Hymn

A song or ode in honour of the Divine Being. St. Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, is said to have been the first who composed hymns to be sung in churches, and was followed by St. Ambrose. Most of those in the Roman breviary were composed by Prudentius. The hymns or odes of the ancients generally consisted of three sorts of stanzas, one of which was sung by the band as they walked from east to west; another was performed as they returned from west to east; the third part was sung before the altar. The Jewish hymns were accompanied with trumpets, drums, and cymbals, to assist the voices of the Levites and the people. We have had a considerable number of hymns composed in our own country. The most esteemed are those of Watts, Doddridge, Newton, and Hart. As to selections, few are superior to Dr. Rippon’s and Dr. William’s.

See PSALMODY.

It is somewhat remarkable, that the Hebrews have no peculiar or specific name for an hymn. A Canticle, or Song, or Psalm, they have words for. Perhaps those which are called Hal - lah might mean as much, for the Hallelu - Jah of David’s psalms imply as much.

a song, or ode, composed in honour of God. The Jewish hymns were accompanied with trumpets, drums, and cymbals, to assist the voices of the Levites and people. The word is used as synonymous with canticle, song, or psalm, which the Hebrews scarcely distinguish, having no particular term for a hymn, as distinct from a psalm or canticle. St. Paul requires Christians to edify one another with “psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs.” St. Matthew says, that Christ, having supped, sung a hymn, and went out. He recited the hymns or psalms which the Jews were used to sing after the passover; which they called the Halal; that is, the Hallelujah Psalms.

In the only places of the New Testament where this word occurs, it is connected with two others of very similar import. ’Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord’ (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16). It has been conjectured that by ’psalms and hymns’ the poetical compositions of the Old Testament are chiefly to be understood, and that the epithet ’spiritual,’ here applied to ’songs,’ is intended to mark those devout effusions which resulted from the spiritual gifts granted to the primitive church; yet in 1Co 14:26 a production of the latter class is called ’a psalm.’ Josephus, it may be remarked, uses the terms ’hymns’ and ’songs,’ in reference to the Psalms of David (Antiq. vii. 12. 3). Our information respecting the hymnology of the first Christians is extremely scanty; the most distinct notice we possess of it is that contained in Pliny’s celebrated Epistle (Ep. x. 97): ’They sing a hymn to Christ as God.’

The hymn which our Lord sung with his disciples at the Last Supper is generally supposed to have been the latter part of the Hallel, or series of psalms which were sung by the Jews on the night of the Passover, comprehending Psalms 113-118; Psalms 113, 114 being sung before, and the rest after the Passover.

A religious canticle, song, or psalm, Zep 5:19 Col 3:16 . Paul requires Christians to edify one another with "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." Matthew says that Christ and his disciples, having supped, sung a hymn, and went out. They probably chanted a part of the psalms which the Jews used to sing after the Passover, which they called the Halal; that is, the Hallelujah psalms. These are Psa 113:1-11 8:29, of which the first two are supposed to have been chanted before the Passover was eaten, and the others afterwards.\par

Hymn. A religious song or psalm. Eph 5:19; Col 3:16. Our Lord and his apostles sung a hymn after the last supper. In the jail at Philippi, Paul and Silas "sang hymns" (Authorized Version, "praises") unto God, and so loud was their song that their fellow prisoners heard them.

A song expressive of praise, adoration, or elevated emotion; specifically, a metrical composition, divided into stanzas, intended to be sung in religious worship

HYMN

1. Introductory.—In the earliest period the terms ‘hymn’ (ὕμνος) and ‘to hymn’ (ὑμνεῖν) seem to have covered practically every kind of composition which was sung or rhythmically recited in Christian worship or the Christian assemblies.

