The Medieval Latin Hymn

by Ruth Ellis Messenger

II. Influence and Survival of Latin Hymns since the Middle Ages

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 the practice. 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 usage to 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 evolution has, 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.