Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/437

Rh AMBROSIAN 393 AMBROSIAN however, of "S. Aiiibrosius et Ambrosiani ", implying a distinction which for the present he cared not to specify more minutely. The Maurists Hniited the number they would ascribe to St. Ambrose to twelve. Biraghi and Droves raise the ligure to eighteen. Kaysor gives the four universally con- ceded to bo authentic and two of the Aiiihroxiani which have clainis to aulhentiiity. Chevalier is criticised minutely and elaborately by Blume for his Ambrosian indications: twenty without reserva- tion, seven " (S. . ibro.sius) ", two unbracketed but with a "?", seven with bracket and question-mark, and eight with a varied lot of brackets, question- marks, and simultaneous possible ascriptions to other hymnodists. Wo shall give hero first of all the four hymns acknowledged universally as authentic: (1) ".•Eterno rerum C'onditor"; (U) "Deus Creator omnium"; (3) "Jam surgit hora lertia"; (4) "Veni Redemptor gentium". With rcsjiect to the first three, St. .ugustino (juotos from them and directly credits their authorship to St. Ambrose. He ap- pears also to refer to No. -1 (the third verse in whose fourth strophe is: (leminw Giga.i iiiibstanti(e) when he says: "This going forth of our (liant [Cliynnlis] is briefly and beautifully hymned by Blessed Am- brose. ..." .-Vnd Kaustus, Bishopof Kiez (a. D. 4.').5), quotes from it and names the Saint as author, as does also Cassiodorus (d. 575) in cjuoting the fourth strophe entire. Pope St. Cclestine, in the council held at Rome in 430, also cites it as by St. Ambrose. In- ternal evidence for No. 1 is founa in many verbal and phra.sal correspondences between stroplics 4-7 and the " Ilexacmeron" of the Saint (P. L., XIV, col. 255). Of these (our hymns, only No. 1 is now found in the Roman Breviary. It is sung at Lauds on Sunday from the Octave of the Epiphany to the first Sunday in Lent, and from the Sunday nearest to the first day of October until Advent. There are sixteen trans- lations into English, of which that by Cardinal New- man is given in the Marquess of Bute's Breviary (I, 90). No. 2 has eight English renderings; No. 3, two; No. 4, twenty-four. Tlie additional eight hymns credited to the Saint by the Benedictine editors are: (5) "Illiuninans altis- simus"; (6) " .lEterna Christi mtmera"; (7) "Splendor paternje gloria;"; (8) "Orabo mcnte Dommum"; (9) "Somno refectis artubus"; (10) "Consors paterni luminis"; (11) "O lux beata Trinitas"; (12) "Fit porta Christi pervia". The Roman Breviary parcels No. 6 out into two hymns: for .Martyrs (beginning with a strophe not belonging to the lijTnn (Chrislo ■prnjusiim sanguinem); and for Apostles {.Ktcnm Christi munera). The translations of the original text and of the two hymns formed from it amount to twenty-one in number. No. 7 is assigned in the Roman Breviary to Monday at Lauds, from the Octave of the Epiphany to the first Sunday in Lent and from the Octave of Pentecost to Advent. It has twenty-five translations in English. Nos. 9, 10, 11 are also in the Roman Breviary. (No. 1 1, however, being altered into "Jam sol recedit igneus". It has thirty-three translations, in all, into English, com- prising those of the original text and of the adapta- tion.) Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12 have verbal or nhnisal correspondences with acknowledged hymns uy the Saint. Their translations into English are: f^o. 9, fifteen; No. 10, nine; No. 1 1, thirty-three; No. 12, two. No. 5 has three English translations; No. G, one; No. 7, twenty-five. No. 8 remains to be considered. The Maurists give it to the Saint with some hesi- tation, because of its prosodial niggedness, and because they knew it not to be a fragment (six verses) of a longer poem, and the (apparently) six-lined form of strophe puzzled them. Daniel pointed out (Thes., I, 23, 24; IV, 13) that it is a f^ragment of the longer hymn (in strophes of four Iines " Bis temas horas explicans ", and credits it without hesitation to the Saint. In addition to the four authentic ones already