For the evolution of the processional hymn from this point to the close
of the Middle Ages, we have in addition to hymnic manuscripts, the
service books and manuals devoted to, or including, processional
practice. The _Ritual_ or _Roman Pontifical_ was the earliest to include
directions for processions, an illustration of which has been presented
above in the case of _Sancta Maria, quid est?_ In the course of time,
since so many medieval processions were not thus provided for, the
_Processional_ came into existence, containing the order of processions
for a particular diocese or monastery.[27] The St. Gall _Processionals_,
for instance, are informative as to customs already described above. The
specific name _versus_ gave rise to the title _Versarius_ for a book of
processional hymns.[28]
In addition to the collections, liturgical writers discussed the
procession. Of these, none was more influential than Durandus, Bishop of
Mende, who, about 1286, produced his _Rationale divinorum officiorum_
which among many other liturgical subjects, included processional
rites.[29] Durandus was a leading authority upon ecclesiastical
symbolism. Accordingly, he dwells upon every minute detail of the great
processions for Easter, Ascension, Palm Sunday and the Purification as
well as the Sunday procession and others of lesser importance, ascribing
to each act a wealth of symbolic meaning. Much of this figurative
interpretation is obvious and inherent in the feast to be celebrated but
in other cases he gives full play to his sense of the symbolic, a phase
of contemporary thought already so characteristic of Adam of St. Victor
and other writers on religious themes. Finally he declares that whatever
else is suggested, “the true procession is a progress to the celestial
country.” (_Ipsa vero processio, est via ad coelestem patriam._)[30] If
the fundamental concepts which entered into their origins be reviewed,
medieval processions apparently carried with them the familiar ideas of
supplication, of dramatic representation or of pilgrimage to sacred
places. Durandus reiterates and sublimates these concepts, giving them
an added significance.
The processional manuals, especially of the English rites observed at
Salisbury, York, Canterbury and other cathedral centers, offer
descriptions and sometimes illustrations showing the order and vestments
of the clergy, the position and functions of the choir, the appropriate
acts involved, together with the complete text of the antiphons, psalms,
other scriptural passages, hymns, prayers and rubrics. Turning to the
processional hymns which were rendered in these centuries, one is
impressed by the gradual disappearance of hymns typical of the efforts
of the St. Gall school and its contemporaries. A tremendous vogue of the
original _Salve festa dies_ of Fortunatus which had never been lost
sight of, together with its centos, variants and copies, takes
possession of the field. There were in all, perhaps, from one hundred to
one hundred and fifty true processional hymns in circulation throughout
the whole medieval period, if one enumerates those which are edited in
the _Analecta Hymnica_. One half of these may be considered to be of the
_Salve festa dies_ type while similar elegiac metrical forms are found
in half of the remainder.
What has been said of the cultural background in which the sequence
developed and multiplied is equally true for the processional hymn. The
same influences which created new seasonal feasts and additional feasts
for the saints, produced new processional hymns to accompany them. There
is, however, a great disparity between the number of sequences and
processional hymns that were written. The sequence was regnant in sacred
and secular verse, both in Latin and the vernaculars. Office hymns, too,
far outnumbered processionals. This may be another way of saying that
the office hymns and the sequences had a liturgical function and
setting, while the processional was always extra-liturgical and either
superfluous or purely ornamental from this point of view. The antiphons
and psalms were sufficient to satisfy the essential choral demands of
any procession.
Unfortunately Thomas Aquinas did not include a processional hymn when he
furnished the hymnody for the Feast of Corpus Christi. He could hardly
have envisaged the thousands of Corpus Christi processions throughout
Catholic Christendom which have marked the Feast even to this day. Nor
could he have foreseen that his hymn _Pange lingua gloriosi corporis
mysterium_, written in the tradition of Fortunatus, would be widely
appropriated for that purpose. Other processionals for Corpus Christi
appeared almost at once, especially of the _Salve_ type.
