OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Hymns

  • A New Hiberno-Latin Hymn on Saint Martin of Tours

    Professor Michael Lapidge has published the text of a hymn to Saint Martin, which although it has been preserved in a collection of materials called the pseudo-Bede Collectaneum published in Basle in 1543, is felt by Lapidge to be of Irish provenance. The prayer to Saint Martin is one of a group of six which have identifiable links with early insular prayerbooks, but scholars have long felt that many of the prayers in Anglo-Saxon prayerbooks derive from Irish sources. Lapidge argues that this prayer to St Martin has obviously originated outside France since it calls for protection against shipwreck for visiting pilgrims and, since early medieval England does not have a literary tradition of veneration of Saint Martin, Ireland is the most likely point of origin. The author goes on to argue for a seventh-century date, based on linguistic analysis and comparisons with other Irish hymns of that period. Lapidge’s paper gives only the Latin text, but below is a translation by David Howlett, with some accompanying notes.

    Deus Domine Meus ‘A New Hiberno-Latin Hymn on Saint Martin’

    1. God, my Lord, I am the one responsible for Your death: be patient now with me, who are strong and powerful.

    2. I adjure the true God, always one and triune, that I may have power now to go to Saint Martin.

    3. I ask now the King of Kings, Who is divine light, that I may be able now, just to visit Saint Martin.

    4. Christ, God of gods, Whose majesty is wondrous, make me to lament, healed, before Saint Martin.

    5. Direct the way clearly, O Nazarene Jesu, so that I may be able excellently to bewail sins there.

    6. For me an aid through shipwreck will be the support of Christ’s soldier Martin.

    7. I wish to visit you; make me come to you, who are of such great virtue, O my Saint Martin.

    8. O my Saint Martin, intercede now, I beg, for me, grieving ill, burdened by the disgrace of sins.

    9. O my Saint Martin, for me now intercede, lest the wisps of flame of perennial punishment touch me.

    10. O my Saint Martin, beloved of the throng of the heavens, lest I be a sharer of punishment help me.

    11. O my Saint Martin, help me that I may enjoy at the end the perennial bread of life.

    12. Glory to You, Father, Who are Brother and Mother.

    Notes

    The first 5 stanzas are addressed to God. The central sixth stanza describes the aid of Saint Martin against shipwreck on the journey from the poet’s home, presumably in Ireland, and the shrine of Saint Martin, presumably at Tours. The last 5 stanzas are addressed to Saint Martin. The doxology is addressed to God. The most appropriate occasions for recitation of this hymn might be the two principal feasts of Saint Martin, 4 July and 11 November.

    David Howlett, The Celtic Latin Tradition of Biblical Style, (Dublin, 1995), 183-186.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Hildegard of Bingen: Songs for Saint Disibod






    The universal community of the saints was a genuinely felt reality in the lives of Hildegard and her nuns, not only as an example to follow but also as a source of inspiration and a focus of devotion. This was especially true of patron saints of the locality such as Disibod, the seventh-century Irish bishop and hermit who founded a monastery on the summit of the hill that later bore his name. Hildegard spent half her life on the Disibodenberg and must have been highly familiar with its topography. She clearly associated the heights of the mountain with the spiritual nature of the saint to whom she dedicated her verses.











    Antiphon for Saint Disibod

    O mirum admirandum

    O wondrous marvel,
    a hidden form shines forth
    and rises up in glorious stature
    to where the living height
    gives forth mystical truths.
    Therefore, O Disibod, you will rise up at the end,
    as once you were raised,
    by the succouring blossom
    of all the branches of the world.

    Responsory for Saint Disibod

    O viriditas digit dei

    O green vigour of the hand of God,
    in which God has planted a vineyard,
    it shines in the heights
    like a stately column,
    You are glorious in your preparation for God.

    And O mountain on high
    you will never weaken in God’s testing
    but you stand far off like an exile.
    The armoured man does not have the power to seize you.
    You are glorious in your preparation for God.

    Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
    You are glorious in your preparation for God.

    Mark Atherton, Hildegard of Bingen: Selected Writings (Penguin Books, 2001), 35-36.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

  • Vespers Antiphons from the Office of Saint Killian

    Some selections from an Office of Saint Killian have been recorded by the medieval music ensemble Altramar. The trail of the Irish perigrini forms the theme of their collection Celtic Wanderers: The Pilgrim’s Road. They have recorded selections from liturgical offices for Irish saints from a 12th-century Hiberno-Latin manuscript found at Vienna’s Schottensift or ‘Monastery of the Scots’. Below are the notes and texts from the booklet which accompanies the recording, you can find details of all the tracks plus hear samples of the music here.

    I Vespers: Antiphons from the Office of St Killian

    Text and music: Vienna, Schottenstift, Kilian Fragment (12C)

    St Kilian (who became bishop of Würzburg) and his companions Colman and Totnan were Irish peregrini who traveled and proselytized in the areas of Franconia and East Thuringia, where they were martyred sometime around the year 689. The Vespers antiphons heard here are from an office for St Kilian found in one of the fragmentary manuscripts in the archive of the Schottensift in Vienna. These unusual and beautiful melodies did not survive intact: there are missing notes here and there, which required some educated guesswork and creative reconstruction. We chose to present some of these Vespers antiphons and the following Matins antiphons with voice and instrument, as medieval texts and illustrations indicate that stringed instruments may have been used to accompany Celtic liturgical music.

    O Christi martir 

    O Christi martir Sancte Kiliane, qui pro dei nomine
    certando coronam aeterni decoris meruisti
    omnes tua celebrantes sollempnnia tuo interventu gaudium
    in celo exultent se habere perpetuum.

    O martyr of Christ, saint Kilian, who by contending
    for the name of God earned a crown of eternal honour,
    may all who celebrate your rites rejoice
    that by your intervention they have joy in heaven forever.

    Chorus resonet

    Chorus resonet iubilantium regi martyrum
    qui beato Kyliano cum suis sociis
    victoriam contulit passionis.

    Let the chorus resound of those shouting for joy to the invincible king of martyrs,
    the king who conferred on blessed Kilian along with his companions
    the victory of martyrdom.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.