noted, Biraghi gives Nos. 5, (i, 7, and the following: (8) "Nunc sancte nobis s[)iritus"; (9) "Rector potens, vera.x Deus"; (10) "Keruni Deus, tenax vigor"; (U) "Aniore Christi nobilis"; (12) "Agnes beata; virginis"; (13) "Hie est dies verus Dei": (14) "Victor Nabor, Felix pii"; (15) "Grates tibi Jesu novas"; (Ki) "Aposto- lorum passio"; (17) " Apostolorum suppaiem"; (IS) "Jesu corona virginum' . This list receives the sup- port of Droves (1893) and of Blume (1901). The beautiful hymns Nos. 8, 9, 10 are those for Terce, Sext, None, respectively, in the Roman Breviary, which also a-ssigns No. 18 to the olBce of Virgins. The Ambrosian strophe has four verses of iambic dimeters (eight syllables), e. g. — ■ iEterne rerum Conditor, Noctem diomque qui regis, Et temporum das tempora Ut allevcs fastidium. The metre differs but slightly from the rhythm of prose, is easy to construct anci to memorize, adapts itself very well to all kinds of .subjects, olTcrs suffi- cient metric variety in the odd feet (which may be either iambic or spondaic), while the form of the strophe lends itself well to musical settings (as the English accentual counterpart of the metric and strophic form illustrates). This poetic form has always been the favourite for liturgical hynms, sis the Roman Breviary will show at a glance. But in earlier times the form was almost e.xclusively used, down to and beyond the eleventh century. Out of 1.50 hymns in the eleventh-ientury Benedictine hym- nals, for example, not a dozen are in other metras; and the Ambrosian Breviary re-edited by St. Charles Borromeo in 1582 has its hymns in that metre almost exclusively. It should bo said, however, that even in the days of St. Ambrose the cla.ssical metres were slowly giving place to accentual ones, as the work of the Saint occasionally shows; while in subsequent ages, down to the reform of the Breviarj' under I'rban VIII, hymns were composed most largely by accented measure. Ermoni. in Diet, d'arch. chrH., gives a good li.^t of ref- erences. We may add to his list Blume, H ymnoloijincfie Beitrdge, II, Rcpertorium Reperlorii (Leipzig, lt)OI). and e>peciaHv s. v. .S(. Amhrogc, 123-126: Amer. Ecclfaiaslwal Rrrifw. Oct., 189(1, 340-.')73. for text of No. 1, with translation and extensive commentary; t^timmen out Maritt-Lnach, i.I (18901, 8-97. for jLtrme rerum Condilor; al.-o fame. 1.1 1 (18971. 241-2.53. for Splendor palrma: gloria;- al.-^o same, 1,1V, 1898. 273-282; Julian, Ot<-(. ol Uvmnol. for condense,! ac- counts of hymns, with first lines of translations into KhKiish; S<"HLO.s.sER. Die Kirche in ihren Liedem etc. (FreibiirKl. for transl. into German, with notes, of many Ambrosiani; Kayskr, Beitrdge zur Gesehichte und Erkt/irung dcr titlcettn Kirchen- hi/mnen (Paderborn, 1881), for life and labours of tb.e Saint, with text, translation, extended commentary on the hviuns Nos. 1-4 and 0, 7, in this article; Dii-hlld. iMttn Hymns and Hymn U'ri(.T» (New York, 1889), 47-02; Batiffol, Hist, du Brninire Romain (Paris. 1893), IfL^-lTS; Wag.ner (Boca's transl. 1, OnV/inf ci d/-velopprment du chant liturgique (Tournai, 1904), .W. 54; Danif.l and Monf. are still of much service for texts and notes; March, Latin Hymns (New York, 1875), for texts, grammatical notes, and bymnoloKical references. H. T. Henry. Ambrosian Library, Thk, one of the famous li- brari<'s(if tin; world, founded between l("i03 and 1009 by Cardinal I'edcrigo Borromeo at Milan. This librar>' is unique from the fact that it was not in- tended by the Cardinal to be merely a collection of books anil m.isterpicces of art, btit was meant by him to include a college of writers, a seminary of s.avanls. and a school of fine arts. It is situated in what at that time was nearly the centre of the city of Milan, near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The plans were drawn by the architect, Fabio Man- gone, and the sculptor. Dionigio Bus.sola. The build- ings were ready in 1609, and became at muc, on account of their ample dimen.sions and elegant dcconi- tion, an object of universal admiration. The following