The Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

41. The Intermediary Chant (Graduale, Alleluja, Tractus, Sequentia)

The Church has assigned to the choir the task of executing, in the name of the congregation, the various parts that are to be sung. These are very appropriately and skilfully inserted in the liturgy of the Mass, for sacred chant is productive of many wholesome results;³⁰⁸308Psallendi utilitas tristia corda consolatur, gratiores mentes facit, fastidiosos oblectat, inertes exsuscitat, peccatores ad lamenta invitat. Nam quamvis dura sint carnalium corda, statim ut psalmi dulcedo insonuerit, ad affectum pietatis animum eorum inflectit (S. Isidor, Hispal. Sentent. l. 3, c. 7, n, 31). it makes divine worship more solemn and more majestic, elevates the mind, exhilarates the heart, renders the disposition more peaceable, inclines to devotion, excites to piety, softens to mildness and compunction of spirit, produces a flow of tears and raises a desire of amendment, enables the soul to soar above the earth and all that is earthly and to lose itself in heavenly meditation. St. Augustine depicts the powerful impression made by the chant of the Ambrosian Hymns upon his soul: “How I wept, O Lord, amid Thy hymns and chants, greatly moved by the voices of Thy sweetly singing Church! They poured themselves into my ears—these voices, and like drops Thy truth penetrated my heart: the fervor of devotion was awakened, tears flowed, and ah, how happy I was then!”³⁰⁹309S. Aug. Confession. l. 9, c. 6. Thus the choir chants at the celebration of Mass, by a pleasing variety, drive away weariness, and keep the participation of the faithful in the divine service ever lively and on the alert. Formerly they had a larger scope and were in the form of responsories or alternate singing, directed according to a certain rule of repetition and conducted by precentors and the choir. — The chant which follows the Epistle and precedes the Gospel is an intermediate and connecting link between these two biblical readings.

Said intervening chant is of varied composition at the different periods of the ecclesiastical year, and accordingly bears different names. The Gradual at times occurs by itself alone; but for the most part it is connected with an addition, namely, the (minor) p. 125Alleluja or the Tract. Sometimes the Gradual, or the Alleluja, or the Tract, is followed by the so-called Sequence. For a period the Gradual is entirely replaced by the so-called major Alleluja, and once (on Good Friday) by the Tract.

1. The Gradual. The word Graduale³¹⁰310The original designation was: Responsum, Responsorium, Responsorium graduale, Responsorius (sc. cantus vel psalmus). The name Responsorium (from respondere), that is, alternate singing, expresses the way and manner of the singing, namely, quod uno canente chorus consonando respondet (Isidor. De offic. eccles. l. 1, c. 8). Accordingly, the responsory-hymn consists of two parts—of the Responsorium proper (R.) and the Versus (V.). Often (but not always) the other explanation holds good, by which Responsorium would designate a chant of the choir answering the contents of the preceding reading, quia lectioni convenire et quodammodo respondere debet (Benedict. XIV. De sacros. Missae sacrif. l. 2, c. 5, n. 15). Responsoria dicuntur a respondendo. Tristia namque tristibus, et laeta laetis debemus succinere lectionibus (Rupert. Tuitiens. De divin. offic. l. 1, c. 15). comes from gradus = step. To distinguish the Responsory that occurs between the Epistle and the Gospel from the Responsories of the Divine Office, it was (later on) called Graduale from the place in which it was sung: for the leading singer who intoned the longer Psalm-chant after the Epistle and sang it alternately with the choir, stood (in the Roman Church) on an elevated step, that is, on the same step of the Ambo from which the Epistle³¹¹311Subdiaconus ascendit in ambonem (—non tamen in superiorem gradum, quem solus solet ascendere qui Evangelium lecturus est—Ordo Rom. II, n. 7) et legit (sc. Epistolam). Postquam legerit, cantor cum cantatorio (Antiphon or Gradual) ascendit et dicit Responsum (Ordo Rom. I, n. 10). — Non tamen ascendit superius, sed stat in eodem loco, ubi et lector, et solus inchoat Responsorium et cuncti in choro respondent et idem solus Versum Responsorii cantat (Ordo Rom. II, n. 7). — Lectionem quae legitur post sessionem, sequitur cantus, qui vocatur responsorius (Amalar. De ecclesiast. offic. l. 3, c. 11. — Cfr. Eclog. Amalar. in Ord. Rom. n. 14). had previously been read.³¹²312According to others this chant was called Graduale, because it was sung while the deacon with his attendants went from the altar to the steps (gradus) of the choir-stand and ascended them, in order to sing the Gospel. (Cf. Bellarm. De Missa l. 2, c. 16.)

The Apostolic Constitutions (l. 2, c. 57) already prescribe a chant of Psalms after the reading from the Old Testament. St. Augustine several times mentions that between the Apostolic reading (Epistle) and the Gospel an entire Psalm should be sung in responses.³¹³313Primam lectionem audivimus Apostoli. Deinde cantavimus Psalmum. Post haec evangelica lectio decem leprosos mundatos nobis ostendit et unum ex eis alienigenam gratias agentem mundatori suo (S. Aug. Sermo 176, n. 1). Thus in this place whole Psalms were sung until the fifth century; but in the Antiphonarium of St. Gregory the Great this Psalm-chant is reduced to a few verses, as is now-a-days the case in our Missal. Even in its present abridgment the Gradual chant has preserved its previous responsory form; for all the Graduale consists of two parts, the first retains the name p. 126Responsorium, the other bears the title of Versus (V).³¹⁴314Formam habet Responsorii Graduale, imo et Responsorium semper appellatur in Antiphonario S. Gregorii, et frequentius a Radulpho et aliis rituum interpretibus. Unde sicut Responsorii duae sunt partes, ita et Gradualis: prior una, quae ipsa Responsorii nomen retinet, posterior altera huic cohaerens et annexa, quae Versus dicitur (Guyet. Heortolog. l. 3, c. 25, q. 3). In most cases both parts are taken from the Psalms, not unfrequently passages from other books of the Old and New Testaments are used; only a few times do we meet with texts which are not from the Bible.³¹⁵315This is the case, for example, in the Gradual of the feast of the Seven Dolors of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Dolorosa et lacrymabilis . . . and in the Gradual: Benedicta et venerabilis . . ., which occurs in many Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here also belongs the first part (Responsorium) of the Gradual in Requiem Masses: Requiem aeternam . . . Thus do we find everywhere in the liturgy “words of Holy Scripture which the Church with a delicacy of thought has appropriately selected and causes, like so many brilliant gems, to glisten in her divine service.”

The object and meaning of the Gradual, or chant after the Epistle, can generally be easily seen and determined, if we take into consideration that this choir chant with the three other variable chants (Introitus, Offertorium, Communio), forms a whole which bears the impress or idea of the ecclesiastical year, that is, gives in various ways expression to the fundamental thought of the celebration of the liturgical day or feast, which thought, like a red string, is drawn through each Mass formula. Thoughts, sentiments and resolutions similar to those of the Introit are again expressed afresh or amplified in the chant that comes between the readings, that we may be ever more and more penetrated with the spirit of the day’s celebration, may dive ever more and more deeply into the mystery which is to be made glorious by the offering of the Holy Sacrifice. — Hence is made evident the intimate connection between the Gradual chant and the two Scriptural lessons which it binds together. The lessons (Epistle and Gospel), as well as the Gradual chant which comes between them, are selected with regard to one and the same idea of the ecclesiastical time or liturgical celebration; accordingly, as to their contents, there must exist some relationship between them. The readings and the chant harmonize with one another: in both the peculiarity of each ecclesiastical celebration is reflected, but in a different way, according as the character of an instructive reading or an inspiring chant demands.³¹⁶316In lectione auditores pascuntur, sed in cantu quasi aratro compunctionis corda conscinduntur; habet enim musica quamdam vim ad flectendum animum (Sicard. Mitral. l. 3, c. 3). In the reading God descends to us, speaks to us, makes known His mysteries and His will to us, addresses exhortations and admonitions to us, terrifies us by threats and consoles us with His promises; in the chant, on the contrary, we soar upwards to God, make known our devotion and fervor, we praise, thank, love and admire, implore, lament and p. 127rejoice. — This harmonious blending of instructive readings with affective singing brings along a beneficial variation in the divine service. — In the Gradual chant we give appropriate expression to our lofty dispositions, we utter sentiments of joy or sorrow, various impressions and resolutions which have been awakened in us by the day’s celebration and by the Mass in general, as well as by the reading in particular.³¹⁷317Utraque Gradualis pars, perinde atque Introitus, modo invitationem et exhortationem continet, modo collaudationem et congratulationem, nonnumquam prosopopoeiam vel apostrophen, saepissime vero omnium narrationem aut invocationem (Guyet l. c.). In a certain sense, then, we may say that the intermediate chant is an echo, a dying away sound of the Epistle and a suitable transition to the Gospel. In order, then, to expound thoroughly the meaning of the Gradual chant, it must always be conceived and explained in its twofold relation—to the preceding Epistle and the following Gospel.

