Les Murray

Prose is Protestant-agnostic,
story, explanation, significance,
but poetry is Catholic;
poetry is presence.

BEDE'S STORY OF CAEDMON: the first English poet

from the original Latin of Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, book IV chapter xxiv

[Latin text from F.W. Garforth's Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica: a selection. London: Bell, 1967] [modern English translation of Latin taken from L.C. Jane]

In huius monasterio abbatissae fuit frater quidam divina gratia specialiter insignis quia carmina religioni et pietati apta facere solebat; ita ut quicquid ex divinis litteris per interpretes disceret hoc ipse post pusillum verbis poeticis maxima suavitate et compunctione compositis in sua, id est Anglorum, lingua proferret. Cuius carminibus multorum saepe animi ad contemptum saeculi et appetitum sunt vitae caelestis accensi. Et quidem et alii post illum in gente Anglorum religiosa poemata facere tentabant, sed nullus eum aequiparare potuit. Namque ipse non ab hominibus neque per hominem institutus canendi artem didicit; sed divinitus adiutus gratis canendi donum accepit. Unde nihil umquam frivoli et supervacui poematis facere potuit, sed ea tantummodo quae ad religionem pertinent religiosam eius linguam decebant. Siquidem in habitu saeculari usque ad tempora provectioris aetatis constitutus nil carminum aliquando didicerat. Unde nonnumquam in convivio, cum esset laetitae causa decretum ut omnes per ordinem cantare deberent, ille ubi appropinquare sibi citharam cernebat surgebat a media cena et egressus ad suam domum repedabat.

Quod dum tempore quodam faceret et relicta domo convivii egressus esset ad stabula iumentorum, quorum ei custodia nocte illa erat delegata, ibique hora competenti membra dedisset sopori, adstitit ei quidam per somnium eumque salutans ac suo appellans nomine: 'Caedmon', inquit, 'canta mihi aliquid'. At ille respondens, 'Nescio', inquit, 'cantare; nam et ideo de convivio egressus huc secessi, quia cantare non poteram'. Rursus ille qui cum eo loquebatur, 'Attamen', ait, 'mihi cantare habes'. 'Quid', inquit, 'debeo cantare?' At ille, 'Canta', inquit, 'principium creaturarum'. Quo accepto responso statim ipse coepit cantare in laudem Dei conditoris versus quos numquam audierat, quorum iste est sensus:

There was in this abbess's monastery a certain brother, particularly remarkable for the grace of God, who was wont to make pious and religious verses, so that whatever was interpreted to him out of Scripture, he soon after put the same into poetical expressions of much sweetness and humility, in English, which was his native language. By his verses the minds of many were often excited to despise the world, and to aspire to heaven. Others after him attempted, in the English nation, to compose religious poems, but none could ever compare with him, for he did not learn the art of poetry from men, but from God; for which reason he never could compose any trivial or vain poem, but only those which relate to religion suited his religious tongue; for having lived in a secular habit till he was well advanced in years, he had never learned anything of versifying; for which reason being sometimes at entertainments, when it was agreed for the sake of mirth that all present should sing in their turns, when he saw the instrument come towards him, he rose up from table and returned home.

Having done so at a certain time, and gone out of the house where the entertainment was, to the stable, where he had to take care of the horses that night, he there composed himself to rest at the proper time; a person appeared to him in his sleep, and saluting him by his name, said, "Caedmon, sing some song to me." He answered, "I cannot sing; for that was the reason why I left the entertainment, and retired to this place because I could not sing." The other who talked to him, replied, "However, you shall sing." ­ "What shall I sing?" rejoined he. "Sing the beginning of created beings," said the other. Hereupon he presently began to sing verses to the praise of God, which he had never heard, the purport whereof was thus :

(Bede's Latin paraphrase of Cædmon's Hymn)

Nunc laudare debemus     auctorem regni caelestis

Now we ought to praise     the maker of the heavenly kingdom

potentiam Creatoris,     et consilium illius

the power of the Creator,    and his intention

facta Patris gloriae:     quomodo ille,

the deeds of the Father of glory:     how he,

cum sit aeternus Deus     omnium miraculorum auctor exstitit;

since he is the eternal Lord     of all miracles has been the author;

qui primo     filiis hominum

who first    for the sons of men

caelum pro culmine tecti

heaven for a roof above

dehinc terram     custos humani generis

next, the earth,     the keeper of the human-race

omnipotens     creavit.

the all-powerful      created.

