The Latin Hymn-writers and Their Hymns

by Samuel Willoughby Duffield

Felix os quod tu lavabis,

Et beata labia!”

Or, as we may express it in our own language:

“Blessed stomach which thou warmest,

Blessed throat which thou reformest,

Blessed mouth whose thirst thou stormest,

Blessed lips to taste of thee!”

Here and there Professor Longfellow introduces also into this “Golden Legend” his own renderings from the Latin, in little transcriptions which are exquisitely felicitous. But presently, in sharp contrast to the ribald Paul and the dissolute Cuthbert and the rest of the noisy crew in the refectory, he allows us to hear the song of the pilgrims. They are chanting the Hymn of Hildebert of Lavardin, Archbishop of Tours:

Me receptet Sion illa,

Sion David, urbs tranquilla,