which, in the case of St. Gall, passed beyond the precincts of the monastery into the streets of the town.[23]It is no wonder that the tradition of these processions, furnished with all the splendor of festival vestments, of robed choirs, of monastic treasures and sacred banners should have made St. Gall unique.
The Sunday processions were sometimes accompanied by imposing hymns in the form of litanies. It should not be forgotten that the ancient Christian processions were, in great part, of this nature. Waldram, Hartmann and Radbert wrote such hymns but Hartmann’s was evidently a favorite,Summus et omnipotens genitor, qui cuncta creasti, “Mighty and omnipotent father, who hast created all things,” with the refrain,
R.Humili prece et sincera devotioneAd te clamantes semper exaudi nos. (A. H.50. 253)
R.Humili prece et sincera devotione
Ad te clamantes semper exaudi nos. (A. H.50. 253)
With humble prayer and pure devotion,Ever hear us as we cry to Thee.
With humble prayer and pure devotion,
Ever hear us as we cry to Thee.
It seems probable that the custom of singing a hymn in the procession before the reading of the Gospel originated at St. Gall. Hartmann provided a beautifulversusfor this purpose,
Sacrata libri dogmataPortantur evangelici. (A. H.50. 250)
Sacrata libri dogmata
Portantur evangelici. (A. H.50. 250)
The sacred words of theGospel are borne.
The sacred words of the
Gospel are borne.
Aversusfor the reception of the Eucharist was written by Radbert,Laudes omnipotens, ferimus tibi dona colentes(A. H.50. 239), “In reverence, Almighty, we bring our praises as gifts to Thee.” The Blessing of the Font on Holy Saturday inspired hisVersus ad Descensum fontis(A. H.50. 242-3). Among the ceremonies most characteristic of medieval piety was that ofMandatumor foot-washing, commemorating the act of Jesus in washing his disciples’ feet, (John13; 1-15). The name “Maundy Thursday” is a modern survival of the ancient terminology.[24]The hymn associated with this rite appears first in Gaul in the eighth or ninth centuryand may have been current in Italy in monastic centers. The antiphon,Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est, “Where charity is and love, God is there,” is at once the motive and refrain of this hymn,Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor(A. H.12. 24), “The love of Christ has united us,” which follows the scriptural account.[25]
The student must turn once more to the great monastic centers of the Germanic world for processional hymns honoring royalty. Visits of kings and emperors to St. Gall and other noted monasteries were by no means uncommon; that colorful processions and demonstrations of loyalty were a part of their reception cannot be doubted. Walafrid Strabo celebrates the visit of Lothair to Reichenau with the hymn,
R.Imperator magne, vivassemper et feliciter. (A. H.50. 176)
R.Imperator magne, vivas
semper et feliciter. (A. H.50. 176)
Live, O mighty emperorever in felicity.
Live, O mighty emperor
ever in felicity.
Walafrid Strabo praised Charles, son of Louis the Pious, and Radbert, the Empress Richgard. Other processionals could be used on the occasion of the coming of any royal visitor.