In Col 3:16 and Eph 5:19 the three terms ὑμνος (‘hymn’), ψαλμός (‘psalm’), and ᾠδή (‘song’) are found together as descriptive of the acts of praise offered to God in the early Christian assemblies. ‘While the leading idea of ψαλμ. is a musical accompaniment, and that of ῦμν. praise to God, ᾠδή is the general word for a song, whether accompanied or unaccompanied, whether of praise or on any other subject. Thus it was quite possible for the same song to be at once ψαλμός, ὕμνος, and ᾠδή (Lightfoot on Col 3:16).

Specifically hymns came in course of time to be distinguished from psalms (i.e. the canonical Bk. of Psalms^{* [Note: It is possible that in Col 3:16, Eph 5:19 the term ψαλμός is similarly restricted in meaning,]} ) and canticles (‘poetical extracts from Holy Scripture which are incorporated among the Psalms in the Divine office’^{† [Note: Chr. Ant. i. 284.]} ). This, of course, applies to the period subsequent to the fixing of the Canon. But the earliest ecclesiastical hymns, in this sense, were not metrical.

The ecclesiastical canticles under the title of ᾠδαί immediately follow the Psalter in certain of the Greek uncials and in a large number of the Greek cursive MS^{S [Note: SS Manuscripts.]} . Nine of them are now sung at Lauds in the office of the orthodox Greek Church. Codex A gives the following in the following order:^{‡ [Note: Swete, Introd. to the OT in Greek, p. 253 f.]}

(1) Exo 15:1-18 (‘song of Moses in Exodus’); (2) Deu 32:1-43 (‘Song of Moses in Deut.’); (3) 1Sa 2:1-10 (‘Prayer of Haonah’); (4) Isa 26:9-20 (‘prayer of Isaiah’); (5) Jon 3:5-10 (‘Prayer of Jonah’); (6) Hab 3:1-19 (‘Prayer of Habakkuk’); (7) Isa 38:10-20 (‘Prayer of Hezekiah’); (8) The Prayer of Manasseh; (9) Dan 3:26-30; (10) Dn 3:52–88; (11) Magnificat; (12) Nunc Dimittis; (13) Benedictus; (14) Morning Hymn (= full form of Gloria in Excelsis).

2. Jewish Liturgical usage.—In the Temple services the Psalms naturally played a great part. For the daily service the order of the Psalms, which were sung to a musical accompaniment by the Levitical choir,^{§ [Note: Edersheim, Temple, etc. p. 143 f.]} was as follows: 1st day of the week, Psalms 24; Psalms 2 nd, Psalms 48; Psalms 3 rd, Psalms 82; Psalms 4 th, Psalms 94; Psalms 5 th, Psalms 81; Psalms 6 th, Psalms 93; Sabbath, Psalms 92. Special Psalms were also used for special occasions.

It has been questioned whether psalmody formed an element in the early synagogue-service (see esp. Gibson, Expositor, July 1890, pp. 25–27). It is true that in the Mishna|^{| [Note: | Cf. esp. Meg. iv. 3.]} the only elements explicitly recognized in the synagogue-service are: (1) the Shemaʽ; (2) prayer; (3) the reading of the Law; and (4) the reading of the Prophets, and the benediction. But we know from the NT that in addition to this the practice of translating and expounding the Scripture-lection was also in vogue; and it may be inferred that on certain special occasions the ‘Hallel,’ at any rate, was recited in the synagogues (see Hallel).^{¶ [Note: It is worth noting that the regular term employed in the Mishna is to ‘read’ (קרא) the Hallel. In the Temple-service it was sung. Cf. also the benediction said before Hallel, which was probably the composition of the Pharisees (‘who hast commanded us to read the Hallel’).]} But it is difficult to believe that other parts of the Psalter were not also recited there. The internal evidence of the Psalms suggests that some at least were specially intended for synagogue use: esp. the ‘Hallelujah’ Psalms (105, 106, 107, 111, 112, 114, 116, 117, 118, 135, 136, 146–150).^{** [Note: * Cf. Cheyne, Origin of the Psalter, p. 14, note g, and p. 363 f. Psalms 146-150 form a well-defined group in the synagogue-liturgy, and are used in the daily morning service (cf. Singer, Heb.-Eng. Prayer-Book, p. 29 f.). Compare with this the custom in certain parts of the early Church of reciting the “Hallelujah’ Psalms daily. See Grunwald, Heber den Einfluss der Psalmen auf die Katholische Liturgie, Heft iii. p. 23.]} However this may be, it is practically certain that a part, at least, of the sacred poetry of the OT, such as the Red Sea Song (Exodus 15), the special psalms for the days of the week, the Hallel, and possibly, also, the ‘Psalms of Degrees,’ would be known in Palestine in their Hebrew form in the time of Christ from their liturgical use in public worship, esp. in the Temple.†^{† [Note: † Cf. also the so-called Psalter of Solomon, which may have been intended ‘for public or oven liturgical use,’ and which almost certainly goes lack to a Hebrew original See ed. by Ryle and James, p. xci.]} Examples of post-biblical poetry (Hebrew) of the early period (before the destruction of the Temple) are very rare. For an instance cf. Mishna, Sukkâ v. 4 (a liturgical piece).