The Gradual for the Feast of the Holy Innocents runs thus:

As a “tender flock of little victims” the holy Innocents were immolated for Christ and for the sake of Christ: in return, a lot of eternal blessedness has been awarded them. Filled with jubilant gratitude they praise in the words of the Gradual aforesaid this glorious lot which was prepared for them by the Almighty Lord and Creator: the Almighty has cut the cunningly laid net of the bloody tyrant, and thus they escaped the snares of the world, the combat and wants of this earthly life. This Gradual, so to speak, re-echoes the Epistle,³¹⁸318Apoc. 14, 1–5. wherein St. John relates how—in a heavenly vision—he beheld and heard singing before the throne of God all the chaste and virginal souls, that were purchased from among men, as the first-fruits unto God and the Lamb, and who sang, therefore, a new canticle which no one else can sing. The Gospel narrates³¹⁹319Matt. 2, 13–18. in words of sublime and touching simplicity how these tender and unspotted little victims were cruelly murdered for the Infant Jesus.

The Feast of the Guardian Angels has the following Gradual:

The Gradual here pictures in beautiful imagery the Guardian Angels carrying the souls entrusted to them, as priceless treasures in their hands. In all the ways and by-paths they watch over and lovingly and unwearingly care for their wards, that they may not strike against a stone, that is, that amid the dangers and scandals and seductive examples of the world they may suffer no injury. Corresponding to this the Epistle³²⁰320Exod. 23, 20–23. describes the protecting care of the holy Angels, as well as the veneration which we owe to them. In the Gospel of the feast,³²¹321Matt. 18, 1–10. our Lord Himself shows what a frightful sin it is to scandalize little children, for there in energetic words He calls attention to their being always protected by Angels of light, who at all times behold the face of the Heavenly Father.

2. The Gradual with the Alleluja Verse (Versus Allelujaticus). — It is only seldom, that is, on some ferial days in Lent, that the Gradual is sung or recited alone; usually it has an appendix, which, according to the tenor of the ecclesiastical celebration, bears the impress of joy or of sorrow. Expressive of joy is the so-called Minor Alleluja, which is generally added to the Gradual throughout the year. It consists of two Allelujas, a verse and another Alleluja; hence it is often called the Alleluja verse.³²²322Alleluja canimus, quoniam ad laudes angelicas in hoc itinere festinamus; Versus, quoniam sic euntes, laborantes, festinantes ad Dominum revertimur, unde et Versus cantantes ad Orientem nos convertimur; et attende, quod Alleluja, prius summotenus dictum, praesentis contemplationis gaudium repraesentat, sed postea repetitum cum jubilo gaudium designat aeternum et tam angelorum quam beatarum animarum convivium. Unde et hoc hebraicum nomen in officio remanet peregrinum, quoniam gaudium illud peregrinatur ab hac vita et nos a Domino peregrinamur. Congrue igitur post Graduale cantatur, quia post actionem sequitur contemplatio, post luctum poenitentiae canticum laetitiae, post irriguum dilationis magnitudo consolationis, quoniam . . . qui seminant in lacrymis, in exsultatione metent. Congrue quoque in Alleluja jubilamus (= we continue to sing the last syllable with varied melodious turns), ut mens illuc rapiatur, ubi Sancti exsultabunt in gloria et laetabuntur in cubilibus suis (Ps. 149), quod gaudium nec potest verbis exprimi nec omnino taceri: non exprimitur propter magnitudinem, non tacetur propter amorem (Sicard. Mitral. l. 3, c. 3). In this addition the Gradual expands and rises into a joyful chant, which, like a streak of lightning, thrills through the soul.³²³323Versus nihil sinistrum aut triste, sed totum jucundum et dulce debent sonare (Innoc. III. l. 2, c. 33). The verse, between the three Allelujas, is in its contents frequently not a mere continuation, but rather a clearer development and a more perfect expression of the thoughts contained in the Gradual. The reason of this is due, in a measure, to the fact that in selecting the verse the Church gave herself freer scope. While she compiled the Gradual mostly always wholly from the Psalms, she did not adhere so strictly to this rule in the composition of the Alleluja Verse, but in its make-up often employed therein other Bible texts also: indeed and especially in Masses celebrated in honor of the Saints, more than thirty of these verses are not taken from Scripture, but are of ecclesiastical origin. In this way it was easier to designate more minutely and to mark more distinctly the subject of the day’s celebration. Verses thus composed by the Church are, for example, the following. On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin: Assumpta est Maria in coelum, gaudet exercitus Angelorum—“Mary is taken up into heaven, the angelic host rejoices.” On the feast of St. Lawrence: Levita Laurentius bonum opus operatus est, qui per signum crucis caecos illuminavit—“Lawrence the Deacon wrought a good work, for he by the sign of the Cross gave sight to the blind.” On the feast of St. Francis of Assisi: Franciscus, pauper et humilis, coelum dives ingreditur, hymnis coelestibus honoratur—“Francis, poor and humble, entereth rich into heaven, and is honored with ecclesiastical hymns.”

The Gradual with the Alleluja chant for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus:

The adorable Name of Jesus is “light, food, medicine,” “honey to the mouth, music to the ear, joy to the heart:”³²⁴324Nomen Jesus lux, cibus, medicina. Lucet praedicatum, pascit recogitatum, invocatum lenit et ungit. . . . Jesus mel in ore, in aure melos, in corde jubilus (S. Bernard. In Cantica serm. 15, n. 5. 6). it is the sweetest, the most powerful, and the most glorious of all names. Now, throughout the Gradual unto the glory of this blessed Name resounds praise and a thanksgiving full of love,—and this chant of praise proceeds from the heart and mouth of the ransomed and privileged children of God. In full accord with it is the Epistle,³²⁵325Acts 4, 8–12. which announces to us that no other name than the Name of Jesus can bring us salvation and redemption, and the Gospel, too,³²⁶326Luke 2, 21. which proclaims to us that the Lord received this heavenly Name when for the first time He shed His blood for us. — On the Feast of Christ’s Transfiguration the following intermediary chant is heard:

The Gospel³²⁷327Matt. 17, 1–9. of the Feast of Thabor unveils to us the radiant glory of God, which at other times the Saviour always concealed under the lowly appearance of a servant; in the Epistle³²⁸3282 Peter 1, 16–19. the Prince of the Apostles narrates how on “the holy mountain” he had seen the resplendent glory of His Master and had heard the Heavenly Father’s voice “amid the brightness of His splendor.” Now whilst the Divine Spouse stands revealed to the eyes of His Church in radiant splendor and loveliness, how could she better pour out the enthusiastic and ravishing sentiments of her joyous feast, than she does in the aforesaid Gradual chant?

In the Mass of a feast (Vultum tuum) in honor of a Virgin we find the following Gradual chant:

The corresponding Epistle³²⁹3291 Cor. 7, 25–34. depicts the privileges, the glory and the blessedness of virginity embraced and vowed out of the love of God: the virgin strives to be holy in body and mind, in order to be able to serve and to please the Lord with an undivided heart. It is with the light of faith that she sees and contemplates the attractions of this angelic life; why should she not willingly and humbly follow the call of grace, inviting her thereto? This call is expressed p. 132in the Gradual with the assurance that the Lord Himself yearns for the soul adorned with such supernatural beauty of virtue. Thus runs the verse between the Allelujas. Wise and prudent is the virgin who dedicates and surrenders herself entirely and unreservedly to the Lord. The Gospel³³⁰330Matt. 13, 44–52; 25, 1–13. shows us the prudent virgin, representing her either as renouncing all things to obtain “the hidden treasure and the precious pearl” of the heavenly kingdom, or as going forth to meet the Heavenly Spouse with her lamp filled with oil and lighted, in order to celebrate the eternal nuptials.

