III. Celtic Hymns
The Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles from the period of the introduction of Christianity maintained individual features of liturgy and organization, especially in their monastic groups. The contemporary Saxon Church of the seventh century, however, had been drawn into the Roman sphere of influence by Gregory the Great who was also in touch with Celtic leadership. The ancient record of the interchange of hymns written respectively by St. Columba of Iona and by Gregory preserves more than a report incapable of proof.[15] It points to reciprocal interest in the evolving hymnology of the sixth and seventh centuries in Celtic and continental regions.
The so-called Bangor Antiphonary of the seventh century is the earliest manuscript containing hymns, twelve in number.[16] Its contents are otherwise miscellaneous, including a list of the abbots of Bangor. Hilary’s supposed hymn from this collection, Hymnum dicat turba fratrum, has already been cited. An ancient communion hymn, Sancti venite Christi corpus sumite, “Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord,” is included and Mediae noctis tempus est, “It is the midnight hour,” an office hymn common to the hymnals of Spain and Gaul. Among other important sources is the Irish Liber hymnorum, preserved in an eleventh century manuscript of Dublin which contains Columba’s hymn, Altus prosator, “Ancient of days,” honoring God the creator, and the Lorica or Breastplate Hymn of St. Gildas (6th C.), Suffragare trinitatis unitas, unitatis miserere trinitas, “Grant me thy favor, Three in One, have mercy on me, One in Three.”[17]
On the whole Celtic hymns exhibit great variety in subject matter and purpose with many departures from the type of hymn cycle in use on the continent. Indeed, the group of from fifteen to twenty hymns produced in the centuries under consideration are highly distinctive. The Ambrosian tradition is not apparent. Non-Ambrosian meters are illustrated in all three hymns cited above while alliteration, the abcd form, repetition of initial words and other metrical devices are found throughout the collection. There are hymns for the offices and communion, metrical prayers and a group of hymns for saints, some bearing witness to local cults. Poetic individuality marks them all.[18] Contemporaneous with the flowering of Celtic hymnology, the seventh century saw the beginning of the cultural invasion of the continent by Celtic scholars, teachers and missionaries whereby two streams of culture, previously isolated, united with significant results for the hymnology of the future.
(See [Illustrative Hymns, VI.] Sancti venite Christi corpus sumite, “Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord.”)