| HOME | |
|
I. |
|
|
II. |
|
|
III. |
The Sources upon which the Author may have drawn. |
|
IV. |
THE history of the Te Deum touches the history of the Apostles' Creed at so many points, that it is scarcely necessary to apologise for the addition of the following Chapter. Since the publication of the Bishop of Salisbury's exhaustive article in the Dictionary of Hymnology, an entirely new turn has been given to the discussion of the subject by Dom. G. Morin's brilliant discovery of the probable author in Niceta of Remesiana, whose commentary on the creed has already interested us. His suggestion has been accepted as a probable solution of a very puzzling problem by leading critics at home and abroad. It may therefore be of interest to collect the principal arguments for the new theory in a concise form. The materials are not yet available for a critical edition of the text of the hymn in all the three versions known to us. But I have compiled a provisional list of the earliest MSS. [Appendix E.], and have attempted to reconstruct the original text in the light of the new theory. The result is only tentative, but may serve to illustrate the progress of modern criticism in this subject. At least, it is comforting to find that, with the exception of some Psalm verses, which for some time have been recognised as additions to the hymn, the whole of the text dear to us is
original.
The hymn Te Deum, laudamus is found in a large number of MSS., most of them psalters and collections of hymns. The earliest known are a Vatican Psalter (Cod. Vatic. Alex. xi.) of the seventh century, or earlier, and the Bangor Antiphonary, which may be dated AD 680-691. These contain the forms of text known as the Milan and Irish versions. A third form, the version of the Prayer Book, is probably the most ancient, but apart from the question of the antiphons, or psalm verses, added to the original hymn, the differences between the versions are of small importance.
The evidence of quotations carries us back to the fifth century. The Rule of Benedict of Nursia, which was written c. AD 530, contains the following direction: c.xi., "Post quartum responsorium incipit Abbas Te Deum, laudamus, quo praedicto legat Abbas lectionem de Euangelio cum honore et tremore, stantis omnibus, qua perlecta respondeant omnes Amen, et subsequatur mox Abbas hymnum Te decet laus."
To this we may add the Rule of Aurelian: "Omni Sabbato ad Matutinos Cantemus Domino et Te Deum laudamus."
The Rule of Caesarius, who was consecrated Bishop of Arles in 502, is said to have been written while he was still Abbot of Lerins. He directs: c.xxi. "Perfectis missis dicite matutinos directaneo: Exaltabo te Deus meus et rex meus. Deinde Confitemini. Inde Cantemus Domino, Lauda anima mea Dominum, Benedictionem, Laudato Dominum de caelis. Te Deum laudamus. Gloria in excelsis Deo : et capitellum."
To this testimony of Caesarius may be added an important quotation in the letter of Cyprian, Bishop of Toulon, which has been quoted as a new authority for the Creed of Gaul.
He mentions Caesarius by name, and his use of the Te Deum seems to have been exactly parallel to the directions given in his friend's rule. He writes thus to Maximus, Bishop of Geneva:
"Sed in hymno quern omnes ecclesia toto orbe receptum canit, cottidie
dicemus: 'Tu es rex gloriae, Christus, tu patri sempiternus es filius'; et consequenter subiungit: 'Tu ad liberandum subcepturus
hominem non orruisti uirginea uterum; te ergo quaesumus tuis famulis subueni, quoa praetioso sanguine redimisti." [Cod. Colon. 212 (Darmstad.2326) f.113 f., quoted by Morin, Rev. Bén.]
Two quotations of a more doubtful kind may be added, which will appear worthy
of consideration in the light of the new evidence as to the authorship. It has been suggested [M. C. Weymann in a letter to Dom. Morin.] that
Prudentius in his Apotheosis, 1.1019, uses the three words, suscipere, liberare, tenere, just as they are used in verse 16
of the hymn. He may have become acquainted with it during his long stay in Rome, AD 400-405.
[Zahn, Neuere Beiträge, p.119, n.1.]