Hic est sensus, non autem ordo ipse verborum quae dormiens ille canebat; neque enim possunt carmina, quamvis optime composita, ex alia in aliam linguam ad verbum sine detrimento sui decoris ac dignitatis transferri. Exsurgens autem a somno cuncta quae dormiens cantaverat memoriter retinuit et eis mox plura in eundem modum verba Deo digni carminis adiunxit.

Veniensque mane ad vilicum qui sibi praeerat quid doni percepisset indicavit atque ad abbatissam perductus iussus est multis doctioribus viris praesentibus indicare somnium et dicere carmen, ut universorum iudicio quid vel unde esset quod referebat probaretur. Visumque est omnibus caelestem ei a Domino concessam esse gratiam. Exponebantque ille quendam sacrae historiae sive doctrinae sermonem praecipientes eum, si posset, hunc in modulationem carminis transferre. At ille suscepto negotio abiit et mane rediens optimo carmine quod iubebatur compositum reddidit. Unde mox abbatissa amplexata gratiam Dei in viro saecularem illum habitum relinquere et monachicum suscipere propositum docuit, susceptumque in monasterium cum omnibus suis fratrum cohorti associavit iussitque illum seriem sacrae historiae doceri. At ipse cuncta quae audiendo discere poterat rememorando secum et quasi mundum animal ruminando in carmen dulcissimum convertebat, suaviusque resonando doctores suos vicissim auditores sui faciebat. Canebat autem de creatione mundi et origine humani generis et tota Genesis historia de egressu Israel ex Aegypto et ingressu in terram repomissionis, de aliis plurimis sacrae Scripturae historiis, de incarnatione dominica, passione, resurrectione et ascensione in caelum, de Spiritus Sancti adventu et apostolorum doctrina. Item de terrore futuri iudicii et horrore poenae gehennalis ac dulcedine regni caelestis multa carmina faciebat; sed et alia perplura de beneficiis et iudiciis divinis, in quibus cunctis homines ab amore scelerum abstrahere, ad dilectionem vero et sollertiam bonae actionis excitare curabat. Erat enim vir multum religiosus et regularibus disciplinis humiliter subditus, adversum vero illos qui aliter facere volebant zelo magni fervoris accensus; unde et pulchro vitam suam fine conclusit.

Nam proprinquante hora sui decessus quattuordecim diebus praeveniente corporea infirmitate pressus est, adeo tamen moderate ut et loqui toto eo tempore posset et ingredi. Erat autem in proximo casa, in qua infirmiores et qui prope morituri esse videbantur induci solebant. Rogavit ergo ministrum suum vespere incumbente nocte qua de saeculo erat exiturus ut in ea sibi locum quiescendi praepararet; qui miratus cur hoc rogaret, qui nequaquam adhuc moriturus esse videbatur, fecit tamen quod dixerat. Cumque ibidem positi vicissim aliqua gaudente animo, una cum eis qui ibidem ante inerant, loquerentur ac iocarentur et iam mediae noctis tempus esset transcensum, interrogavit si eucharistiam intus haberent. Respondebant, 'Quid opus est eucharistia? neque enim mori adhuc habes qui tam hilariter nobiscum velut sospes loqueris'. Rursus ille: 'Et tamen', ait, 'afferte mihi eucharistiam'. Qua accepta in manu interrogavit si omnes placidum erga se animum et sine querela controversiae ac rancoris haberent. Respondebant omnes placidissimam se mentem ad illum et ab omni ira remotam habere. Qui confestim respondit: 'Placidam ego mentem, filioli, erga omnes Dei famulos gero'. Sincque se caelesti muniens viatico vitae alterius ingressui paravit; et interrogavit quam prope esset hora qua fratres ad dicendas Domino laudes nocturnas excitari deberent. Respondebant, 'Non longe est'. At ille: 'Bene, ergo exspectemus horam illam'. Et signans se signo sanctae crucis reclinavit caput ad cervical modicumque obdormiens ita cum silentio vitam finivit.

Sicque factum est ut ita quomodo simplici ac pura mente tranquillaque devotione Domino servierat, ita etiam tranquilla morte mundum relinquens ad eius visonem veniret illaque lingua quae tot salutaria verba in laudem conditoris composuerat ultima quoque verba in laudem ipsius, signando sese et spiritum suum in manus eius commendando, clauderet; qui etiam praescius sui obitus exstitisse, ex his quae narravimus, videtur.

