MEDIAEVAL LATIN HYMNS
During the second half of the Middle Ages, beginning with the eleventh century, a number of great hymn writers arose. King Robert of France, who died 1031 A. D., probably wrote one of the greatest hymns of the Latin Church, namely, Veni Sancte Spiritus. Dr. S. W. Duffield claims that this great Sequence was written by Hermannus Contractus, the crippled monk of Reichenau, in the eleventh century.
Bernard of Cluny and Bernard of Clairvaux are two Latin hymn writers who hold a very important place in Christian hymnody. From Bernard of Cluny (twelfth century) comes the well known hymn, “Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest.” This hymn comes from his famous and only poem Laus Patriae Celestis which consists of some three thousand lines of dactylic hexameter. We quote the first stanza of another well known hymn that comes from the same poem.
Brief life is here our portion;
Brief sorrow, short-lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life, is there.
Oh, happy retribution!
Short toil, eternal rest;
For mortals, and for sinners,
A mansion with the blest.
From St. Bernard of Clairvaux we have such great hymns as “Light of the anxious heart,” “Wide open are Thy hands,” “O Jesus, King most wonderful,” “Jesus, the very thought of Thee,” “Jesus, Thou Joy of loving hearts,” and “O Sacred Head, now wounded.” St. Bernard was born in Fountaines, Burgundy, 1091. History speaks of him as highly imaginative, great champion of the faith, great orator, great teacher, founder and abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux, and leader in mediaeval mysticism. He died in 1153. Luther called him “the best monk that ever lived.” Hymns from the two Bernards can be found in any standard modern hymn book and they are worth careful study.
Adam of St. Victor (twelfth century) is another important Latin hymnist. He was choirmaster at the great St. Victor monastery at Paris. Trench speaks of him as “the foremost among the sacred Latin poets of the Middle Ages.”
Thomas of Celano, whose birthplace is unknown, was one of the first members of the Franciscan order. In 1221 he went to Germany and remained there for nine years; then he returned to Italy, where he died in 1255. Thomas of Celano wrote the greatest hymn of the Latin Church—Dies Irae. There are nineteen verses to this great Sequence, of which we quote the first two. The translation is by Wm. J. Irons.
Day of wrath, that Day of mourning,
See fulfilled the prophet’s warning,
Heaven and earth in ashes burning.
O what fear man’s bosom rendeth,
When from heaven the Judge descendeth,
On whose sentence all dependeth.
Thomas Aquinas was born in a Neapolitan castle, Italy, about 1225. He was a Dominican and the strongest of the scholastics, theological professor at several universities, Doctor of Theology from Paris, also called Doctor Angelicus. He was a prolific writer; his Summa Theologiae is a great dogmatic work. He died in a prominent monastery at Naples in 1274. Thomas Aquinas produced a number of excellent hymns. His “Lauda, Sion, salvatorem” is generally regarded as one of the greatest hymns of Latin hymnody. It can be found in almost any standard hymnal, beginning “Sion, to thy Saviour singing.”
Jacoponus (died 1306) wrote one of the greatest hymns of the Roman Church, namely, Stabat Mater Dolorosa. This hymn is found in many Protestant hymnals, beginning “At the Cross her station keeping.” Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471) of Holland and John Huss (1369-1415) of Bohemia, made valuable contributions to mediaeval hymnody.
These Latin hymn writers have produced hymns which are characterized by deep ardor, great love of Christ, and soul-stirring earnestness. The Latin church hymnody is very wealthy indeed; more than 20,000 Latin church hymns have been discovered. Of these Latin hymns we have appropriated a large number of beautiful festival church hymns. Their form is very plain. Without any comment the festival subject is presented in a very plain and simple statement of the event in question. The singer loses himself in his subject; there is nothing here of self-assertion. Note such hymns as “A great and mighty wonder,” “All praise to Thee, Eternal Lord,” “The strife is o’er, the battle done,” “Christ, the Lord, is ris’n today,” “Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia,” etc.
Mightily through the ages sound the hymns of penance and judgment; perhaps too strong at times. Note that mighty and most powerful hymn, Dies irae, dies illa. But the mediaeval hymnody is not without the evangelical spirit; this is clearly seen in our hymn books, especially in the Communion hymns. In spite of magic and abuse, it was nevertheless in the Holy Communion that the true Christian of the Middle Ages came closest to Christ. Note two mediaeval Communion hymns:
Lord Jesus Christ! To Thee we pray,
From us God’s wrath Thou turn’st away,
Thine agony and bitter death
Redeem us from eternal wrath.
This hymn comes from John Huss and was translated by Martin Luther. The other Communion hymn is “Jesu dulcis memoria,” probably by St. Bernard of Clairvaux:
Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills the breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.
It is a very difficult task to translate these old Latin hymns; much is lost by the translation. It is not an easy matter to construct a bridge between the great glow of St. Bernard’s mysticism and the powerful, yet cold faith of the seventeenth century. If “Jesu dulcis memoria” was not written by St. Bernard, it must have been written by one of his devout pupils. We are here at the very fountain-head of Christian poetry, so closely related to the Song of Solomon, i. e., it presents the relation of the faithful to Christ—the love of the bride to the bridegroom. From this circle came the great hymn “O Sacred Head, now wounded,” translated and perfected by Paul Gerhardt.
No wonder that the schools and cathedrals clung so tenaciously to the old Latin hymnody. It exerted great influence. Too bad, indeed, that we have permitted this Latin song to become extinct. Perhaps our taste in things religious would not have declined so low, and religious song would not have come to be despised so generally, had our good leaders realized that there are better things than American jazz.