The other is a passage in the Commonitorium of Vincentius of Lerins : c.xvi. ad fin. " Beata igitur ac ueneranda, benedicta et sacrosancta, et omnino supernae ille angelorum laudationi comparanda confessio, quae unum Dominum Deum trina sanctificatione glorificat."
I do not know if it has ever been suggested that Vincentius refers here to the Te Deum, but the words imply more than a mere reference to the Sanctus. They imply that it was set in a Confessio Trinitatis, which was worthy to be called Laus angelorum, and acknowledged one Lord God. The title Laus angelica is found in a MS. at Cambridge (S. John's C.15), and Laus angelorum in a MS. at Rouen, Cod.227 (A.367), saec.xii.
In the ninth century there were two conflicting traditions held as to the authorship. Hincmar of Rheims believed the beautiful story, that it was composed by S. Ambrose and S. Augustine on the eventful day of S. Augustine's baptism. In his treatise on Predestination (AD 856) he writes : "Ut a maioribus nostris audiuimus, tempore baptismatis sancti Augustini hunc hymnum beatus Ambrosius fecit, et idem Augustinus cum eo." This tradition is confirmed by the title, which is given to the canticle in a S. Gall. Psalter of the beginning of the century (Cod. 23): "Hymnus quem S. Ambrosius et S. Augustinus inuicem condiderunt." It is also found in the titles of the Vienna Psalter, S. Gall.27, and B. M., Add. MSS.9046.
The Irish Book of Hymns of the tenth, B. M., Vitellius, E.xviii., and Bodleian Laud, 96, both of the eleventh century, show the tradition continued. In the eleventh century the whole story was reported in the Chronicle of Milan, erroneously called by the name of Dacius, who was bishop c. AD 527.
On the other hand, Abbo of Fleury, in a letter to some English monks (AD 985), attributed the hymn to S. Hilary of Poitiers: "Dei palinodia quam composuit Hilarius Pictauensis Episcopus." This tradition is the more interesting, because Fleury Abbey possessed one of the greatest monastic libraries, and Abbo, even if he seems pedantic, was a real student. Moreover, it is carried back probably to the preceding century by the title in one of Daniel's Munich MSS. [Thesaurus Hymnologicus, ii.288.], which belonged to the Abbey of S. Emmeran.
From the tenth century, however, there is evidence of a third tradition, which has been preserved in some ten MSS. It was first noticed by Archbishop Ussher, who wrote to Voss about a collection of Latin and Irish hymns in which he had found the Te. Deum, attributed to a Niceta. This MS. has at last been identified with the Irish Book of Hymns (saec.xi.), belonging to the Franciscan Convent at Dublin, by Prof. J. H. Bernard of Dublin, who has edited it with a most interesting introduction. There is a curious preface to the Te Deum written in Latin and Old Irish, which may be translated as follows [Bradshaw Society vol.xiii.59.]: "Neceta, coarb [i.e. successor] of Peter, made this canticle. In Rome, now, it was made. Incertum autem quo tempore et ob quam causam factum, nisi Necetam Deum laudare uoluisse diceremus, dicens Laudate pueri Dominum, Laudato nomen Domini, Te Deum laudamus " etc.
Ussher found in the Cotton Library another MS., which ascribed the Te Deum to a Nicetius, i.e. a Gallican Psalter, which he supposed to have been written in the reign of Henry I. (1120-1134). This is missing, but with indefatigable labour Dom. Morin has collected references to nine others.
The earliest is—(1) A Roman Psalter from the Abbey of S. Aubin, at Angers (Cod. xv.), of the tenth century. The others are (2) B. M., Harleian, 863, saec.xi.; (3) B. M., Arundel, 60, saec.xi., in which Vicetius is obviously a mistake for Nicetius; (4) Bibl. Laurent. Florence, Plut.xvii. Cod. iii.saec.xi.; (5) ib. Cod. ix., saec.xi.; (6) ib. Cod. viii. saec.xiii.; (7), Munich, Cod. lat. 13067, saec. xi., xii., in a Scotch or Irish hand, from the Belgian monastery of Hastiere on the Meuse; (8) Bibl. Vatican., Cod. Palat. lat. 35, saec.xiv., xv.; (9) an early printed Psalter, ad usum ecclesiae Sarisburiensis, London, 1555, in which is "the rubric, Canticum beati Niceti," and a note stating that the traditional account respecting S. Augustine's baptism is untrue: "Quod non est uerum sed decantauerunt usum prius compositum per beatum Nicetum episcopum Vien(n)ensem quod innuit Cassiodorus de institutione sanctorum scripturarum."
