II. Evolution in the Early Middle Ages
That the Latin processional hymn appeared first in Gaul should surprise no one. It has already been suggested that the hymns among the Carmina of Fortunatus were created in the atmosphere of freedom enjoyed by Gallic hymn writers in accordance with contemporary canons. Always a poet of the occasion, Fortunatus wrote three hymns for the reception of a relic believed to be of the true Cross, which was presented to Rhadegunda, his patron, by the Byzantine Emperor, Justin II and his wife Sophia, for the convent at Poitiers. As a final stage in the journey from Constantinople, the relic was borne in procession from Migné to Poitiers, accompanied by Euphronius, Bishop of Tours. On this day the hymn, Vexilla regis prodeunt, was first heard.[14] Two others, Pange lingua and Crux benedicta (see [Chapter One]) were devoted by Fortunatus to the same theme of the Holy Cross, although it cannot be proved that they were sung in the same procession.
The Resurrection hymn, Tempora florigero rutilant distincta sereno, “Season of luminous days, marked bright with the birth of flowers,” (Carm. 3. 9), was originally written for the Easter baptismal rites celebrated by Felix, Bishop of Nantes (d. 582). It was a poem of 110 lines or 55 elegiac couplets, from which the cento of 28 lines beginning Salve festa dies, “Hail thee, festival day,” was later selected for an Easter processional.[15]
The metrical models provided by Pange lingua of the trochaic pattern and Salve festa dies, the elegiac, continued to be employed throughout the Middle Ages for processional hymnody, the elegiac excelling in popularity. First in the original hymn, then in centos and finally in imitative verse adapted to a multitude of feasts, Salve festa dies was never superseded but maintained the influence of Fortunatus for centuries.
Spain must have known the processional hymn soon after its appearance in Gaul, perhaps in the seventh century. Here, the Palm Sunday festival seems to have been the source of inspiration for the procession and blessing of palms is mentioned by Isidore of Seville as an observance of his day.[16] Contemporary evidence indicates a similar procession in Italy.[17] The use of a processional hymn, however, is not as clearly indicated.
It seems probable that the seventh century hymn, Magnum salutis gaudium (A. H. 51. 73), “O great joy of salvation,” is one of the earliest to be assigned for Palm Sunday. It is a simple rendering in the Ambrosian style, of the events recounted in the biblical narrative.[18] In the early centuries when the concept of a specific processional hymn for a particular festival was almost unheard of, a familiar hymn from the old hymnals might be used in the new ceremonies. It has been suggested that Magnum salutis gaudium was known to Theodulphus, who in the ninth century wrote the Palm Sunday processional hymn, Gloria laus et honor, for all the ages.
Processions, thus far, have been thought of chiefly, as wholly or in part outside the church edifice. Processions within the edifice were also frequently observed. A procession of the clergy, in connection with which psalms and antiphons were sung, preceded the Sunday high mass; another took place as the Gospel codex was carried to its place for reading. Other ceremonies within the church, aside from the liturgy proper, were sometimes accompanied by hymns.[19]
Perhaps the earliest hymn in use at a special ceremony, once more a selection from the hymnal, was Audi, iudex mortuorum (A. H. 51. 80), “Hear Thou Judge of the dead,” sung on Holy Thursday at the consecration of the chrism.[20] The words O redemptor, sume carmen temet concinentium, “O Redeemer, accept the hymn of Thy people magnifying Thee,”[21] formed a refrain, a metrical feature which came to be the unmistakable mark of the processional hymn.
In this early period from the sixth to the tenth century, a new idea and a new practice came into being, the use of hymns apart from those of the canonical hours and the sequences of the mass. The ninth century revival of hymnody in all its branches was taking place in western Europe just as this period came to a close, in connection with which the processional hymn was inevitably affected as the office hymn and the sequence had been by a fresh inspiration to poetry and worship. The movement came to fruition at St. Gall where the musical and ceremonial aspects of that great monastic center were so highly developed, a center which had contributed so heavily to the Carolingian revival of literature and the arts.
The French liturgical scholar, Leon Gautier, whose contributions to the study of medieval hymnology have already been mentioned, was the first to identify the processional hymn as a trope or liturgical interpolation. In a study of the St. Gall processional hymns he observed that they were classified by the name versus which in itself points to a separate hymnic category. Other earlier hymns used in processions were there called versus. Gautier discovered that musical notation always appeared with the versus, an indication that these hymns were invariably chanted and he noted that the versus, in the manner of the hymn O redemptor, sume carmen, cited above, was without exception, accompanied by a refrain.[22]