Medieval Hymns to St. Bartholomew

taken from

Lateinische hymnen des mittelalters

"Latin Hymns of the Middle Ages"

 by Franz Joseph Mone


I originally discovered this text's relevance to early church beliefs about St. Bartholomew as a result of Dr. Norman Moore's four stanza citation in A Brief Relation of the Past and Present State of the Royal and Religious Foundation of St. Bartholomew's, (London: Adlard and Son), 1895. To my delighted disbelief, the San Francisco Public Library holds a copy of Mone's 3 volume collection of hymns from the Middle Ages. I was delighted but bemused to discover that hymns and notes related to this apostle cover pages 122-125, and include German, Latin and Greek texts; delighted because I'm optimistic that the additional material will fill in gaps in our understanding of liturgical components of the celebrations for the Apostle; bemused because I cannot speak any of these languages.

I am posting my transcription of these pages in hopes that my multi-lingual colleagues out there will be able to assist me in developing reasonable English translations, saving me from the embarrassment of relying on Internet-based translation tools. All work will be credited when used either in my Web sites on St. Bartholomew the Great, or in my forthcoming book.

I have made every attempt to doublecheck my typing as I've gone through the text, but the odds are quite good that I've made some spelling errors. If you think there's a problem, or you'd like to see the photograph from which I extracted a particular piece of text, just let me know.

Please send any contributions to Tina Bird - thanks!

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to my father and step-mother, Chris & Erika Bird, for their translations of the German parts of the text. I am also deeply indebted to Daniel Police, of the ChurchCrawlers mailing list, for his assistance in translating part of Hymn #712.

Title page: "Latin Hymns of the Middle Ages" The title page from Mone's encyclopedic collection of mediæval hymns.

Latin Hymns of the Middle Ages, transcribed and documented from the writings of F. J. Mone, Director of the Karlsruhe Archive. 

Third Volume: Holy Songs.

Published in Freiburg, in the district of Breisgau, by Herder'sche Verlagshandlung, 1855.

(Photographed by tbird at the San Francisco Public Library, 8 January 2007.)

Pages 122-123

712. De s. Bartholomæo (troparium).

  1. Diem festum
    Bartholomæi, Christi
    amici,
    fratres excolite
    dignis præconiis,                    (5)
    Ejus obtentu cœli
    quo mereamini
    sedibus perfrui.
  2. Hi Indiæ populis
    prædicat evangelium,           (10)
    Qui dediti vitiis
    vacabant idolatriæ,
    Quos instruens
    sanctus apostolus
    jussit frangere                      (15)
    idola atque Christo
    facere templa;
    Et dæmones,
    quos adoravere,
    fecit longius                          (20)
    abire, ubi essent
    invia terræ.
3. Mundat leprosos
    saluti pristinæ
    et reddit ægros,                    (25)
    Vestivit cæcos
    præsenti lumine
    fecitque sanos.
    Oratio ejus
    paralyticos erigit                   (30)
    atque curat energumenos,
    Nam Indici natam
    regis diu lunaticam
    sola prece salvam fecerat.		 He cleanses lepers to pristine good health,
and restores the infirm,
He gives sight to the blind
And makes them healthy again
His prayers raise the paralyzed
and heals those possessed by devils.
By his sole prayer
he cured the king’s daughter,
who had long been insane.

(translated with much assistance
from Daniel Police)
  1. Convertit regem                    (35)
    populumque ejus
    sacris fontibus
    expiaverat,
    Promittens illis,
    quod non vidit                       (40)
    homo nec ascendit
    in cor hominis.
  2. Per multa sic prædicans tempora
    vestimenta
    illius non fuerant sordida.      (45)
    Nocturno vigilarat tempore,
    similiter
    diurno in dei laudamine.
  3. Post talia miracula
    occisus migravit                     (50)
    ad Christum, perenni
    in regno semper lusurus,
    Sed veniet judicii
    in die cum deo,
    hominum secreta                  (55)
    per ignem judicaturus.
  4. Quæsumus
    te, Bartholomæe,
    exorantes,
    quo detergas nostra             (60)
    hic facinora,
    Quatinus
    utamur præmio,
    quod credentum
    repromisit Christos                (65)
    gregi pusillo.
NB: In Mone's text, Christos is written in Greek, but I haven't yet figured out how to code Greek characters into a web page.

The hymn is followed by these notes:

Hs. zu München Clm. 14083. f. 24. des 11 Jahrh. mit Neumen (A). Hs. zu Stuttgart Bibl. No. 20 f. 67. 12 Jahrh. (B).

2 Bartholomeo A.  4 fratris A.  12 idolatriis A, wol des Reimes wegen.  16 Christi 1.  19 adoraverant wäre für das Versmass und den Satz besser.  DA energuminos AB.  34 præce AB, alte Schreibung.  41 ascenderat A.  52 mansurus B.  57 quos A.  61 quatenus B.

