St. Gregory and the Gregorian Music Part 1

St. Gregory and the Gregorian Music.

by E. G. P. Wyatt.

INTRODUCTION.

The Great Pope, the thirteen hundredth anniversary of whose death is commemorated on March the 12th, 1904, was born at Rome, probably about the year 540. His father, Gordia.n.u.s, was a wealthy man of senatorial rank; his mother, Silvia, was renowned for her virtues. He received from his parents an excellent liberal and religious education. He further applied himself to the study of law, and--probably at about the age of 30--was made praetor of Rome by the Emperor Justin II. But he became dissatisfied with his mode of life, and retiring to the monastery of St.

Andrew, which he had founded on the Coelian hill, lived there as monk and as abbot. He had long been an ardent admirer of St. Bennet (who had been dead little more than thirty years), and on his father's death had made use of his patrimony to found six other monasteries in Sicily. He was not, however, allowed to enjoy his retirement at St. Andrew's for long, for Pope Benedict I. ordained him deacon, and sent him to Constantinople as his apocrisiarius or confidential agent. Pelagius II. continued him in this office, making use of him especially to appeal to the Emperor for aid against the Lombards, who, while settling in North Italy, were wandering southwards, devastating the country as they went.

When he was at length recalled to Rome, he begged to be allowed to return to his monastery. The Pope allowed him to do this, but employed him as his secretary. It was either now, or just before he went to Constantinople, that there occurred the famous incident in the slave market, when, struck by the beauty of some lads exposed for sale, he asked what was the name of their nation. On being told, "Angles," he exclaimed, "Good, for they have the faces of angels, and ought to be fellow-heirs of the angels in heaven." In reply to his inquiry as to the name of their native province, he was told that its inhabitants were called Deiri. He answered, "Good; s.n.a.t.c.hed from the wrath, and called to the mercy of Christ." What was the name of the king of that province? The answer was "aelia." Then said he, "Alleluia! the praise of G.o.d ought to be sung in those parts." He pa.s.sed on, but did not forget the incident, for he wrung permission from the Pope to go himself on a mission to convert the Angles; but no sooner had he started than the Romans clamoured to have him recalled, and he had to return. He did not, however, forget his interest in the nation, and when he was Pope he was able to carry out those plans which earned him the affectionate t.i.tles of "Gregory our Father," and "The Apostle of the English," from those who owed so much to him.

DEPRECAMUR TE DOMINE

[Ill.u.s.tration: Deprecamur te domine]

De-pre-ca-mur Te, Do-mi-ne, in om-ni mi-se-ri-cor-di-a tu-a, ut au-fe-ra-tur fu-ror tu-us et i-ra tu-a a ci-vi-ta-te is-ta, et de do-mo san-cta tu-a; quo-ni-am pec-ca-vi-mus: Al-le-lu-ya.

In 590 Pope Pelagius died. It was a time of great misery at Rome; there was famine and a pestilence in the city, the Tiber overflowed its banks, and the Lombards threatened invasion. The Popes were virtually the rulers of Rome at this time, and all the inhabitants turned to Gregory as their only hope. His proved abilities and high character were known to all, and he was unanimously elected by the clergy and the people. He shrank, however, from the office, and even pet.i.tioned the Emperor Maurice to withhold his confirmation of the election. While waiting for the Emperor's answer, Gregory employed the occasion in preaching to the people, calling them to repentance. A Litany was sung through the streets of the city by seven companies of the clergy and people, starting from different churches and meeting at the Basilica of St. Maria Maggiore.

From this litany, perhaps, was taken the processional antiphon, "Deprecamur Te Domine," which was sung by Augustine and his companions on entering Canterbury at the outset of their English mission. At length the confirmation of his election arrived from the Emperor, and though Gregory still tried to avoid the office, he was eventually obliged to take it, and was consecrated September the 3rd, 590.

During the thirteen years of his popedom, Gregory had full scope for his talents as administrator, as well as ruler. The Roman Church had by this time become possessed of a great "patrimony," and Gregory found time in the midst of his work of reforming the clergy and purifying the morals of the Church, to attend to even the smallest details in the management of these great estates. His letters give us the most vivid picture of his work and of his character. In them he is constantly giving directions and making arrangements that no injustice should be done to even the meanest peasant or serf on these estates; that their rents should be fixed, and no capricious exactions demanded of them, nor surcharges added to the payments legally due from them. He showed to the Jews a toleration and consideration which he did not always extend to schismatics, heretics, and heathen. He seems to have reserved his most violent language for Lombards and Patriarchs of Constantinople. He called worldly or negligent bishops to order, and in particular took vigorous measures to root out simony, which was very prevalent. He sent Augustine and his companions to England, and wrote them letters of exhortation and instruction; he found time to send them also church furniture, vessels and vestments, and a number of books.

