The account of the Christian hymns of necessity accompanies that of the
Christian organization, moving from the shores of the Mediterranean and
the Christian centers in Roman provincial areas into the “regions
beyond” of missionary effort. Although congregational singing in the
Ambrosian sense appears to have been submerged in this process, the
traditional hymnody was preserved, new hymns added and the foundation
laid for the ninth century revival.
Anonymity is the rule and known authorship the exception for the hymns
produced in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth centuries. This
continued to be the rule during the whole medieval period since the
names of those who wrote the non-scriptural parts of religious rites
were lost or unknown or perhaps of little importance in communal
worship. The fact that the hymns which survive have been gathered from
liturgical manuscripts and not from the work of individual authors
except in rare cases, should make anonymity more intelligible.
Hymn sources are scanty and interconnections, dimly perceived, can
rarely be established. Continuity of evolution is often broken or
replaced by new poetical inspiration. However, the fourth century appeal
to the objective, the direct, the simple, is seldom varied by the
subjective theme. The biblical narratives and the symbolism connected
with the various offices and feasts add substance and character to the
cycles and to the concept of the liturgical year.
In the heart of the Dark Ages, popularly considered, western European
civilization was in confusion and its fate problematical. One could
scarcely expect the fruits of peace and security to flourish. Yet in
these very centuries there were created and circulated many of the best
loved hymns of Christianity, a number of which have been in unbroken use
to the present day. Among them are the illustrations inserted above and
_Lucis Creator optime_, “O blest creator of the light;” the Advent
hymns, _Verbum supernum prodiens_, “High Word of God who once didst
come,” and _Conditor alme siderum_, “Creator of the stars of night;” the
Easter hymn, _Claro paschali gaudio_, “That Easter day with joy was
bright;” for the dedication of a church, _Urbs beata Jerusalem_,
“Blessed city, heavenly Salem” with the more familiar second part,
“Christ is made the sure foundation.” Two hymns honoring the Virgin date
from this period: _Ave maris stella_, “Hail, Sea-Star we name Thee,” and
_Quem terra pontus aethera_, “The God whom earth and sea and sky,”
initiating the Marian hymnology of the Middle Ages.[19]
(See Illustrative Hymns, VII. _Ave maris stella_, “Hail, Sea-Star we
name Thee.”)
Created and preserved in a clerical and for the most part a monastic
environment these hymns express the Christian thought and faith of the
era which was thus treasured up for wider circulation and influence in a
later and more settled society. The words of the late Canon Douglas, a
great American hymnologist, are memorable in this connection:
“What does have a practical bearing on our subject is, that whatever
may have been the older cycle, it was enriched to an extraordinary
degree in the early medieval centuries. What began in Milan, and
achieved its permanent recognition at Monte Cassino, was soon to bring
about a Mozarabic Hymnal in Spain, a Gallican hymnal in northern
Europe, an Anglo-Irish cycle in Britain: and from all these various
increments not only enlarged the growing Hymnal but also richly
diversified it.”[20]
Appendix
_Old Hymnal_ (_See Anal. Hymn., 51, Introduction_ p. xx).
_Ad nocturnas horas_
_Mediae noctis tempus est_ (Mozarabic; in Bangor Antiphonary)
_Rex aeterne Domine_
_Magna et mirabilia_
_Aeterne rerum conditor_
_Tempus noctis surgentibus_
_Ad matutinas laudes_
_Deus qui caeli lumen es_
_Splendor paternae gloriae_
_Aeternae lucis conditor_ (Mozarabic)
_Fulgentis auctor aetheris_ (Mozarabic)
_Deus aeterni luminis_ (Mozarabic)
_Christe caeli Domine_
_Diei luce reddita_
_Ad parvas horas_
_Postmatutinis laudibus_
_Certum tenentes ordinem_ (Mozarabic)
_Dicamus laudes Domino_ (Mozarabic)
_Perfectum trinum numerum_ (Mozarabic)
_Ad vesperas_
_Deus creator omnium_
_Deus qui certis legibus_ (Mozarabic)
_Deus qui claro lumine_
_Sator princepsque temporum_
_Ad completorium_
_Christe qui lux es et dies_ (Mozarabic)
_Christe precamur adnue_
_Proprii de tempore_
_Intende qui regis_
_Illuminans altissimus_
_Dei fide qua vivimus_
_Meridie orandum es_
_Sic ter quaternis trahitur_
_Hic est dies verus Dei_
_Iam surgit hora tertia_
_Iam sexta sensim volvitur_
_Ter hora trina volvitur_
_Ad cenam agni providi_
_Aurora lucis rutilat_
_De communi martyrum_
_Aeterna Christi munera_
CHAPTER THREE
The Ninth Century Revival: Hymns