Other noted Latin hymn-writers who followed the two Bernards included Thomas of Celano who, in the thirteenth century, wrote the masterpiece among judgment hymns, Dies irae, dies illa, of which Walter Scott has given us the English version, “That day of wrath, that dreadful day”; Adam of St. Victor, who was the composer of more than one hundred sequences of high lyrical order; Jacobus de Benedictis, who is thought to be the writer of Stabat mater dolorosa, the pathetic Good Friday hymn which in its adapted form is known as “Near the cross was Mary weeping”; and Thomas Aquinas, who was the author of Lauda, Sion, salvatorem, a glorious hymn of praise. With these writers the age of Latin hymnody is brought to a close.
PART II
German Hymnody
The Battle Hymn of the Reformation
A mighty Fortress is our God,
A trusty Shield and Weapon,
He helps us in our every need
That hath us now o’ertaken.
The old malignant foe
E’er means us deadly woe:
Deep guile and cruel might