The Gradual for the First Sunday after Pentecost:

Whosoever lovingly understands the sufferings, the wants, the poverty of his brethren; whosoever kindheartedly compassionates the sorrow-stricken and the abandoned, will, as a reward in the evil day, in the hour of dire distress be graciously freed by the Lord and be refreshed with heavenly consolation. This Gradual most significantly unites the Epistle and Gospel of the Sunday. The former depicts³³¹3311 John 4, 8–21. in sublime words the essence and greatness of God’s love for us and our love for God and our neighbor; the latter³³²332Luke 6, 36–40. recommends to us the virtues of mercy, meekness, forgiveness and love towards all our fellow-men.

The Gradual of a Votive Mass for the Sick is as follows:

Tormented by sufferings of body and soul, the invalid cries from his bed of pain to his God and Lord for health and cure. This urgent and confident appeal for assistance forms a suitable intermediate link between the readings. In the Epistle³³³333James 5, 13–16. the Apostle encourages us to receive the grace imparted by anointing, that is, by Extreme Unction, whereby “the merciful kindness of God” alleviates suffering, healing all manners of wounds and frailties. The words of the Centurion in the Gospel³³⁴334Matt. 8, 5–13. recall the boundless healing power of Christ, as well as the blessings and graces of the holy Viaticum.

3. The Gradual with the Tract. — At certain times the joyful Alleluja chant after the Gradual is silent, and its place is supplied by the Tract, which is of entirely different tenor. Whilst the Gradual with the annexed Alleluja assumes the form of a spirited hymn of joy, it goes over in the superadded Tract into a chant of a grave, mournful and penitential character.

Tractus is a musical term; it relates primarily not to the contents, but to the manner of delivery, that is, to the mode of singing. The peculiar, characteristic manner of singing called Tract consisted in this, that all the verses were continuously sung by one singer, that is, without the choir interrupting him by responding—and this was done in a slow, protracted measure.³³⁵335Tractus = the drawing, the extension, the slow movement of the words; tractim = in one strain, drawn, extended, slowly. — We find the Tract already in the most ancient Roman Ordos. Cantor dicit Responsum. Si fuerit tempus ut dicat Alleluja, bene; sin autem, Tractum; sin minus, tantummodo Responsum (Ordo Roman. I, n. 10). — Saeculo decimo complures sibi persuaserunt, quod tractim canere nihil aliud significaret, quam cunctanter lento et tristi tono canere; hinc jusserunt, ut non amplius unus, sed plures et quidem bini Tractum alternis canerent vicibus, ea tantum servata lege, ne chorus eos interrumperet (Krazer Sect. 4, art. 1, cap. 4, § 234). — Tractus dicitur a trahendo, vel quia lente et lugubriter cantatur, vel quia olim tractim et sine interruptione a cantore canebatur (De Carpo, Biblioth. liturg. p. 1, a. 2). This uniform and measured way of chanting is—in contrast to the animated alternate singing of the Gradual and Alleluja Verse—evidently suited for the expression of holy sorrow and penitential sentiments. For this reason the Tract has replaced the jubilant Alleluja, and already become long ago the peculiar characteristic of the Lenten rite: it occurs only on days especially devoted to quiet reflection upon one’s interior, to exercises of prayer and of mortification, to works of penance and fervent prayer for divine grace and mercy. What the sombre purple is to the eye on these days of earnest sorrow and penance, the touching chant of the Tract is to the ear—a sigh of penitential grief. — The Tract is a continuation or amplification of the Gradual, and according to its contents harmonizes with it: at times it expresses quietly sentiments of joy, of hope and confidence; but more frequently, however, it utters the prayer, the supplication, the plaint of a heart oppressed with distress and suffering, with contrition and love of God. — The Tract is nearly always taken from Holy Scripture, especially from the Psalter; often various biblical texts are freely joined together; only seldom is it partly or wholly of ecclesiastical origin. Sometimes it is longer, at others shorter; it always comprises—with but few exceptions—more than two verses, on three occasions (on the first Sunday of Lent, Palm Sunday and Good Friday) almost an entire Psalm. — Not all those days have a Tract on which the joyful Alleluja chant is omitted; it rather serves to distinguish certain more strict penitential days from others, or to bring the festive expression of some Masses more into harmony with the spirit of Lent. The most sorrowful day of the year—Good Friday—has a double Tract, while at other times but one is used.³³⁶336On Ember Saturdays the Tract follows the Epistle only, and thus closes the five chants (Graduals), that are annexed to the five preceding lessons and are, thus to speak, regarded as one single Gradual. Rupert of Deutz remarks on this circumstance, that on Ember Saturdays and on Wednesday in Holy Week, after the Epistle, as well as on Good Friday after the (two) lessons, not the Gradual with the Tract, but merely the Tract without the Gradual follows, whereby the expression of penitential sorrow is augmented in the highest degree (De divin. off. l. 5, c. 13).

The Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent were from the earliest period the most prominent as well as the strictest days of penance;³³⁷337They are called feriae legitimae, that is, official penitential days, the observance of which was transplanted from the East to the West. The mystical reasons taken from the symbolical number for selecting the feriae legitimae (fer. II. IV. VI.), on which in Lent is prescribed also the Office of the Dead, the Gradual Psalms and the Penitential Psalms for the choir, are given by Quadt, Die Liturgie der Quatembertage S. 111–112. hence they have a tract especially arranged for penitents and, with the exception of Wednesday in Holy Week, the Tract is always the same.

It is as follows:

This Tract is a fervent supplication for mercy, for the pardon of sin and for obtaining the assistance of grace to persevere in a life of virtue.³³⁸338Admiranda est virtus orationis versuum horum et omnino saluberrimum est mentali affectu cum attentione ingenti, cum praecordiali sapore hos sacros versus depromere, quoniam possibilius foret coelum et terram perire quam talem orationem inefficacem existere (Dion. Carthus. in Ps. 78. 8). When we sinned, we “loved vanity and sought lying,” we abandoned the fountain of living water and dug for ourselves broken cisterns: thus by sin we have become poor and wretched beyond expression. This we feel and acknowledge, humbled to the earth by the consciousness of guilt and pierced with sorrow; but cheered by hope, we cry to God for His mercy, which always outweighs the severity of His justice, and we implore the remission of the sins which we have committed, and a merciful preservation from fresh falls. For all this we pray, not indeed relying on our merits, but for the sake of the honor and name of God, that is, that God may thereby be glorified and praised. But to make our cry of supplication and our petition still more pressing, we bend the knee at the last verse in token of the most profound humility and of the most sorrowful compunction.

The Votive Mass of the Holy Ghost, when celebrated after Septuagesima, has the following chant between the Epistle,³³⁹339Acts 8, 14–17. which treats of the imparting of the Holy Spirit by the sacrament of Confirmation, and the Gospel,³⁴⁰340John 14, 23–31. which contains the promise of the Holy Ghost from the lips of the Lord.

The Gradual praises as happy the people that know and serve God, whose Head and King is, therefore, God the Lord. It then announces that by “the word” of the Lord the heavens were created and by His “Spirit” the splendor and adornment of the starry firmament and of the whole creation were accomplished; for in this verse the Fathers find an indication of the mystery of the Holy Trinity: in the term “Lord” of the Father, in the term “Word” of the Son, and in the term “Breath” of the Holy Ghost.

The Tract implores for the sending of the Spirit Creator, that He may renew not only the face of the earth by awakening the life of nature, but also the face of the human world by the light of truth and the power of grace, until all things be perfected and transformed. Inasmuch, then, as we consider the Holy Ghost as the source of spiritual joys, sweetnesses and consolations, we beseech Him to forestall us with the blessings of His goodness, and to enkindle in us the pure flame of heavenly love.

All the Mass formulas for the departed souls have the same unchangeable chant after the Epistle:

The ecclesiastical time has no influence whatever on the Requiem Mass which is ever uniformly the same, and it has, therefore, throughout the entire year a Gradual with a Tract,³⁴¹341Tam Graduale quam Tractus in Missis defunctorum nullam unquam mutationem subeunt; adeo luctuosa officia sunt Missae de Requiem, quae nobis objiciunt Purgatorii animas a facie Dei projectas, in immanissimis tormentorum generibus excruciatas, ut aptae haud sint suscipere vel intermixta admittere laetitiae signa, unde et respuunt vocem Alleluja (Cavalieri, Oper. liturg. III, c. 10, n. 3). which—p. 138with the exception of an inserted verse from the Psalms—was composed by the Church herself. As a tender solicitous Mother she begs of God the Father, that He would vouchsafe to take His and her suffering children out of purgatory into the peace of heaven and into the light of glory. The Church is encouraged thus to pray and intercede, because the souls that are expiating in purgatory, led here below God-fearing and devout lives: the just will live eternally in blessed remembrance, and he needs not fear the “very worst notice” of the sentence of condemnation from the lips of the Judge of the world. — She then implores the Lord to remove the last obstacle to glory; and whilst suddenly representing to herself these souls at the moment of their departure from the body and out of this world, she entreats for them a favorable judgment, that they may soon be admitted to the possession of eternal joys.

