Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/492

 PANGE

442

PANGE

Pange lingua glorio.si pru'lium certaminis Et super iTucis tropajo die triumphuni nobilem, Qualiter Redemptor orbis immolatus vicerit. The stanza is thus seen to comprise thrpo tetrameter trochaic catalectic verses. In the " Uonian Breviary'' the hymn is assigned to Passion Sunday and the ferial Oflices following it ilown to and including Wednesday in Holy Week, and also to the feasts of the Finding of the Holy C'ross, the ICxaltation of the Holy Cross, the Crown of Thorns, the Five Wounds. In this breviary use, the hymn is divided into two, the first five stanzas being said at Matins, the second five (beginning with the words "Lustra sex qui jam peregit") at Lauds; and each line is divided into two, forming a stanza of six lines, e. g. :

Pange Ungua gloriosi Lauream certaminis, Et super crucis tropha;o Die triumphum nobilem: Qualiter Redemptor orbis Immolatus vicerit.

The whole hymn is sung during the ceremony of the Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday, immediately after the Iniproperia or "Reproaches", but in a pecu- liar manner, the hymn being preceded by the eighth stanza {Crux ficlelis) while the stanzas are followed alternately by the first four and the last two fines of the (divided) eighth stanza.

It will have been noticed that in the six-lined stanza quoted above, "lauream" is substituted for the "prcc- lium " of the three-lined stanza. The correctors of the Breviary under Urban VIII apparently saw a pleon- asm in the expression "pralium certaminis". Their suljstitution of "lauream" has not commended itself to hymnologists, who declare that no pleonasm is in- volved, since " prcelium " refers to the battle and "cer- tamen" to the occasion or cause of it; so that "prce- lium certaminis" means the battle for the souls of men (see Kayser, "Beitrage zur Gesch. und Erklarung der iiltesten Kirchenhym.", Paderborn, 18S1, p. 417). He very aptly instances St. Cyprian (Ep. ad Ant., 4): "Pra'lium gloriosi certaminis in persecutione ferve- ret", and adds that "certamen" reveals the impor- tance and length of the strife and renders salient the master thought of the whole poem. In the hands of the correctors the hymn suflfered many emendations in the interest of classical exactness of phrase and metre. The corrected form is that found to-day in the Roman Breviary. The older form, with various manuscript readings, will be found in Alarch (Latin Hymns, 64; with grammatical and other notes, 252), Piraont (Les Hymnes etc., Ill, 47-70, with a note on the author- ship, 70-76), etc. The Commission on Plain Chant established by order of Pius X in many cases restored older forms of the Uturgical texts. In the Gradual (the Antiphonary has not appeared as yet) the older form of the "Pange lingua" is now given, so that it can be compared with the form still used in our Breviary. For the variant readings of MSS. see "Ana- lecta Hymnica" (Leipzig, 1907), 71-73. Dreves ascribes the hymn to Fortunatus. See also the "Hymnarium Sarisburiense " (London, 1851), 84.

It will be of interest to give here some specimens of Catholic translations of some stanzas of the hymn, i

Sing loud the conflict, O my tongue, The victory that repaired our loss;

Exalt the triumph of thy song To the bright trophy of the cross;

Tell how the Lord laid down his life To conquer in the glorious strife.

(J. T. Aylward, O. P.) ii

Eating of the Tree forbidden, Man had suck in Satan's snare,

When his pitying Creator

Did this second Tree prepare; Destined, many ages later,

That first evil to repair.

(Father Caswall.)

V

Thus God made Man an Infant lies, And in the manger weeping cries; His sacred limbs by Mary bound.

The poorest tattered rags surround; And God's incarnate feet and hands Are closely bound with swathing-bands.

(Divine Office, 1763.) vi Soon the sweetest blossom wasting,

Droops its head and withered lies; Early thus to Calvary hasting.

On the cross the Saviour dies; Freely death for all men tasting. There behold our sacrifice,

(R. Campbell,) ix Bend, O noble Tree, thy branches;

Let thy fibres yielding be, Let the rigid strength be softened Which in birth was given thee. That the limbs of my dear Jesus May be stretched most tenderly.

(Amer. Eccl. Rev., 8191.)

The selected stanzas do not exhau.st the examples of Catholic versions, but offer some variety in metre and in rhyming schemes. They represent neither the best nor the worst work of their authors in the translation of this hymn. In the preface to his "An- nus Sanctus" Orby Shipley declared that "the love of Catholics for their hymns is no recent, . . fancy , . . and that the results achieved are not less wide in extent, not less worthy in merit than attempts of Protestant translators, facts overlooked even by Catholic translators." His thought is worthy of much consideration in view of the fact that the En- glish version in the Marquess of Bute's translation of the Roman Breviary (I, 409), in the (Baltimore) "Manual of Prayers" (614), and Tozer's "Catholic Church Hymnal" (p. 48), was the work of an Angli- can, Dr. Neale.

It may well be doubted if any translator has ex- pressed better in English verse the strength and no- bility of the original Latin than did the unknown Catholic author of the version found in the Divine Office of 1763 (given in stanza v above). Daniel gives the following stanza (Thes. Hymnol., I, 168): Quando judex orbis alto vectus axe veneris, Et crucis tu;e (ropa;um inter astra fulserit, O sis anxius asylum et salutis aurora, which Neale translates (Medieval Hymns, 3rd ed., p. 5) and thinks ancient though not original; but Daniel's source is the "Corolla Hymnorum" (Cologne, 1806). The text reads "salutis anchora". Daniel also gives (IV, 68) four stanzas which Mone thought might be of the seventh century; but they would add nothing to the beauty or neat perfection of the hymn. For first lines, authors, dates of translation, etc., see Ju- lian, "Diet, of Hymnol.", 880-881, 1685. For Latin text and translation with comment, see "Amer. Eccles. Review", March, 1891, 187-194, and "H. A. and M., Historical Edition" (London, 1909, No. 107).

II. The Hy.mn of St. Thomas Aquinas. — Com- posed by the saint (see Ladda Sign) for the Office of Corpus Christi (see Corpus Chri.sti, Feast of). Including the last stanza (which borrows the words "Genitori Genitoque" — "Procedenti ab utroque, Compar" from the first two strophes of the second sequence of Adam of St. Victor for Pentecost) the hymn comprises six stanzas appearing in the MSS.