Vatican manuscripts offer evidence of contemporary processions in Italy and Rome, the city of their origin. From this source is derived the processional hymnSancta Maria, quid est?(A. H.23. 74), “Sancta Maria, what meaneth this?” written for the procession which marked the eve of the Feast of the Assumption, about the year 1000. Specific directions for the route, the order of precedence and every detail of the ceremonial are available, while the hymn itself depicts the devotion and human appeal attending this night time scene in Rome.[26]
For the evolution of the processional hymn from this point to the close of the Middle Ages, we have in addition to hymnic manuscripts, the service books and manuals devoted to, or including, processional practice. TheRitualorRoman Pontificalwas the earliest to include directions for processions, an illustration of which has been presented above in thecase ofSancta Maria, quid est?In the course of time, since so many medieval processions were not thus provided for, theProcessionalcame into existence, containing the order of processions for a particular diocese or monastery.[27]The St. GallProcessionals, for instance, are informative as to customs already described above. The specific nameversusgave rise to the titleVersariusfor a book of processional hymns.[28]
In addition to the collections, liturgical writers discussed the procession. Of these, none was more influential than Durandus, Bishop of Mende, who, about 1286, produced hisRationale divinorum officiorumwhich among many other liturgical subjects, included processional rites.[29]Durandus was a leading authority upon ecclesiastical symbolism. Accordingly, he dwells upon every minute detail of the great processions for Easter, Ascension, Palm Sunday and the Purification as well as the Sunday procession and others of lesser importance, ascribing to each act a wealth of symbolic meaning. Much of this figurative interpretation is obvious and inherent in the feast to be celebrated but in other cases he gives full play to his sense of the symbolic, a phase of contemporary thought already so characteristic of Adam of St. Victor and other writers on religious themes. Finally he declares that whatever else is suggested, “the true procession is a progress to the celestial country.” (Ipsa vero processio, est via ad coelestem patriam.)[30]If the fundamental concepts which entered into their origins be reviewed, medieval processions apparently carried with them the familiar ideas of supplication, of dramatic representation or of pilgrimage to sacred places. Durandus reiterates and sublimates these concepts, giving them an added significance.
The processional manuals, especially of the English rites observed at Salisbury, York, Canterbury and other cathedral centers, offer descriptions and sometimes illustrations showing the order and vestments of the clergy, the position and functions of the choir, the appropriate acts involved, together with the complete text of the antiphons, psalms, other scriptural passages, hymns, prayers and rubrics. Turning to the processional hymns which were rendered in these centuries, one is impressed by the gradual disappearance of hymns typical of the efforts of the St. Gall school and its contemporaries. A tremendous vogue of the originalSalve festa diesof Fortunatus which had never been lost sight of, togetherwith its centos, variants and copies, takes possession of the field. There were in all, perhaps, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty true processional hymns in circulation throughout the whole medieval period, if one enumerates those which are edited in theAnalecta Hymnica. One half of these may be considered to be of theSalve festa diestype while similar elegiac metrical forms are found in half of the remainder.
What has been said of the cultural background in which the sequence developed and multiplied is equally true for the processional hymn. The same influences which created new seasonal feasts and additional feasts for the saints, produced new processional hymns to accompany them. There is, however, a great disparity between the number of sequences and processional hymns that were written. The sequence was regnant in sacred and secular verse, both in Latin and the vernaculars. Office hymns, too, far outnumbered processionals. This may be another way of saying that the office hymns and the sequences had a liturgical function and setting, while the processional was always extra-liturgical and either superfluous or purely ornamental from this point of view. The antiphons and psalms were sufficient to satisfy the essential choral demands of any procession.
Unfortunately Thomas Aquinas did not include a processional hymn when he furnished the hymnody for the Feast of Corpus Christi. He could hardly have envisaged the thousands of Corpus Christi processions throughout Catholic Christendom which have marked the Feast even to this day. Nor could he have foreseen that his hymnPange lingua gloriosi corporis mysterium, written in the tradition of Fortunatus, would be widely appropriated for that purpose. Other processionals for Corpus Christi appeared almost at once, especially of theSalvetype.
Contemporary devotion to the Virgin Mother and her festivals was felt in the expansion of the Marian hymnology for processions. The establishment of St. Osyth in Essex was a center in which new hymns were used for the Visitation,
Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,Qua Christi mater visitat Elizabeth. (A. H.11. 51)
Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,
Qua Christi mater visitat Elizabeth. (A. H.11. 51)
Hail thee, festival day, blest day that is hallowed forever,On which Christ’s mother visits Elizabeth.
Hail thee, festival day, blest day that is hallowed forever,
On which Christ’s mother visits Elizabeth.
and the Assumption,
Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,Qua fuit assumpta virgo Maria pia. (A. H.11. 55)
Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,
Qua fuit assumpta virgo Maria pia. (A. H.11. 55)
Hail thee, festival day, blest day that is hallowed forever,On which the holy Virgin Mary was assumed.