In a few MSS. the names of Sisebut and Abundius are connected with the hymn. They are coupled together in the Breviary of the Collegium Anicianum at Rome, Bibl. Vatican. Cod. Basil. Vat. n.xi. Cod. Vat. 4928, saec.xii. Sisebut alone is mentioned in a Breviary at Monte Casino, which was written under Abbot Oderisius, Paris, Bibl. Mazarin, Cod. 364 (759), Bibl. Vatican. Cod. xi. They were probably monks, who either introduced it into some new district of Italy, or composed the musical setting. Sisebut, a Goth, is mentioned among early disciples of Benedict. S. Gregory, who narrates, Dial. ii.6, how a Goth was received by Benedict, mentions also a clerk, Abundius, who was mansionarius at S. Peter's in the sixth century.
The natural inclination to assign popular creeds or hymns to great men will account for the first and second of these traditions, neither of which can be traced back beyond the ninth century. And it may be worth while to point out that the MS. which ascribes the hymn to Hilary was not written in France, that the MS. which ascribes it to Ambrose and Augustine was not written in Italy, and that no MS. of the Milan version, where we should expect the latter tradition to survive, if anywhere, has any such title.
There remains the interesting series of MSS. that connect it with the name
Niceta or Nicetius. Most of them belong to Great Britain, and there is some likelihood that such a tradition would be longer
preserved in these isles, which were often cut off from much communication with the Continent. [M. S. Berger, Hist. of Vulgate, Paris, 1893, pref. p.12.]
There are strong reasons for identifying him with Niceta of Remesiana. Since Professor Bernard has found the missing MS., which alone preserved the Greek form of the name, the claims of Western writers like Nicetius of Treves, or Nicesius of Vienne, to be regarded as possible authors, become void. It is easy to understand how the Greek name was Latinised in tlie other MSS. Another point of interest in the MS. is the statement that Niceta was Bishop of Rome. Evidently the scribe had seen the inscription, Civitatis Romanae episcopus. Now Romanae is one of the forms in which Remesiana is found in the MSS. of Gennadius.
The internal evidence of the treatises On the Good of Psalmody and On Vigils points quite away from the times and circumstances of Nicetius of Treves, or of his namesake of Vienne. The writer defends the practice of keeping vigils with psalm singing and hymns as something new, to which older Church-folk object, and at which the heathen mock. He speaks of Saturday and Sunday as observed with these night watches. This fact points decisively to some Church influenced by Eastern usage, and to the latter part of the fourth century, a description which would suit Remesiana in the time of Niceta. A reference to the Song of Moses and Miriam shows that the congregation was divided into two choirs, by sex. The whole congregation sang, and did not merely respond "Amen" or "Hallelujah" to a singer or choir.
Antiphonal psalm-singing by the whole congregation began in Antioch about the year 350, when two Orthodox laymen, Flavianus and Diodorus, afterwards Bishops of Antioch and Tarsus, gathered a congregation and taught them to sing hymns, in opposition to the influence of an Arian bishop, Leontius. S. Basil introduced the practice into Caesarea (Cappadocia) in 375, and was heavily reproached for it [Ep. 207.]. It soon spread to Upper Egypt and Mesopotamia, but Basil does not mention one town of Europe where it was found. Opposition did not come so much from conservative congregations as from bishops. A synod held at Laodicea, 360, decreed: "Besides the canonical psalm-singers, who climb into the gallery and sing from the book, shall none sing in the church."