3. The Evangelical Canticles.—The poetical pieces which we know as the Magnificat, Benedictus, Nune Dimittis, and Gloria in Excelsis (Angels’ song), and which are embodied in the first two chapters of the Third Gospel, are probably the earliest examples of Christian hymns. They are ascribed to the Virgin Mary, Simeon, Zacharias, and the Angels respectively; but it is more probable that they are to be regarded as original liturgical compositions, refleeting the piety and devotion of the early Jewish-Christian community in Palestine. Probably, too, they are translations from Hebrew originals, and were at first sung or chanted in Hebrew.^{* [Note: See an article by the present writer in ZNTW vi. p. 80 f. (Feb. 1905), on ‘The Gospel Narratives of the Nativity,’ etc.]} The hymns themselves are obviously modelled on the psalm-poetry of the OT, some of which, as has been pointed out, would be generally familiar in its Hebrew form to the Aramaic-speaking Jews of Palestine in the time of Christ.^{† [Note: op. cit. p. 95.]}

For details as to the dependence of these hymns on the OT see the commentaries (in particular, Plummer, Intern. Crit. Com. on ‘St. Luke’). Notice the prominence of the idea of a Messianic redemption from sin, which is characteristically Jewish-Christian (cf. Luk 1:77 with Plummer’s note; and cf. Mat 1:21). For the poetical form and structure cf. esp. Briggs, The Messiah of the Gospels (1894), ch. ii., and New Light on the Life of Jesus (1904), ch. xiii. (the latter esp. valuable). The present writer finds himself in independent agreement with Briggs in regarding Mat 1:20 b, 21 as a translation from a Hebrew poetical piece.^{‡ [Note: That a Hebrew original underlies these two verses is shown by the fact that the play upon words in v. 21 (Jesus shall save) can he elucidated only by Hebrew—not Aramaic—phraseology (יושִׁיעַ,יִשׁוּעַ).]} According to the same scholar, the full number of poetical pieces given in Luke is seven, viz.: (1) The Annunciation to Zacharias (Luk 1:13-17); (2) the Annunciation to Mary (4 parts: Luk 1:28; Luk 1:30-33; Luk 1:35-38); (3) the Annunciation to the Shepherds (2 parts: Luk 2:10; Luk 2:12; Luk 2:14); (4) the Song of Elisabeth (Luk 1:42-45); (5) the Song of Mary (= Magnificat, Luk 1:46-55); (6) the Song of Zacharias (= Benedictus, Luk 1:68-79); (7) the Song of Simeon (= Nunc Dimittis, Luk 2:29; Luk 2:32, to which should be appended Luk 2:34-35). Of these all but No. (5) are trimeter poems; (5) is a pentameter poem, as is also Mat 1:20 b. Mat 1:21. Probably all go back to two long poems (a trimeter and pentameter), from which the above are extracts.

