The Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles from the period of the
introduction of Christianity maintained individual features of liturgy
and organization, especially in their monastic groups. The contemporary
Saxon Church of the seventh century, however, had been drawn into the
Roman sphere of influence by Gregory the Great who was also in touch
with Celtic leadership. The ancient record of the interchange of hymns
written respectively by St. Columba of Iona and by Gregory preserves
more than a report incapable of proof.[15] It points to reciprocal
interest in the evolving hymnology of the sixth and seventh centuries in
Celtic and continental regions.
The so-called Bangor Antiphonary of the seventh century is the earliest
manuscript containing hymns, twelve in number.[16] Its contents are
otherwise miscellaneous, including a list of the abbots of Bangor.
Hilary’s supposed hymn from this collection, _Hymnum dicat turba
fratrum_, has already been cited. An ancient communion hymn, _Sancti
venite Christi corpus sumite_, “Draw nigh and take the body of the
Lord,” is included and _Mediae noctis tempus est_, “It is the midnight
hour,” an office hymn common to the hymnals of Spain and Gaul. Among
other important sources is the Irish _Liber hymnorum_, preserved in an
eleventh century manuscript of Dublin which contains Columba’s hymn,
_Altus prosator_, “Ancient of days,” honoring God the creator, and the
_Lorica_ or _Breastplate Hymn_ of St. Gildas (6th C.), _Suffragare
trinitatis unitas, unitatis miserere trinitas_, “Grant me thy favor,
Three in One, have mercy on me, One in Three.”[17]
On the whole Celtic hymns exhibit great variety in subject matter and
purpose with many departures from the type of hymn cycle in use on the
continent. Indeed, the group of from fifteen to twenty hymns produced in
the centuries under consideration are highly distinctive. The Ambrosian
tradition is not apparent. Non-Ambrosian meters are illustrated in all
three hymns cited above while alliteration, the _abcd_ form, repetition
of initial words and other metrical devices are found throughout the
collection. There are hymns for the offices and communion, metrical
prayers and a group of hymns for saints, some bearing witness to local
cults. Poetic individuality marks them all.[18] Contemporaneous with the
flowering of Celtic hymnology, the seventh century saw the beginning of
the cultural invasion of the continent by Celtic scholars, teachers and
missionaries whereby two streams of culture, previously isolated, united
with significant results for the hymnology of the future.
(See Illustrative Hymns, VI. _Sancti venite Christi corpus sumite_,
“Draw nigh and take the body of the Lord.”)