The Alleluja and Tract are, therefore, at different times annexed to the ordinary Gradual, in order to express the various interior sentiments of the Church. Although the times of Advent and Lent are in many respects liturgically framed alike, yet there is a distinction made with regard to the Alleluja. Advent is of a character partly grave and partly joyful; it is indeed still night, but the first rays of the dawn and of the Sun about to rise already chase away the dark shadows—Ab alto Jesus promicat. On the four Sundays of Advent, the sombre hue of the purple vestments of the Church announces the penitential spirit of the holy season, while the Alleluja after the Gradual gives expression to the joyful expectation.³⁴²342Quamvis cum gaudio boni servi spectent adventum Domini sui, tamen maximum gaudium recolunt in praesentia ejus (Amalar. De eccles. offic. l. 4, c. 30). — Adventus partim est laetitiae, quia Alleluja dicitur et cantus in jucunditate cantatur; partim tristitiae, quia Te Deum, Gloria in excelsis et Ite Missa est reticentur (Radulph. Tungren. De canon. observantia prop. 16). The Church stamps this season with the seal both of her joy and of her anxious solicitude; she intermingles the Alleluja amid her sighs, knowing well that “joy will drown all sorrow on that night which is brighter than the clearest day.”

The case is entirely different with respect to the period from Septuagesima until Easter.³⁴³343Cfr. Ivon. Carnot. serm. 12 de Septuagesima. This is the greatest and the strictest penitential season of the Church: hence the Alleluja is totally withheld from her lips.³⁴⁴344Alleluja certis quidem diebus cantamus, sed omni die cogitamus. Si enim hoc verbo significatur laus Dei, etsi non in ore carnis, certe in ore cordis—“semper laus ejus in ore meo”—Ps. 33, 2 (S. Aug. Enarr. in Ps. 106, n. 1). She is quite overwhelmed with sorrow and a holy sadness. She accompanies her Divine Spouse step by step on His bloody journey of suffering; she sighs and weeps over the malice and bitterness of sin, which runs riot everywhere on the earth, p. 139cursed by the Lord. As faithful children of the Church we should heed her admonition and exercise ourselves in works of penance. Our hearts, sullied by sin and the love of the world, we should bathe in the tears of sorrow and compunction before we presume to permit that hymn of pure souls, the Alleluja, to again cross our lips.³⁴⁵345Cfr. Regul. s. Benedicti c. 15. Speciale caput s. Benedictus instituit de Alleluja, tanquam de voce divina vereque angelica nec nisi ab Angelis aut certe ab hominibus vitae puritate angelicos spiritus imitantibus decantanda (Martene, Regul. commentata l. c.). Sinners that we are, do we not in our poverty famish here in exile, far from the haven of true peace? Yes, the new happy Jerusalem is our true home; it constitutes, already now, for us life’s greatest joy and the heart’s never-to-be-forgotten love. The remembrance of the eternal Sion awakens profound sadness in the soul, and the tears of homesickness are never dried from the eyes, since we are pilgrims in a foreign land and are sitting by the rivers of the worldly Babylon.³⁴⁶346Quid sunt flumina Babylonis, nisi fluxus labilis vitae mundanorum, qui nunquam requiescit et ad mare mortis aeternae perducit? Ille ergo sedet super flumina Babylonis, qui intra seipsum recollectus, mente considerat inquietum et amarum statum vitae mundanorum. Quod cum quis consideraverit et recordatus fuerit, quanta sit quies quantaque gloria Sion, scil. civitatis supernae, dum se in Babylone videt peregrinum, statim ad fletum et lacrymas consurgit (Ayguanus [Ord. Carm. † 1416] in Ps. 136). This Babylon invites to enjoyment and sensuality, to play and to frivolity, and with its cup of deceitful pleasure it seeks ever to intoxicate one and all. And right here it is necessary to withstand temptation, to save one’s self from corruption. We must not allow ourselves to be carried away in the torrent of vain perishable things, nor to be swept away into the vortex of sensuality and passion, but, reflecting and praying, we must remain on the shore and weep tears of desire for the celestial Sion. How could we sing a joyful hymn in a strange land? The Alleluja—that chant of the heavenly Jerusalem—ceases, therefore, to resound during the season of Lent, which so deeply impresses our hearts with consciousness of the misery of our earthly banishment and pilgrimage; the modest, humble and tranquil melody of the Tract alone expresses our silent grief, our longing, our petition to be heard, our lament and hope.³⁴⁷347Cuncti tractus fletum et tristitiam in humilitate sonorum denuntiant. Tristitiae tempus exigit, ut Alleluja, quod laetantium carmen est, intermitteretur. Bene ergo tractus, qui interim pro Alleluja cantatur, altitudinem atque excellentiam gaudii, gravi succentu et modestis declinat incessibus (Rup. Tuit. De div. off. l. 4, c. 6). Yet we lovingly cling to the jubilant Alleluja chant, and only reluctantly separate ourselves from it; and this we express at the Vespers on the Saturday preceding Septuagesima,³⁴⁸348According to the prescription of St. Benedict the Alleluja was sung usque ad caput Quadragesimae, that is, until the first Sunday of Lent; this was customary in many Orders of Monks (Benedictines and Cistercians) for a long period, and it is still in use in the Ambrosian Rite. Thus writes Radulph of Rivo, Dean of Tungern († 1403): Benedictini et Ambrosiani servant Alleluja usque ad Dominicam Quadragesimae (De canon. observantia, prop. 16). — The Breviary ascribes the present practice to St. Gregory the Great: constituit, ut extra id tempus, quod continetur Septuagesima et Pascha, Alleluja diceretur. by repeating twice the Alleluja p. 140after the Benedicamus Domino and Deo gratias.³⁴⁹349In the Middle Age were sung on the eve of Septuagesima as a farewell to the Alleluja Antiphons, Hymns and Sequences, filled with childlike naïveté and simplicity (cf. Guéranger, Le temps de la Septuagésime, p. 121 s. — Mone, Latein. Hymnen I, 86 etc. — Sicard. Mitral. l. 6, c. 1). And after that it resounds no more within the hallowed precincts of the sanctuary, until it is again introduced with a certain solemnity and intoned in the High Mass on the vigil of the feast of Easter. Then after the Epistle the Alleluja forms the beginning of the Gradual chant, and is sung three times alternately by the priest and the choir, the tone rising at each Alleluja. As Easter dawns, not only the Tract but also the Gradual must now be laid aside; the joyful peal of the Alleluja during Eastertide appears never to cease.

