The poet of dawn and dusk. The hymns of st Ambrose in the liturgy of the hours

Arkadiusz Nocoń

Roma , Italy


Abstract

Following the example of the Lord, who frequently sang hymns with his dis­ciples, and encouraged to sing by St Paul, the early Christians praised God in music and song. The first Latin hymns were composed by Hilary of Poitiers. Their metrical complexity and content discouraged their liturgical use by the Church. Thus, St. Ambrose of Milan is considered the first „official” Latin hymnodist. He composed several hymns, still used in the Liturgy of the Hours, which were mu­sicated by himself. These hymns come from the particular circumstances of the Arian controversy and derive, in the main, from the necessity of encouraging „or­thodox” Christians in their defence of the Basilica Porziana in Milan. They were designed to guide their prayer at different times of the day. The Author’s text-critical analysis of two of these hymns – Aeterne rerum conditor, sung at dawn (in gallicinium) and Deus, creator omnium, sung at dusk as the lamps were lit (ad horam incensi) – well testifies to the literary and pastoral genius of the Bishop of Milan as he transforms the complex theological reflection of his time into poetry and music, while not only retaining the integrity of the depth of that reflection but also enhancing its aesthetic profile by drawing on a repertoire of images based on the parallelism of cosmic reality and human reality. St Ambrose’s corpus of hymns, together with his prose works, was admired both by his contemporaries and by successive generations. They promoted the flowering of a merciful Chris­tocentricity which, according to the experts, is the most original and attractive feature of his poetry. As is clearly seen in the hymns received into the Divine Of­fice, Ambrose’s singular ability effectively to stimulate the soul to prayer through a powerful and insuperable lyrical inspiration, is capable literally of transforming the daily hours into songs of praise, and explains Petrarch’s habit of rising during the night to sing hymns to the Lord.

Keywords:

Ambrose, hymns, liturgy of the hours

Altaner B. – Stuiber A., Patrologia, tłum. P. Pachciarek, Warszawa 1990
Ambrosius, De virginibus
Ambrosius, Epistula, CSEL 82/3
Ambrosius, Hexameron
Ambroży z Mediolanu, Listy 70-76 i Listy poza zbiorem. Akta Synodu w Akwilei, tłum. P. Nowak, BOK 28, Kraków 2012
Amelli A., Sant’Ambrogio e la musica, „Biblioteca Ceciliana” 1 (1907)
Analecta hymnica Medii Aevi, ed. G.M. Dreves – C. Blume, t. 1-55, Leipzig 1886-1922
Angelini C., I doni del Signore, Vimodrone 1970
Augustinus Hipponensis, Confessiones, CCL 27, 141, tłum. Z. Kubiak: Św. Augus¬tyn, Wyznania, Warszawa 1982
Banterle G., Sant’Ambrogio. Opere poetiche e frammenti: Inni – Iscrizioni – Frammenti, w: Sancti Ambrosii Episcopi Mediolanensis Opera, t. 22, ed. G. Banterle – G. Biffi – I. Biffi – L. Migliavacca, Milano – Roma 1994
Biffi I., Il concilio di Nicea tradotto i versi, OsRom 148 (2008) nr 92
Biffi I., Preghiera e poesia negli Inni di sant’Ambrogio e di Manzoni, Foligno 2010
Biraghi L., Inni sinceri e carmi di Sant’Ambrogio, Vescovo di Milano, Milano 1862
Chalet J.L., Richesse spirituelle d’un hymne d’Ambroise: „Aeterne rerum conditor”, MD 173 (1988)
Cichy S., Treści teologiczne hymnów w odnowionej Liturgii Godzin, „Anam¬nesis” 1999/2000, nr 21(2)
Drączkowski F., Patrologia, Pelplin – Lublin 1998
Dreves G.M., Aurelius Ambrosius, «der Vater des Kirchengesanges», Amsterdam 1968
Fontaine J., Ambroise de Milan. Hymnes, Paris 1992
Fontaine J., Prose et poésie: l’interférence des genres et des styles dans la création littéraire d’Ambroise de Milan, w: Ambrosius Episcopus. Atti del Congresso internazionale di studi ambro¬siani (Milano 1974), ed. G. Lazzati, t. 1, Milano 1976
Ignacy Antiocheński, Epistula ad Ephesios
Ignacy Antiocheński, Epistula ad Romanos
Janicki J., Sens i rola hymnów, AK 75 (1983) t. 101
Leksykon liturgii, red. B. Nadolski, Poznań 2006
Liturgia Godzin. Codzienna modlitwa Ludu Bożego, t. 1, Poznań 1982
Liturgia Godzin. Codzienna modlitwa Ludu Bożego, t. 3 (Okres zwykły, tygodnie I-XVII), Poznań 1987
Liturgia Horarum iuxta Ritum Romanum. Editio typica altera, t. 3 (Tempus per annum, Hebdomadae I-XVII), Liberia Editrice Vaticana 1986
Longosz S., Hymny św. Hilarego i Kolumby, SACh 15 (2001) 271-292
Małaczyński F., Prace nad polskim przekładem Liturgii Godzin, AK 75 (1983) t. 101
„Mirabile Laudis Canticum”. Liturgia Godzin: Dzieje i teologia. Księga pamiątkowa dedykowana ks. bp Stefanowi Cichemu, Biskupowi Legnickiemu, Przewodniczącemu Komisji do Spraw Kultu Bożego i Dyscypliny Sakramentów Episkopatu Polski, red. H.J. Sobeczko, Opole 2008
Mohrmann Ch., Etudes sur le latin des chrétiens, t. 1, Roma 1961
Monastyczna Liturgia Godzin, t. 3 (Okres zwykły, tygodnie I-XVII), Città del Vaticano 1985
Moneta Caglio E.T., Lo „Iubilus” e le origini della salmodia responsoriale, „Jucunda Laudatio” 15 (1976-1977)
Muza łacińska. Antologia poezji wczesnochrześcijańskiej i średniowiecznej (III-XIV/ XV w.), red. M. Starowieyski, BN II 255, Wrocław – Warszawa – Kraków 2007
Paredi A., S. Ambrogio e la sua età, Milano 1994
Pintus G.M., Storia di un simbolo: il gallo, „Sandalion” 8-9 (1985-1986) 243-267
Plinius Minor, Epistula
Ps-Vergilius, Ciris
Riggi C., Lineamenti della personalità di s. Ambrogio nel ricordo agostiniano w: tegoż, Epistrophe. Tensione verso la divina armonia. Scritti di filologia patristica, Biblioteca di Scienze Religiose 70, Roma 1985
Sesini U., Poesia e musica nella latinità cristiana dal III al X secolo, ed. G. Vecchi, Torino 1949
Simonetti M., Studi sull’innologia popolare cristiana dei rimi secoli, t. 4, Roma 1952
Steier A., Untersuchungen über die Echtheit der Hymnen des Ambrosius, Jahrbücher für Klassische Philologie. Supplementband 28, Leipzig 1903
Te decet hymnus. L’innario della „Liturgia Horarum”, ed. A. Lentini, Città del Vaticano 1984
Tertulian, Ad uxorem
Tertulian, Adversus Marcionem
Tertulian, Apologeticum
Tertulian, De anima
Tertulian, De carne Christi
Tertulian, De exhortatione castitatis
Tertulian, De oratione
Tertulian, De spectaculis
Tertulian, De virginibus velandis
Ton G. Del, Gli inni di Sant’Ambrogio, Como 1940
Vergilius, Aeneis
Vian G.M., Un piccolo libro denso e felice, w: Biffi, Preghiera e poesia negli Inni di sant’Ambrogio e di Manzoni, Foligno 2010

Published
2012-06-15


Nocoń, A. (2012). Poeta poranka i wieczoru. Hymny św. Ambrożego w Liturgii godzin. Vox Patrum, 57, 437–451. https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.4144

Arkadiusz Nocoń 
Roma



License

Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.