Hail thee, festival day, blest day that is hallowed forever,
On which the holy Virgin Mary was assumed.
A lengthy hymn of twenty stanzas for the Feast of the Purification which had been observed for so many centuries, appears in a twelfth or thirteenth century manuscript from Kremsmünster,Laetetur omne saeculum(A. H.4. 54), “Let every age rejoice.” The biblical scene of the Presentation in the Temple is described and reference is made to the carrying of lighted candles.
Later medieval practice perpetuated other earlier customs. From the original station processions at Rome had developed the ceremonies to celebrate the translation of relics of saints in western European lands. Pope Callistus II (d. 1124) wrote a processional hymn honoring St. James of Campostella,Versus Calixti Papae, cantandi ad processionem sancti Jacobi in solemnitate passionis ipsius et translationis ejusdem(A. H.17. 194), orVersus of Pope Callistus, to be sung at the procession of St. James in the celebration of his passion and translation. A hymn for St. Kyneburga (d. 680) commemorated the restoration of her relics to their original burial place in Peterborough Minster from which they had been removed during the Danish invasions.[31](A. H.43. 218)
A procession in which the relics were carried for the veneration of the worshipers was familiar in many places. Records from St. Gall testify that St. Magnus was honored with such a procession and an appropriate hymn of praise (A. H.50. 261). The relics of saints treasured at Exeter were borne in procession with the singing of a hymn which mentions their miraculous powers. (A. H.43. 277)
In an era marked by municipal drama and civic display as well as religious festivals, the pageantry of the procession was understandably popular. Rome always had its great processions. Accounts are extant of ceremonies accompanied by hymns, in Tournai, Strasburg, Nuremberg and other medieval towns, aside from those prescribed by episcopal and monastic manuals of the day for the great cathedrals and abbeys.
The music to which the processional hymn was sung is, in some cases, available. The St. Gall manuscripts, as Gautier noted, were furnished with musical notation. This is occasionally true of later manuscripts, especially as we enter the closing medieval centuries. The traditional melodies of certain hymns, like theSalve festa diesandGloria laus et honorare known to-day. Musicologists and students of liturgical music are currently engaged in bringing this music to present-day knowledge. For example, the hymn used in procession before the reading of the Gospel appears in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as aconductusorconductumwhich, in turn, is related to thecantio.[32]Aconductusfor the festival of St. James of Campostella (A. H.17. 199), illustrates the evolution of a minor type of processional hymn from Hartmann’s solemnversus, mentioned above, to the festive style of the late medieval period. The recent study of theconductusby Leonard Ellinwood reflects the growing interest of musicians in these forms, both secular and religious, which preceded the Renaissance.[33]
To summarize the characteristic marks of the processional hymn which are constant and quite independent of the date of their appearance, the student must recall the underlying motives: 1) supplication in the litanies, 2) re-enactment of biblical scenes and 3) religious pilgrimage. Respecting usage, the special interest of a ceremony devoted to a particular occasion is present in processional hymns, additional to other rites. Lastly, a group of hymns has come into existence, not to be classified with the more formal categories of the office hymn and the sequence but dedicated to an extra-liturgical purpose.
As a group, the processional hymns are not well-known or frequently used in translation with the exception of the ageless hymns of Theodulphus and especially of Fortunatus whose processionals usurped the medieval field for over one thousand years and are still current to-day.
(SeeIllustrative Hymns, XVII.Salve festa dies, “Hail thee, festival day.”)
From the creation of the Latin hymn in the fourth century by the earliest writers to the efforts of poets heralding the Renaissance, Christian hymnody left its imprint upon contemporary verse both secular and religious. The field of inquiry suggested by this thesis has never been fully explored although it abounds in fascinating possibilities for the student of medieval culture. The subject, of course, cannot be treated within the limits of this chapter but such hints may be offered as have resulted from a partial study of particular areas or fall within the bounds of reasonable assumption.
