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A derivative of the Latinhymnus, which comes from the Greekhymnos, derived fromhydein, to sing. In ancientpagan literaturehymnos designates a prize song to the gods or heroes Set to the accompaniment of the cythara (hymnoi men es tous theous poiountai, epainoi d'es anthropous, Arrian., IV, xi), at first written in the epic measure like the oldest hymn to the Delphic Apollo, later in distichs or in the refined lyric measures of Alcæus, Anacreon, and Pindar. InChristian literature the nounhymnos occurs in only two passages in theNew Testament, namelyEphesians 5:19, andColossians 3:16, and then together with the synonymspsalmos andode pneumatike. With these can be compared the verbhymnein inMatthew 26:30;Mark 14:26;Acts 16:25; andHebrews 2:12. Notwithstanding the many attempts at definitions made byexegetes it is difficult to decide to what degree, if at all, a distinction among three kinds of Divine praises is made by the three different terms, psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles. Psalm is applied only to those songs composed byDavid, but, if the spiritual contents of these songs be considered, they may justly be called spiritual canticles, while their adaptability to singing makes them hymns. Thus, in the language of theVulgate, thePsalms of David are termedhymni; "hymnos David canentes" (2 Chronicles 7:6); and thathymnos sung by Christ the Lord and His disciples at theLast Supper, as they are described by theEvangelist Matthew (26:30) ashymnountes, orhymnesantes was the great Hallel prescribed by Jewish custom for the paschal feast. From this it is to be inferred thathymnos was originally used in the general acceptation of "song of praise toGod". At the same time it can be supposed that the expressionpsalmos was more current among the JewishChristians, while theGentileChristians used more commonly the expressionhymnos orode, the latter requiring the complementarypneumatike to distinguish it from profane odes.
The Latin wordhymnus is unknown in the pre-Christian literature. For it the wordcarmen is used by the classic authors, so thathymnus is specifically aChristian derivative from the Greek, like so many other expressions of the liturgy. In the ancientChristian writershymnus is generally paraphrased as "laus Dei cum cantu" (Rufinus, "in Ps. lxxii") or as "hymnus specialiter Deo dictus" (Ambrose, "De Off.", I, xlv). The most celebrated definition is that ofSaint Augustine. Commenting onPsalm 148 he says: "Know ye what a hymn is? It is a song with praise ofGod [cantus est cum laude Dei]. If thou praisestGod and singest not, thou utterest no hymn, if thou singest and praisest notGod but another thing, thou utterest no hymn. A hymn then containeth these three things, song [cantus] and praise [cum laude] and that praise ofGod [Dei]." The expression "praise ofGod" must not however be taken so literally as to exclude the praise of hissaints. Saint Augustine himself says in the explanation of the same psalm, verse 14: "hymnus omnibus sanctis eius"; "What then meaneth this 'A hymn to all Hissaints'? Let Hissaints be offered a hymn."God is really praised in Hissaints and in all His works, and therefore a "praise of thesaints" is also a "praise ofGod".
ButSaint Augustine's definition, if it should comprise all and all that alone which has been considered in the course oftime ashymnus, requires a limitation and an extension. A limitation: a song in praise ofGod can also be composed in prose, in. unmetrical language, as for instance the "Gloria in excelsis" and the "Te Deum". These are still called "Hymnus angelicus" or "Hymnus Ambrosianus", evidently because of their elevated lyrical movement. But we have long understood byhymnus a song whose sequence of words is ruled by metre or rhythm, with or without rhyme, or, at least, by a symmetrical arrangement of the stanzas. To the earliestChristian authors and theirpagan contemporaries it is most probable that such a limitation of the acceptation was unknown,hymnus on the contrary being entirely a general term which included the psalms, the Biblical cantica, the doxologies, and all the other songs of praise toGod in prose or in rhythmical language. It is therefore labour lost to seek for the origins of hymnal poetry in Pliny the Younger (Epp., X, xcvii),Tertullian (Apol., ch. ii),Eusebius (Church History III),Sozomen (IV, iii),Socrates (V, xxii), and others. On the other hand the expressioncantus in Saint Augustine's definition must be extended. Although the hymn was originally intended for singing and only for singing, the development of the form soon led to hymns being recited aloud or used as silentprayers. Very early indeed religious poems arose which were conceived and written only for private devotion without ever having been sung, although they were genuine lyrical and emotional productions and are counted under the head of hymnody. Consequently, the termcantus is not to be limited to songs which are really sung and set to melodies, but can be applied as well to every religious lyrical poem which can be sung and set to music. With this interpretation Saint Augustine's definition is wholly acceptable, and we may reduce it to a shorter formula, if we say: Hymn in the broader meaning of the word is a "spiritual song" or a "lyrical religious poem", consequently, hymnody is "religious lyric" in distinction from epic and didactic poetry and in contradistinction to profane lyric poetry. Hymn in the closer interpretation of the word, as it will be shortly shown, is a hymn of theBreviary.
