early middle ages: latin hymns of the fourth century

i. the early hymn writers

the first mention of christian latin hymns by a known author occurs in the writings of st. jerome who states that hilary, bishop of poitiers (c. 310-366), a noted author of commentaries and theological works, wrote a liber hymnorum.[1] this collection has never been recovered in its entirety. hilary’s priority as a hymn writer is attested by isidore of seville (d. 636) who says:

hilary, however, bishop of poitiers in gaul, a man of unusual eloquence, was the first prominent hymn writer.[2]

more important than his prior claim is the motive which actuated him, the defense of the trinitarian doctrine, to which he was aroused by his controversy with the arians. a period of four years as an exile in phrygia for which his theological opponents were responsible, made him familiar with the use of hymns in the oriental church to promote the arian heresy. hilary wrested a sword, so to speak, from his adversaries and carried to the west the hymn, now a weapon of the orthodox. his authentic extant hymns, three in number, must have been a part of the liber hymnorum. ante saecula qui manens, “o thou who dost exist before time,” is a hymn of seventy verses in honor of the trinity; fefellit saevam verbum factum te, caro, “the incarnate word hath deceived thee (death)” is an easter hymn; and adae carnis gloriosae, “in the person of the heavenly adam” is a hymn on the theme of the temptation of jesus.[3] they are ponderous in style and expression and perhaps too lengthy for congregational use since they were destined to be superseded.

2

in addition to these the hymn hymnum dicat turba fratrum, “let your hymn be sung, ye faithful,” has been most persistently associated with hilary’s name. the earliest text occurs in a seventh century manuscript. it is a metrical version of the life of jesus in seventy-four lines, written in the same meter as that of adae carnis gloriosae.[4]

pope damasus, a spaniard by birth (c. 304-384), is believed to have written hymns in addition to the epigrams on the martyrs which constitute his authentic poetry. it would seem probable that his activities in identifying and marking the sites associated with the roman martyrs might have been supplemented by the production of hymns in their honor. two hymns bearing his name are extant, one in praise of st. andrew the apostle and one for st. agatha. upon internal evidence the ascription is dubious for they bear the mark of authorship too late to be considered among the poems of this famous pope.

as a matter of fact, ambrose, bishop of milan (340-397), remains the uncontested originator of the medieval latin hymn as it becomes familiar to us in a uniform series of metrical stanzas adapted to congregational use. like hilary, ambrose was born in gaul.[5] he was the son of ambrose, prefect of the gauls, and like his father he attained official appointment under the roman government as consular of liguria and aemilia, with milan as place of residence. theological controversy between the arians and the orthodox was raging at milan, the bishop himself, auxentius, having adopted the arian position. ambrose at this time was a catechumen but at the death of auxentius was obliged to preserve order when the election of his successor took place. at that very moment the popular mandate created ambrose bishop of milan at the age of thirty-four years. the period immediately following his election found him constantly battling for orthodoxy in a contest which passed beyond the limits of theological debate to the actual siege of orthodox churches by the arian forces.

ambrose was acquainted with the syrian practice of hymn singing, and like hilary, he recognized the effective use of the hymn by the proponents of the arian heresy. it was not long before the congregations in the basilica at milan were chanting antiphonally the praises of the trinity in a similar form. ambrose himself recorded his achievement, his biographer 3 paulinus mentions the event and augustine in his confessions describes the congregational singing which he himself had heard.

we, though as yet unmelted by the heat of thy spirit, were nevertheless excited by the alarm and tumult of the city. then it was first instituted that according to the custom of the eastern regions, hymns and psalms should be sung, lest the people should faint through the fatigue of sorrow.[6]

ambrose wrote hymns appropriate for morning and evening worship, four of which now extant, can be proved to be of his authorship, aeterne rerum conditor, “maker of all, eternal king,” deus creator omnium, “creator of the earth and sky,” iam surgit hora tertia, “now the third hour draws nigh,” and veni redemptor gentium, “come redeemer of the earth.”[7] many others in keeping with his style and inspiration have been preserved and subjected to critical study with the result that eighteen hymns on varied themes are generally conceded to be ambrosian. had ambrose never conferred upon the church his gift of hymnody he would still remain one of the great latin fathers of the fourth century, in his functions as statesman, organizer and scholar. his contribution to ecclesiastical poetry and music have made him influential century after century. in this role he has spoken directly to multitudes of christians throughout the world, many of whom have been unacquainted with his name or unaware that they were following the ambrosian tradition of congregational song. (see illustrative hymns, i. splendor paternae gloriae, “o splendor of god’s glory bright.”)