Dom. Morin [Revue Bénédictine, 1897, p.385.] has found in the Vatican Library a new MS. of the tract, On the Good of Psalmody, Cod. Vat. 5729, containing several passages that are not found in the printed editions, but seem to belong to the original text. In one of these, the author answers the objection that S. Paul (Eph.v.9) intended congregations to sing silently, when he wrote, "in gratia cantantes et psallentes Deo in cordibus uestris." In another he quotes a treatise of Cyprian [Ep. ad Donat. c.16, ed. Hartel.]. This throws light on the extent of his reading, and is an interesting parallel to the quotation of Cyprian "On Mortality," in the Te Deum.
Though the writer distinguishes his people from Easterns, his list of the canticles sung at their services exactly corresponds with Eastern usage. Dom. Morin shows this by an interesting list:
NICETA
|
CONSTANTINOPLE
|
MILAN
|
GAUL
|
|
Moses, Exodus |
Moses, Exodus |
Isaiah xxvi.9 |
Benedicite |
|
Moses, Deut. |
Moses, Deut. |
Anna |
Moses, Exodus |
|
Anna |
Anna |
Habbakuk |
Moses, Deut. |
|
Isaiah xxvi.9 |
Habbakuk |
Jonah |
Isaiah lx.1-14 |
|
Habbakuk |
Isaiah xxvi.9 |
Moses, Deut. |
Isaiah lxi.10-lxii.7 |
|
Jonah |
Jonah |
Moses, Exodus |
Anna |
|
Jeremiah, (?) |
Benedicite, i. |
|
Mary |
|
Benedicite |
Benedicite, ii. |
|
Isaiah xxvi.9 |
|
Elizabeth, Luke i.46 |
Mary, Luke i.46 |
|
Judith |
|
|
|
|
Ezekiel |
|
|
|
|
Jeremiah, Lam.v.1-22 |
|
|
|
|
4 Esdras viii.20-36 |
|
|
|
|
Azarias, Dan.iii.26-44 |
It will be seen that the list of Niceta agrees with that of Constantinople with two exceptions, the inversion of the order Isaiah, Habbakuk, and the addition of Jeremiah, which is possibly a point of connection with the Gallican list.
In fact, the internal evidence of these tracts exactly fits in with the words which Paulinus of Nola used about his friend. He anticipated much pleasure from the enjoyment of Niceta's gifts as a hymn writer, beside whom he felt himself poor [Carm. xxvii.193-199.]. He hoped to gain inspiration [Carm. xvii.109.], and that Niceta would visit the church of his patron-saint Felix, with psalm-singing and hymns [ib. 243-272.]. He imagined the sailors on the ship, which would carry Niceta over the Adriatic, taught to sing hymns in chorus, as in "the silent land"; the barbarians had already learnt to hymn Christ:—
"Navitai lasti solitum celeusma
Concinent uersis modulis in hymnos
Et piis ducent comites in sequor
Vocibus auras.
Praecinet cunctis, tuba ceu resultans,
Lingua Nicetae modulata Christum:
Psallet aeternus citharista toto
Aequore Dauid.
Audient Amen tremefacta cete,
Et sacerdotem Domino canentem
Laeta lasciuo procul admeabunt
Monstra natatu."
[ib. 500-510.]
Gennadius and Cassiodorus praise the
writings of Niceta for their brevity, and the clearness and simplicity of their style. The
same characteristics are certainly found in the Te Deum to a marked degree. The
effect that the whole composition has on the mind is felt to be strong. But this is
through the grandeur and rapidity of the thoughts that are expressed, rather than from mere brilliancy of expression. [Morin, Rev. Bén. 1894, p.75.]
The parallels to the Te Deum scattered in the writings of Niceta are not perhaps so striking as one could wish, but they show that his mind was working on similar lines.
Ver.7. In the Explanatio he writes: In emus gloriam etiam angeli prospicere concupiscunt; qui et sedes et dominationes uniuersasque coelorum uirtutes sua maiestate sanctificat.
