Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/396

 VENI SANCTE

342

VENOSA

its use at all the canoaical hours. The nuns of the Paraclete (Nogent-sur-Seine) repeated the first stanza seven times at Terce. five times at Sext, and thrice at None." He refers to MARxfeNE, De antig. rit. eccL, III, iv, c. 28; Henry. The Hymn " Veni Creator Spiritus" in Avier. EccL Review (June, 1S97), 573-596, text and original translation, comment; Shipley, Annus Sanctus (London, 1874), gives trs. by Aylward (161), Anon, in Evening Office, 1710 (165), Husenbeth (167), R. Campbell (170), and in the Appendix, 10, 11, 26, 27, trs. of the Primers of 1604, 161?, 16S5, 1706 (this last being Dryden's); MoNE, Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, I (Freiblu-g, 1853), 241-243; Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, I, 213-215; IV, 124-126; DnFFiELD, iMtin Hymn-Writers arid their Hymns (New York, 1889), 114-131, text and original tr., biography of Rabanus, for whose authorship Duffield contends vigorously; The Seven Great Hymns of the Medieval Church (7th ed.. New York, 1868), 134-139; Amer. EccL Review (May, 1900, 525), decree S. R. C. (20 June, 1899) concerning the doxology; Idem (Oct., 1896, 432-434), the singing of the Veni Creator before the sermon at High Mass; Johner, A New School of Gregorian Chant (New York, 1906, p. 87) gives the melody with marked accents and calls attention to "the upward movement from the first to the third line". For imitative hymns; Dreves, Analecia Hymnica, XII, 139; XXI, 52, 56; XXX (three hymns); XLIII, 211; XXXIII, 23. Ott, Vlnnodia ambrosiana in Rassegna Gregori- ana. VI (1907), 490, gives the melody of the hymn Hie est dies verus Dei, shows that it ia the same as that of the Veni Creator, remarks that "all the spirit of the Ambrosian hymnody is felt in this fresh and vivacious melody", and thinks that "the music probably belongs to Saint Ambrose"; Blu.me, Ein neuer Mark- stein in der liturgischen Hymnodie in Slimynen aus Maria-Laach, LXXV, No. 1 (July, 1, 1908), 6 and footnote, for comment on revision. H. T. HenRY.

Veni Sancte Spiritus Et Emitte Coelitus, the

sequence lor Pcnteco.st (the "Golden Sequence"), It is sung at Ma.s.s from Whitsunday until the following Saturday inclusively, and comprises ten stanzas of the form:

Veni, Sancte Spiritus,

Et emitte ccclitus

Lucis tuoB radium.

Some hymnologists bind two such stanzas into one, doubtless in order to complete the rhythmic scheme for the third line, as in the case of the "Lauda Sion" and the " Stabat Mater". The pecuhar feature of the "Veni Sancte Spiritus" is, however, the persistence throughout the hymn of the same rhymic close in "ium" for all the stanzas — a feature imitated in Dr. Neale's translation (given in the Baltimore "Manual of Prayers"). This version of the Anglican hymno- logist is only less popular than that of Father Caswall, which is found alike in Protestant and Catholic hym- nals and in the "Raccol*a" (Philadelphia, 1881). Dean Trench and others follow Durandus in ascribing the authorship of the sequence to Robert II, who reigned in France from 997-1031. With Cardinal Bona, Duffield gives it to Hermann Contractus (q. v.) and argues earnestly for the ascription. The se- quence has indeed been foimd in manuscripts of the eleventh century, and of the twelfth, but WTitten by a later hand, and the conclusion is drawn that it dates sometime after the middle of the twelfth century. This makes probable the ascription to Stephen Langton (q. v.), made by a writer whom Cardinal Pitra thinks an English Cistercian who lived about the year 1210. More probable is the ascription to Innocent III (q. V.) made by Ekkehard V in his "Vita S. Notkeri", written about 1220. Ekkehard. a monk of St. Gall, says that his abbot, Ulrich, was sent to Rome by Frederick II, conferred with the pope on various mat- ters, and was present :it the Mass of the Holy Spirit celebrated before the Hol>' Father. The sequence of the Mass was "Suncti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia". Hereupon Ekkchiird r(iii:irks (what he probably learned from Abbot Ulrich him.'ielf on his return to St. Gall) th:il the pope himself "had composed a sequence of the Holy Si)iril, namely, Veni Sancte Spiritus". The older .sequence yielded but gradually to its rival, which W.1S almost univer.sally assigned to one or more days within the octave. Tiie revi.sed Missal of 1.570 finally assigned it to Whitsunday and the octave. The revision (lfi.34) under Urban VIII left it im- altered. Well styled by medieval wTiters the "Golden Sequence", it has won universal esteem, the rea-

sons for which are set forth by Clichtoveus, who in his " Elucidatorium " considers it "above all praise, because of its wondrous sweetness, clarity of style, pleasant brevity combined with wealth of thought (so that every hne is a sentence), and finally the con- structive grace and elegance displayed in "the skilful and apt juxtaposition of contrasting thoughts". Daniel applauds this appreciation. Gihr sjiends not a little space in his work on the Mass in praise of the hymn, and Julian accords it a careful and apprecia- tive tribute.