He also became engaged in a controversy with John the Faster, the Patriarch of Constantinople, about the t.i.tle of "Universal Bishop," which was arrogated to the latter by himself and those about him. It was not a novelty, but Gregory seems to have seen the danger involved in its continued usage to the power which he claimed for the See of Rome. A whole series of his letters are consequently taken up with his vehement, not to say violent, protests against John's use of the t.i.tle. It is probably in connection with the fact that the Emperor Maurice had supported the Patriarch John in his claim of equality with the Pope of Rome, that the explanation is to be sought of a circ.u.mstance which remains the chief blot on Gregory's fame. Maurice had given him little help against the Lombards, and had in various ways seemed to oppose or actually opposed Gregory in some of his reforms. When, therefore, Phocas murdered Maurice and usurped his throne, the Pope wrote him a fulsome letter of congratulation. He may not have been fully acquainted with the infamous character of Phocas, nor have fully known of the atrocious manner in which he had murdered the Emperor and his family, yet he must have known, at least, that he was a traitor, a murderer, and an usurper.

Nothing can excuse him--knowing this--for writing in such a strain, saying "Glory to G.o.d in the highest," and "Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad," at the hopes aroused by the piety of the new Emperor.

He attached great importance to preaching, and many of his sermons remain to this day. He also wrote "Liber Pastoralis Curae," a treatise on the responsibilities and duties of Bishops. This book had immense influence; it was circulated in Spain; the Emperor had it translated into Greek; it was an authoritative text-book in Gaul for centuries; and it was translated into Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred, and was widely disseminated in England. But it is in the services and service-books of the Church that he set his mark most conspicuously. He organized and enriched them, even the Canon of the Ma.s.s in which he added to the prayer of oblation the words "Diesque nostras in tua pace disponas." The work which has been traditionally ascribed to him in the department of Church Music we shall enter into more fully.

From his monastic life onwards Gregory seems to have suffered from bad health, due in part, probably, to his extreme asceticism while living in his monastery. During the last few years of his life he was in continual pain from gout, which makes his activity and his achievements still more astonishing. For long he was confined to his bed altogether. He died on March 12th, 604. In contrast to the enthusiasm with which his accession to the Papacy was greeted, he was now accused by the fickle population of having caused the famine, which was then raging, by his lavish expenditure, though the latter was largely due to the charitable relief which he habitually gave to alleviate the distress which prevailed all the time that he filled the Papal chair. But he was canonized after his death by universal consent in the West, and the Council of Cloveshoo, in 747, fixed the 12th of March for his veneration: "That the birthday of the blessed Pope Gregory, and also the day of the burial of St. Augustine the Archbishop and Confessor (who being sent to the English by the said Pope, our father Gregory, first brought the knowledge of the Faith, the sacrament of Baptism, and the notice of the Heavenly Country), which is the 26th of May, be honourably observed by all: so that each day be kept with a cessation from labour, by ecclesiastics and monastics; and that the name of our blessed father and doctor Augustine be always mentioned in singing the Litany after the invocation of St. Gregory."

[Ill.u.s.tration: St. Gregory, from Antiphoner of Hartker of St. Gall]

THE GREGORIAN TRADITION.

The tradition that St. Gregory reformed the Plainsong of his day, especially that of the Antiphonale Missarum, seems to have been held universally till 1675, when Pierre Gussanville brought out an edition of Gregory's works, in which he threw doubts on the tradition. He was followed in 1729 by George, Baron d' Eckhart, a friend of Leibnitz, who put forward the theory that it was Gregory II., and not Gregory I., who had done this work. In 1772, at Venice, a new edition of Gregory's works was published by Gallicciolli; and in this were reproduced the arguments of Eckhart, leaving the question open for future investigation. Nothing more was heard of the theory till 1882, when, at the Congress of Arezzo, some speakers reproduced the doubts of Eckhart and Gallicciolli.

This did not attract much attention at the time, and the question was again reopened in 1890 by M. Gevaert in a lecture given in the presence of the Academie and of the King of the Belgians. The earlier "doubters"

had argued the question from a purely historical standpoint: M. Gevaert lays stress especially on the musical side of the question. Theirs was chiefly negative; he proposes a theory of his own. He wishes to subst.i.tute Gregory II. or III. for Gregory I. The traditional view has been upheld against him by Dom Morin, Dr. Peter Wagner, and Rev. W. H.

