Salve Regina
The opening words (used as a title) of the most celebrated of the
four Breviary anthems of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is said from
the First Vespers of Trinity Sunday until None of the Saturday
before Advent. An exception is noted in Migne's "Dict. de
liturgie" (s. v.), namely that the rite of Ch�lons-sur-Marne
assigns it from the Purification B. M. V. until Holy Thursday. An
other variation, peculiar to the cathedral of Speyer (where it is
chanted solemnly every day "in honour of St. Bernard"), may have
been based on either of two legends connecting the anthem with the
saint of Clairvaux. One legend relates that, while the saint was
acting as legate Apostolic in Germany, he entered (Christmas Eve,
1146) the cathedral to the processional chanting of the anthem,
and, as the words "O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria" were
being sung, genuflected thrice. According to the more common
narrative, however, the saint added the triple invocation for the
first time, moved thereto by a sudden inspiration. "Plates of
brass were laid down in the pavement of the church, to mark the
footsteps of the man of God to posterity, and the places where he
so touchingly implored the clemency, the mercy, and the sweetness
of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (Ratisbonne, "Life and Times of St.
Bernard", American ed., 1855, p. 381, where fuller details are
given). It may be said in passing that the legend is rendered very
doubtful for several reasons:
* the narrative apparently originated in the sixteenth century,
and relates a fact of the twelfth;
* the silence of contemporaries and of the saint's companions is
of some significance;
* the musical argument suggests a single author of both the anthem
and its concluding words.
The authorship is now generally ascribed to Hermann Contractus (q.
v.). Durandus, in his "Rationale", ascribed it to Petrus of
Monsoro (d. about 1000), Bishop of Compostella. It has also been
attributed to Adh�mar, Bishop of Podium (Puy-en-Velay), whence it
has been styled "Antiphona de Podio" (Anthem of Le Puy). Adh�mar
was the first to ask permission to go on the crusade, and the
first to receive the cross from Pope Urban II. "Before his
departure, towards the end of October, 1096, he composed the war-
song of the crusade, in which he asked the intercession of the
Queen of Heaven, the Salve Regina" (Migne, "Dict. des Croisades",
s. v. Adh�mar). He is said to have asked the monks of Cluny to
admit it into their office, but no trace of its use in Cluny is
known before the time of Peter the Venerable, who decreed (about
1135) that the anthem should be sung processionally on certain
feasts. Perhaps stimulated by the example of Cluny, or because of
St. Bernard's devotion to the Mother of God (the saint was
diligent in spreading a love for the anthem, and many pilgrim-
shrines claim him as founder of the devotion to it in their
locality), it was introduced into Citeaux in the middle of the
twelfth century, and down to the seventeenth century was used as a
solemn anthem for the Magnificat on the feasts of the Purification
, Annunciation, and Nativity B. V. M., and for the Benedictus at
Lauds of the Assumption. In 1218 the general chapter prescribed
its daily processional chanting before the high altar after the
Capitulum; in 1220 it enjoined its daily recitation on each of the
monks; in 1228 it ordered its singing "mediocri voce", together
with seven psalms, etc. on every Friday "pro Domino Papa" (Gregory
IX had taken refuge in Perugia from Emperor Frederick II), "pro
pace Romanae Ecclesiae", etc. etc. -- the long list of
"intentions" indicating how salutary was deemed this invocation of
Our Lady. The use of the anthem at Compline was begun by the
Dominicans about 1221, and was rapidly propagated by them. Before
the middle of that century, it was incorporated with the other
anthems of the Blessed Virgin in the "modernized" Franciscan
Breviary, whence it entered into the Roman Breviary. Some scholars
say that the anthem had been in use in that order (and probably
from its foundation) before Gregory IX prescribed its universal
use. The Carthusians sing it daily at Vespers (except the First
Sunday of Advent to the Octave of Epiphany, and from Passion
Sunday to Low Sunday) as well as after every hour of the Little
Office B. V. M. The Cistercians sang it after Compline from 1251
until the close of the fourteenth century, and have sung it from
1483 until the present day -- a daily devotion, except on Holy
Thursday and Good Friday. the Carmelites say it after every hour
of the Office. Pope Leo XIII prescribed its recitation (6 January,
1884) after every low Mass, together with other prayers -- a law
still in force.