4. The major Alleluja (without Gradual). — The Hebrew word Alleluia signifies literally: “Praise the Lord!”³⁵⁰350In view of the joy and consolation found in the pious death (mors pia vel sacra) of the Christian (Beati mortui, qui in Domino moriuntur—Apoc. 14, 13), the Alleluja formerly was sung even in the liturgy of the dead; this is still the case among the Greeks who even during Quadragesima do not omit the Alleluja. From Rome St. Jerome writes (Ad Oceanum ep. 77), that at the funeral obsequies of Fabiola “Psalms were sung and the Allelujas resounding aloft re-echoed throughout the gilded ceilings of the temples” (sonabant psalmi et aurata tecta templorum reboans in sublime quatiebat Alleluja). — Even outside of divine worship in the primitive times of Christianity, the chant of the Alleluja was very common. Thus St. Jerome remarks, that young children even had been trained to sing the Alleluja balbutiente lingua, and that in the fields of Bethlehem this chant might everywhere be heard (Quocunque te verteris, arator stivam tenens Alleluja decantat). Seamen sang the Alleluja amid the echoes of the shore (responsantibus ripis—Sidon. Apollin. l. 2, ep. 10). In many places it was customary by this word to call the inmates of the convent to the hours of common prayer. And because it has a peculiar meaning and dignity, a force of expression and emphasis peculiarly its own, it has not been translated into other languages.³⁵¹351Illud advertendum, multo majorem vim apud Hebraeos habere hanc vocem Alleluja quam apud Latinos Laudate Deum; hoc est enim exhortantis vel excitantis ad Deo laudes reddendas: at Alleluja vim potius habet interjectionis quam verbi, et vehementem sonat affectum acclamantis prae gaudio et ex laude Dei exsultantis atque in jubilum vocemque laetitiae erumpentis (Bona, De divin. Psalm. c. 16, § 7, n. 7). — Alleluja vox hebraica est et sonat “laudate Dominum” vel “laus Deo”, cum gaudii tamen laetitiaeque plenitudine (Carli, Biblioth. liturg. s. h. v.). Thus in the cry of the Alleluja are the tongues of all nations lifted up in unison to praise and adore God even here on earth with one voice and one sound, as will most perfectly be done in the world to come.³⁵²352Rectissime et pulcherrime generalis sanctae Ecclesiae mos inolevit, ut hoc divinae laudationis carmen propter reverentiam primae auctoritatis a cunctis per orbem fidelibus hebraea voce cantetur. Quod ideo fit, ut per talis consonantiam devotionis admoneatur Ecclesia, quia et nunc in una fidei confessione ac dilectione Christi consistere debeat, et ad illam in futuro patriam festinare, in qua nulla diversitas mentium, nulla est dissonantia linguarum (Beda Venerabilis l. 2, hom. 10). The blessed inhabitants of the heavenly Jerusalem—who are the angels and saints—sing without ceasing or intermission their endless Alleluja, as already Tobias (13, 21–22) announced in prophetic vision: “The gates of Jerusalem shall be built of sapphire and of emerald and all the wall thereof round about of precious stones. All its streets shall be paved with white and clean stones, and Alleluja shall be sung in its streets” (per vicos ejus Alleluja cantabitur). The virginal Prophet and beloved Disciple describes a vision which he beheld in heaven: “After these things I heard, as it were, the voice of many multitudes in heaven, saying: Alleluja. Salvation and power and glory is to our God. And I heard the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunders, saying: Alleluja! for the Lord our God the Almighty hath reigned. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath prepared herself” (Apoc. 19, 1. 6. 7). The souls of the blessed in heaven overflow with joy and happiness; hence their language becomes a canticle of praise. “The saints shall rejoice in glory; they shall be joyful in their beds. The high praises of God shall be in their mouth” (Ps. 149, 5–6). Thus they continue for all eternity in heaven, what upon earth was their delight and felicity; for the Church sings in an Antiphon: In velamento clamabant Sancti tui, Domine: Alleluja, Alleluja, Alleluja—“When clothed with mortality, Thy Saints, O Lord, cried out: Alleluja, Alleluja, Alleluja.”

The literal meaning of the word Alleluja (hallĕlū = praise, iah = God) is no longer clearly felt; in the mouth of the Church the word Alleluja becomes transformed and perpetuated as a powerful cry of joy and exultation, and especially of happy Easter jubilation.³⁵³353Quinquagesima (the fifty days of Eastertide) ab ipso dominicae resurrectionis die inchoare et gaudiis potius laudibusque divinis quam jejuniis (Patres nostri) voluerunt esse celebrem, quatenus annuis ejus festis dulcius admoneremur, desiderium nostrum ad obtinenda festa, semper accendere fixumque tenere, quia non in tempore mortalitatis hujus, sed in aeternitate futurae incorruptionis vera nobis quaerenda felicitas, vera est invenienda solemnitas, ubi cessantibus cunctis languoribus tota in Dei visione ac laude vita geritur—juxta hoc quod propheta corde pariter et carne in Deum vivum exsultans ajebat: “Beati qui habitant in domo tua, Domine; in saecula saeculorum laudabunt te” (Ps. 83). Unde merito Quinquagesimae diebus in memoriam hujus nostrae quietissimae ac felicissimae actionis crebrius ac festivius Alleluja canere solemus (Bed. Venerab. l. 2, homil. 10). — Dum s. Gertrudis cum devotione et intentione omnes vires et sensus tam interiores quam exteriores extenderet, et se ad cantandum Matutinas in gloriam Dominicae resurrectionis praepararet, dum imponeretur Invitatorium Alleluja, dixit ad Dominum: “Doce me, instructor benignissime, quali devotione te laudare possim per Alleluja, quod toties in festo isto repetitur.” Respondit Dominus: “Convenientissime poteris me per Alleluja collaudare in unione laudis supercoelestium qui per idem jugiter collaudant in coelis.” Et adjecit Dominus: “Nota igitur quod in illa dictione Alleluja omnes vocales inveniuntur praeter solam vocalem o, quae dolorem signat, et pro illa duplicatur prima, scil. vocalis a.” (S. Gertrud. Legat. divinae pietatis l. 4, c. 27). The Church on earth is midway between the Synagogue and p. 142the heavenly Jerusalem: accordingly the cry of the Alleluja resounds more frequently in the divine worship than it did in the service of the Old Law, but yet not with us, as it peals forth in the Church Triumphant without interruption. This “cry of triumphant praise and salvation” (Ps. 117, 15), which descended from heaven to our poor earth, resounds in the liturgy principally from Holy Saturday until the Saturday after Pentecost; for this great octave of weeks (called Eastertide at one season and Whitsuntide at another) is throughout of a joyful nature. The celebration of holy Eastertide is nothing else than the triumph of the Redeemer and the Redemption, that is, the celebration of the victory over sin, death and hell. Here all in the liturgy refers to the eternal blessed life of glory, upon which Christ has entered and which He has acquired for us. The three joyful and most glorious mysteries—namely, the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, as well as the descent of the Holy Ghost, are sources of true and lasting joy, so that for a time we seem to forget the combats and labors of our earthly pilgrimage, the place of our banishment, and full of joy and gratitude we chime in the Alleluja of the citizens of heaven, without ever becoming weary of repeating it again and again. The Alleluja is the outpouring of that grand Easter joy with which our hearts are filled to overflowing; it is the festive song, the exultant cry over the happiness and the glory of our Redemption.

What is the form of the Alleluja chant after the Epistle during Eastertide? While the Gradual is still retained during Easter-week, it is omitted on the Saturday before Low Sunday, and thenceforth until the feast of Holy Trinity two Allelujas are sung (as Antiphons) followed by two verses, each with an Alleluja. “The Gradual as a canticle of mourning is omitted at Eastertide, and the Alleluja is repeated almost without measure, to note that salvation has been, by the death and resurrection of Christ, purchased for us and the way to eternal joys has been opened, where with all the blessed we shall sing to our Lord an eternal Alleluja.” (Ein Vergissmeinnicht S. 78). — On the feast of Christ’s Ascension the Epistle and Gospel narrate the glorious entrance of the world’s Redeemer into His eternal glory and beatitude. The intermediate chant likewise announces this triumphant and solemn entrance of Christ.