Frere.

_The Historical Evidence_ may be summarized as follows, working backwards from a time when the Gregorian tradition was in existence beyond all question:--

I.--John the Deacon (_c._ 872), _Vita St. Gregorii, lib._ II., _cap._ vi., _Antiphonarium Centonizans, Cantorum Const.i.tuit Scholam_. "In the house of the Lord, like a most wise Solomon, knowing the compunction which the sweetness of music inspires, he compiled for the sake of the singers the collection called 'Antiphoner,' which is of so great usefulness. He founded also the School of Singers who to this day perform the sacred chant in the Holy Roman Church according to instructions received from him. He a.s.signed to it several estates, and had two houses built for it, one situated at the foot of the steps of the Church of the Apostle St. Peter, the other in the neighbourhood of the buildings of the patriarchal palace of the Lateran. There to-day are still shown the couch on which he reposed while giving his singing lessons; and the whip with which he threatened the boys is still preserved and venerated as a relic, as well as his authentic Antiphoner. By a clause inserted in his deed of gift, he laid down under pain of anathema that these estates should be divided between the two portions of the School in payment for the daily service."--(_Patr.

Lat._, lxxv., 90.)

This extract may be taken to prove that--

1. In 872 at Rome Gregory I. was believed to be the author of the Antiphoner which bears his name.

2. The Schola Cantorum looked upon Gregory I. as its founder and endower.

3. The Schola was still believed to possess his "authentic.u.m Antiphonarium" and certain other objects connected in the popular mind with the memory of what Gregory had done for the cause of the ecclesiastical chant.

It is certainly an important point that the Schola itself attributed its foundation to Gregory I. Such a tradition would be carefully preserved in an important corporation like this.

A further witness to the existence of St. Gregory's couch is to be found in _Not.i.tia Ecclesiarum Urbis Romae_, an itinerary a.s.signed by de Rossi to the seventh century, (de Rossi, _Rom. Sot._, _vol._ i., _pp._ 138-143.)

II.--Pope Leo IV. (847-855) to the Abbot Honoratus, _Ex registro Leonis IIII_. "There is something quite incredible, the sound of which has reached our ears: a thing which, if true, tends rather to diminish our consideration than to give it honour, to obscure it rather than to give it l.u.s.tre. It appears in short that you feel nothing but aversion for the beautiful chant of St. Gregory, and for the manner of singing and reading laid down and taught by him in the Church, so that you are in disagreement on this point not only with the Holy See, which is near to you, but also with almost the whole Western Church, with all who use Latin to offer their praises to the Eternal King and pay Him the tribute of harmonious sounds.

"All these Churches have received with so much eagerness and ardent affection this tradition of Gregory, and after having received it unreservedly they find so much pleasure in it, that even now they apply to us for more of it, thinking that perhaps something more which they do not know of, may have been preserved among us. This Holy Pope Gregory, a servant of G.o.d and a famous preacher and a wise pastor, who did so much for the welfare of mankind, he it was who also composed this chant, which we sing in the Church and everywhere, with great pains and with a complete knowledge of the musical art. He wished by this means to act more powerfully upon men's hearts in order to arouse and touch them; and in fact the sound of his sweet melodies has gathered in the Churches not merely spiritual men, but also those who are less cultivated and sensitive.

"I pray you not to allow yourself to remain in disagreement either with this Church, which is the chief head of religion, and from which no one wishes to stray, or with all those Churches of which we have spoken, if you love to live in complete peace and concord with the Universal Church. For if--which we do not believe--your aversion for our instruction and for the tradition of our holy Pontiff is such that you are not willing to conform in every point to our rite, both in chants and lessons, know that we will repel you from our communion; for it is fitting and healthful for you to follow the usages for which the Roman Church, mother of all and mistress of you, shows such great love and invincible attachment. For this reason we order you, under pain of excommunication, to conform in the Churches both in singing and reading exclusively to the order inst.i.tuted by the Holy Pope Gregory and followed by us, and without fail to practise and sing it in future with the utmost zeal. For if--which we cannot believe--anyone shall attempt by any means whatever to turn you from the right path by leading you to a tradition other than that which we have just prescribed to you for the present and the future, we not only order that he be deprived of partaking of the Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, but in virtue of our proper authority and that of all our predecessors, we decree that in punishment of his audacity and presumption he remain under a perpetual anathema."--(_Cod. Brit. Mus._, _add._ 8873, _fol._ 168.)