Perhaps the most pervading influence and the simplest to trace is the metrical. The iambic dimeter of Ambrose, both in its quantitative and in its rhythmical form, became a standard for poetry of all types, appearing even in the modern age as the long meter of the metrical versions of the Psalms. Trochaic verse, initiated in hymns by Hilary, employed most effectively by Fortunatus and always a favorite, rivalled the iambic in the vernaculars. As the metrical features of the Victorine sequence became increasingly popular, they were taken over bodily by secular poets writing both in Latin and in the modern European languages. Classical meters fostered by Prudentius and later by the Carolingian poets showed less vitality as poetical models. The liturgical hymn and the sequence are of prime importance in their metrical aspects but the meters of thepiae cantionesand other religious lyrics were also widely appropriated. The origin of rhyme is a related problem which in the opinion of W. B. Sedgwick “centers around the Christian hymn.”[1]Numerous publications by scholars who, like Sedgwick, have spoken with authority, bear witness tothe general linguistic and literary interest attaching to these subjects of research.
Aside from aspects of meter and rhyme, medieval secular verse in Latin borrowed generously from the hymn; witness the songs of the wandering scholars as recorded in the collection edited under the titleCambridge Songsand also the goliardic poetry of theCarmina Burana.[2]Well-known hymns are frequently parodied and, in general, the liturgical models are employed to create humorous allusion or pungent satire. The student songGaudeamus igituris a familiar illustration of this general group.
The adaptation of the sequence to secular purposes resulted in a novel type of verse, themodus, already cited in connection with the origin of the sequence, illustrated by theModus florumof which many examples have been preserved varying in beauty and poetic conceit. Reference has been made in an earlier chapter to the deeper problems underlying sequence origins on the poetical side. Discussion among scholars as to the priority of the religious or secular Latin lyric is still active.[3]Some would say that popular Latin verse arose by virtue of the hymnodic influence. Others would posit a vernacular impulse which eventuated in the Latin lyric both secular and religious.[4]
Apart from the lyric, there are in the general field of Latin verse many resemblances to hymnic models. The lengthy narrative poems of thePeristephanonin which Prudentius recounted the sufferings of the martyrs, St. Laurence, St. Vincent, St. Agnes, St. Eulalia and others, and celebrated their spiritual victories, have been called hymns. It has been argued that they were actually sung,[5]in full, upon the festival days of the saints in question although the praises of St. Vincent, for example, are expanded to 576 lines, other hymns varying from 66 to 1140 lines. It may have been possible in the more leisurely tempo of medieval life to render the martyr hymns of Prudentius in their entirety. A far more provocative suggestion makes them the starting point for the medieval saints’ legend of which illustrations exist in lengthy Latin poems and later, in vernacular verse.
The contribution of hymns to the liturgical drama of the Church has been noted in connection with the sequence,Victimae paschali laudes. It isnowhere contended that the hymn created the drama but that the dramatic phraseology is often reminiscent of the hymn and that the role of the singers in theschola cantorumand the choir, as actors in the liturgical play, becomes significant in connection with the hymnic origins of these productions within the church.[6]
Finally, an interesting group of Latin poems having an interrelation with the hymn is illustrated byO Roma nobilis, a tenth century lyric praising the apostles and martyrs of the Eternal City (A. H.51. 219).[7]
The transition from Latin to vernacular languages took place as soon as the latter were sufficiently developed to produce Christian verse. The Gospels were rendered into Germanic rhymed verse in the ninth century by Otfried the Frank who inserted a hymn of ten stanzas as a poetic version of the opening of St. John’s Gospel. It is written in seven-syllable couplets with four or six to a stanza.[8]Otfried is said to have been influenced by Rabanus Maurus and with good reason since the latter was a recognized leader in mediating Latin patristic and other writings to the Germanic world of his day.