When in His painful struggle with the powers of darkness, the Lord had by the humility of the Cross overcome Satan and his power, He entered victoriously and gloriously into the Holy of Holies of Heaven, which is the true Sinai, the throne of His divine glory revealing itself; the angelic choirs rejoiced and exulted, when the King of Glory came up “leading captivity captive,” namely, bringing with Him the just and devout of ancient times, whom He delivered as the prize of victory from Limbo, and introduced into the kingdom of eternal light as captives of His redeeming and blissful love. That the Gradual is still continued during Easter-week appears strange. Is not the liturgy of the Easter vigil already radiant with the splendor of light and fire, does it not resound throughout with the joyous exultation of the Resurrection? Does not the Church cry out during the entire week: Haec dies, quam fecit Dominus: exsultemus et laetemur in ea—“This is the day, that the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad thereon”? (Ps. 117, 24.)³⁵⁴354Merito cantatur hic versiculus in die Paschae tam frequenter, quoniam Christus, sol justitiae, candor lucis aeternae, lux lucis et fons luminis, qui erat in die Parasceves passionis caligine obscuratus atque in monumento lapideo tanquam densissima nube absconditus, in die Paschae de sepulcro glorificatus, candidus et rubicundus processit, illuminans mundum, noctem infidelitatis et tenebras ignorantiae de cordibus discipulorum ejiciens (Dion. Carthus. in Ps. 117, 23). Assuredly it is so; already during the night of the Resurrection does our Lord turn our lament into joy, unloosen our garb of penance and gird us with bliss (Ps. 29, 12). During the first thousand years of Christianity the Church had a special reason for inserting the Gradual throughout the octave of Easter; this reason lay in the peculiar form of divine worship at that time. It had reference almost exclusively to the newly baptized, who on Holy Saturday by means of the laver of regeneration had risen to a new life; during the entire week they were instructed in the truths and mysteries of the Christian religion, and went about wearing white robes all the while in token of the innocence and holiness acquired in baptism.³⁵⁵355In the Gregorian Sacramentary all the days of Easter week are designated as feriae in Albis. On Saturday the baptismal solemnities were ended and the white garment was laid aside.³⁵⁶356As the practice varied in the different churches, this did not take place in many localities until Sunday; hence we still have the name Sabbatum in Albis and Dominica in Albis scil. depositis. In ancient liturgical books the octave day of the feast of Easter is also called Dominica post Albas (depositas). Like the rest of the liturgical celebration, the Gradual of Easter-week was also arranged with special regard to the neophytes.³⁵⁷357Graduale, quod est cantus laborantium in hac peregrinatione, jam dictum est ad hos dies resurrectionis usque in Pentecosten non pertinere, sed propter baptizatos per hanc hebdomadam in officiis additum esse (Rupert. Tuit., De divin. offic. l. 8, c. 1). This is beyond a doubt; but the difficulty is to determine more minutely what in reality was the purpose and meaning of the Gradual for the newly baptized.

The Gradual lies midway between the mournful Tract and the exultant Alleluja: it denotes the laborious and difficult pilgrimage of the children of God through life to their heavenly country.³⁵⁸358Graduale significat non jam requiem remuneratorum, sed laborem operantium (Rupert. Tuit. l. 1, c. 24). Therefore, at one time the Gradual is connected with the Tract, at another with the Alleluja,—according as the sufferings and pains of penance or the consolations and hopes of future eternal rest predominate in our earthly pilgrimage.³⁵⁹359Post lectionem cantatur a choro Graduale, quod significat profectum vitae, et Alleluja, quod significat spiritualem exsultationem, vel Tractus in officiis luctuosis, quod significat spiritualem gemitum: haec enim consequi debent in populo ex praedicta doctrina (S. Thom. 3, q. 83, a. 4). At certain times the Gradual is entirely omitted or it gives place to the Tract, for the reason that grief of soul has reached its profoundest depths, as on Good Friday, or is displaced by the Alleluja, because the soul, as it were, forgets the earth and can but rejoice with the blessed of heaven, as during Eastertide. When, therefore, the Church still sang the Gradual in Easter-week, this was for the newly baptized a significant admonition for them to note, that, during the whole term of their earthly pilgrimage, they must ever advance in the midst of labors and combats from virtue to virtue, until the day of perfect redemption and eternal transformation shall have dawned for them.³⁶⁰360In hoc quidem tempore peregrinationis nostrae ad solatium viatici dicimus Alleluja: modo nobis Alleluja canticum est viatoris, tendimus autem per viam laboriosam ad quietam patriam, ubi retractis omnibus actionibus non remanebit nisi Alleluja (S. Aug. Sermo 255, n. 1). — Graduale illi convenit, qui necdum ascendit de virtute in virtutem, sed in convalle plorationis positus, jam tamen ascensiones in corde suo disposuit—Ps. 83 (Rupert. Tuit. l. c.). The time for the happy consummation of their pilgrimage and arrival in the heavenly Jerusalem was symbolized by the Saturday, on which day the Gradual was omitted. This Saturday was the octave-day of solemn baptism; but the octave symbolized eternal beatitude. — To this we may add the following reflection. The time of Septuagesima in a wider sense, that is, the days from Septuagesima Sunday until Easter, are accounted by all liturgists of the Middle Age as a reminder of the Seventy Years Captivity, during which the Jews sat on the banks of the rivers of Babylon and wept, mindful of their home in Sion. This Babylonian exile is itself a figure of our life upon earth, where we are sojourning at a distance from the face of the Lord, sighing for the perfect liberty, in the heavenly Jerusalem, of the children of God. All those days on which the Alleluja is silent belong to the time of Septuagesima, which is intended, in the first place, to represent symbolically to us the Babylonian Captivity and then, furthermore, the life of man as an exile in this world. Frequently Easter-Week also is comprised in Septuagesima; for including it up to Septuagesima Sunday and counting backwards, we have precisely seventy days; but it is difficult to see how the jubilant p. 145Easter-Week could have the same meaning and purpose as the foregoing period of penance.³⁶¹361Rupert of Deutz considers this assertion as preposterous, and adds: Quis enim dies indignius captivitatem significare videtur, quam ille, quo victo captivatore Dominus resurrexit? (L. 4, c. 1.) Only in a very limited sense can there be admitted a certain kind of connection between the liturgy of Easter-Week and Septuagesima,—namely, in as far as the Saturday in its character as the octave-day symbolizes the eternal rest and liberty of the children of God. On the feast of Easter the Church celebrates the glory and beauty of the Risen Saviour, as well as the spiritual resurrection of the newly baptized from the death of sin to the life of grace. This festive idea finds its realization and further development in the liturgy of the entire Easter-Octave, which is but a prolonged festal celebration, forming but one joyful day, as the Antiphon of the Gradual continually announces: “This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice thereon!” The different effects of baptismal grace just received by the neophytes are brought before the eyes of the newly baptized with reference to the figurative guidance and deliverance of the chosen people in the Old Law; these effects of grace find their fulfilment in this, that after the pilgrimage of this life the newly baptized will be allowed to enter the kingdom of glory. The Saturday, on which the celebration of the Easter-Octave ends, announces at the very beginning of the Introit of Mass, how “God led His people amid triumph and His chosen ones in the midst of rejoicing”³⁶²362Eduxit Dominus populum suum in exsultatione: et electos suos in laetitia (Ps. 104, 43). from the land of banishment and introduces them to the mansions of eternal joy—in this sense it indicates the end of our exile on earth. — This idea is, therefore, in perfect harmony with the direction that the Gradual be sung during the whole of Easter-Week, because the main feature of the celebration of these days had reference to the newly baptized: they were thereby to be admonished that their joy would be perfect only when they would be permitted to behold and possess God in the heavenly Sion. The ancient baptismal rite has long since fallen into disuse, but the Gradual in Easter-Week has been retained. On Easter Saturday the Gradual gives place to the major Alleluja which, strictly speaking, ushers in the Eastertide.