spain shares the honors with gaul as the birthplace of the earliest hymn writers, claiming first damasus and then prudentius, (348-413?), a lawyer, judge and poet of his era. little is known of his life aside from his literary work which includes two collections of hymns, the cathemerinon, a series for the hours of the day and the ecclesiastical seasons and the peristephanon, a series of much longer poems in praise of the great martyrs of the early church. in his effort to learn more of the circumstances attending their martyrdom, prudentius went to rome to visit the scenes made sacred by their death and sufferings. neither of these collections was written for liturgical use but for devotional reading. both were destined to be appropriated by compilers of hymnaries, especially in spain. 4 hymns from the cathemerinon, either in their original form or in centos, spread throughout the christian church while the martyr hymns were also drawn upon but to a lesser extent. the hymns selected for festival use are perhaps most familiar today, for example, for advent, corde natus ex parentis ante mundi exordium, of which the translation “of the father’s love begotten,” suggests the original meter. the epiphany hymn, o sola magnarum urbium, “earth hath many a noble city,” is also well known.[8]

considered merely as latin poetry, the hymns of hilary, ambrose and prudentius are transitional in their literary character. they belong neither to the poetry of the silver age of latin literature nor do they represent the medieval literary tradition. of the metrical aspect something will be said presently. by some the ambrosian hymn is regarded as a daring innovation and the model from which vernacular european verse was later to develop. in that case, it constitutes a class by itself. for evidence of the continuity of latin poetry from the classical to the medieval age we must turn to the carmina of venantius fortunatus.

fortunatus (c. 530-600) was born near treviso and lived as a youth in northern italy, studying at ravenna. the greater part of his life, however, was spent in gaul which he visited first as a pilgrim to the shrine of st. martin at tours, who, he believed, had been instrumental in restoring his eyesight. at poitiers he met queen rhadegunda, wife of clothair, king of neustria. she had founded a convent at poitiers and there lived in retirement. this was his introduction to a life of travel and of intercourse with the great. he was acquainted with bishops, noblemen and kings whose praises he sang in many graceful tributes, occasional poems and epitaphs. through the influence of rhadegunda, his lifelong patron and friend, he was ordained, and after her death he became bishop of poitiers, 597, where he lived until his death. as a churchman he was an admirer and biographer of the saints of gaul, preeminently st. martin whose life and miracles he recounted in poetic form.

fortunatus seems to have carried with him from the italian scenes associated with the poetry of virgil—an inspiration which was never entirely lost. his poems suggest a familiarity with the literary background of classical verse. during his mature life he lived in the environment of sixth century gallic society which was already assuming its medieval 5 frankish outlines. natural beauty and human companionship were alike important to him. he was acquainted with men and women of every degree from the monarch to the slave.

although the spirit of religious devotion and of orthodox belief is evident in many of the hundreds of lyrics which he composed, four only may be classed as hymns. three of these are concerned with the theme of the holy cross, pange lingua, gloriosi proelium certaminis, “sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,” vexilla regis prodeunt, “the banners of the king advance,” and crux benedicta nitet, “radiant is the blessed cross.” the fourth, tempora florigero rutilant distincta sereno, “season of luminous days, marked bright with the birth of the flowers,” is a resurrection hymn.[9] it is impossible to indicate here the extraordinary influence which this group of hymns has exerted in the evolution of christian hymnody, continuing in gaul the tradition, as it were, which hilary first established. the circumstances of their origin and their lasting values will be considered in connection with processional hymns in chapter vi.

(see illustrative hymns, ii. vexilla regis prodeunt, “the banners of the king advance.”)

ii. metrical forms

the problem of metrical forms and the prosody of the earliest latin hymns, in general, is a phase of the same problem affecting latin poetry as a whole. the subject is both complicated and obscure, entangled with that of latin rhetorical prose style, the transition from the quantitative accent of ancient classical poetry to the stress accent of medieval and modern verse and with the origin of rhyme. it is a problem for specialists among whom opinions are now divergent. toward a practical understanding of the metrical values of the hymns of hilary, prudentius, ambrose and fortunatus, the pragmatic test of what is singable may be applied. the ancient balanced rhythms of semitic poetry as illustrated in the hebrew psalms had been sung for generations. the metrical lyrics of ancient greece were sung to an instrumental accompaniment as were the latin lyrics of the golden age of rome. these highly polished classical forms were for the elite. of popular poetry which was sung in the period immediately 6 preceding the appearance of the latin hymn, very little is known. the early writers were experimenters. hilary used classical meters with alterations, of which the trochaic tetrameter catalectic proved most acceptable.[10] it is illustrated in adae carnis gloriosae and also in hymns by prudentius and fortunatus. prudentius used a variety of meters in addition to the trochaic which proved adaptable in actual liturgical practice but by that time stress accent was beginning to obscure the original quantitative values. ambrose used the unrhymed iambic dimeter, a simple and singable form which has been in vogue ever since, at first unrhymed after the original models and later rhymed. the popular trochaic meter familiarized by hilary, prudentius and fortunatus, when transformed by stress accent and rhyme, is easily recognized both in latin and the vernaculars. fortunatus popularized the elegiac meter in hymns for a thousand years by demonstrating its use in tempora florigero. prior to the ninth century revival of hymnody, the ambrosian hymn, considered as a metrical model, in comparison with all other existing models, dominates the field equally with its prestige as an expression of christian theology and devotion.