Otfried was the first of many medieval poets whose religious lyrics in the vernacular, often revealing the inspiration of the Latin hymn, have been preserved. Their verse appears in Wackernagel’s great collection in which he has edited 1448 specimens from the time of Otfried to that of Hans Sachs.[9]
Celtic churchmen were pioneers among medieval Latin hymnists, their earliest contribution dating from the sixth century. Religious lyrics in the Celtic tongue must have been produced and recorded before the Danish invasions although the destruction of these manuscripts delayed the compiling of new vernacular collections until the eleventh century. The hymnHymnum dicat turba fratrum, written in trochaic tetrameter, and preserved in the Bangor Antiphonary, to which reference has been made inChapter One, apparently influenced the metrical system of Celtic poetry. The metrical pattern used by Otfried, a quatrain of seven-syllable lines with rhymed couplets, is commonly found.[10]Latin influence is at least tentatively acknowledged by scholars in the rhyme and stanza structure of Celtic poetry prior to the eleventh century.[11]
After the creation of the Latin sequence, vernacular poetry is overwhelminglyaffected by this new type of hymn. Germanic poets followed the leadership of Notker. The Victorine school, rejecting the strophic system and rhythmic model of the Germans, built the couplet and rhyme, already existing in hymns, into a characteristic structure which proved to be easily transferable to vernacular uses. It has been asserted that the lyric poetry of the Middle Ages, in German, French, Provençal and English was reborn in this conquest of the vernacular by the Latin sequence.[12]At the same time, the possible influence of the vernacular over the Latin must not be ignored. There is a resemblance, for instance, between the narrative elements of sequences written in honor of saints and the ballads of secular poetry.[13]Whatever the conflicting currents may have been in the period of origins, the smooth-flowing stream of the vernacular religious lyric with its many tributaries, refreshed the spirit of medieval man and recalled to memory his religious heritage.
The vitality of this new religious poetry which flourishes in the later centuries, in which the Latin hymn suffered so marked a deterioration, suggests that the future of the hymn, like other media of Latin literature, was to be realized in a new linguistic environment. It was not the verity but the language that was destined to change.
In order to appreciate the variety and interest of that vernacular lyric poetry which arose within the sphere of influence of the Latin hymn, illustrations may be culled from many parts of Europe.Mary-Verse in Meistergesangis the title chosen by Sister Mary Schroeder for her study of one aspect of the German lyric.[14]A very large proportion, perhaps two-thirds of the songs are religious in content, showing to a degree, their dependence upon hymnal poetry, while nearly one-fourth of them are devoted to the praise of the Virgin. Occasionally, a Latin sequence has been freely translated, paraphrased or elaborated.
The Swedish vernacular is represented by the patriotic poem of Bishop Thomas of Strängnäs, who, in the fourteenth century, wrote in praise of the national hero, Engelbrekt. Metrical and stanza form are both of the hymnal type.[15]
The Romance languages afford myriad examples of the sequence form. St. Martial, near Limoges, already cited as a center in the production of the sequence, and Paris, the home of the Victorine school, are both placesof origin for vernacular lyrics. A close connection has been traced between the sequence and the French romantic lyric, especially thelai, a connection amply illustrated and tabulated for the convenience of the student.[16]More familiar, perhaps, than thelaisare the appealing lines of François Villon, “Dame des cieulx, regente terrienne,” which possesses all the charm of the Marian lyric at its best.