5. The Sequence. — On certain days the Alleluja’s joyful praise³⁶³363Post Alleluja Sequentia jubilatur (Consuetud. Cluniac. l. 1, c. 43). or the mournful melody of the Tract continues to resound in a prolonged canticle, which is universally called Sequence (Sequentia): the sentiment of joy or sorrow already awakened finds its greatest intensity and its fullest expression in the Sequence. How did the Sequences originate, and at what time were they inserted in the liturgy? Already before the ninth century it was customary to continue singing melodiously the last syllable of the Alleluja (ia), without any further text. To this harmonious series of many notes to one syllable, that is, to this textless melody, different names were given, for example, Neuma, Jubilus, Jubilatio, Sequentia.³⁶⁴364This extension of the Alleluja according to Cardinal Bona (Rer. lit. II, c. 6, § 5) is called Sequence, quia est quaedam veluti sequela et appendix cantici Alleluja, quae sine verbis post ipsum sequitur. Probably sequentia is = regulated succession or series (cfr. Boeth., De Arithmetica l. 1, c. 10 et c. 23). Such Neumae (songs without words) are an exultation and a shouting of the soul carried away with holy enthusiasm; they indicate the transcendent joy of the blessed, which is endless and unspeakable;—for so surpassingly great and above all measure is the happiness of heaven, that the feeble language of poor mortals has not words adequately to express it.³⁶⁵365Pneumata, quae in Alleluja fiunt, jubilum significant, qui fit, cum mens aliquando sic in Deum afficitur et dulcedine quadam ineffabili liquescit, ut quod sentit, plene effari non possit. Beatus populus, qui scit jubilationem (Ps. 88), id est, qui saepe experitur et praegustat hanc dulcedinem, et sic interius movetur, ut quod praesentit nec dicere sufficiat nec possit tacere (Robert. Paulul. De offic. eccl. l. 2, c. 19. — Cfr. S. Aug. Enarr. in Ps. 99, n. 4). In the ninth century various hymnal verses began to be set to these joyful airs, and to them the name Sequence was then transferred.³⁶⁶366The other name for these hymns is Prosa. It is meant to indicate that in the Sequences neither metrical rules nor a homogeneous arrangement of stanzas are strictly observed, as is the case with actual hymns (cf. Clichtoveus, Elucidator. eccl. l. 4). The first composition of such chants as well as their introduction into the celebration of Mass is ascribed to St. Notker (Balbulus, the Stammerer) of St. Gall († 912); “at the time his equal was not to be found, he was a vessel of the Holy Ghost” and “favored by God with the gift of divine praise for the edification of the faithful.” Such religious poems soon won great public praise and were extensively circulated; they increased to that extent, that (exclusive of Septuagesima time) every Sunday and almost every feast had a Sequence. Among many inappropriate compositions, not a few excellent chants, full of lyrical animation, are to be found. The revised Roman Missal has retained but five Sequences, which serve to distinguish particular feasts (Easter, Whitsuntide, Corpus Christi and the bi-annual feast of the Seven Dolors of the Mother of God, also the Sequence for Requiem Masses). Even though the authors of the Sequences cannot always be assigned with certainty,³⁶⁷367In all probability the Easter Sequence Victimae paschali is erroneously ascribed to St. Peter Damian († 1072); in an Einsiedeln manuscript (Schubiger, Sängerschule von St. Gallen S. 91 etc.) of the eleventh century, the court chaplain of Conrad II., Wipo of Burgundy, is mentioned as its author. — The Pentecost Sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus is said to have been composed by King Robert of France († 1031), or by Innocent III. († 1216). — St. Thomas († 1274) sang the Sequence on the feast of Corpus Christi. — It is said that the Stabat Mater was composed by Jacopone da Todi († about 1306), and the Dies irae by Thomas of Celano († about 1255). nevertheless, these hymns “proved how completely in those golden ages of devotion men might be the tongues of the Church, so to p. 147speak, and express her holiest feelings” (Wiseman). The five Sequences of our Missal belong incontestably to the most glorious and most sublime creations of the hymnology of the Church; they are variegated but equally fragrant blossoms “of Christian poetry, of that poetry, forsooth, which sings on earth the mysteries of heaven and prepares us for the canticles of eternity” (Guéranger); each of them has its peculiar beauties and excellencies.³⁶⁸368Cf. Gihr, Die Sequenzen des römischen Messbuches dogmatisch und ascetisch erklärt. Freiburg 1887. — “After the Alleluja the Sequence is sung; they are too long to be quoted here, but the greater part of them and especially those for ancient and great feasts are very lovely and Christian chants. Would to God that all Christians had these beautiful Sequences as beautiful and as lovely in their own languages as they are in Latin!” (Ein Vergissmeinnicht S. 79.)

a) The Easter Sequence Victimae paschali, which in the Middle Age found numerous imitations, is a dulce canticum dramatis, a sweet dramatical chant, in the form of a dialogue, that sings the praises of the glorious Resurrection of the Saviour. In the first place, the Christians are therein exhorted to offer, out of gratitude, sacrifices of praise to our true Easter-Lamb, Jesus Christ: why? Christ the Lamb of God was immolated to purchase and redeem the sheep; Christ the Good Shepherd, innocence itself, laid down His life for His flock, that He might reconcile the guilty to His Father. Death and life struggled together, engaged in a marvelous combat: the Prince of Life, who had died, reigns in the imperishable life of glory. Then Mary Magdalene is appealed to as an eye-witness of the Resurrection; and she is questioned: Dic nobis, Maria, quid vidisti in via? — “Tell us, O Mary, what thou hast seen in the way?” She testifies to and bases her answer on the Lord’s Resurrection: “I saw the tomb of the Living One and the glory of the Resuscitated; as witnesses of this, I beheld the Angels, the napkin and the linen cloths.” And triumphantly she adds: Surrexit Christus spes mea—“Christ, my hope, is risen,” and she announces to the Apostles that the Risen One will go before them into Galilee. Upon this assertion follows the joyful acknowledgment of the faithful: Scimus Christus surrexisse a mortuis vere—“We know that Christ is truly risen from the dead.” This Easter hymn concludes with the fervent petition, that the King of Glory, who has overcome the sting of death, may have mercy on us (tu nobis victor Rex miserere).

b) The Sequence for Whitsunday, Veni sancte Spiritus, can have come but from a heart wholly inflamed with the fire of the Holy Ghost. It is an incomparable hymn, breathing of the sweetness of Paradise, and regaling us with heaven’s sweet fragrance. Only the soul when buried in deep recollection can suspect and taste what wealth of deep thought and affections this Pentecost hymn contains, and that, too, in a form remarkable as much for beauty as for p. 148brevity.³⁶⁹369Omni commendatione superior est, tum ob miram ejus suavitatem cum facilitate apertissima, tum ob gratam ejus brevitatem cum ubertate et copia sententiarum, tum denique ob concinnam ejus in contextu venustatem, qua opposita inter se aptissimo nexu compacta cernuntur. Crediderimque facile, auctorem ipsum (quisquis is fuerit) cum hanc contexuit orationem, coelesti quadam dulcedine fuisse perfusum interius, qua Spiritu sancto auctore tantam eructavit verbis adeo succinctis suavitatem (Clichtov. Elucidat. eccles. l. 4). The entire hymn is an ardent and devout supplication to the Holy Ghost, in which, on the one hand, His mysterious, blissful imparting of grace is depicted in a manner uncommonly tender and charming, and, on the other hand, also the wants and indigence of our earthly pilgrimage is represented in a manner exceedingly simple and touching. The Holy Ghost is called by the Church: Digitus paternae dexterae—“The finger of God’s right hand,” that is, the Treasurer and Dispenser of all the gifts and graces which Christ has merited for us. But He not only donates to our poverty His riches, but He comes Himself and dwells in a sanctified soul as in His living temple: He thus becomes in it “a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting” (John 4, 14). How beautifully expressed is the strong and ardent desire for the joyful coming of the Holy Ghost into the soul, in the four consecutive invocations:³⁷⁰370To this Sequence also apply the beautiful words, written by Denis the Carthusian in reference to the hymn Veni Creator Spiritus: Hunc hymnum cum omni puritate et elevatione mentis ad superdulcissimum Spiritum sanctum cantemus. Cumque nihil impedit nos a desiderata plenitudine susceptionis Spiritus sancti et exuberantia charismatum ejus, nisi negligentiae nostrae, distractiones corporeae et vitia, praesertim sensuales affectus, satagamus haec omnia evitare ac erubescamus, Dominum illum majestatis immensae, hospitem sanctitatis atque munditiae penitus infinitae, invitare ad visitandum, ingrediendum et inhabitandum corda nostra adhuc imparata ac sordida. Mente ergo contrita, recollecta, affectuosa invocemus, laudemus, adoremus Spiritum sanctum. Toto corde afficiamur ad eum, cujus omnia attributa, proprietates et nomina dulcedinem redolent, amabilissima exstant consolationemque largiuntur (Hymn. aliq. veter. eccles. Enarratio). “Veni”—“Come,” O Holy Ghost! And why these supplications and sighs, why this passionate desire? Because the Holy Ghost is “the Father of the poor, Dispenser of gifts, the Light of hearts;” because He is “the best Consoler, the gracious Guest, the sweet Refreshment of the soul;” because He is “our Rest in labor, our Alleviation in heat and our Solace in weeping.” — “O most blessed Light,” continues the Church in her prayer to the Holy Ghost, “fill the inmost hearts of Thy faithful! Without Thy will there is nothing in man, nothing harmless.” And because our wretchedness is unspeakably great and manifold, the Church goes on imploring for her children: “Wash what is soiled, water what is parched, heal what is wounded. Bend what is stiff, warm what is cold, guide what is astray.” As at the beginning, she repeats at the close with equal ardor and earnestness four consecutive times the petition: “Da”—“Give,” O Holy Ghost! “Give to Thy faithful confiding in Thee Thy p. 149sevenfold gifts. Give them the merit of virtue; give a happy end, give them never-ending joy.”