Kayber, Beitrdge zur Gesch. u. Erkldrung der alien Kirchen- hymnen, 11 (Paderborn, 1886), 61-76, a good commentary; Julian, Diet, of Hymnol. (2nd ed., London, 1907), 1212, 1721. dis- cussion of authorship, first lines of trs., etc.; to his list should be added: Bagshawe, Breviary Hymns and Missal Sequences (Lon- don, s. d.), 36: "Coipe, O Holy Spirit, down"; Donahoe, Early Christian Hymns (New York, 1908), 149: "Holy Spirit, come and shine"; Irish Monthly (Nov., 1887): "O Holv Spirit, come!"; Missal for the Use of the Laity (London, 1903), 4"l0: "Holy Spirit, come possess us", a four-lined stanza, etc. The version fre- quently used by Catholic sodalities is a revision of that by Austin (1668): "Come Holy Spirit, send down those beams which gently flow in silent streams " etc. For indulgences, plenary and partial, attached to the recitation of the sequence, see tr. of the Raccolta. Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry (3rd ed., London, 1874). 198-9 for text with notes, and 197 for biographical notice of Robert II; Trench thinks the sequence "the loveliest ... of all the hymns in the whole circle of Latin sacred poetrj-". Duffield, The Latin Hymn Writers and Their Hymns (New York, 1889), 149-68 (prose tr., 163). Dreves, Atuilec)a Hymnica (Leipzig), for hymns founded on the sequence, e. g., IX, p. 199: "Veni sancte Spiritus, Katharinse coelitus Invitatus meritor; Consolator op- time. Doctor disertissime, Katharinam instruens; O lux heatia- 8ima"etc.; for other illustrations see: X, 32, 122, 253; XXXVIII, 166; XXI, 56; XXXIX, 30; XL, 52; XLI, 195: XLII, 69. Hymns Ancient and Modern (hist, ed., London, 1909), 263-6 for Latin text, tr. based on Caswall, plainsong and modern setting. The Vatican Graduate (Rome, 1908) gives the t>-pical and official plain, song. Shipley, Annus Sanctus (London, 1874), for trs. (pp. 164, 166, 169, 173: also, in Appendix, pp. 33^, Primers of 1685 and 1706). The Seven Great Hymns of the Meditsval Church (7th ed., New York, 1868), 126-33, text and tr. of Winkwobth. March, Latin Hymns (New York, 1875), 92 (text), 268 (grammatical Dotes). Johner, A New School of Gregorian Chant (New Yorlc, 1906), 115: "Do not lengthen the accented syllables, as otherwise an unpleasant 0-8 lime is unavoidable". JJ^ X. HeNRY.

Veni Sancte Spiritus Reple, a prose invocation of the Holy Ghost. The Alleluia following the Epistle of Whitsunday comprises two parts: (1) a chant in the fourth tone; "Alleluia, alleluia. V. Emitte Spiri- tum tuum, et creabuntur; et renovabis faciem terrae" (Ps. ciii, 30, Vulgate edition, with change of "emittes" into "emitte"); (2) a chant in the second tone: "Alle- luia. V. Veni sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende". A ru- bric directs all to kneel when the "Veni Sancte Spiri- tus" begins. Then follows the sequence (see Veni Sancte Spiritus Et Emitte Ccelitus). An invoca- tion much used in schools and in private devotions is constructed from the above "Alleluia" by taking first the "Veni . . . accende", then the "Emitte . . . terrte", and concluding with the prayer of the feast: "Deus qui corda . . . gaudere" (omitting the words "hodierna die"). From the plainsong melody (composed in the eleventh century) of this "Veni" was developed the exquisite plainsong of the sequence following it.

Mearns in JrUAN, Diet, of Hi/mol. (2nd ed., London, 1907), 1215, 631 ("Koniiii !;■ Ii,: r C i. Herre Gott"): Esuno, tr. in Catholic Record, Xli !' i, 43, 44; Marbach, Carmina

Scripturarum (Str^i I, ! : -ii7-8, liturgical u.ses; La Tri- bune de S'linl-C' 7 , 115-6, analysis of plainsong:

Dheveh. .1 - twelfth-cent, hymn founded on

?rose pr;i, \'eni Creator). Prose trs. in:

■quno, ;. - York, 1884): Croim of Je^us

(1862): .1 ' ' '-! '■. Tr. of component parts in

Missal for ttir Lie oj the Lady (London, 1903). 409.

H. T. Henry.

Venosa, Diocese op (Venurin.), in Southern Italy. The city is .situated on a high precipitous hill, one of the most advanced posts of the Apennines, o\-er- looking a fertile plain. Near its sixteenth-century cathedral, the SS. Trinity, stands an old Benedictine abbey founded by the first Norman counts. Venosa is the native place of Horace. It was an important Sanmite city, and was captured in 291 b. c. by the