Ver.8. In the same sermon he writes of patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and the just, as united with angels in one church. And in what seems to be the best text [Epistula Nicetae Episcopi, in the MS. d'Epinal, saec.vii., viii.] of his letter, de lapsu Susannae, if that can be attributed to him, we find mention made of apostles, an army of prophets (exercitus), and the holy angels.
Vers.11-13. Gennadius gives one
title, de fide unicae maiestatis, for the treatises on the faith, and on the Holy Spirit, in which maiestas is repeatedly
used of the Godhead. The immensitas of God's works is spoken of in a way
that implies that the writer would argue back to the immensitas of His Being. He speaks of Christ as uerus (dei) filius
(Mai, p.315). He uses the title spiritum sanctum paraclitum (Mai, p.322). [Zahn, Art, cit.]
Ver.16. Expl.
symboli.—Carnem suscepit humanam (cf. Mai, p.314, corpus suscepisse).
Ver.20. Cf.
sanguinis sui pretio nos redemit (Mai, p.331).
Ver.21. Cf. de remuneratione iustitiae, de coelestis gloriae expectatione (Mai, p.332).
For the thoughts worked out in the
whole of this section of the hymn, we may compare de Psalmodiae Bono. "Et
quod his est omnibus excelsius Christi sacramenta cantantur. Nam et generatio eius exprimitur, et rejectio plebis impiae et
gentium credulitas nominatur. Uirtutes domini cantantur, passio ueneranda depingitur, resurrectio gloriosa monstratur, sedisse
quoque ad dexteram non tacetur. Tune deinde igneus domina manifestatur aduentus, terribile de uiuis ac mortuis iudicium panditur.
Quid plura? Etiam Spiritus [Cod. Vat, XPS.] creantis emissio et terrae renouatio reuelatur. Post quae erit in gloriam domini
sempiternam iustorum regnum impiorum perenne supplicium."
This theory of the authorship has also the merit that it offers an explanation of the fragment of an original Greek version, which has been preserved in four MSS.
Niceta must have been competent to translate it himself, and we may even hope some day to find the rest of the version.
|
1. |
Σὲ θεὸν αἰνοῦμεν· σὲ κύριον ἐξομολογοῦμεν· |
|
2. |
Σὲ αἰώνιο ν πατέρα πᾶσά
ἡ γῆ... |
|
3. |
Σὲ πάντες ἅγγελοὶ, σοὶ
οὐρανοὶ καὶ πᾶσαι,
ἐξονσίαι, |
|
4. |
Σοὶ
χερουβὶμ καὶ σεραφὶμ
ἀκαταπαύστῳ φωνῇ
ἀνακράξονσιν· |
|
5. |
Ἅγιος
ἍγιοιἍγιος κύριος ὁ
θεὸς σαβαώθ· |
|
6. |
πλήρεις
οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς
μεγαλωσύνης τῆς δόξης
σοῦ. |
|
7. |
Σὲ δεδοξασμένος
ἀποστόλων χορός |
|
8. |
Σὲ προφητῶν αἰνετός
ἀριθμός |
|
9. |
Σὲ μαρτύρων
ἔκλαμπρος αἰνεῖ
στρατός· |
|
10. |
Σὲ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν
οἰκουμένην ἡ ἁγία
έξομολογεῖ ἐκκλησία. |
The absence of a verb in verse 2 should be noted. Either the MS. from which the scribe copied was mutilated, or, more probably, if the Greek version was written as an interlinear gloss, some word like σέβέται was forgotten [Wordsworth, Art. cit.]. These ten verses are all that remain at present of the original. The attempts made in some MSS. to continue the translation are very unsuccessful.
The word "sources" is a convenient term, which we may use generally to include any parallel passages in Christian literature of the period to which we have traced the Te Deum. If they were not the actual source of the author's thoughts, they at all events represent the current teaching of his age.