This is the sense, but not the words in order as he sang them in his sleep; for verses, though never so well composed, cannot be literally translated out of one language into another, without losing much of their beauty and loftiness. Awaking from his sleep, he remembered all that he had sung in his dream, and soon added much more to the same effect in verse worthy of the Deity.

In the morning he came to the steward, his superior, and having acquainted him with the gift he had received, was conducted to the abbess, by whom he was ordered, in the presence of many learned men, to tell his dream, and repeat the verses, that they might all give their judgment what it was, and whence his verse proceeded. They all concluded, that heavenly grace had been conferred on him by our Lord. They expounded to him a passage in holy writ, either historical, or doctrinal, ordering him, if he could, to put the same into verse. Having undertaken it, he went away, and returning the next morning, gave it to them composed in most excellent verse; whereupon the abbess, embracing the grace of God in the man, instructed him to quit the secular habit, and take upon him the monastic life; which being accordingly done, she associated him to the rest of the brethren in her monastery, and ordered that he should be taught the whole series of sacred history. Thus Caedmon--keeping in mind all he heard, and as it were chewing the cud, converted the same into most harmonious verse; and sweetly repeating the same, made his masters in their turn his hearers. He sang the creation of the world, the origin of man, and all the history of Genesis : and made many verses on the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, and their entering into the land of promise, with many other histories from holy writ; the incarnation, passion, resurrection of our Lord, and his ascension into heaven; the coming of the Holy Ghost, and the preaching of the apostles ; also the terror of future judgment, the horror of the pains of hell, and the delights of heaven; besides many more about the Divine benefits and judgments, by which he endeavoured to turn away all men from the love of vice, and to excite in them the love of, and application to, good actions; for he was a very religious man, humbly submissive to regular discipline, but full of zeal against those who behaved themselves otherwise; for which reason he ended his life happily.

For when the time of his departure drew near, he laboured for the space of fourteen days under a bodily infirmity which seemed to prepare the way, yet so moderate that he could talk and walk the whole time. In his neighbourhood was the house to which those that were sick, and like shortly to die, were carried. He desired the person that attended him, in the evening, as the night came on in which he was to depart this life, to make ready a place there for him to take his rest. This person, wondering why he should desire it, because there was as yet no sign of his dying soon, did what he had ordered. He accordingly went there, and conversing pleasantly in a joyful manner with the rest that were in the house before, when it was past midnight, he asked them, whether they had the Eucharist there? They answered, "What need of the Eucharist? for you are not likely to die, since you talk so merrily with us, as if you were in perfect health." ­" However," said he, "bring me the Eucharist." Having received the same into his hand, he asked, whether they were all in charity with him, and without any enmity or rancour? They answered, that they were all in perfect charity, and free from anger; and in their turn asked him, whether he was in the same mind towards them? He answered, "I am in charity, my children, with all the servants of God." Then strengthening himself with the heavenly viaticum, he prepared for the entrance into another life, and asked, how near the time was when the brothers were to be awakened to sing the nocturnal praises of our Lord? They answered, "It is not far off." Then he said, "Well, let us wait that hour; " and signing himself with the sign of the cross, he laid his head on the pillow, and falling into a slumber, ended his life so in silence.

Thus it came to pass, that as he had served God with a simple and pure mind, and undisturbed devotion, so he now departed to his presence, leaving the world by a quiet death; and that tongue, which had composed so many holy words in praise of the Creator, uttered its last words whilst he was in the act of signing himself with the cross, and recommending himself into his hands, and by what has been here said, he seems to have had foreknowledge of his death.

Bede’s Hymn on the Ascension

YMNUM CANAMUS DOMINO,

ymni novi nunc personent:

Christus novo cum tramite

ad patris ascendit thronum.

Transit triumpho nobili

poli potenter culmina,

qui morte mortem assumpserat

derisus a mortalibus.

             

Apostoli tunc mystico

in monte stantes crismatis

cum matre clara virgine

Iesu videbant gloriam

ac prosecuti lumine

laeto petentem sidera

laetis per auras cordibus

duxere regem seculi.

             

Quos alloquentes angeli:

'Quid astra stantes cernitis?

