The Medieval Latin Hymn

by Ruth Ellis Messenger

I. Origins

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 her pilgrimage 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 the lucernare when 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 was Phos hilaron, “O gladsome light.”[5] The hymns she heard at the Good Friday observance have been tentatively identified as the Idiomela for 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 martyrs and 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 the litania minor or 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. The litaniae minores or rogations, perpetuate in their intent, processions of the Roman era. The litaniae maiores which were prescribed by Gregory the Great, 598, and Leo III (795-816), were of similar origin and purpose. A litania septiformis was also organized by Gregory on the occasion of a pestilence at Rome.[10] The litania maior came to be observed on April 25, St. Mark’s day, and the litaniae minores in 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 of the 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 pagan Amburbium or Amburbale, 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]