4. Other Hymns and Hymn-pieces.—(a) It has been suggested with some plausibility that the Prologue of the Fourth Gospel ‘is a hymn to the Logos, composed independently of the Gospel and prefixed to it.’^{§ [Note: for details Briggs, The Messiah of the Apostles (1895), pp. 495–515; he compares the above to the ‘credal hymn’ in 1Ti 3:14.]} Here also Professor Briggs deteets a trimeter poem originally arranged in three parts.|| For other possible extracts from early Christian hymns in the NT, reference may here be made to ‘Hymn’ in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible ii. p. 440 f.

In the Apocalypse, also, there are a number of songs (ᾠδαί) which may, perhaps, be regarded as traditional Jewish-Christian hymns (cf. Rev 4:11; Rev 5:9 f, Rev 5:12 f, Rev 11:17 f, Rev 15:3 f.).

It is possible that the curious phrase, ‘Amen, come’ (Rev 22:20), may be an acrostic reference to a Jewish hymn which is still sung in the synagogue (’En Kçtóhçnú, ‘There is none like our God,’ Singer, p. 167). This composition, in its present form, consists of 5 verses of 4 lines each. The initial letters of the lines of the 5 verses form the words אמן בא =‘, come.’^{|| [Note: | Cf. Schiller-Szinessy in the Ency. Brit., s.v. ‘Midrash’ (p. 286), and C. Taylor, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, p. 78 f.; also an art. by the present writer in Church and Synagogue, iii. p. 41 f. (Jan. 1901).]} A Hebraized form (הִמְנוֹן) of the Greek term ὑμνος occurs in the Midrash (cf. Ber. Rabba viii. 9 = a hymn to a king).

(b) The Hosanna-hymn, or cry of praise of Palm Sunday, with which Jesus was greeted on His last entry into Jerusalem,^{¶ [Note: Also afterwards by the children in the Temple, Mat 21:15.]} is given in various forms in the Gospels. In its simplest form it occurs in Mar 11:9 and Joh 12:13, which really give the cry of the multitude: הושע נא ברוך הבא בשם יהוה. The additions that occur in the other passages (τῷ νἱῷ Δαυείδ, Mat 21:9; Mat 21:15; and ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, Mat 21:9, Mar 11:10)^{** [Note: * Mar 11:10 will thus be a later addition. It is noteworthy that the original form without these additions occurs only in the Fourth Gospel. Lk. (19:38) omits ‘Hosanna’ and alters the Psalm-verse into, ‘Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord.’ See art. Hosanna.]} seem really to be later amplifications due to liturgical influence, when ὡσαννά (which in its Hebrew form הושע־נא is really a cry addressed to God, ‘Save now!’) was misunderstood as a shout of homage or greeting = ‘Hail!’ or ‘Glory to.’ See Dalman, Words of Jesus (English translation ), p. 220 f.

Cheyne’s explanation, Encyc. Bibl. s.v. ‘Hosanna,’ is hardly convincing. Lightfoot, in his interesting note on Mat 21:12 (Horae Heb. ed. Gandell, ii. 274 f.), ingeniously paraphrases, ‘Save us, we beseech Thee, O Thou [who dwellest] in the highest,’ taking ἐν τοίς ὑψίστοις as a substitute for the Divine name. This is barely possible.

The Hosanna-cry (cf. Psa 118:25 f.) and the palm branches naturally suggest the Feast of Tabernacles, with the ceremonies of which they were most closely associated (esp. in the ‘Hosanna’ processions of the Festival).^{* [Note: For a description of these see Dembitz, Jewish Services, etc., p. 323 f.]} It seems, however, that such processions might be extemporized for other occasions of a joyous character (cf. 1Ma 13:51, 2Ma 10:7), and this was the case in the scene described in the Gospels.