About the year 1270, Alfonso X of Castile made a collection of 400 poems in the Galician-Portuguese dialect, theCántigas de Santa Maríaaround which a considerable literature has grown up. All are devotional in subject matter. Alfonso X was a literary patron. Ramon Lull (c. 1315) was himself a poet who wrote in the Catalan tongue although his mystical writings are better known than his poetry. HisHours of our Lady St. Marywas modeled upon the hymn and set to a hymn tune.[17]
The Italian poets of religious verse flourished as writers both in the vernacular and in Latin. St. Francis of Assisi, (1181-1226), whoseCantico di fratre sole[18]is known and loved by countless persons in our own day, was among the earliest poets of theLaudi spirituali. The origin of thelaudihas been traced in part to the ejaculations of the flagellants of northern Italy where bands of these penitents were commonly seen in the thirteenth century. A century earlier, religious societies of singers, thelaudisti, were in existence in Venice and Florence. Arezzo knew such a group as early as 1068.[19]Included among the known writers oflaudiare Jacopone da Todi, (1230-1306), and Bianco da Siena, (c. 1307), both classified today as writers of hymns.
The movement represented by thelaudistispread to France, German-speaking lands, the Low Countries and Poland. Everywhere the vernacular was used with popular unison melodies. As we approach the Renaissance, Florence is still conspicuous for her authors of the religious vernacular lyric, among them Lorenzo di Medici and Savonarola, (1452-1498), better known as the Florentine preacher whose passionate denunciations of the evils of his day brought him into conflict with the Church and resulted in his execution. HisLaude al crucifissohas been translated in part by Jane F. Wilde as a hymn, “Jesus, refuge of the weary.”
The English religious lyrics of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may be read with enjoyment in the collections of Carleton Brownwhose appraisement of this poetry was the fruit of great learning and a sympathetic discernment of human values.[20]Here the Latin hymn may be found as it was translated, adapted and imitated in English verse. The Latin sequence, as it increased in popularity, was taken over by English poets with great success. Some of these writers who appropriated the Latin models, like William Herebert, Jacob Ryman and John Lydgate, are known to us by name while others are anonymous. Their poetic themes are varied but Marian verse appears in many forms: hymns, laments, and rhymed petition. Incidentally, a knowledge of the Latin original must be presupposed on the part of the English laity of this period. Chaucer wrote for the layman who must have understood his use of the sequenceAngelus ad Virginemin the “Miller’s Tale” and the sequenceAlma redemptoris materin the “Prioress’ Tale.”
English macaronic verse best reveals the Latin hymn. Over and over again, Latin quotations are used, sometimes embedded in the text, sometimes added as refrains, an understanding of which is always vital to the appreciation of the poem.
The carol, although extraneous to true hymnody, because of its non-liturgical character and usage, was related to Latin origins; to some extent, to thecantioand theconductus. A form of vernacular lyric, the carol often shares the macaronic features which were common in the blended phraseology of the European languages with Latin in this popular type of late medieval verse. It is relevant here as a religious lyric which bears the unmistakable mark of the hymnic inheritance. Whatever is true of the English carol is equally true of the carol in other lands. To-day these lyrics are of great interest and of increasing usage in the Christian Church at large. Their musical and poetic aspects are both subjects of enthusiastic research. Many persons in our modern society who have never studied the classical languages are able to sing the Latin words and phrases they contain, with understanding, as did their medieval predecessors.
