Although the sequence had apparently occupied the center of attention,
the writing of office and festival hymns had never been interrupted and
certainly had never ceased. Gathering up the sources after the period of
ninth century influence described in Chapter Three, one pauses at the
verse of Peter Damian, (988-1072), Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Superior
of the monks of the Holy Cross. His theme was the joys of paradise in
the hymn _Ad perennis vitae fontem_, “To the fount of life eternal,” a
topic about which a distinguished hymnody was ultimately created.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XIV. _Ad perennis vitae fontem_, “To the fount
of life eternal.”)
Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres (d. 1028), is best known for his Easter
hymn, _Chorus novae Ierusalem_, “The chorus of the New Jerusalem,”[5] in
which the militant ideal in its knightly form finds expression as the
warriors of the faith acclaim the victory of their royal and divine
leader.
In the twelfth century, a complete new hymnary in all its parts was
written by Abelard, (1079-1142), for the Convent of the Paraclete of
which Heloise was the abbess.[6] A collection of 91 hymns, it has never
been highly praised by critics, yet it has provided the hymn, _O quanta
qualia_, “How mighty are the Sabbaths,” in praise of the Sabbath and the
Good Friday hymn, _Solus ad victimam procedis, Domine_, “Alone to
sacrifice Thou goest, Lord,” both of which have found a place in recent
hymnals. Helen Waddell’s translations of the two illustrate modern
renderings at their best. The same century saw the achievement of
Bernard of Cluny or Morlaix, (fl. 1122), whose long poem, _De contemptu
mundi_ furnished the selections on the heavenly country, _Hora
novissima_, popularized by the translations of John Mason Neale. Perhaps
the best-known of these, _Urbs Sion aurea_, “Jerusalem the Golden,” in
its English rendering has attained a vernacular status independently of
its Latin original. The great anonymous hymn, _Jesu dulcis memoria_,
“Jesu, the very thought of Thee,” is also of the twelfth century. Its
authorship has been variously ascribed but never certainly determined.
The thirteenth century was marked by the rise of hymn writing in the new
religious orders founded by St. Francis of Assisi and St. Dominic. The
Franciscan Bonaventura (1221-74), wrote _Recordare sanctae crucis_, “Be
mindful of the Holy Cross,” on the theme of the Cross. To read this hymn
side by side with the _Vexilla regis prodeunt_ of Fortunatus, is to
apprehend more fully the increasing subjectivity of the Latin hymn in
500 years of its history. The passion of Christ is, moreover, a favorite
theme and object of devotion of the friars, ever present to their
thinking. Thomas Aquinas, (1227-74), greatest of the Dominicans, wrote
the hymns for the Feast of Corpus Christi, established by Pope Urban IV
in 1265. Of these, _Pange lingua, gloriosi corporis mysterium_, “Sing my
tongue, the Saviour’s glory,”[7] modeled after the form of the _Pange
lingua_ of Fortunatus, is in its subject matter a poetic version of the
mystical subtleties implicit in the dogma of the feast. John Peckham,
Archbishop of Canterbury, (1240-92), wrote _Ave vivens hostia_, “Hail,
true Victim,” a fine hymn upon the same theme which suggests the
inspiration of Aquinas.