IV. Themes
The tradition of Christian hymnology which upholds a way of life is fundamental in Ambrosian and contemporary hymns. The “way” is the first term by which Christianity was designated in the Scriptures. Thus to the Scriptures the hymn writers turned for the living characterization of their themes. The call to a virtuous life is sounded in Splendor paternae gloriae quoted above. Similarly throughout these hymns, the high ideal of faith, purity, hope, patience, humility and love and the ethical teachings derived from the words of Jesus and from the early exemplars of the Christian religion are clearly expressed and enjoined. Not alone for contemporaries in a period of crisis and controversy were these hymns effective. They have continued to speak the same words in the same spirit of joy and devotion derived from contact with the earlier springs of faith to every succeeding century.
The writings of men familiar with Roman civilization and trained in classical culture would naturally be presumed to retain the flavor of a non-Christian literature. Christianity had already appropriated from the pagan philosophers those teachings which were congenial to its own. Ambrose reveals both in his poetic and prose writings his acquaintance with classical thought and literary models. Prudentius mingles the classical and the Christian. Fortunatus was inspired by classical poetry to a Christian expression of beauty in form and content. But in every case, these characteristics are marginal. The core of their hymns is the scriptural narrative. Not only is the subject matter faithfully reproduced but the actual text is sometimes embedded in the verse. The result is a rare objectivity and a lack of embellishment especially in the works of Ambrose which became the preferred standard for later writers.[12]
The life of Jesus is a favorite theme particularly in those episodes which were described and expanded in hymns for the Nativity, Epiphany, Passion, Easter and Pentecost. From the episode of the Nativity the praise of the Virgin was developed. The doctrine of the Trinity was everywhere upheld in hymns, even as its defense had been influential in their creation.
The group of hymns which praise the early Christian leaders, either directly or by incidental mention, form a nucleus for the impressive medieval hymnology of the saints. The Apostles have first place both in chronology and importance. Prudentius praised the Roman martyrs and Ambrose those of Rome and Milan as well. Both honored Laurence the Deacon and Agnes the Virgin. To the praise of the whole group “the noble army of martyrs,” the hymn Aeterna Christi munera, “The eternal gifts of Christ the King,” was written, unrivalled as a martyr hymn in any period of Latin hymnology.
(See [Illustrative Hymns, III.] Aeterna Christi munera, “The eternal gifts of Christ the King.”)
CHAPTER TWO
Early Middle Ages: The Old Hymnal
I. The Hymn Cycles
We owe the preservation of the earliest Latin hymns to monastic practice. When the founders of monasticism in the west, Caesarius and Aurelian who were famous bishops of Arles (6th C.), and Benedict (d. 543), founder of the Benedictine Order, organized the regulations and routine for the communities under their charge, they incorporated Latin hymns already existing into the daily worship of the monastery.[1] These were sung at the services of the canonical hours and were known as hour hymns or office hymns.
A continuity can be traced, although faintly, from primitive Christian observances. Beginning with the vigil of Saturday night in preparation for the following Sunday, the first three centuries of Christian history developed public services for prayer at candlelight, night time, and dawn. By the fourth century, the tide of devotional practice had set in, bringing with it daily worship in the church at the third, sixth and ninth hours. At the end of the fourth and during the fifth century the cycle was completed with new offices at sunrise and nightfall. The full series, therefore, included the nocturnal cursus; vespers, compline, matins (nocturns and lauds), and the diurnal cursus; prime, terce, sext and nones.[2] An opportunity was afforded to unify the services and at the same time to make use of the symbolic number seven by reference to Psalm 119: 164 (Ps. 118, Vulgate), “Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous ordinances.” From the simple assemblies of early Christianity, therefore, and the daily offices of prayer, a fully elaborated cycle of hymns in time developed, appropriate to the symbolism of the seven hours and to the needs of the annual feasts. Constantly increasing in number and variety, these cycles were preserved in psalters together with the psalms or in a hymnary by themselves. In fact, the word hymn came to mean specifically an office hymn later to be associated with the breviary, and the word hymnal, a cycle or collection of office hymns.