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The original poem was written on the death of his mother, June 1, 1823. This fact supplies the key to the line of thought in the opening stanza:—
"Oh! Thou Who deign'st to sympathise
With all our frail and fleshly ties,
Master, yet Brother dear.
Forgive the too presumptuous thought,
If, calming wayward grief, I sought
To gaze on Thee too near."
The poem as originally written was too personal for publication in the Christian Year, and, in 1826 (dated Mar. 9, 1826), the four concluding stanzas were omitted, and those beginning in that work, "Ave Maria, blessed Maid," to the end, were substituted, and the poem in this its new form was first published therein in 1827. The original was included with a special note in his Misc. Poems, 1869, pp. 230-33, and the cento, as a hymn, in the Appendix to the Hymnal N., 2nd ed., 1864, the People's H., 1867, No. 192, and others.
Ave maris stella. Anon. [B. V. M] This hymn, so well known as to its words, is of uncertain authorship. It has been wrongly ascribed to St. Bernard, as it is found in a St, Gall ms., No. 95, of the 9th cent, and to Venantius Fortunatus (by M. A. Luchi, 1789), but on insufficient authority. The text is given in Daniel, i., No. 171, with various readings. (Other notes are given in vol. iii. p. 286, and vol iv. p. 136.) Mone gives five paraphrases of this hymn, Nos. 496-500; each line of the original being followed by versified explanations and simplifications, a certain testimony to the popularity of the original.
It has been treated with so much respect as hardly to have been altered in the Roman Breviary, 1632, and was retained in the revised Breviaries of French dioceses (Paris, Lyons, &c.), as one of the few exceptions of old hymns not supplanted. It is appointed for Vespers in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, Officium parvum beatae Mariae, Paris, Lyons, Le Mans, &c.; some, as Paris, Le Mans, &c., having it also in the Saturday Office of the Blessed Virgin, Officium beatae Mariae in Sabbato, and in Feasts which have no special or proper hymns.
In the Roman Breviary it is the Hymn for 1st and 2nd vespers in the Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary; also in the Office of the B. V. M. on Saturdays, and in the Little Office, Officium parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis, at 1st vespers, there being no 2nd vespers in these two latter cases.
The hymn is found in three mss. of the 11th cent, in the British Museum (Harl. 2961, f. 241; Vesp. D. xii. f. 63; Jul. A. vi. f. 56); and in the Latin Hys. of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 1851, p. 76, it is printed from an 11th cent. ms. at Durham. It is also given in Bässler, Königsfeld, Simrock, Wackernagel, i. No. 85, and various modern Roman Catholic collections. [W. A. S.]
Translations in C. U.:—
1. Hail, thou Star of Ocean. By E. Caswall, 1st pub. in his Lyra Catholica, 1849, p. 197, where it began "Gentle Star of Ocean;" and again, in an altered form, in his Hymns & Poems, 1873, p. 105, in 7 st. of 4 l. It is given in a large number of Roman Catholic collections in G. Britain and America, often in an altered form, and sometimes beginning, "Hail, bright star of ocean."
2. Hail, Sea Star, we bless thee. This is by J. R. Beste in his Church Hys. (R. Cath.), 1849. Its use is not extensive.
3. Hail, thou resplendent Star. In A Sel. of Catholic Hys., Glasgow, H. Margey, 1861, No. 41, the St. Patrick's Catholic H. Bk., 1862, No. 60, and other collections this tr. is given without signature. It is based upon Caswall.
Translations not in C. U.:—
1. Hail, Ocean Star. E. Caswall, 1873.
2. The Star which o'er the sea. J. W. Hewett, 1859.
3. Hail! Star of Ocean, Mary. Chambers, ii. 1866.
4. Hail! Star of the sea, &c. (Prose). Mrs. Charles, 1858.
[J. J.]
Ave, plena gratiâ, cujus. Anon. [The Purification.] In the revised Paris Missal of 1736, this hymn is given as the Sequence for the Feast of the Purification. The text is in Card. Newman's Hymni Ecclesiae, 1838 and 1865.
Translations in C. U.:—
1. Ave, Mary, full of grace. By W. J. Copeland. 1st pub. in his Hymns for the Week, &c, 1848, p. 111, in 10 st. of 3 l., and repeated in Rorison's Hymns and Anthems, 1851, and later editions, in 5 st. of 6 l.
2. Jesus, Son of Mary, hail, No. 73 in Murray's Hymnal, 1852, and some later collections, is Copeland's tr. slightly altered.
3. In His Mother's pure embrace. No. 346 in the Hymnary is the same tr. altered by the editors of that selection.
4. Hail, thou Mother, full of grace, in the Altar Hymnal, 1884, is also Copeland's tr. altered by C. R.
Another tr. not in C.U. is, "Mary, hail to thee, we sing," in the Monthly Packet, Feb., 1868.
[J. J.]
Ave regina coelorum. [B. V. M.] One of the four Antiphons to the B. V. M. (see "Alma Redemptoris mater"). Among the mss. in the British Museum it is found in the St Alban's Book of the 12th cent. (ms. Reg. 2 A. x. f. 62), and a Sarum Breviary of the 14th cent. (mss. Reg. 2 A. xiv. f. 235 b). It is also in the York Breviary, 1493 (1883 reprint, ii. 493); in the Roman Breviary, Modena, 1480, f. 512, &c. The text in Daniel, ii. 319, is from a Munich ms. probably of the 13th cent., and other sources. [J. M.]
Translation in C. U.:—
Hail, O Queen of Heaven enthroned! By E. Caswall, in his Lyra Catholica, 1849, p. 39, in 8 lines; and again in his Hys. & Poems, 1873, p. 23. It is largely used in Roman Catholic collections for schools and missions. Another tr. is "Hail, thou mighty Queen of heaven," by J. R. Beste, in his Church Hymns, 1849, p. 66. It is not in C. U.
Ave verum corpus natum. Anon. [Holy Communion.] The text will be found in Daniel, ii. p. 327. Also as No. 213 in Mone's Collection; with the heading, In elevatione Corporis Christi, and the statement that a Reicheuau ms. of the 14th cent says "Pope Innocent composed the following salutation" ("Salutationem sequentem composuit