Pages 124-125

The  notes related to the prior hymn continue:

V. 3. Christi amici ist eine besondere Benennung der Apostel nach Joh. 15, 14. 15.

Bartholomäus ist wahrscheinlich derselbe, der auch Nathanael hiess, denn dieser gehörte zu den Aposteln. Joh. 21, 2. Acta SS. Aug. tom. 5 p. 8. Die Juden hatten damals schon zuweilen griechische Namen, wie Nicodemus, Andreas, Philippus, oder setzten auch ihr Wort Bar (Sohn) mit griechischen Namen zusammen, wie Bartimæus u. a., wozu auch Bartholomæus gehört, der filius Ptolomæi bedeutet, wie das Horar. 290 sagt:

[Note: at this point the text continues in Greek; I think it repeats the story about "Bartholomew" meaning "the son of Talmai". I'll send the photo upon request, but the script is on a very curved part of the book and my meager photo modifications skills have failed to make it acceptably legible.]

Ein Lied auf diesen Apostel machte auch der Prior Konrat von Gaming, das in der Reichenauer Hs. No. 36. f. 183 und in der Münchener Hs. Clm. 3012 steht und so anfängt:

Salve o Bartholomæe, Christi princeps inclite.

[V. 3. Christi amici "disciple of Christ," is derived from John 15:14-15:
You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Bartholomew is probably the same apostle as Nathaniel, who is mentioned only in John 21:2 and Acta SS Aug. volume 5, page 8. At this period in time, Jews already used two Greek names, such as Nicodemus, Andreas, or Philippus, or they used patronymics, combining their word for "son," Bar, with Greek names such as Bartimæus. Bartholomæus, meaning "son of Ptolemy," belonged to this second group, as the Horar. 290 says:

[Transcription of Greek to follow]

Another hymn to St. Bartholomew, written by Prior Konrat von Gaming, is preserved at Reichenauer House No. 36. folio 183, as well as at the Munich House Clm. 3012, beginning with the line Salve o Bartholomæe, Christi princeps inclite.]

713. De s. Bartholomæo (troparium).

  1. Laudet te, deus,
    justus et reus
    orbis totus,
    sacro fonte lotus;
  2. Culpæ qui totius                     (5)
    es indultor propitius,
    Consolator pius,
    malum mutans in melius.
  3. Qui duodenos
    in orbem misisti famulos,        (10)
    Ad fidem rectam
    servandam hortantes populos.
  4. In grege quorum
    Bartholomæum
    socium constituis                   (15)
    tam sedulum,
    Ut nomen tuum,
    dignum et pium,
    laudaret, prædicaret
    per sæculum.                         (20)
  5. Igitur hic sanctus
    veniens in tertiam
    primitus Indiam,
    Quo deus colitur,
    Astaroth qui dicitur,               (25)
    templum ingreditur.
  6. Dæmon perterritus
    obmutuit,
    responsa penitus
    non tribuit;                            (30)
    quid istud designat
    genti deceptæ
    Bierit indicat.
    ,,En deus, inquiens,
    quem colitis,                          (35)
    catenis traditus
    est ignitis,
    viro dei dante,
    ne me visitet
    quilibet,'' clamitat.                  (40)
  7. ,,Hæc sunt indicia
    nobis eundem
    patenter indicantia.
    Ipsius omnia
    specie mira                            (45)
    membra sunt elegantia:
  8. Crispi suont crines,
    oculi grandes,
    præcellit omnes caro candida;
    Decens statura,                     (50)
    vox tamquam tuba,
    vestitur purpura pretiosa.''
  9. Continuo
    sanctum quærunt,
    quoniam signa                       (55)
    patranda noverunt.
    A dæmone
    vir mundatur,
    et regis nata
    curata lætatur.                       (60)
  10. Cum rege familia
    credit et patria,
    multa fiunt signa,
    fides crescit,
    cassantur idola.                      (65)
    Tot signis deicolis
    fulsit apostolus,
    tandem flagellatur,
    decollatur
    astregis visibus.                      (70)
  11. Gens bissenarum,
    quas convertit civitatum,
    corpus visitat beatum,
    Sepelit illud
    digne dignum in sepulchrum     (75)
    scandit spiritus in altum.
  12. Ipsius pio precatu
    nos, deus, a reatu
    digneris absolvere
    tuoque regno jungere.             (80)

Notes:

Hs. des ehemaligfen Klosters Kreuzlingen bei Konstanz, 14 Jahrh. mit der Melodie. Vgl. Acta SS. Aug. 5, 34.

15 constatuisti, Hs.   20 sæcula, Hs.   40 clamitet, Hs.   49 omnes fehlt der Hs., der Vers verlangt aber ein zweisylbiges Wort; cand. caro, Hs.   GA quamvis, Hs.   59 die Hs. Hat nur rex.   62 et fehlt der Hs.  65 cessantur, Hs.

Ein anderes Lied auf diesen Apostel steht in einer Hs. zu Pommersfelden des 14 Jahrh. mit diesem Anfang:

Gaudemus omnes inclita     Bartholomæi merita.

Horizontal rule - knotwork
St. Bart's coat of arms
 tbird's home page
Photographs and text copyright Tina Bird, 2003-2019
Last modified 15 February 2019		 St. Bart's coat of arms