Wünsche, indeed (Erläuterungen der Evangelien aus Talmud und Midrash, p. 241), supposes that a confusion has arisen in the Gospel accounts between Tabernacles and Passover; but this is unnecessary. It is noteworthy that there seem to be traces in the Midrash on the Psalms of the Messianic interpretation of Psa 118:25.^{† [Note: also the citation of v. 22 ff. of the same Psalm in Mat 21:42.]}

Literature.—The most important contributions to the subject of NT hymnody are the works of Briggs above cited. Reference may also he made to artt. ‘Hosanna’ in the Jewish Encyc. and Encyc. Bibl. respectively; also to ‘Hymns’ in Encyc. Bibl.; ‘Hymn’ in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible .; ‘Hymn,’ ‘Canticle,’ in Dict. Chr. Ant., and to ‘Kirchenlied i. (in der alten Kirche)’ and ‘Liturgische Formeln’ in PR^{E [Note: RE Real-Encyklopädie fur protest. Theologic und Kirche.] 3 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} . Other references have been given in the body of the article.

G. H. Box.

HYMN (in NT; for OT, see Music, Poetry, Psalms).—The Greek word signified specifically a poem in praise of a god or hero, but it is used, less exactly, also for a religious poem, even one of petition. The use of hymns in the early Christian Church was to be anticipated from the very nature of worship, and from the close connexion between the worship of the disciples and that of the Jews of that and earlier centuries. It is proved by the numerous incidental references in the NT (cf. Act 16:25, 1Co 14:26, Eph 5:19, Jas 5:13, and the passages cited below), and by the famous letter of Pliny to Trajan describing the customs of the Christians. We lack, however, any collection of hymns comparable to the Psalms of the OT. Doubtless the Psalms were largely used, as at the Passover feast when the Lord’s Supper was instituted (Mat 26:30); but in addition new songs would be written to express the Intense emotions of the disciples, and even their spontaneous utterances in the gatherings of early Christians would almost inevitably take a rhythmical form, modelled more or less closely upon the Psalms. In some localities, perhaps, Greek hymns served as the models. St. Paul insists (1Co 14:15, Col 3:16) that the singing be with the spirit and the understanding, an intelligent expression of real religious feeling. These passages specify ‘psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.’ While at first it seems as if three classes of composition are here distinguished, either as to source or character, it is probably not the case, especially as in Mat 26:30, Mar 14:26 the verb ‘to hymn’ is used of singing a psalm. Luke’s Gospel contains several hymns, but does not mention their use by the disciples. They are the Magnificat (Luk 1:46-55), the Benedictus (Luk 1:68-76), the Gloria in Excelsis (Luk 2:14), and the Nunc Dimittis (Luk 2:29-32). Whether these were Jewish or Jewish-Christian in origin is disputed. The free introduction of hymns of praise in the Apocalypse, in description of the worship of the new Jerusalem, points to their use by the early Church. The poetical and liturgical character of some other NT passages is asserted with more or less reason by different scholars (e.g. Eph 5:14, 1Ti 1:17; 1Ti 3:16; 1Ti 6:16, 2Ti 4:18). See Hastings’ DCG [Note: CG Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels.] , art. ‘Hymn.’

Owen H. Gates.

(Greek: hymnos)

A song of praise. In an cient pagan literature a hymn was a song in honor of gods or heroes. The noun occurs in two passages in the New Testament (Ephesians 5; Colossians 3). From the spiritual contents of such songs it is difficult to distinguish the three kinds of Divine praise indicated by the different terms, psalms, hymns, and canticles. Saint Augustine, commenting on Psalm 148, defines hymn as "a song with praise of God," but praise of God must be understood to include the praise of His saints. Moreover a song can be composed in prose, but by hymn is understood a song whose sequence of words is ruled by a symmetrical arrangement of verses, with or without rhyme. The term song must not be limited to songs actually set to music and sung, but may be given to any religious lyrical poem capable of being sung and set to music.

