It would be legitimate to ask why Notker de
Saint-Gall († 912), for example, and others like him, wrote their hymns in
Latin. This question could be answered by saying that the Latin language was
not strange to them. They simply learned it because it was the language of
their homeland, the Church. It was their only Christian medium of expression,
the only one that suited the experiences they tried to express. Notker of
Saint-Gall did not versify for an audience, whether this was Latin or
German speaking, but for his Lord. The Scriptures, the hymns of the Church,
everything that deeply moved his soul and lifted him above himself, he received
in Latin. When he wanted to shout his joy, to express his enthusiasm, when he
had to sing something that was beautiful, sublime, there was only Latin. He
sang to the Church and to the Church the Mysteries that Christ had entrusted to
the Church. Since they were printed in their souls in Latin, in that same
language they were to be expressed. In fact, the quality of Latin is a good
index of the intellectual level of the high Middle Ages. The ninth - century
Latin has no less than that of the sixteenth century a humanist quality. Capable
of evoking in our minds high and beautiful thoughts, the stanzas of the Latin
hymnbook are vehicles of the lyrical voice of the Church that praises,
implores, glorifies, moans and enjoys in the presence of the Holy Trinity. This
flexible Christian and clear, rhythmic Latin music at Notre Dame was to Notker what
the Parthenon was to Horace.
SCRIPTA THEOLOGICA / VOL. 44/2012
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