The Latin Hymn-writers and Their Hymns

by Samuel Willoughby Duffield

To Peter of Dresden, schoolmaster of Zwickau in 1420, and afterward described as a Hussite or a Waldensian, is ascribed the

“In dulci jubilo

Nu singet und seit fro,”

which is the type of the mixed hymns of this age. It was his purpose to secure the introduction of hymns in the vernacular into the Church services, as his friend Jakob of Misa sought to do in Bohemia. In mixed hymns of this kind he seems to have tried to find the sharp end of the wedge. Some ascribe to him the Puer natus in Bethlehem, which also exists in the mixed form. Both hymns long stood in the Lutheran hymn-books in the mixed form,—for instance, in the Marburg Hymn-Book, which was used by the Lutherans of Colonial Pennsylvania.

The invention of printing from movable types, about 1452, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz marks an era in Latin hymnology, because of the prompt use of the new method to multiply the Church books in use in the various dioceses. In every part of Western Europe, from Aberdeen, Lund, and Trondhjem, on the north, to the shores of the Mediterranean, the missals, breviaries, and hymnaries were given to the early printers, with the result of bringing to light many fine hymns and sequences whose use had been merely local. The Sarum Breviary and Missal and those of Rome and Paris were printed more frequently than any other. To the Sarum Breviary we owe the fine Transfiguration hymns—Coelestis formam gloriae and O nata lux de lumine and O sator rerum reparator aevi, which Anglican translators have made into English hymns; to the Missal the fine sequence on the crown of thorns, Si vis vere gloriari, of which Dr. Whewell published a translation in Frazer’s Magazine for May, 1849. To the York Processional (1530) we owe the four “proses” which begin Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo, which suggest to Daniel that “in England also there was no lack of those who celebrated the divine majesty in very sweet hymns.”

To the Breviary and Missal of Trondhjem (Drontheim, anciently Nidaros) we owe some of the finest hymns and sequences recovered at this time. Of these the Jubilemus cordis voce is the most characteristic and perhaps the most beautiful—full of local color and characteristic love of nature. Mr. Morgan has translated it; but the dedication hymn, Sacrae Sion adsunt encaenia, has found more favor with Anglican translators, and commends itself by scriptural simplicity. Of course this breviary has fine hymns to St. Olaf, the king who did so much to make Norway a Christian country, although hardly so much as his neglected predecessor, Olaf Tryggveson. Similarly the Swedish missals honor King Eric and St. Birgitta.

The German Church books yield less that is novel probably because the earlier German sources have been so much more thoroughly explored. The breviaries of Lubec, of Mainz, of Koeln, and of Meissen furnish most, but chiefly in praises of the Mother of our Lord and the saints. The Gloriosi Salvatoris nominis praeconia of Meissen is an exception, and has found many admirers and several translators. From Mainz comes the fine hymn in honor of the apostles, Qui sunt isti, qui volant, and that for the martyrs, O beata beatorum, and the Passion hymn, Laus sit Regi gloriae, Cujus rore gratiae.

It is different with the French Church books and those of Walloon Belgium. From the Breton see of Rennes, and those of Angers, Le Mans, and Poitiers in the adjacent provinces of Northwestern France come some of the best hymns of this class. From Rennes comes the pretty and fanciful sequence on the Saviour’s crown of thorns, Florem spina coronavit; from Angers the Christmas hymn, Sonent Regi nato nova cantica, which shows how far the French lag behind the Germans of the same age in handling this theme; also the Advent sequence, Jubilemus omnes una, which suggests Francis’s “Song of the Creatures,” but lacks its tenderness. From Le Mans the Die parente temporum, which Sir Henry Baker has made English in “On this day, the first of days.” From Poitiers the fine Advent sequence, Prope est claritudinis magnae dies, translated by Mr. Hewett. From Noyon, in Northeastern France, the two Christmas hymns, Lux est orta gentibus and Laetare, puerpera, whose beauty is defaced by making the Mother and not the divine Child the central figure.

From the Missal of Belgian Tournay we have the Easter sequence, Surgit Christus cum tropaeo, and the transfiguration sequence, De Parente summo natum, which have found and deserved translators. From that of Liege several sequences, of which the best is that for All Saints Day, Resultet tellus et alta coelorum machina. In the South it is the breviaries of Braga, in Portugal, and Piacenza, in Italy, which have furnished most new hymns.

From the breviaries of the great monastic orders come many hymns, those of the Franciscans furnishing the greater number. That of the Cistercians furnishes the Domine Jesu, noverim me, noverim Te, one of the many hymns suggested by passages in the writings of Augustine of Hippo.