A derivative of the Latin hymnus, which comes from the Greek hymnos, derived from hydein, to sing. In ancient pagan literature hymnos designates a prize song to the gods or heroes Set to the accompaniment of the cythara (hymnoi men es tous theous poiountai, epainoi d’es anthropous, Arrian., IV, xi), at first written in the epic measure like the oldest hymn to the Delphic Apollo, later in distichs or in the refined lyric measures of Alcæus, Anacreon, and Pindar. In Christian literature the noun hymnos occurs in only two passages in the New Testament, namely Eph., v, 19, and Col., iii, 16, and then together with the synonyms psalmos and ode pneumatike. With these can be compared the verb hymnein in Matt., xxvi, 30; Mark, xiv, 26; Acts, xvi, 25; and Heb., ii, 12. Notwithstanding the many attempts at definitions made by exegetes it is difficult to decide to what degree, if at all, a distinction among three kinds of Divine praises is made by the three different terms, psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles. Psalm is applied only to those songs composed by David, but, if the spiritual contents of these songs be considered, they may justly be called spiritual canticles, while their adaptability to singing makes them hymns. Thus, in the language of the Vulgate, the Psalms of David are termed hymni; "hymnos David canentes" (2 Chronicles 7:6); and that hymnos sung by Christ the Lord and His disciples at the Last Supper, as they are described by the Evangelist Matthew (xxvi, 30) as hymnountes, or hymnesantes was the great Hallel prescribed by Jewish custom for the paschal feast. From this it is to be inferred that hymnos was originally used in the general acceptation of "song of praise to God". At the same time it can be supposed that the expression psalmos was more current among the Jewish Christians, while the Gentile Christians used more commonly the expression hymnos or ode, the latter requiring the complementary pneumatike to distinguish it from profane odes.The Latin word hymnus is unknown in the pre-Christian literature. For it the word carmen is used by the classic authors, so that hymnus is specifically a Christian derivative from the Greek, like so many other expressions of the liturgy. In the ancient Christian writers hymnus is generally paraphrased as "laus Dei cum cantu" (Rufinus, "in Ps. lxxii") or as "hymnus specialiter Deo dictus" (Ambrose, "De Off.", I, xlv). The most celebrated definition is that of Saint Augustine. Commenting on Ps. cxlviii he says: "Know ye what a hymn is? It is a song with praise of God [cantus est cum laude Dei]. If thou praisest God and singest not, thou utterest no hymn, if thou singest and praisest not God but another thing, thou utterest no hymn. A hymn then containeth these three things, song [cantus] and praise [cum laude] and that praise of God [Dei]." The expression "praise of God" must not however be taken so literally as to exclude the praise of his saints. Saint Augustine himself says in the explanation of the same psalm, verse 14: "hymnus omnibus sanctis eius"; "What then meaneth this ’A hymn to all His saints’? Let His saints be offered a hymn." God is really praised in His saints and in all His works, and therefore a "praise of the saints" is also a "praise of God".But Saint Augustine’s definition, if it should comprise all and all that alone which has been considered in the course of time as hymnus, requires a limitation and an extension. A limitation: a song in praise of God can also be composed in prose, in. unmetrical language, as for instance the "Gloria in excelsis" and the "Te Deum". These are still called "Hymnus angelicus" or "Hymnus Ambrosianus", evidently because of their elevated lyrical movement. But we have long understood by hymnus a song whose sequence of words is ruled by metre or rhythm, with or without rhyme, or, at least, by a symmetrical arrangement of the stanzas. To the earliest Christian authors and their pagan contemporaries it is most probable that such a limitation of the acceptation was unknown, hymnus on the contrary being entirely a general term which included the psalms, the Biblical cantica, the doxologies, and all the other songs of praise to God in prose or in rhythmical language. It is therefore labour lost to seek for the origins of hymnal poetry in Pliny the Younger (Epp., X, xcvii), Tertullian (Apol., ch. ii), Eusebius (Hist. eccl., III), Sozomen (IV, iii), Socrates (V, xxii), and others. On the other hand the expression cantus in Saint Augustine’s definition must be extended. Although the hymn was originally intended for singing and only for singing, the development of the form soon led to hymns being recited aloud or used as silent prayers. Very early indeed religious poems arose which were conceived and written only for private devotion without ever having been sung, although they were genuine lyrical and emotional productions and are counted under the head of hymnody. Consequently, the term cantus is not to be limited to songs which are really sung and set to melodies, but can be applied as well to every religious lyrical poem which can be sung and set to music. With this interpretation Saint Augustine’s definition is wholly acceptable, and we may reduce it to a shorter formula, if we say: Hymn in the broader meaning of the word is a "spiritual song" or a "lyrical religious poem", consequently, hymnody is "religious lyric" in distinction from epic and didactic poetry and in contradistinction to profane lyric poetry. Hymn in the closer interpretation of the word, as it will be shortly shown, is a hymn of the Breviary. BRANCHES AND SUBDIVISIONSThe religious song or hymn in the broader sense comprises a great number of different poems, the classification of which is not mentioned by Saint Augustine and which is in reality first completely