Salvator hic est', inquiunt,

'Jesus triumpho nobili,

a vobis ad caelestia

qui regna nunc assumptus est,

venturus inde seculi

in fine iudex omnium.'

sicque venturum asserunt,

quemadmodum hunc viderant

summa polorum culmina

scandere Iesum splendida.

Quo nos, precamur, tempore,

Iesu, redemptor unice,

inter tuos in aethera

servos benignus aggrega.

Da nobis illuc sedula

devotione tendere,

quo te sedere cum patre

in arce regni credimus.

Tu esto nostrum gaudium,

qui es futurum premium.

Sit nostra in te gloria

per cuncta semper secula.

Gloria tibi, domine,  

qui scandis super sidera,

cum patre

Let us sing a hymn to the Lord, let a new hymn resound: Christ with a new path ascends to the throne of the Father. In noble triumph he powerfully passes beyond the height of heaven, he who by death takes death captive, mocked by mortal men. The Apostles then standing on the mystic mountain of chrismation, with the glorious virgin mother saw the glory of Jesus. And with gladsome light they watched him as he sought the stars, and with the ears of their joyful hearts knew that the king of the world was taken up. The angels speaking to them said: “why do you stand looking up into skies? This is the savior” they say, “Jesus in noble triumph, who has now been taken from you to the kingdom of heaven, from which he will come as judge of all at the end of the world”. And they assert that he will come as you have seen him go: Jesus scaling the splendid heights of the sky. Wherefore, we pray you, Jesus, our only Redeemer, then kindly gather us with your servants in heaven. Grant to us to strive with enthusiastic devotion to come to where, we believe, you sit enthroned with the Father in the strength of the kingdom. Be to us our joy, you who are future reward, may our glory be in you, throughout all ages.

Bede as Textbook Writer: A Study of His De Arte Metrica Robert B. Palmer Speculum, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Oct., 1959), pp. 573-584.

THAT the Venerable Bede was a man of many attainments is a truism which hardly bears repeating. Certainly his genius as a writer of impartial and accurate history has long been recognized, while in more recent years the brilliant and painstaking studies of Professors M. L. W. Laistner and C. W. Jones have done much to re-establish the reputation and ability Bede had as a writer of exegetical and scientific treatises.

Yet, strange to say, modern scholarship has said little about one other extremely important aspect of Bede’s genius which the Middle Ages had long recognized in silence – his lucidity and precision as a textbook writer. What has been written in recent years has not always been in his favor. At least, this is true of what is generally said about his De arte metrica and its companion piece, De schematibus et tropis, Bede’s earliest works, it would seem. F. J. E. Raby, for example, in his 1953 edition of A History of Christian Latin Poetry, has not revised his earlier opinion that DAM is an “uncritical study of the old grammarians and the poets, Christian and profane.” Lucian Müller, long before this, had treated Bede with a certain degree of contempt by pointing out his many errors of commission.

Still, if we follow Professor Laistner’s advice and “patiently accumulate data,” trying hard to avoid “the striking generalities” which immediately come to mind after a rapid reading of the DAM, we find ourselves obliged to arrive at a conclusion far different from that implied in the statements of Bede’s detractors. Given the time (eighth century), the place (England), the milieu (Christian), and the emphasis this milieu places on auctoritas patrum (an attitude which, in grammatical studies, extends almost into what may be called auctoritas grammaticorum veterum), we must admit that Bede’s early treatise, DAM, exhibits the same clarity of expression, the same sanity of selection which distinguished his later works on chronology and Biblical exegesis.

In the nineteenth century, Heinrich Keil listed in some detail the grammatical sources Bede had used as pieces for the mosaic he had assembled in DAM. The list was impressively long. According to Keil, the following grammarians were used: Donatus and his commentators Pompeius and Sergius; Audax, Maximus Victorinus, Mallius Theodorus, Charisius, Servius, and Diomedes.

If we inquire more closely into the specific works Bede used in DAM, the following list emerges: Donatus, Maiores partes (GL, IV, 367-402); Pompeius, Commentum artis Donati (GL, V, 95-312); Sergius, De littera, de syllaba, de pedibus, de accentibus, de distinctione (GL, IV, 475-485); Audax, De Scauri et Palladii libris excerpta per interrogationem et responsionem (GL, VII, 320-362); Ars Victorini grammatici (GL, VI, 187-205); Ars Palaemonis de metrica institutione (GL, VI, 206- 215); De finalibus metrorum (GL, VI, 229-242); De ratione metrorum (GL, VI 216-228); Mallius Theodorus, De metris (GL, VI, 585-601); Charisius, Ars grammatica (GL, I, 1-296); Servius, De centum metris (GL, IV, 456-467); Servius, De finalibus (GL, IV, 449-455); Diomedes, Ars grammatica (GL, I, 300-529). Whether Julianus of Toledo’s Ars grammatica should be added to this list remains a moot point.

