St. Ambrose of Milan

Ambrose, the illustrious bishop of Milan, though some-what younger († 397), is still considered, on account of the number and value of his hymns, the proper father of Latin church song, and became the model for all successors. Such was his fame as a hymnographer that the words Ambrosianus and hymnus were at one time nearly synonymous. His genuine hymns are distinguished for strong faith, elevated but rude simplicity, noble dignity, deep unction, and a genuine churchly and liturgical spirit. The rhythm is still irregular, and of rhyme only imperfect beginnings appear; and in this respect they certainly fall far below the softer and richer melodies of the middle age, which are more engaging to ear and heart. They are an altar of unpolished and unhewn stone. They set forth the great objects of faith with apparent coldness that stands aloof from them in distant adoration; but the passion is there, though latent, and the fire of an austere enthusiasm burns beneath the surface. Many of them have, in addition to their poetical value, a historical and theological value as testimonies of orthodoxy against Arianism.12551255Trench sees in the Ambrosian hymns, not without reason (I. c. p. 86), “a rocklike firmness, the old Roman stoicism transmuted and glorified into that nobler Christian courage, which encountered and at length overcame the world.” Fortlage judged the same way before in a brilliant description of Latin hymns, l. c. p. 4 f., comp. Daniel, Cod. Lit. iii. p. 282 sq.

Of the thirty to a hundred so-called Ambrosian hymns,12561256Daniel, ii. pp. 12-115. however, only twelve, in the view of the Benedictine editors of his works, are genuine; the rest being more or less successful imitations by unknown authors. Neale reduces the number of the genuine Ambrosian hymns to ten, and excludes all which rhyme regularly, and those which are not metrical. Among the genuine are the morning hymn: “Aeterne rerum conditor;”12571257The genuineness of this hymn is put beyond question by two quotations of the contemporary and friend of Ambrose , Augustine , Confess. ix. 12, and Retract. i. 12, and by the affinity of it with a passage in the Hexaëmeron of Ambrose , xxiv. 88, where the same thoughts are expressed in prose. Not so certain is the genuineness of the other Ambrosian morning hymns: “Aeterna coeli gloria,” and “Splendor paternae gloriae.” the evening hymn: “Deus creator omnium;”12581258The other evening hymn: “O lux beata Trinitas,” ascribed to him (in the Roman Breviary and in Daniel’s Thesaur. i. 36), is scarcely from Ambrose : it has already the rhyme in the form as we find it in the hymns of Fortunatus. and the Advent or Christmas hymn: “Veni, Redemptor gentium.” This last is justly considered his best. It has been frequently reproduced in modern languages,12591259Especially in the beautiful German by John Frank: “Komm, Heidenheiland, Lösegeld,” which is a free recomposition rather than a translation. For another English version (abridged), see “The Voice of Christian Life in Song,” p. 97: “Redeemer of the nations, come; Pure offspring of the Virgin’s womb, Seed of the woman, promised long, Let ages swell Thine advent song.”