introduced in the "Analecta hymnica medii ævi" edited by Blume and Dreves. This classification does not apply to the hymnody of the Orient (Syrian, Armenian, and Greek), but to the much more important Western or Latin hymnody. First, there are two great groups according to the purpose for which the hymn is intended. Either it is intended for public, common, and official worship (the liturgy), or only for private devotion (although hymns of the latter group may be also used during the liturgical service). Accordingly, the whole Latin hymnody is either liturgical or non- liturgical. Liturgical hymnody is again divided into two groups. Either the hymn belongs to the sacrificial liturgy of the Mass, and as such has its place in the official books of the Mass-liturgy (the Missal or the Gradual), or the hymn belongs to the liturgy of canonical prayer and has its place accordingly in the Breviary or the Antiphonary. In like manner the non-liturgical hymnody is of two kinds; either the hymn is intended for song or only for silent private devotion, meditation, and prayer. Both of these groups have again different subdivisions. In accordance with the above, there arise the following systematic tables:I. LITURGICAL HYMNODYA. Hymnody of the Breviary or the Antiphonary(1) Hymns in the Closer Sense of the Word (hymni). These are the spiritual songs which are inserted in the horae canonicae recited by the priest and are named after the different hours respectively: Hymni "ad Nocturnas" (later "ad Matutinam"), "ad Matutinas Laudes" (later "ad Laudes"), "ad Primam ", "ad Tertiam", "ad Sextam", "ad Nonam", "ad Vesperas", "ad Completorium".(2) Tropes of the Breviary (tropi antiphonales, verbetoe, proselloe). These are poetical interpolations, or preliminary, complementary, or intercalatory ornamentation of a liturgical text of the Breviary, particularly of the response to the third, the sixth, and the ninth lesson.(3) Rhythmical Offices (historioe rhythmicoe or rhythmatoe). These are offices in which not only the hymns, but all that is sung, with the single exception of the psalms and lessons, are composed in measured language (rhythmical, metrical, and later also rhymed verses).B. Hymnody of the Missal or the Gradual(l) Sequences (sequentioe, prosoe). These are the artistically constructed songs, consisting of strophe and counterstrophe, inserted in the Mass between the Epistle and the Gospel.(2) Tropes of the Mass (tropi graduales). During the Middle Ages, all those parts of the Mass which were not sung by the priest but by the choir, e. g. the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei (tropi ad ordinarium missoe) also the Introit, Gradual, Offertory, Communion (tropi ad proprium missarum) were provided with a rich setting of interpolatio, more even than the Breviary. These tropes (q. v.) came to be known as "Tropus ad Kyrie", "Tropus ad Gloria", etc. or "Troped Kyrie", "Troped Gloria", and so on.(3) Rhythmical or Metrical Masses (missoe rythmatoe). We include under this heading Masses in which the above mentioned parts (under B, 2) are either entirely or partly composed in metrical form. This form of poetry found very few devotees.(4) Processional Hymns (hymni ad processionem). These are used during the procession before and after Mass, and therefore having their place in the Missal or Gradual. They have nearly all a refrain.II. NON-LITURGICAL HYMNODYA. Hymnody intended for Singing.(1) Canticles (cantiones). These are spiritual songs which do not belong to the liturgy, but still were employed after and during the liturgy, without being incorporated, like the tropes, with it. They gave rise to the folk-songs, from which the canticles are differentiated by being written in ecclesiastical Latin and being sung by the official cantors, but not by the people.(2) Motets (muteti, motelli). These are the artistic forerunners of the canticles and nearly related to the tropes of the Mass, inasmuch as they grew out of the Gradual responses of the Mass as will be shown more fully in the article HYMNODY AND HYMNOLOGY. In general they may be defined as polyphonic church songs which were to be sung a cappella (without musical accompaniment).B. Hymnody intended for Silent Private DevotionThe general name for these poems is in Latin rhythmi or pia dictamina. As they were intended for prayer and not for singing, they may be called rhythmical prayers (in German Reimgebete). Among the various kinds of these poems are the following:(1) Rhythmical psalters (psalteria rhythmica), that is, poems of 150 strophes, corresponding to the 150 Psalms, mostly treating of Christ or His Blessed Mother. Originally every single strophe treated of the psalm corresponding to it in number.(2) Rhythmical rosaries (rosaria rhythmica), similar poems, but which had only fifty strophes corresponding to the fifty "Hail Marys" of the Rosary.(3) Hours-Songs (officia parva); these were rhythmical prayers which supplemented (for private meditation) each of the canonical hours with a strophe or a group of strophes.(4) Gloss-Songs, which paraphrased, extended, and explained each separate word of a popular prayer or a church antiphon (e. g. the Lord’s Prayer, the "Hail Mary", the "Alma Redemptoris", and so on) by a separate strophe or, at least, a separate verse.These spiritual poems, of which about 30,000 are preserved and again rendered generally accessible by the great collection known as "Analecta hymnica medii ævi", fall within the general acceptation of the word hymn. Several of the more important kinds are treated under separate articles, see RHYTHMICAL OFFICES, and SEQUENCES and TROPES. Their development and lofty meaning will be more fully treated under HYMNODY AND HYMNOLOGY.-----------------------------------CLEMENS BLUME Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