1. THE GLORIA IN EXCELSIS.—First among them we may set the Gloria in excelsis, which in its earliest form can be traced back to the fourth century. The earliest Greek MS. is the famous Codex Alexandrinus of the fifth century. But it is also found in part in the treatise de Virginitate [Robertson, Athanasius, p.lxv.] wrongly ascribed to Athanasius, which must have been written in Syria in the fourth century. In the Apostolic Constitutions, vii.47, a somewhat different version of the hymn is found in a collection of hymns and prayers, which was made in or near Antioch in the latter half of the century. This version of the text offers an illustration of the way in which the writer, known as Ps. Ignatius, " has taken and simply manipulated it to square with his curious views and terminology." [Rev. F. E. Brightman, to whom I am indebted for a list of parallels in the work of this person, which I will quote after the version.]
THE GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
|
||
|
|
Codex Alexandrinus. |
Bangor
Antiphonary. |
|
1. |
Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις θεῷ |
Gloria in excelsis Deo, |
|
2. |
καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰπήωη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία. |
et in terra
pax hominibus bunae uuluntatis. |
|
3. |
αἰνοῦμίν σε, |
Laudamus
te, |
|
4. |
εὐλονοῦμέν σε, |
benedicimus
te, |
|
5. |
προσκυνοῦμίν
σε, |
adoramus te, |
|
6. |
δοξολογοῦμέν
σε, |
glorificamus te, magnificarnus te, |
|
7. |
εὐχαριαττοῦμεν
σοι |
Gratias agimus tibi |
|
8. |
διὰ
τὴω μεγάλην σου δόξαν, |
propter magnam
misericordiam tuam. |
|
9. |
κύριε βασιλεῦ |
Domine rex |
|
10. |
ἐπουράνιε, |
coelestis, |
|
11 |
θεέ πατήρ παντοκράτωρ, |
Deus Pater
omnipotens, |
|
12. |
κύριε υἱὲ μονογενῆ |
Domine Fili
unigenite |
|
13. |
Ἰσοῦ χριστὲ |
Ihesu
Christe, |
|
14. |
καί ἅγιον πνεῦμα. |
Sancte
Spiritua Dei, et omnes
dicimus, Amen. |
|
15. |
κύριε
ὁ θεοῦ, |
Domine |
|
16. |
ὁ
ἀμνὸς του θεοῦ, |
Fili Dei
Patris, |
|
17. |
ὁ
υἱος τοῦ πατρὸς, |
agne Dei |
|
18. |
ὁ
αἴρων τὰς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ
κόσμου |
qui tollis
peccata mundi, |
|
19. |
ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς, |
miserere
nobis. |
|
20. |
ὁ
αἴρων τὰς ἀμαρτίας τοῦ
κόσμου |
|
|
21. |
ελέσον
ἡμᾶς. |
|
|
22. |
πρόσδεξαι
τὴν δεησιν ἡμῶν ὁ
καθήμενος ἡμᾶς. |
Suscipe orationem nostram, qui sedes ad dexteram Dei Patris, miserere nobis. |
|
23. |
ὅτισὺ
εἶ μόνος ἅγοις . |
Quoniam tu
solas sanctus. |
|
24. |
σὺ
εἶ μόνος ΚΥΡΙΟΣ. 'ΙΗΣΟΥΣ
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΕΙΣ
ΔΞΑΝ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ. [Phil.ii.11.] |
tu solus
Dominus. tu solus
gloriosus. cum
Spiritu Sancto. in gloria Dei
Patris. Amen. |
The following is the form found in the Apostolic Constitutions. As it really depends on one MS. (X), I will quote it separately from Lagarde's edition:—
X. Cod. Vindobonensis gr. 46, saec.xiv.
Y. Cod. Vindobonensis gr. 47, saec. xvi.
Z. Cod. Parisinus gr. 931, saec. xvi.
|
Προσευχὴ ἐωθινή X Y. [ἑ Ζ].
|
|
|
1 |
Δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις Θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη, ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία· αἰνοῦμέν σε, ὑμνοῦμέν σε,2 εὐλογοῦμέν σε, εὐχαριστοῦμέν σοι, δοξολογοῦμέν σε, προσκυνοῦμέν σε, |