The writing of Latin hymns by no means died out with the medieval era in the sixteenth century. The great prestige of Latin studies fostered by the Renaissance alone would have been sufficient to perpetuate thepractice. The Church, too, was engaged in a movement to standardize and improve the Latinity of the breviary hymns which resulted in the Trentine cycle as we know it today. A concurrent movement toward uniformity of rites appreciably reduced the number of breviaries and the variety of their hymns, but those breviaries which maintained an independent existence had their own complete cycles. Such were the Cluniac Breviary of 1686 and the Paris Breviary of 1736 for which new hymns were written and sung side by side with those of medieval origin. Among post-Renaissance poets represented in these collections were the Frenchmen Jean-Baptiste de Santuil and his brothers Claude and Baptiste. Freshly inspired by classical studies, the new hymn writers repudiated medieval ruggedness and stylistic neglect in favor of the smooth and finished Latinity affected by contemporary poets. From the substantial body of verse produced in these centuries,Adeste fideles, “O come, all ye faithful,” has proved a favorite. Sometimes classified as a hymn, sometimes as a carol, it originated in the English colony at Douay about the year 1740, from the pen of John Francis Wade.[21]
The continuity of the Roman Use, however, was not disturbed. The Roman Breviary had acquired its cycle of hymns in the processes of evolution which have been traced in the preceding chapters. Trentine revisions under the guidance of Pope Urban VIII, (1623-1644), made with the highest motives but often deplored by later scholars, transformed the medieval originals into products of the Renaissance. The Trentine Breviary contains many of the finest medieval hymns which, although they have suffered alterations, have carried the traditional heritage into modern times.[22]
By virtue of its prestige and its world-wide circulation, the Roman Breviary has been the vehicle by which the Latin hymn has penetrated into the modern vernacular languages in translations. It is a subject of frequent comment that the full treasury of hymns has not been drawn upon by the Catholic Church since the hymns of the Roman Breviary have monopolized the field. The historical reason for this is clear and also for the fact that in the Roman Missal only five sequences, each of recognized superiority, have been retained.
The restriction of Latin hymns in Roman Catholic liturgical usageto a relatively small number allows certain exceptions. The Benedictine and other religious orders use their own cycle of breviary hymns and present-day Catholic hymnals in popular use often contain translations of hymns and sequences additional to those of the Roman Breviary and Missal.
Protestant Churches are not limited in their selection of Latin hymns for translation, making their choices from the entire medieval store. The revival of Latin hymns in a translated form, which marked the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church in the mid-nineteenth century, drew upon the Sarum Breviary as one native to English soil and therefore appropriate to the English Church. That these hymns were largely represented in the Roman Breviary, was well-known but the earlier and unrevised texts were preferred. In his function as a translator, John Mason Neale was preeminently a leader in the task of making known to the adherents of the Church of England their heritage of hymns.
An attempt was made at this time to perpetuate not only the words but the Gregorian Chant as a suitable musical setting for the vernacular. Here the innovators were only partly successful and the chant, although enthusiastically employed at first was gradually abandoned in the English Church as the sole musical vehicle for the Latin hymn in translation. Similarly Latin hymns have been taken over into other modern languages by translators of Protestant as well as Catholic allegiance.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the influence of Latin hymn meters continued to be felt in vernacular hymnody. Metrical versions of the Psalms made by Isaac Watts are often illustrative of old Latin forms which may also be recognized in his own hymns. This may not have been a conscious imitation of Latin originals for by this time hymn meters were ingrained in English poetry, but merely an indirect reflection, for example, of the Ambrosian model.
More subtle has been the influence in modern times of the most ancient canons of hymnic expression; objective presentation of scriptural narrative, doctrinal emphasis and a certain joyful austerity in the praise of God. During the three and a half centuries which have passed since the era of the Protestant Reformation, the Christian hymn has experienced a succession of literary movements, reflecting, for example, the spirit of the Age of Reason and of the Romantic Era. Contemporary musical evolutionhas, in turn, been vitally important to the growth of the hymn as it has been mated with the melodies of the Genevan Psalter, the chorales of Bach, the musical novelties of instrumental origin, the folk song and latterly the native music of regions open to missionary enterprise.
Throughout this varied experience the stream of medieval Latin hymnody has continued its course. As an accompaniment of Roman Catholic worship this was only to be expected. The conquest by the Latin hymn of areas beyond the limits of the Roman Church is more significant. The most recent hymnals of leading Protestant denominations, to which the Latin hymn in translation has made a modest but genuine contribution, bear witness to the ageless character of this hymnody. Modern investigation of hymn sources, their origins, authorship and influence, has created the study of documentary hymnology as it is known today. In the processes of this inquiry the medieval Latin hymn has been invested with new interest in the minds of a multitude of worshipers, both Catholic and Protestant, who have hitherto been unaware of, or indifferent to, their common heritage.