Contemporary devotion to the Virgin Mother and her festivals was felt in
the expansion of the Marian hymnology for processions. The establishment
of St. Osyth in Essex was a center in which new hymns were used for the
Visitation,
Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,
Qua Christi mater visitat Elizabeth. (_A. H._ 11. 51)
Hail thee, festival day, blest day that is hallowed forever,
On which Christ’s mother visits Elizabeth.
and the Assumption,
Salve festa dies, toto venerabilis aevo,
Qua fuit assumpta virgo Maria pia. (_A. H._ 11. 55)
Hail thee, festival day, blest day that is hallowed forever,
On which the holy Virgin Mary was assumed.
A lengthy hymn of twenty stanzas for the Feast of the Purification which
had been observed for so many centuries, appears in a twelfth or
thirteenth century manuscript from Kremsmünster, _Laetetur omne
saeculum_ (_A. H._ 4. 54), “Let every age rejoice.” The biblical scene
of the Presentation in the Temple is described and reference is made to
the carrying of lighted candles.
Later medieval practice perpetuated other earlier customs. From the
original station processions at Rome had developed the ceremonies to
celebrate the translation of relics of saints in western European lands.
Pope Callistus II (d. 1124) wrote a processional hymn honoring St. James
of Campostella, _Versus Calixti Papae, cantandi ad processionem sancti
Jacobi in solemnitate passionis ipsius et translationis ejusdem_ (_A.
H._ 17. 194), or _Versus of Pope Callistus, to be sung at the procession
of St. James in the celebration of his passion and translation_. A hymn
for St. Kyneburga (d. 680) commemorated the restoration of her relics to
their original burial place in Peterborough Minster from which they had
been removed during the Danish invasions.[31] (_A. H._ 43. 218)
A procession in which the relics were carried for the veneration of the
worshipers was familiar in many places. Records from St. Gall testify
that St. Magnus was honored with such a procession and an appropriate
hymn of praise (_A. H._ 50. 261). The relics of saints treasured at
Exeter were borne in procession with the singing of a hymn which
mentions their miraculous powers. (_A. H._ 43. 277)
In an era marked by municipal drama and civic display as well as
religious festivals, the pageantry of the procession was understandably
popular. Rome always had its great processions. Accounts are extant of
ceremonies accompanied by hymns, in Tournai, Strasburg, Nuremberg and
other medieval towns, aside from those prescribed by episcopal and
monastic manuals of the day for the great cathedrals and abbeys.
The music to which the processional hymn was sung is, in some cases,
available. The St. Gall manuscripts, as Gautier noted, were furnished
with musical notation. This is occasionally true of later manuscripts,
especially as we enter the closing medieval centuries. The traditional
melodies of certain hymns, like the _Salve festa dies_ and _Gloria laus
et honor_ are known to-day. Musicologists and students of liturgical
music are currently engaged in bringing this music to present-day
knowledge. For example, the hymn used in procession before the reading
of the Gospel appears in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries as a
_conductus_ or _conductum_ which, in turn, is related to the
_cantio_.[32] A _conductus_ for the festival of St. James of Campostella
(_A. H._ 17. 199), illustrates the evolution of a minor type of
processional hymn from Hartmann’s solemn _versus_, mentioned above, to
the festive style of the late medieval period. The recent study of the
_conductus_ by Leonard Ellinwood reflects the growing interest of
musicians in these forms, both secular and religious, which preceded the
Renaissance.[33]
To summarize the characteristic marks of the processional hymn which are
constant and quite independent of the date of their appearance, the
student must recall the underlying motives: 1) supplication in the
litanies, 2) re-enactment of biblical scenes and 3) religious
pilgrimage. Respecting usage, the special interest of a ceremony devoted
to a particular occasion is present in processional hymns, additional to
other rites. Lastly, a group of hymns has come into existence, not to be
classified with the more formal categories of the office hymn and the
sequence but dedicated to an extra-liturgical purpose.
As a group, the processional hymns are not well-known or frequently used
in translation with the exception of the ageless hymns of Theodulphus
and especially of Fortunatus whose processionals usurped the medieval
field for over one thousand years and are still current to-day.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XVII. _Salve festa dies_, “Hail thee, festival
day.”)
CHAPTER SEVEN
Influence and Survival of Latin Hymns