The Papers Of The Hymn Society XIV - Latin Hymns Of The Middle Ages Latin Hymns of the Middle Ages

THE PAPERS OF THE HYMN SOCIETY CARL F. PRICE Editor XIV Latin Hymns of the Middle Ages ROTH F. I. LIS MESSENGER TOE HYMN SOCIETY OF AMERICA NEW YORK Crrv 1948 PAPERS OF THE HYMN SOCIETY CARL F. PRICE, Editor 1 The Hymns of John Bunyan By Louis F. Benson, D. D. II. The Religious Value of Hymns By William P. Merrill, D. D. III. The Praise of the Virgin in Early Latin Hymns By Ruth Ellis Messenger, Ph. D. IV. The Significance of the Old French Psalter By Professor Waldo Setden Pratt, L. H. D., Mus. D, V. Hymn Festival Programs. VI. What Is a Hymn r By Carl P. Price, M. A VII. An Account of the Bay Psalm Book By Henry Wilder Foote, B. D. VIII. Lowell Mason an Appreciation of His Life and Work 1 By Henry Lowell Mason. IX. Christian Hymns of the First Three Centuries By Ruth Ellis Messenger, PLD X. Addresses at the Twentieth Anniversary of the Hymn Society of America. XL Hymns of Christian Patriotism XIL Luther and Congregational Song By Luther D. Re D. Z., A. RJD. XIII. Isaac Watts and his Contribution to Hymnody By Norman Victor Hop, M. A. Ph. D XIV. Latin Hymns of the Middle By Ruth EJfo Mwmgfirt PAJ. Copies of these papers at 15 may be from the Executive Secretary of the Hymn D. RBOINAW L 2268 SEDGWICK AVBNVB., .............. . . NEW S3, N. Y. NOTES Inquire beftw ordering a some nwfttkrri me mt of S ty tk of LATIN HYMNS OF THE MIDDLE AGES ., The religious poetry to which this paper is devoted is not merely an integral section of medieval Latin literature. It is born of medieval life which draws its vitality from religious experience. It is a record of the past and at the same time it expresses the ageless quality of those verities which make up the Christians faith in the divine. Here wecome into contact, not with by-gone and dusty manuscripts, the pages of which speak to us of lost ideas in a forgotten language but with a familiar ethical and spiritual outlook and with a joy, hope and aspiration in which the modern man may find himself at home, No one can treat this subject adequately within the present limits. There are, for instance, some 42,000 items in the Repertorium Hym nofogium of Chevalier, the standard catalogue of Latin hymns, proses, sequences and tropes, representing for the most part the literary product of a thousand years between 400 and 1500 A. D. Waldo Selden Pratt estimated that 3500 true Latin hymns from the medieval period were in existence. 1 They originated in every corner of Latin Christendom, They reflect faithfully every development in the wor ship of the medieval Church and every phase of its theology. Latin hymnotly, therefore, must be approached by some path which will provide a general view both truthful and comprehensive as one may purposely approach a scene in nature in order to appreciate its whole beauty and significance where time foils for a nearer study of details. To a student of literature the original manuscripts possess the first claim attraction as a path to knowledge Following this approach we find the so-called stntiphtmrnry of the seventh century to be the known medieval manuscript containing hymns, Thereafter of hyrnnaries or hymnals become more numerous In addition hymns are found with and among the of Individual As the liturgical of the Church in the tropary gradual their hymns By the time of the or in earlier, in all of life as cathedrals and of are produced containing the hymns In or often for u c by the In Winchester, Salisbury York In Cologne in Switzerland St. Gatl in Sr at Fleiirf- ittr-I re St, Victor at Paris i w v., wi i fi T4 - pi l f H 1 I. W ffiMi fiw S Piii, , 3 1, fW i rim 4 f, nw II, in Italy, Monte Cassino in Spain, Toledo. There were many others throughout Europe. Some were clearly more famous than the rest as the quality of their literary product differed...