Page:The seven great hymns of the mediaeval church - 1902.djvu/130

100 Mater Specioa, with its tranlation, the lat work of Dr. John Maon Neale. This long-lot lyric has recently been introduced to American readers by Dr. Schaff, who has briefly told its tory, and thus admirably analyzed its relation to the :—

"While the latter has been known and admired for nearly five centuries, the former, though probably as old, was buried in obcurity, until it was brought to light in our day by A. F. Ozanam in his work on the Francican Poets, and in the improved German edition of this work by Julius, with an admirable tranlation of the hymn by Cardinal Diepenbrock, then bihop of Brelau. The poem has alo attracted the attention of Englih hymnologits, and been tranlated for the firt time into Englih by the late Dr. John Maon Neale, who published the original Latin with the tranlation a few days before his death, in Augut, 1866, thus cloing his ueful and brilliant hymnological labors.

The Mater Specioa and the Mater Doloroa are, apparently, the product of the ame genius. They are companion-hymns, and reemble each other like twin iters. The Mater Doloroa was evidently uggeted by the Scripture cene, as briefly tated by St. John, Stabat juxta crucem mater ejus; and this again, uggeted the cradle-hymn as a counterpart. It is a parallelim of contrat which runs from beginning to end. The Mater Specioa is a Chritmas hymn, and ings the overflowing joy of Mary at the cradle of the new-born Saviour. The Mater Doloroa is a Good Friday hymn, and ings the piercing agony of Mary at the cros of her