medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Offertorium – 18
The Antiphonist of Sexagesima is again familiar with tribulation. The
chants of this Sunday, like those of the previous one, are cries for
help from a troubled soul. Thus the Introit begins with Psalm 43,
verses 23-26:
Exsurge, quare obdormis, Domine? exsurge, et ne repellas in finem;
quare faciem tuam avertis, oblivisceris tribulationem nostram? adhaesit
in terra venter noster: exsurge, Domine, adjuva nos, et libera nos.
A cunning wheeze, this, to use the ‘business end’ of the psalm as the
Antiphon. If one simply sang the psalm through until the priest arrived
at the altar – as seems to have been the original custom – it would
have been a long church indeed that ever heard verses 23-26; and so the
point of singing the psalm would have been lost. But if we begin with
these verses, and repeat them after the Gloria Patri, it matters not
that the opening of the psalm (numbered verse 2) is fairly innocuous:
Deus, auribus nostris audivimus: patres nostri annuntiaverunt nobis.
The Gradual is psalm 82, verses 19 and 14. Evidently the antiphonist is
feeling pressurised, and the second of the two verses asks God to do
something about his enemies:
Sciant gentes, quoniam nomen tibi Deus: tu solus Altissimus super omnem
terram.
Deus meus, pone illos ut rotam, et sicut stipulam ante faciem venti.
It is not obvious why he should want God to make his enemies like a
wheel. The Jerusalem Bible translation clarifies the image:
My God, bowl them along like tumbleweed, like chaff at the mercy of the
wind.
RSV however says ‘make them like whirling dust’
while the Revised English Bible says ‘Scatter them, my God, like
thistledown.’
I do not know what image the antiphonist had in his mind when he
selected this verse as suitable for Sexagesima.
The Tract is psalm 59, verses 4 and 6:
Commovisti, Domine, terram, et conturbasti eam. Sana contritiones eius,
quia mota est. Ut fugiant a facie arcus: ut liberentur electi tui.
Not easy to understand these verses. ‘You have moved the earth, O Lord,
and thrown it into confusion. Heal its wounds, for it has been shaken.
That they may flee from the face of the bow: that your elect may be
freed.’
The difficult bit is ‘Ut fugiant a facie arcus’. RSV has ‘to rally to
it from the bow’, noting that ‘bow’ is the reading of Jerome (i.e. the
Vulgate), the Syriac, and the Greek (presumably the Septuagint), but
the Hebrew actually means ‘truth’. REB has ‘to which they may escape
from the bow’.
Are you out there, Dr Bob? Adjuva nos!
Whatever the Hebrew may mean, the interesting question is, why such an
obscure verse should be picked as a chant for Sexagesima. What did the
Antiphonist think it meant, and why did he select it?
After this, the Offertorium, ps. 16 verses 5, 6-7, is fairly
straightforward:
Perfice gressus meos in semitis tuis, ut non moveantur vestigia mea:
inclina aurem tuam, et exaudi verba mea: mirifica misericordias tuas,
qui salvos facis sperantes in te, Domine.
Although the antiphonist does not seem unduly distressed, this is, like
most of the chants for this period, a personal appeal: ‘Perfect MY
steps in your paths, so that MY footsteps are not moved; incline your
ear, and hear MY words.’
The Communio, Ps 42:2, is again personal, though one could not call it
a cry from someone in tribulation:
Introibo ad altare Dei, ad Deum qui laetificat juventutem meam.
‘I will go to the altar of God, to God who gives joy to my youth.’
Quite a cheerful sentiment, one might think. Actually this is the only
cheerful verse in the psalm, which is an impassioned plea for help:
‘Judge me, God, and discern my cause from an unholy people: save me
from the unjust and deceitful man. Since you, God, are my strength, why
have you cast me out? And why do I go sadly, while my enemy afflicts
me?’ And so on.
Bill.
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