Hostis Herodes impie
One requires several books to follow Vespers at Ampleforth. It so
chanced
that when I attended last Sunday, my stall did not contain the
'Hymnale' the
book which contains the office hymns. However I recognised the hymn as
'Hostis Herodes impie' and now, in the leisure of my own home, intend
to
examine this hymn to see what felicities I missed. Perhaps the
list-members
will want to look over my shoulder as I do so. Here first is the text,
with
a translation by Percy Dearmer:
Hostis Herodes impie, Why, impious Herod, shouldst thou fear
Christum venire quid times? Because the Christ is come so near?
non eripit mortalia, He who doth heavenly kingdoms grant
qui regna dat caelestia. Thine earthly realm can never want.
Ibant Magi, quam viderant, Lo, sages from the East are gone
stellam sequentes praeviam: To where the star hath newly shone:
lumen requirunt lumine, Led on by light to Light they press
Deum fatentur munere. And by their gifts their God confess.
Lavacra puri gurgitis The Lamb of God is manifest
caelestis Agnis attigit; Again in Jordan's water blest,
peccata, quae non detulit, And he who sin had never known
nos abluendo sustulit. By washing hath our sins undone.
Novum genus potentiae, Yet he that ruleth everything
aquae rubescunt hydriae, Can change the nature of the spring,
vinumque jussa fundere And gives at Cana this for sign -
mutavit unda originem. The water reddens into wine.
Gloria tibi, Domine, Then glory, Lord, to thee we pay
qui apparuisti hodie, For thine Epiphany today;
cum Patre et Sancto Spiritu All glory through eternity
in sempiterna saecula. To Father, Son and Spirit be.
We notice first that the stanzas seem to begin with consecutive letters
of
the alphabet: Hostis . . . Ibant . . . Lavacra . . . [M missing] . . .
Novum, and the doxology.
The hymn in fact consists of stanzas from the 'Paean Alphabeticus de
Christo' of Caelius Sedulius (died c. 450). The earlier stanzas form
another hymn, the 'A solis ortus cardine', the hymn for Christmas in
the
Breviary, of which I now give the first line of each stanza:
'A solis ortus cardine . . . Beatus auctor saeculi . . . Clausa puellae
viscera . . . Enixa est puerpera . . . Faeno jacere pertulit . . .
Gaudet
chorus caelestium.'
Perhaps some other time we shall look at the whole poem. Let us note
in
passing that the 'Alphabetic Hymn' derives from the Hebrew 'Alphabetic
Psalm'; many of the psalms have 22 stanzas, each beginning with a
consecutive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Raby does not think much of Sedulius, as is evident from his remarks in
'Christian Latin Poetry':
"The mediocre quality of the verses will be gathered from the following
extract, which represents the Christmas hymn in the Breviary:
[He prints the 'A solis ortus cardine']
"The thoroughly didactic character of the poetry of Sedulius, which
reveals
itself as much in this hymn as throughout the 'Carmen Paschale', made
him
one of the favourite poets of the Middle Ages. He became a Christian
classic, cited by the grammarians, read as a model of style, and
imitated by
generations of versifiers."
Which gives him some claim, over and above the modest quality of his
verses,
to the attention of a medieval-religion list.
Note that in three successive stanzas our hymn sets out the three
'signs' of
the Epiphany. We tend to think of the Epiphany as simply the visit of
the
Magi, but in fact the feast of the Epiphany celebrates three
'manifestations' of Jesus, the other two being his baptism in the
Jordan and
his turning the water into wine at Cana. The Magnificat antiphon for
the
Epiphany makes this point clear. I quote the translation in the
English
breviary; they sang the Latin at Ampleforth last Sunday:
"Three wonders mark this day we celebrate: today the star led the Magi
to
the manger; today water was changed into wine at the marriage feast;
today
Christ desired to be baptised by John in the river Jordan to bring us
salvation, alleluia."
The same point is made in a nineteenth-century hymn by Bishop
Christopher
Wordsworth:
Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesu, Lord, to thee we raise,
Manifested by the star
To the sages from afar;
Branch of royal David's stem
In thy birth at Bethlehem;
Anthems be to thee addrest,
God in man made manifest.
Manifest at Jordan's stream,
Prophet, Priest, and King supreme;
And at Cana wedding-guest
In thy godhead manifest;
Manifest in power divine,
Changing water into wine;
Anthems be to thee addrest,
God in man made manifest.
I shall, by the way, resume my Collect column as soon as I get a Round
Tuit.
Oriens.
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