Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences/Alleluia, dulce carmen
Alleluia, dulce carmen.
The Latin Church, as it is well known, forbade, as a general role, the use of Alleluia in Septuagesima. Hence, in more than one ritual, its frequent repetition on the Saturday before Septuagesima, as if by way of farewell to its employment. This custom was enjoined in the German Dioceses by the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 817: but various reasons render it probable that the following hymn is not of earlier date than the thirteenth century. The farewell to Alleluia in the Mozarabic rite is so lovely that I give it here. After the Alleluia Perenne, the Capitula are as follows:—"Alleluia in heaven and in earth; it is perpetuated in heaven, it is sung in earth. There it resounds everlastingly: here sweetly. There happily; here concordantly. There ineffably; here earnestly. There without syllables; here in musical numbers. There from the Angels; here from the people. Which, at the birth of Christ the Lord, not only in heaven, but the earth, did the Angels sing; while they proclaimed, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will." The Benediction:—"Let that Alleluia which is ineffably sung in heaven, be more efficaciously declared in your praises. Amen. unceasingly sung by Angels, let it here be uttered brokenly by all faithful people. Amen. That it, as it is called the praise of God, and as it imitates you in that praise, may cause you to be enrolled as denizens of the eternal mansion. Amen." The Lauda:—"Thou shalt go, O Alleluia; Thou shalt have a prosperous journey, O Alleluia. R. And again with joy thou shalt return to us, O Alleluia. V. For in their hands they shall bear thee up; lest thou hurt thy foot against a stone. R. And again with joy thou shalt return to us, O Alleluia." So the French Breviaries, on the second Sunday after Easter, celebrate the return of Alleluia. After the beautiful lesson from S. Augustine, in his exposition of the 110th Psalm—"The days have come for us to sing Alleluia. Now these days come only to pass away, and pass away to come again, and typify the Day which does not come and pass away, to which, when we shall have come, clinging to it, we shall not pass away"— they give for the responses:—"V. Through the streets of Jerusalem, Alleluia shall be sung. Blessed be the Lord Who hath exalted her. Let His Kingdom be for ever and ever: Alleluia, Alleluia." "R. Alleluia: salvation, and glory, and power to our God, for true and just are His judgments. Let."
Alleluia, song of sweetness,
Voice of joy, eternal lay:
Alleluia is the Anthem
Of the choirs in Heavenly day,
Which the Angels sing, abiding
In the House of God alway.
Alleluia thou resoundest,
Salem, Mother ever blest;
Alleluias without ending
Fit yon place of gladsome rest;
Exiles we, by Babel's waters
Sit in bondage and distress'd.
Alleluia we deserve not
Here to chant for evermore;
Alleluia our transgressions
Make us for awhile give o'er;
For the holy time is coming
Bidding us our sins deplore.
Trinity of endless glory,
Hear Thy people as they cry!
Grant us all to keep Thy Easter
In our Home beyond the sky:
There to Thee our Alleluia
Singing everlastingly. Amen.
[Corrected for the Hymnal Noted; thence with alterations in Hymns Ancient and Modern and Sarum.]