The religious song or hymn in the broader sense comprises a great number of different poems, the classification of which is not mentioned bySaint Augustine and which is in reality first completely introduced in the "Analecta hymnica medii ævi" edited by Blume and Dreves. This classification does not apply to the hymnody of the Orient (Syrian,Armenian, and Greek), but to the much more important Western or Latin hymnody. First, there are two great groups according to the purpose for which the hymn is intended. Either it is intended for public, common, and official worship (the liturgy), or only for private devotion (although hymns of the latter group may be also used during theliturgical service). Accordingly, the whole Latin hymnody is eitherliturgical or non-liturgical. Liturgical hymnody is again divided into two groups. Either the hymn belongs to the sacrificial liturgy of the Mass, and as such has its place in the official books of the Mass-liturgy (theMissal or the Gradual), or the hymn belongs to the liturgy of canonicalprayer and has its place accordingly in theBreviary or the Antiphonary. In like manner the non-liturgical hymnody is of two kinds; either the hymn is intended for song or only for silent private devotion, meditation, andprayer. Both of these groups have again different subdivisions. In accordance with the above, there arise the following systematic tables:
(1) Hymns in the Closer Sense of the Word (hymni). These are the spiritual songs which are inserted in the horae canonicae recited by thepriest and are named after the different hours respectively: Hymni "ad Nocturnas" (later "ad Matutinam"), "ad Matutinas Laudes" (later "ad Laudes"), "ad Primam", "ad Tertiam", "ad Sextam", "ad Nonam", "ad Vesperas", "ad Completorium".
(2) Tropes of theBreviary (tropi antiphonales, verbetoe, proselloe). These are poetical interpolations, or preliminary, complementary, or intercalatory ornamentation of aliturgical text of theBreviary, particularly of the response to the third, the sixth, and the ninth lesson.
(3) Rhythmical Offices (historioe rhythmicoe or rhythmatoe). These are offices in which not only the hymns, but all that is sung, with the single exception of the psalms and lessons, are composed in measured language (rhythmical, metrical, and later also rhymed verses).
(l) Sequences (sequentioe, prosoe). These are the artistically constructed songs, consisting of strophe and counterstrophe, inserted in theMass between the Epistle and the Gospel.
(2) Tropes of the Mass (tropi graduales). During theMiddle Ages, all those parts of the Mass which were not sung by thepriest but by the choir, e.g. the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei (tropi ad ordinarium missoe) also theIntroit, Gradual,Offertory, Communion (tropi ad proprium missarum) were provided with a rich setting ofinterpolatio, more even than theBreviary. These tropes came to be known as "Tropus ad Kyrie", "Tropus ad Gloria", etc. or "Troped Kyrie", "Troped Gloria", and so on.
(3) Rhythmical or Metrical Masses (missoe rythmatoe). We include under this heading Masses in which the above mentioned parts (under B, 2) are either entirely or partly composed in metrical form. This form of poetry found very few devotees.
(4) Processional Hymns (hymni ad processionem). These are used during the procession before and after Mass, and therefore having their place in theMissal or Gradual. They have nearly all a refrain.
(1) Canticles (cantiones). These are spiritual songs which do not belong to the liturgy, but still were employed after and during the liturgy, without being incorporated, like the tropes, with it. They gave rise to the folk-songs, from which the canticles are differentiated by being written inecclesiastical Latin and being sung by the official cantors, but not by the people.
(2)Motets (muteti, motelli). These are the artistic forerunners of the canticles and nearly related to the tropes of the Mass, inasmuch as they grew out of the Gradual responses of the Mass as will be shown more fully in the articleHYMNODY AND HYMNOLOGY. In general they may be defined as polyphonic church songs which were to be sunga cappella (without musical accompaniment).
The general name for these poems is in Latinrhythmi orpia dictamina. As they were intended forprayer and not for singing, they may be called rhythmicalprayers (in GermanReimgebete). Among the various kinds of these poems are the following:
(1) Rhythmical psalters (psalteria rhythmica), that is, poems of 150 strophes, corresponding to the 150 Psalms, mostly treating ofChrist orHis Blessed Mother. Originally every single strophe treated of the psalm corresponding to it in number.
(2) Rhythmicalrosaries (rosaria rhythmica), similar poems, but which had only fifty strophes corresponding to the fifty"Hail Marys" of theRosary.
(3) Hours-Songs (officia parva); these were rhythmicalprayers which supplemented (for private meditation) each of thecanonical hours with a strophe or a group of strophes.
(4) Gloss-Songs, which paraphrased, extended, and explained each separate word of a popularprayer or a church antiphon (e.g. theLord's Prayer, the "Hail Mary", the "Alma Redemptoris", and so on) by a separate strophe or, at least, a separate verse.
These spiritual poems, of which about 30,000 are preserved and again rendered generally accessible by the great collection known as "Analecta hymnica medii ævi", fall within the general acceptation of the word hymn. Several of the more important kinds are treated under separate articles, see RHYTHMICAL OFFICES, and SEQUENCES and TROPES. Their development and lofty meaning will be more fully treated underHYMNODY AND HYMNOLOGY.
APA citation.Blume, C.(1910).Hymn. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07595a.htm
MLA citation.Blume, Clemens."Hymn."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 7.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1910.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07595a.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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