While the lists of Keil and the later ones of Laistner,  Manitius, et al. give us a vivid picture of the library Bede must have had at his disposal in eighth-century England, they tell us nothing about Bede’s ability to select, adapt, digest, and re- work his sources – his excellence, in short, as a textbook writer.

See complete article: http://venerabilisbeda.plgo.org/?p=287

S. MATTHIÆ, APOSTOLI Ad Officium lectionis

Matthía, sacratíssimo
Apostolórum cœtui
quam miro tu consílio
ascríptus es divínitus!

Abscésserat discípulus,
tristi miser suspéndio
magni gradum fastígii
Christíque amórem dénegans.

En Christi te diléctio
ad eius transfert glóriam,
Petri movénte lábia
sortésque Sancto Spíritu.

Tanto dicátus múneri,
lucem revélas géntibus
ad mortem usque, strénuus
Iesum conféssus sánguine.

Da nos, beáte Apóstole,
lætis promptísque córdibus
almus quascúmque Spíritus
vias demónstrat, pérsequi.

Sit Trinitáti glória,
quæ nobis ad cæléstia
per te concédat scándere
hymnósque ætérnos dícere. Amen.

O Matthias, by a wondrous plan, you were appointed by God to the most holy band of the Apostles. The horrid disciple had departed by a sad hanging, denying the place of high honor and the love of Christ. Behold the love of Christ brings you to his glory, moved by the Holy Spirit in the words of Peter and the casting of lots. Commanded to such a great vocation, you reveal the light to the gentiles even to death, powerfully giving witness to Jesus by your blood. Grant to us, O blessed Apostle, with glad and prompt hearts, that we may follow whatever way the gracious Spirit shoes us. Glory to the Trinity, that through you you God may grant us to scale heavenly heights and sing eternal hymns. Amen.

St. John Paul II on Mary and Revelation 12:1-18

“The mutual relationship between the mystery of the Church and Mary appears clearly in the “great portent” described in the Book of Revelation: ‘A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars’ (12:1). In this sign the Church recognizes an image of her own mystery: present in history, she knows that she transcends history, inasmuch as she constitutes on earth the ‘seed and beginning’ of the Kingdom of God. The Church sees this mystery fulfilled in complete and exemplary fashion in Mary. She is the woman of glory in whom God’s plan could be carried out with supreme perfection” (Redemptoris Mater, 103; see also no. 47 – “And by her ecclesial identification as the “woman clothed with the sun” (Rev. 12:1), it can be said that ‘in the Most Holy Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle.’”

Collects: The Fourth Sunday of Easter

1970-2008

Omnípotens sempitérne Deus, deduc nos ad societátem cæléstium gaudiórum, ut eo pervéniat humílitas gregis, quo procéssit fortitúdo pastóris. Per Dóminum.

Lauren Pristas, The Collects of the Roman Missal

Almighty, everlasting God, lead us to the communion of heavenly joys, so that the humility of the flock may arrive there whence the strength of the shepherd has come forth/gone before.

Current English Translation

Almighty, ever-living God,

  bring us to the joy of your heavenly city:

so that we, your little flock,

  may follow where Christ, our Good Shepherd,

  has gone before us by the power of his resurrection.

1962

Deus, qui errantibus, ut in viam possint redire justitiae, veritatis tuae lumen ostendis: da cunctis qui Christiana professione censentur, et illa respuere, quae huic inimica sunt nomini; et ea quae sunt apta, sectari.

O God, who dost show to them that are in error the light of Thy truth, that they may return into the way of righteousness; grant to all those who profess themselves Christians to reject those things which are contrary to that name, and follow such things as are agreeable to the same. 

Lauren Pristas points out the lack of moral content in the newer collect, although it is implied by humilitas gregis. However, the English translation is very weak 'little flock'. 

The translation of societas as 'city' is certainly justified historically, but I cannot help but wonder if the conations of 'city' are lost for many modern folks. On the other hand, at least they avoided the favorite modern term 'community'.