iii. hymns in worship

it is evident that the fourth century was one of innovation in the custom of congregational singing as the ambrosian hymn was more widely diffused. our knowledge of what actually took place is very incomplete, based first upon the writing of ambrose and his contemporaries and later upon the hints derived from monastic usage. that morning and evening services of prayer and praise were common is well known. that the singing of the new fourth century hymns was an integral part of such services is largely assumed. prudentius wrote hymns for the evening ceremony of the lucernare or lighting of the candles, a christian practice adopted from the greek church, to which many references are found. the fact that the hymns of prudentius were in existence long before they appeared in the records of formal worship points to early christian usage, however dimly perceived.

concerning music we learn from the most recent researches that “nothing definite is known of the melodies that were actually applied to 7 the hymns of st. ambrose.”[11] the traditional liturgical music of milan is known as the ambrosian chant. it cannot be traced to ambrose himself but is supposed to have existed in a simpler form than that which appears in available manuscripts beginning with the twelfth century. at least it may be said to have existed prior to the roman chant and perhaps have influenced the latter. with a frank acknowledgement of ignorance as to the antiphonal melodies which thrilled st. augustine at milan, the possibility must be admitted that they reflected to some extent the formal music of the synagogue or the music of the greeks or the elements of contemporary folk music because these were the musical materials of which the christians had experience. all three may have been represented, but for a hymn of the ambrosian type, the chant as evolved in rendering the gospels or the psalms may have given place to a form of song more characteristic of the lyric.

iv. themes

the tradition of christian hymnology which upholds a way of life is fundamental in ambrosian and contemporary hymns. the “way” is the first term by which christianity was designated in the scriptures. thus to the scriptures the hymn writers turned for the living characterization of their themes. the call to a virtuous life is sounded in splendor paternae gloriae quoted above. similarly throughout these hymns, the high ideal of faith, purity, hope, patience, humility and love and the ethical teachings derived from the words of jesus and from the early exemplars of the christian religion are clearly expressed and enjoined. not alone for contemporaries in a period of crisis and controversy were these hymns effective. they have continued to speak the same words in the same spirit of joy and devotion derived from contact with the earlier springs of faith to every succeeding century.

the writings of men familiar with roman civilization and trained in classical culture would naturally be presumed to retain the flavor of a non-christian literature. christianity had already appropriated from the pagan philosophers those teachings which were congenial to its own. ambrose reveals both in his poetic and prose writings his acquaintance with classical 8 thought and literary models. prudentius mingles the classical and the christian. fortunatus was inspired by classical poetry to a christian expression of beauty in form and content. but in every case, these characteristics are marginal. the core of their hymns is the scriptural narrative. not only is the subject matter faithfully reproduced but the actual text is sometimes embedded in the verse. the result is a rare objectivity and a lack of embellishment especially in the works of ambrose which became the preferred standard for later writers.[12]

the life of jesus is a favorite theme particularly in those episodes which were described and expanded in hymns for the nativity, epiphany, passion, easter and pentecost. from the episode of the nativity the praise of the virgin was developed. the doctrine of the trinity was everywhere upheld in hymns, even as its defense had been influential in their creation.

the group of hymns which praise the early christian leaders, either directly or by incidental mention, form a nucleus for the impressive medieval hymnology of the saints. the apostles have first place both in chronology and importance. prudentius praised the roman martyrs and ambrose those of rome and milan as well. both honored laurence the deacon and agnes the virgin. to the praise of the whole group “the noble army of martyrs,” the hymn aeterna christi munera, “the eternal gifts of christ the king,” was written, unrivalled as a martyr hymn in any period of latin hymnology.

(see illustrative hymns, iii. aeterna christi munera, “the eternal gifts of christ the king.”)