Divinum mysterium semper declaratur

I. Early Sources

A. Codex Sangallen 378

“Divinum mysterium semper declaratur” is a trope for the liturgical Sanctus, and this is indicated clearly in the most commonly cited manuscript, Codex Sangellen 378, p. 396 (Fig. 1), in the Abbey Library of St. Gallen, Switzerland. This example has been cited in hymnological sources as being from the 10th century. More recent research, especially by Cristina Hospenthal (2010), indicates this section of the codex (pp. 386–400) was added in the 13th century, which is more consistent with the dates of other surviving manuscripts of the text, but the later date is inconsistent with this style of adiastematic notation.[1]

The hymn is for Eucharist, and it affirms the doctrine of transubstantiation. As such, the hymn could potentially be reclaimed for the Catholic Mass. Other traditions would need to adapt it to suit differences in doctrine. In the St. Gallen manuscript, the text is annotated with a rudimentary form of notation called adiastematic neumes, meaning the markings don’t show exact pitches on a scale, they only show the general shape or direction of the melody, as an aid to memorization.[2] Nevertheless, the markings resemble the tune as it is given in staff-lined versions, as below.[3]

B. MS Farfense 33

The version of the tune adopted into English hymnody is believed to date to the 13th century. The editors of Hymns Ancient & Modern, Historical Edition (1909) offered as an example MS Farfense 33, previously in the possession of the Abbey of Santa Maria di Farfa until 1876, now housed by the Biblioteca nazionale centrale Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome, dated 1514. Their transcription is given here:

C. Wolfenbüttel MS

In The Hymnal Noted, Part II (1856), when Thomas Helmore (1811–1890) adapted the melody to fit the text “Of the Father sole begotten” by J.M. Neale (1818–1866), he credited the tune to a “MS at Wolfenbüttel of the XIIIth Century” (Fig. 3). Unfortunately, Helmore’s stated source has never been properly identified. The editors of the Historical Edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern (1909) said the MS “seems not to be now traceable” and found it more likely Helmore had actually consulted Piae Cantiones (1582; see section II below), which he and J.M. Neale are known to have had in their possession.[5]

In 1910, G.R. Woodward noted how Neale had visited the library at Wolfenbüttel in 1851 and had listed the volumes he examined there in the preface to his Sequentiae ex Missalibus (1852), p. ix, all from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but he did not name this one.[4] Woodward believed the melody had actually come from Piae Cantiones (1582).

More recently, Lutheran scholar Joe Herl attempted to locate the MS, to no avail. He reported:

Our examination of the manuscript catalog of the Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel and an inspection of its digitized manuscripts from both the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries eliminated all but one manuscript as a possible source for Helmore. That manuscript is Cod. Guelf. 64 Aug 2º, which we were not able to examine because it had not yet been digitized. It seems, though, to be merely a possible, not a likely, source of this tune. We therefore believe that Frost was correct in concluding that Helmore had not taken the tune directly from a Wolfenbüttel manuscript. Helmore may have reported the Wolfenbüttel manuscript as the tune source because he believed that it was the earliest source, not because it was the source that he himself used.[6]

Besides having a misleading and untraceable attribution, Helmore’s transcription of the melody was technically faulty, especially as it was given in the accompaniment edition (Fig. 3b). Hymnologist David W. Music explained the difficulty:

Helmore seriously misinterpreted the rhythm of the tune, transcribing it in a duple pattern complete with dotted half- and quarter-note figures; he also erred in making the sixth phrase begin four notes too early.[7]

D. Dating and Additional MSS

Whereas for many years the text was thought to date to the 10th century (from a misdating of St. Gallen 378), the manuscript record traces only as far as the 12th century, as in Engelberg Stiftsbibliothek Codex 102, fol. 2r, a badly deteriorated copy with adiastematic neumes (online). The editors of the New Oxford Book of Carols (1992) provided a melodic excerpt, cited as being taken from the Knihovna Národního muzea (Library of the National Museum), codex XIII E 8, which is a 16th century Gradual (online), but without a stated page number; this melody has proven to be difficult to retrace and confirm.

Two examples of the tune appear in Spanish sources, compiled by H. Anglès in El Còdex Musical de las Huelgas (Barcelona, 1931). A plainchant version was given in vol. 1, pp. 129–132, and a polyphonic version was given in facsimile in vol. 2, pp. 16–17, with a transcription in vol. 3, p. 26.

For additional early manuscript sources and critical editions of the text, see especially Analecta Hymnica, vol. 47 (1905), pp. 333–334; G.R. Woodward (1910), pp. 233–234; Gunilla Iversen (1990), pp. 106–108, and Cristina Hospenthal (2010), p. 191.

II. Piae Cantiones (1582)

An early pivotal printing of the hymn happened in Piae Cantiones (Greifswald: Augustini Ferberi, 1582 | Fig. 4), edited by Theodoric Petri (Didrik Petri or Pedersen) of Nyland, Finland (ca. 1560–ca. 1630). Here it was given in tenor clef (the flat indicates B-flat below middle C) in a triple meter. The text was given in six stanzas, the first five of which reflect the text given in the St. Gallen manuscript (Fig. 1), although in a different order; the last being a doxology not found in any other manuscripts, apparently added by Petri himself.