him (ὕμνος, húmnos): In Col 3:16; Eph 5:19 Paul bids his readers sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” Gregory of Nyssa (4th century) distinguishes these as follows: the Psalms were accompanied by instruments, the hymns were mainly vocal, and the song, ode, was a general term comprehending both. This distinction might suggest that the psalm belonged especially to the public worship of the church, while the hymn was the production, more or less spontaneous, of the individual member. The inference is, however, inconsistent with 1Co 14:26, and it is probable that in the apostolic age, at least, the terms were used indiscriminately. Of Christian psalms or hymns we have examples in the New Testament. Lk 1 and 2 contain such hymns in the songs of Mary, Zacharias and Simeon. The Apocalypse is studded with hymns or odes, many of them quite general in character, and probably borrowed or adapted from Jewish books of praise. In the Epistles of Paul, especially the later ones, fragments of hymns seem to be quoted. Lightfoot detects one in Eph 5:14, and others readily suggest themselves.

It is probable that the hymn mentioned as having been sung by Jesus and the disciples after the Passover (Mat 26:30; Mar 14:26) was the second part of the Hallel, i.e. Psalms 115 through 118, and the hymns of Paul and Silas were most likely also taken from the Psalter. But the practice of interpolating and altering Jewish non-canonical books, like the Psalter of Solomon and the recently discovered Odes of Solomon, shows that the early Christians adopted for devotional purposes the rich store of sacred poetry possessed by their nation. For the music to which these psalms, etc., were sung, see MUSIC; SONG.

See PRAISE; SINGING.