Pope Leo, the author of this letter, had himself been a pupil at this same monastery of St. Martin. From thence also the priest John, the Precentor of St. Peter's, had set out 200 years before to teach the English the system of chanting and reading followed at St. Peter's.

The above extract throws an important light on the progress of the Gregorian reform of the ecclesiastical chant. In the latter half of the ninth century a powerful monastery close to Rome had not yet adopted it.

Compare with this fact the presence of the Ambrosian chant in the province of Capua in the middle of the eleventh century (Kienle, in _Studien und Mittheilungen des Benedictiner und Cistercienser-Orden_, 1884, _p._ 346), and the Ambrosian rubrics of various books copied a little later for churches at Rome itself (_Tomasi, Opp. vol._ vii., _pp._ 9 _&_ 10), and it will be seen how gradually the Gregorian books attained their universal supremacy.

III.--Hildemar (between 833 and 850), author of a commentary on the Rule of St. Bennet, speaks of St. Gregory as the composer of the "Roman Office": "Beatus Gregorius qui dicitur Romanum Officium fecisse."

(_Expositio Regula ab Hildemaro tradita_, _p._ 311, _Ratisbon_, 1880.)

IV.--Walafrid Strabo (807-849). _De Ecclesiasticarum rerum exordiis et incrementis_ (composed about 840). "The tradition is that St. Gregory, just as he regulated the order of the ma.s.ses and of consecrations [_i.e._, the Sacramentary and the Pontifical Rituale] so also had the greatest part in the arrangement of the liturgical chants, following the order which is observed to this day as the most fitting: as is commemorated at the head of the Antiphoner." (_Op. cit. c._ xxi., _Patr. Lat._, cxiv., 948.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: St. Gregory, from MS. of Coronation Services]

This refers, strictly speaking, to the Antiphonale Missarum. But the following extract treats directly of the chants of the office contained in the _Liber Responsorialis_, or corresponding volume for the hour services.

"As for the chants for use at the different hours, whether of the day or of the night, it is believed that it was St. Gregory who a.s.signed to them their complete arrangement, just as he had already done, as we have said, for the Sacramentary." (_c._ xxv., 958.)

These two pa.s.sages establish the fact that there was a tradition in the middle of the ninth century that St. Gregory set in order the ecclesiastical music. It seems also that there was an inscription at the beginning of the Antiphoner stating as a fact that he had done this. The following extract helps us to identify what this inscription was.

V.--Agobard of Lyons (779-840). _Liber de Correctione Antiphonarii_, _c._ xv., _Patr. Lat._ civ., 336. "But because the inscription serving for t.i.tle to the book in question [_i.e._, the Antiphoner] puts in the forefront the name of 'Gregorius Praesul,' thereupon some people imagine that the work was composed by the Blessed Gregory, Pope of Rome and ill.u.s.trious doctor."

He is here defending the chant of Lyons against the ultramontane efforts of Amalarius to introduce the Roman ways. He goes on to try to prove that the Antiphoner defended by Amalarius cannot be St. Gregory's, because he had forbidden the use of words not taken directly from Scripture.

VI.--Amalarius of Metz (815-835) is undoubtedly the person who played the foremost part in the fusion of the Gallican element with the rest of the Gregorian or Gelasian Liturgy, from which combination has come in substance the Roman Liturgy in use to-day. He had travelled much, and had been at Rome. He is a weighty authority in the present question. The following extracts are taken from a supplementary chapter of his _De Divinis Officiis_, published by Mabillon, in his _Vetera a.n.a.lecta_ (_Paris_, 1723). He is speaking of the Pope Gregory who is the author of the Dialogues, and who sent St. Augustine into England.

"Amongst the monks who have been raised to the Supreme Pontificate can be cited Denys, and Gregory of incomparable memory. Now Gregory, amongst many other things by which he furthered the advantage of the Church, had the glory of being the chief organizer of the Office for clerical use." (_p._ 93.)

"In the time of St. Bennet the whole order of psalmody had not yet been fixed with precision in the Psalter and the Antiphoner: it was the incomparable Pope Gregory of holy memory, himself a zealous observer of the rule of St. Bennet and an imitator of his monastic perfection, who afterwards regulated the arrangement of it under the direction of the Holy Spirit." (_pp._ 93-4.)

"Far from blaming those who preserve the Gregorian usage, they should rather praise them." (_p._ 94.)

"In the authentic model of St. Gregory, the _Alleluia_ and the _Gloria_ are suppressed at the Ma.s.s for Innocents' Day, in order to express the grief of the mothers or of the Church." (_p._ 96.)