Petri, born in Finland to aristocratic parents, compiled these songs while he was a student at the University of Rostock in Germany. His intent was to preserve some of the medieval church songs of his homeland, except through a Reformed lens, thus the songs were freely edited. In this hymn, note the change in the first line to “modo declaratur” (“in this manner being revealed”); in the second to “execratur” (“being cursed”). The second stanza begins with a minor shift from “prius” (“before”) to “primo” (“first”), then a more significant change, eliminating the doctrine of transubstantiation, instead offering consubstantiation, or sacramental union:

In the following stanza for the wine, the adjustments are comparatively minor (“cum”/“when” rather than “si”/“if”; “est”/“it is” rather than “erit”/“it will be”). The next stanza contains one substitution, “Iubet Christus sumere” (“Christ is ordering to take”). The penultimate stanza denounces the Jews specifically (“Judaeis”) rather than the more general term (“ceteris,” “all the rest”). Finally, the 1582 text ends with a new doxology:

Father, Son, Spirit, nourishing consolation,
may he grant to us favorably our restoration,
so with the citizens of heaven we may resound, amen.

III. English Adoption

This Latin hymn is known to English worshipers primarily by its melody, especially through its pairing with J.M. Neale’s text “Of the Father sole begotten” from The Hymnal Noted, Part II (Fig. 3 above). Thomas Helmore had to adapt the tune because the original meter (7.6.7.6.7.6) is not the same as Neale’s meter (8.7.8.7.8.7.7). A more authentic setting of the tune in its original meter was made by G.R. Woodward (1848–1934) for Songs of Syon, 3rd ed. (1910), paired with the unrelated text “Unity in Trinity” by Richard Ellis (Fig. 5). This text and this setting have not been widely adopted.

For an analysis of the melody, see Vincent A. Lenti (2009). For additional musical settings of DIVINUM MYSTERIUM adapted as 8.7.8.7.8.7.7, see “Corde natus ex parentis.”

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
10 November 2020

Footnotes:

1. Cristina Hospenthal, Tropen zum Ordinarium Missae in St. Gallen (2010), pp. 17, 191.

2. For a fuller discussion of the development of plainchant notation systems, see Constantin Floros, rev. Neil K. Moran, Introduction to Early Medieval Notation, 2nd ed. (Warren, MI: Harmonie Park Press, 2005); or Richard Rastall, The Notation of Western Music (NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1982).

3. Joe Herl contends, “it appears to be the same tune [as MS Farfense 33], although there are notable differences from today’s tune, with only the second phrase being identical”; Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (2019), p. 151.

4. G.R. Woodward, Piae Cantiones (1910), p. 234: HathiTrust

5. G.R. Woodward, Piae Cantiones (1910), p. xviii–xix: HathiTrust; Woodward gave the chain of possession from G.J.R. Gordon, who brought it to England, to J.M. Neale, to Thomas Helmore, to son Arthur Helmore, to the Plainsong and Medieval Music Society of London.

6. Joe Herl, “Of the Father’s love begotten,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (2019), p. 151.

7. David W. Music, “DIVINUM MYSTERIUM,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (1994), p. 158.

Related Resources:

F.J. Mone, Hymni Latini Medii Aevi, vol. 1 (Friburgi Brisgoviae: Sumptibus Herder, 1853), pp. 305–306: HathiTrust

Guido Maria Dreves, Analecta Hymnica, vol. 9, (Leipzig: O.R. Reisland, 1890), pp. 38–39: HathiTrust

Clemens Blume & Guido Maria Dreves, Analecta Hymnica, vol. 47 (Leipzig: O.R. Reisland, 1905), pp. 333–334: HathiTrust

Hymns Ancient & Modern, Historical Edition (London: William Clowes & Sons, 1909), p. 76: HathiTrust

G.R. Woodward, Piae Cantiones (London: Plainsong & Medieval Music Society, 1910), pp. 233–234: HathiTrust

Percy Dearmer, “DIVINUM MYSTERIUM,” Songs of Praise Discussed (Oxford: University Press, 1933), p. 210.

Timo Mäkinen, Piae Cantiones, Facsimile Edition (Helsinki: Edition Fazer, 1967), pp. 211–215.

Kenneth Trickett, “DIVINUM MYSTERIUM,” Companion to Hymns & Psalms (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing, 1988), pp. 79–80.

Gunilla Iversen, Tropes du Sanctus (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1990), no. 46, pp. 106–108.

Hugh Keyte & Andrew Parrott, “Corde natus ex parentis,” New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: University Press, 1992), p. 53–59.

Carlton R. Young, “DIVINUM MYSTERIUM,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abindgon, 1993), p. 541.

David W. Music, “DIVINUM MYSTERIUM,” The Hymnal 1982 Companion, vol. 3A (NY: Church Hymnal Corp., 1994), pp. 157–158.

Vincent A. Lenti, “Of the Father’s love begotten: A hymn by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens,” The Hymn, vol. 60, no. 3 (Summer 2009), pp. 7–14: HathiTrust

Cristina Hospenthal, Tropen zum Ordinarium Missae in St. Gallen (Bern: Peter Lang, 2010), pp. 17, 191.

Carl P. Daw Jr., “DIVINUM MYSTERIUM,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), pp. 109–110.

Joe Herl & Carl P.E. Springer, “Of the Father’s love begotten,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 148–151.

MS Farfense 33, Manus Online [catalog description]:
https://manus.iccu.sbn.it//opac_SchedaScheda.php?ID=211490

Knihovna Národního muzea (Library of the National Museum), codex XIII E 8: http://www.manuscriptorium.com/apps/index.php?direct=record&pid=KNM___-NMP___XIII_E_8____19LMEF0-cs