Maundy Thursday: Pange Lingua, gloriosi

Written by St. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th Century, the hymn extols the Eucharist and Christ's sacrifice in giving it. Below are the words, in Latin and the glorious, glorious English translation by Edward Caswall, a 19th-Century Anglican clergyman and hymn writer (who later converted to Roman Catholicism).

Listen to a stunningly beautiful version of it here, an mp3 of the St. Thomas Fifth Avenue Solemn Maundy Thursday Eucharist, sung to the hymn tune Grafton. I love the plainsong version - but this is really so lovely and loving that it's difficult to listen to, in its context, without tears welling in the eyes. The hymn, with organ accompaniment, starts at around 1:43:30; at the moment I think it's the loveliest hymn ever written. There are long pauses between verses as the Sacrament is taken in procession to the Altar of Repose. (The whole service is very worth listening to; you'll hear the crotalus used at the consecration, and the sound of palm branches scrubbing the altar as it's stripped at the very end of the service, during the chanting of Psalm 22. Here's the service leaflet, in PDF; here's Coverdale Psalm 22, the version they're singing.)

Pange, lingua, gloriosi
Corporis mysterium,
Sanguinisque pretiosi,
quem in mundi pretium
fructus ventris generosi
Rex effudit Gentium.

Nobis datus, nobis natus
ex intacta Virgine,
et in mundo conversatus,
sparso verbi semine,
sui moras incolatus
miro clausit ordine.

In supremae nocte coenae
recumbens cum fratribus
observata lege plene
cibis in legalibus,
cibum turbae duodenae
se dat suis manibus.

Verbum caro, panem verum
verbo carnem efficit:
fitque sanguis Christi merum,
et si sensus deficit,
ad firmandum cor sincerum
sola fides sufficit.

Tantum ergo Sacramentum
veneremur cernui:
et antiquum documentum
novo cedat ritui:
praestet fides supplementum
sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque
laus et jubilatio,
salus, honor, virtus quoque
sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque
compar sit laudatio.

Amen. Alleluja.

NOW, my tongue, the mystery telling
Of the glorious Body sing,
And the Blood, all price excelling,
Which the Gentiles’ Lord and King,
Once on earth among us dwelling,
Shed for this world’s ransoming.

Given for us, and condescending
To be born for us below,
He with men in converse blending
Dwelt, the seed of truth to sow,
Till he closed with wondrous ending
His most patient life of woe.

That last night at supper lying
Mid the twelve, his chosen band,
Jesus, with the Law complying,
Keeps the feast its rites demand;
Then, more precious food supplying,
Gives himself with his own hand

Word-made-flesh, true bread he maketh
By his word his Flesh to be,
Wine his Blood; when man partaketh,
Though his senses fail to see,
Faith alone, when sight forsaketh,
Shows true hearts the mystery.

Therefore we, before him bending,
This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending,
For the newer rite is here;
Faith, our outward sense befriending,
Makes our inward vision clear.

Glory let us give and blessing
To the Father and the Son,
Honor, thanks, and praise addressing,
While eternal ages run;
Ever too his love confessing
Who from both with both is One.

Amen. Alleluia.

Vexilla regis (Dufay, et al.)

"Recorded live during Mass on 9/14/08 and sung by Les Choristes, the vocal quartet in residence at the French National Church in San Francisco, CA (Steven Olbash, director)."

Vexilla regis prodeunt is the Vespers hymn for the week of Lent 5 and Holy Week; you can find the words here or here. Guilliame Dufay was a Franco-Flemish composer of the early Renaissance, and lived and composed during the 15th century.

Here's a (sadly) short version of Palestrina's take on Vexilla Regis:



Bruckner got into the act, too:



But here's something interesting: a video of the singing of Vexilla Regis in procession:



At the YouTube page, you find, in French, an explanation: the music is Vexilla Regis (Anthoine de Bertrand, 1530-1581) and the video is from the "Mass of the Presanctified on Holy Friday" at Saint Eugène à Paris. In the comments, there's this:

On entend le son des crécelles. J'ai un souvenir d'enfant de choeur. Nous aimions les offices de la semaine sainte, en particulier pour actionner la crécelle. On l'utilisait dès le jeudi saint après le gloria, où les enfants avaient sonné dans le choeur avec une vigueur particulière. La schola continuait a capella et à l'élévation la cloche était remplacée par la crécelle.

That is more or less this:  "You can hear the sound of rattles. I have a memory from when I was  a choir boy. We liked the offices of Holy Week, and particularly to activate the rattle.  It was used on Maundy Thursday after the Gloria, and the choir children used it with special vigor. The choir continued a capella and at the elevation the bell was replaced by rattle."

In other words: the sound is the French version of a crotalus. Here's the Wikipedia page for crécelle - and the text, with translation:

Une crécelle est un instrument de musique idiophone datant du Moyen Âge, aussi appelée brouan et répandue aujourd'hui encore partout en Europe. De conception et d'utilisation simples, elle est un instrument populaire mais aussi un jouet pour les enfants.

Grâce au bruit puissant qu'elle émet, elle était aussi utilisée au Québec par les femmes des agriculteurs pour appeler leur mari au champ, avant la mécanisation de l'agriculture.- Dans la liturgie catholique, avant Vatican II, maniée dans les rues par les enfants de chœur, elle annonçait les offices durant le triduum pascal en remplacement des cloches.

On l'utilisait aussi afin d'avertir du passage de personnes infectieuse, atteintes de maladies redoutées au Moyen Âge : la lèpre, la peste.

A rattle is a percussive musical instrument from the Middle Ages, also known as the brouan,  and still widely used throughtout Europe.  Of simple design and use, it is a popular instrument but also a toy for children.

Due to the loud noise it emits, it was also used in Quebec by farmwomen to call their husbands to the field, before the mechanization of agriculture.  In the Catholic liturgy before Vatican II, operated in the streets by the choir boys, it announced the offices during the Easter Triduum in lieu of bells.

It was also used as a warning that people with infectious illnesses feared in the Middle Ages, like leprosy and the plague, were passing through.

It's a bit hard to tell what's going on here; is it a mass, or an office? It surely seems more like the latter - an "announcement," via the rattle, replacing the tolling of the bells that announce the office. But then, I don't know what happened at a "mass of the presanctified" on Good Friday, either; will see what I can find out and post again if I learn something.

[EDIT: Ah. Here's something that explains things: "The hymn was also formerly sung on Good Friday when the Blessed Sacrament is taken from the repository to the altar." And that must be what's happening here; the procession is (presumably) moving the Sacrament from the Altar of Repose to the altar for distribution during Good Friday Communion of presanctified elements. I'm told that when the Sacrament is taken anywhere it's been customary to ring bells - and of course the bells are silent after the Gloria on Maundy Thursday until they are rung again at the Easter Vigil.]