Those who appreciate Christian Latin, still more
those who pray the Latin office, never grow tired of St. Ambrose, both as a
theologian and as a poet, in the readings of the office and his hymns. F.J.E. Raby (A History of Christian Latin
Poetry), who was hardly one to throw around his praise carelessly, explains why
this is so:
The real history of hymns in the West begins
with Ambrose, the bishop of Milan. In a well-known passage of the
Confessions, Augustine describes under
what circumstances the singing of hymns
was introduced. 'It was about a year from the time when Justina, mother of the boy-emperor
Valentinian, entered upon her persecution of Thy holy man Ambrose, because he
resisted the heresy into which she had been seduced by the Arians. The people
of God were keeping ward in the Church ready to die with Thy servant, their
bishop. Among them was my mother, living unto prayer, and bearing a chief part in
that anxious watch. Even I myself, though as yet untouched by the fire of Thy
Spirit, shared in the general alarm and distraction. Then it was that the
custom arose of singing hymns and psalms, after the use of the Eastern
provinces, to save the people from being utterly worn out by their long and sorrowful vigils. From that day to this it has
been retained, and many, I might say all Thy flocks, throughout the rest of the
world now follow our example: The Basilica at Milan, beset by the Gothic
soldiery of Valentinian, heard the first strains of Catholic hymnody, in which
with simplicity and beauty, Ambrose set forth the doctrines of the orthodox
faith. The hymns of Ambrose became popular in the truest sense, for they made way
into the experience of the Christian Church and were treasured in most of the
Western hymnaries until they found a. permanent place in the Roman office. How
deeply the appeal of their music could reach is shown in the confession of
Augustine, to whose memory they recurred in times of trouble and anxiety. 'What
tears', he says, 'did I shed over the hymns and canticles, when the sweet sound
of the music of Thy Church thrilled my soul! As the music flowed into my ears,
and Thy truth trickled into my heart, the tide of devotion swelled high within
me, and the tears ran down, and there was gladness in those tears.' Sorrowing
in secret for his mother's death-' for the bitterness of my sorrow could
not be washed away from my heart '-he remembered, as he lay upon his bed, the verses
of Ambrose:
Deus creator omnium
polique rector, vestiens
diem decoro lumine,
noctem soporis gratia.
artus solutos ut quies
reddat laboris usui,
mentcsque fessas allevet,
luctusque solvat anxios."
The hymns of Ambrose were written definitely for
congregational purposes and they soon found their way into the Milanese and
other liturgies. . . . Composed with the practical aim of expounding the doctrines
of the Catholic faith in a manner sufficiently simple to capture the
imagination of the unlearned, these hymns possess at the same time the
admirable qualities of dignity, directness, and evangelical fervor. The two examples which
follow give a true idea of the poetical quality of the first Latin
Christian hymns which succeeded in establishing
for themselves a permanent position in the worship of the Catholic Church.
Aeterne
rerum conditor.
Aeterne rerum conditor.
noctem diemque qui regis
et temporum das tempora,
ut alleves fastidium;
praeco diei iam sonat,
noctis profundae pervigil,
nocturna lux viantibus,
a nocte noctern segregans.
hoc excitatus lucifer
solvit polum caliginc,
hoc omnis erronum chorus
vias nocendi deserit.
hoc nauta vires colligit
pontique mitescunt freta,
hoc ipse, petra ecclesiae,
canente culpam diluit.
surgamus ergo strenue,
gallus iacentes excitat
et somnolentos increpat,
gallus negantes arguit.
gallo canente spes red it,
aegris salus refunditur,
mucro latronis conditur,
lapsis fides revertitur.
Iesu, labantes respice
et nos videndo corrige ;
si respicis, lapsus cadunt,
fletuque culpa solvitur.
tu lux refulge sensibus
mentisque somnum discutc,
te nostra vox primum sonet
et ora solvamus tibi.
Splendor
paternae gloriae
splendor paternae gloriae,
de luce lucem proferens,
lux lucis et fons luminis,
diem dies inluminans.
verusque sol, inlabere
micans nitore perpeti,
iubarque sancti spiritus
infunde nostris sensibus.
votis vocemus et Patrern,
Patrem perennis gloriae,
Patrem potentis gratiae:
culpam releget lubricam.
informet actus strenuos,
dentem retundat invidi,
casus secundet asperos,
donet gerendi gratiam.
mentem gubernet et regat
casto fideli corpore,
fides calore ferveat,
fraudis venena nesciat.
Christusque nobis sit cibus,
potusque noster sit fides,
laeti bibamus sobriam
ebrietatem spiritus.
laetus dies hie transeat,
pudor sit ut diluculum,
fides velut meridies,
crepusculum mens nesciat.
aurora cursus provehit,
aurora totus prod eat,
in Patrc totus Filius,
et totus in Verbo Pater.
The hymns of Ambrose reflect the mind of the
great teacher of the Latin Church. Bred as a lawyer and man of affairs, with
all the practical genius of the Roman and that leaning to the ethical outlook
which characterized the Roman mind, Ambrose cared little for the speculations
which exercised such a fascination over the Greek fathers. He naturally
accepted the orthodox Trinitarian position and he spent his life in building up
his flock in this faith, inculcating those practical virtues and that simple piety
which were always for him the true and characteristic fruit of the Gospel. For
Ambrose is always the teacher rather than the theologian. His homilies, full as
they are of allegory and the most curious and strained interpretations which he
borrowed from the Greek fathers, have always the single aim of moral and
spiritual edification. None of the great Latin bishops, before or after, so
thoroughly won the hearts of his people by his eloquence, his
devoted service, and his own example.