While the anthem is in sonorous prose, the chant melody divides it
into members which, although of unequal syllabic length, were
doubtless intended to close with the faint rhythmic effect
noticeable when they are set down in divided form:
* Salve Regina (Mater) misericordiae,
* Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve.
* Ad te clamamus, exsules filii Hevae;
* Ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes in hac lacrymarum valle.
* Eia ergo advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos
converte.
* Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc
exsilium ostende. O Clemens, O pia, O dulcis (Virgo) Maria.
Similarly, Notker Balbulus ended with the (Latin) sound of "E" all
the verses of his sequence, "Laus tibi, Christe" (Holy Innocents)
The word "Mater" in the first verse is found in no source, but
is a late insertion of the sixteenth century. Similarly, the word
"Virgo" in the last verse seems to date back only to the
thirteenth century. Mone (Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters, II,
203-14) gives nine medieval hymns based on the anthem. Daniel
(Thesaurus hymnologicus, II, 323) gives a tenth. The "Analecta
hymnica" gives various transfusions and tropes (e. g. XXXII, 176,
191-92; XLVI, 139-43). The composers adopt curious forms for the
introduction of the text, for example (fourteenth century):
Salve splendor praecipue supernae claritatis, Regina vincens
strenue scelus imietatis, Misericordiae tuae munus impende gratis,
etc.
The poem has fourteen such stanzas. Another poem, of the fifteenth
century, has forty-three four-line stanzas. Another, of the
fifteenth century, is more condensed:
Salve nobilis regina fons misericordiae, etc.
A feature of these is their apparent preference for the briefer
formula, "O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Maria."
The anthem figured largely in the evening devotions of the
confraternities and guilds which were formed in great numbers
about the beginning of the thirteenth century. "In France, this
service was commonly known as Salut, in the Low Countries as the
Lof, in England and Germany simply as the Salve. Now it seems
certain that our present Benediction service has resulted from the
general adoption of this evening singing of canticles before the
statue of Our Lady, enhanced as it often came to be in the course
of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by the exposition of
the Blessed Sacrament, which was employed at first only as an
adjunct to lend it additional solemnity." (Father Thurston; see
BENEDICTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT for some elaboration). Luther
complained that the anthem was sung everywhere throughout the
world, that the great bells of the churches were rung in its
honour, etc. He objected especially to the words "Queen of mercy,
our life, our sweetness, our hope"; but the language of devotion
is not that of dogma, and some Protestants, unwilling that it
should disappear from Lutheran churches, reconstructed it
"evangelically" (e.g., a version in use at Erfurt in 1525: "Salve
Rex aeternae misericordiae".) The Jansenists found a like
difficulty, and sought to change the expression into "the
sweetness and hope of our life" (Beissel, I, 126). While the
anthem thus figured largely in liturgical and in general popular
Catholic devotion, it was especially dear to sailors. Scholars
give instances of the singing of Salve Regina by the sailors of
Columbus and the Indians.
The exquisite plainsong has been attributed to Hermann Contractus.
The Vatican Antiphonary (pp. 127-8) gives the revised official or
"typical" form of the melody (first tone). The now unofficial
"Ratisbon" edition gave the melody in an ornate and in a simple
form, together with a setting which it described as being in the
eleventh tone, and which is also very beautiful. An insistent echo
of this last setting is found in the plainsong of Santeul's
"Stupete gentes." There are many settings by polyphonic and modern
composers. Pergolesi's (for one voice, with two violins, viola,
and organ) was written shortly before his death; it is placed
among his "happiest inspirations", is deemed his "greatest triumph
in the direction of Church music" and "unsurpassed in purity of
style, and pathetic, touching expression."
H. T. HENRY
Transcribed by John A. Scofield
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright � 1996 by
New Advent, Inc., P.O. Box 281096, Denver, Colorado, USA, 80228.
(
[email protected]) Taken from the New Advent Web Page
(www.knight.org/advent).
This article is part of the Catholic Encyclopedia Project, an
effort aimed at placing the entire Catholic Encyclopedia 1913
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