Most often the hymns for the feast of St. Joseph
are attributed to the 17th century Carmelite Fr. Juan Escollar, or
to give his professed name, Juan de la Concepcion. But the Liber Hymnarius says the
author is Hieronymus Casanate, fuit cardinalis bibliothecarius et
archivarius Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae ab anno 1693 usque ad 1700. I
have wondered if these two names refer to the same person, but that seems
extremely unlikely. For one thing the Carmelite friar was from Spain and the
cardinal was from Italy. However, they were in Rome at the same time. Perhaps a
reader knows the answer. Meanwhile here is Fr. Joseph Connelly’s argument for Juan Escollar’s
authorship (Hymns of the Roman Liturgy):
Probably the Spanish
Carmelite Juan de la Concepcion of the seventeenth century. It is most unlikely
that any of hymns 106-108 [Te Joseph,
Caelitum Joseph, Iste quem laeti]were written before the seventeenth
century. They are not among the known hymns of the fifteenth or six- teenth
centuries, have no place in the breviaries of that time and are not in the
Breviary of St Pius V. (1568). Gerson therefore
must be ruled out as a possible author.
The Carmelite nun, Sister
Clare Mary, was greatly responsible for Clement X raising the rank of StJoseph's feast on 19
March to that of a double of the second class and providing a revised office
for that feast. This office of 1671 was the same as that of the_ Breviary of 1568, except for three new antiphons
and three new hymns, which were 106-108. Behind the scenes Sister Clare seems
to have persuaded the Carmelite friar Juan de la Concepcion, then in Rome, to
compose an entirely new office. This office for the Patronage of St Joseph was
sanctioned in 1680 for use by the Carmelites and, like the Roman office of 1671,
contained these hymns. Later Clement XI composed the present office for 19
March-a masterpiece of composition, as Batiffol rightly says in his History of
the Roman Breviary, p. 254, n. 4. The present office of the Solemnity is
substantially the same as that of 1680.
A
Carmelite life of Sister Clare, first published in 1681, and the Jesuit
Patrignani's book on devotion to
St Joseph (Florence, 1707) state that Juan composed the office of 1680. The
interest of Sister Clare and
the testimony of Patrignani are confirmed in a memorandum drawn up in 1714 by
the future Benedict XIV and later inserted by him in his De Servorum Dei Beatijicatione, Bk. IV, Part II, ch. xx, especially
sections 17 and 20.
No authority asserts explicitly that Juan is the
author of all or any of these hymns. But as Patrignani says that 'L'Uffizio tutto proprio del Santo'
was Juan's work, the authorship of the hymns seems to be included in this
statement. It is also clear that whatever the date of the composition of the
office of 1680, the hymns had certainly been composed by 1671, for they are
part of the office approved in that year. Further, as the decree of 1714 does
not include hymns among the new elements of Clement XI's office, it must be
presumed that Clement is not their author, though he has been claimed as such. The
history of devotion to St Joseph seems to point in the seventeenth century to a
Spaniard and to a Carmelite as the composer of these hymns, and
Juan is the only person at present known who fits both conditions. A further pointer
to his authorship is a similarity of style between these hymns and some that he
certainly wrote in honor of St Teresa.
I would only add that St. Teresa's own devotion to St. Joseph further points to a Carmelite source.
I would only add that St. Teresa's own devotion to St. Joseph further points to a Carmelite source.
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