c) The Lauda Sion, the Sequence for the feast of Corpus Christi, belongs to those “quasi-inspired hymns, in which the Church combines the precision of dogmatic teaching with a grace and sweetness of sound more like unto an echo from heaven than the song of mere earthly poetry” (Faber). St. Thomas, the Angel of the Schools, is the author of this hymn of praise to the adorable Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Altar; he reveals therein the profound learning of a cherub, as well as the inflamed love of a seraph; with a clearness and a penetration of thought only equalled by ardor of feeling he unveils the hidden, unfathomable riches, beauties and sweetnesses of the Holy Eucharist, which is our heaven in this vale of tears and sin. “One of the most useful literary productions of St. Thomas, in which the Church even now takes great delight, is the Office of the Blessed Sacrament, which on the occasion of the institution of the feast of Corpus Christi, Pope Urban IV. engaged St. Thomas to compose. Not only are the psalms and antiphons, lessons and responsories chosen by him replete with the most beautiful and fruitful references to the mystery of the Altar, but also the hymns composed by him, as the Pange lingua, Sacris Solemniis, Verbum supernum and Lauda Sion, are full of fervor and devotion and pearls beyond price in the hymnal treasury of the Church. The same grand mind, that like the whale dived down into the lowest depths of the sea of Christian speculation, and like the lion destroyed with fiery strength the errors against faith, soared like the eagle into the greatest heights of Christian poetry. No element pertaining to the Deity was foreign to him.”³⁷¹371Laurent, Hagiolog. Pr. II, 388. Incomparably beautiful and heartfelt are the concluding words, wherein the Church prays to the Saviour as the Good Shepherd concealed in the Sacrament, that He would here below guide the sheep purchased with His precious blood, protect them and finally lead them to the evergreen pastures of Paradise.

d) How touching, how affecting is the Stabat Mater, this doleful lamentation on the Sorrowful Mother of God! At first the Sequence depicts the overwhelming anguish and indescribable compassion (compassio) of the Virgin Mother with the bitter sufferings and death of her Divine Son; she had to become the Mother of Sorrows, because her Son was the Man of Sorrows. She stood at p. 150the foot of the Cross wholly plunged in grief (dolorosa) and bathed in tears (lacrymosa), while her Son was shedding all His blood on the Cross;—but she stood there as the valiant woman and as the Queen of Martyrs (stabat). “Who, unmoved, can behold her bewailing her Son?” — Therefore, the loving soul implores the Sorrowful Mother, that she would permit us to realize and share her grief. “Holy Mother, grant that the wounds of the Crucified may be deeply impressed in my heart.” — “Grant that I may be wounded by His wounds, that I may be inebriated with His Cross and with the blood of thy Son.” — Finally, there follows a supplication to Christ for the full fruit of His redeeming sufferings: “When my body shall die, then grant that the glory of Paradise be given to my soul!”³⁷²372The Stabat mater dolorosa is outwardly simple in form and versification: and this, indeed, is precisely the mark of true poetry, which with little outward show, almost unadorned, attains the highest object, and understands how to place in the most simple form the richest contents. If we abstract from its form in order to briefly grasp the contents of the beautiful Sequence, we observe that they also are very simply arranged. The first, second and fourth stanzas in a few words unfold the historical event which took place beneath the Cross, according to St. John (19, 25) and St. Luke (23, 35). The remaining stanzas, on the contrary, contain reflections, affections, petitions and resolutions, that the passion and death of Christ may, in view of the sorrows of His holy Mother, not be devoid of fruit for us, but may impart to us vigor in life, comfort in suffering, and in the end be to us the source of bliss. . . Happily and beautifully does the form bear out the context in this poem. The solemn, sonorous beginning places us at once in the mournfulness of the occasion. How resigned is the language in the resolutions, how gentle in the petitions, how melodious when announcing in advance the happiness of Paradise, in the last stanza in which the soul longs for heaven!” (Kröll, Kanzelreden II, 870 etc.)

e) The grandest, the most magnificent hymn of the Church is the chant for the funeral rites, the world-renowned and never sufficiently admired Dies irae. “Remarkable for majesty, sublimity and affective power in language of the most childlike simplicity and expressiveness through its realistic illustration and great poetical value, its words fall upon the soul as claps of thunder. Very appropriate to its contents is also the choice of the three-versed stanza, with the touching pause in its movement.” (Lüft.) As to contents and form this hymn is a perfect work of art; the judgment of all connoisseurs designates it as the most sublime composition that human genius ever produced in this style of poetry.³⁷³373Cf. Oswald, Eschatologie, 3. Abschn., 3. Hauptst., No. 6. The terrors of the general judgment, before which all the vain pride of this world shall sink into dust and ashes, are depicted in this chant for the dead in lines of such dread sublimity and grand simplicity, that the soul spontaneously imagines herself removed to the gates of eternity, and already beforehand feels penetrated with the woes and dread of that day of tribulation and anguish, of lamentation and misery. “What trembling, what trepidation shall there be, when the Omniscient p. 151Judge shall appear, about to judge all things most rigorously! When the Judge shall take His seat, all that is hidden, shall be revealed, and no crime shall be left unpunished. The trumpet will sound its wonderful blast throughout the graves of earth, and shall compel all mankind before the throne of the Judge. Death and nature will stand aghast, when the creature shall arise to answer its Judge.” — The contemplation of so terrifying a spectacle draws from sinful man in alarm the exclamation: “What shall I, poor wretch, be pleading? Who for me be interceding, When the just are mercy needing?” There is nothing left for him to do than to have recourse to the mercy of the “King of dreadful majesty.” This is done in the following heartfelt, humble, childlike and trustful appeal for grace and favor: “Think, kind Jesus, my salvation Caused Thy wondrous Incarnation—Leave me not to reprobation. Faint and weary Thou hast sought me, On the Cross of suffering bought me; Shall such grace in vain be brought me? Righteous Judge of Retribution, Grant Thy gift of absolution Ere that Reck’ning Day’s conclusion.” The concluding petition is for all the faithful departed: “O good Lord Jesus, give rest unto them.”

The insertion in their respective Masses of the last two Sequences (Stabat Mater and Dies irae) belongs to a later period and, strictly considered, is to be regarded as a departure from the general rule; for from the beginning, Sequences were throughout festive and joyful chants which followed the Alleluja and replaced the sounds of jubilant praise without text. The Dies irae always follows the Tract, while the Stabat Mater is either appended to the Tract or to the Alleluja Canticle. To both Sequences are the words of Wiseman applicable: “Even when the Church mourns, she must have her song—attuned in a deeper key, but still enlivening sorrow itself with hope.” Singing always introduces a cheerful, enlivening and refreshing element into the divine service, even though the service bears the grave character of a holy grief.³⁷⁴374Defunctorum Missae et neumate et ipso Alleluja carent, et nihilominus Sequentia quadam, quae simul maeroris et aliqualis gaudii argumentum est, easdem condecorat Ecclesia in symbolum consolationis, quam defunctorum animae inter purgatorii gemitus habent super securitate de sua aeterna beatitudine, praxis instar, quam servat Ecclesia in Sabbato sancto, in quo tractum unit cum Alleluja, ut semiplenam laetitiam ostendat ac paschale gaudium in spe proxima. Quae Sequentia etiam alia habet commoda, majus scilicet defunctorum suffragium et commiserationem ac nostram admonitionem super novissimis (Cavalieri III, c. 10, n. 6).

If we compare the varied form and composition of the chant intervening between the Epistle and Gospel, we cannot but admire with what refined delicacy the Church understands how to indicate and set forth the manifold dispositions and shades of the soul’s interior life, from the most profound sorrow to the height of joy—as is evident from the contents as well as from the form and melody of the pieces of chant chosen by her. And thus the soul becomes ever p. 152more worthily prepared and disposed to receive the word of God, now about to be announced in the Gospel.³⁷⁵375Ideo non ab apostolica vel evangelica lectione, quod majus esse constat, Missa inchoatur, sed potius canendo et psallendo, quatenus dulcedo suavitatis corda audientium prius demulceat, et sic post modulationem suavis cantilenae in spiritualibus rebus populus per compunctionem mentis intentus, salutifera Evangelii verba ardenti affectu suscipiat (Pseudo-Alcuin. De divin. offic. c. 40). — The Alleluja chant denotes the joy of the heart in view of the glad tidings of the Gospel. Alleluja ante lectionem evangelicam a cantore interponitur, ut laudetur ab omnibus, cujus gratia salvantur omnes, quasi dicat. Quia verba Evangelii salutem conferentia mox audituri estis, laudate Dominum, cujus beneficio hanc gratiam percipere meruistis (l. c.).