Porro bruttis animalibus paleam littere relinquamus, et de medulla tritici panem vite confestim filiis porrigamus.
Elinand uses it to point an epigram.[47]
Quæsivit me diabolus, et invenit, et circumvenit; quæsivit me Christus, invenit et subvenit.
Richard of St. Victor’s rime often marks insistently exact balances.
Hic flos factus est nobis medicina, ex illo mel et cera, in ipso potus et esca; medicina in redemptione, potus et esca in justificatione, mel et cera in glorificatione.
It may mark a progressive iteration. Repeating florida and transeamus from what he has just said, he goes on:
Sternamus itaque viam nostram floribus talibus, et per florida virtutum transeamus, munde et honeste procedamus, ut processionem nostram pulchram et gratam faciamus, et pascha floridum digna celebritate perficiamus. In Ramis Palmarum, PL 196: 1059.
Even such insistence remains within the limits of rimed prose; it is only extreme use of a widespread habit. Exceptional, on the other hand, since it repeatedly verges toward verse, is St. Anselm’s Lament of the Magdalen at the tomb.[48]
The device was so easily abused as to call forth more than one warning;[49] but it was so obvious a means of emphasis as to be widely prevalent.
St. Bernard, though he does not avoid rime, shows habitually no need of it to strengthen his iterations. With him iteration often advances from rhetorical cumulation to poetical refrain.
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,” which by interpretation is God with us. Flee not, fallen Adam; for God is with us. Fear not, mankind, nor hearing the name of God be affrighted; for God is with us: with us likened by incarnation, with us by unification. All for us his coming, though he be one of us, like unto us in our suffering. De Adventu Domini, II. 1 (end); PL 183: 41.
His fifth sermon for the vigil of Christmas uses incremental iteration to contrast to-day and to-morrow.
This our task to-day; for to-morrow’s shall be neither in sanctification nor in preparation, but in the very vision of majesty. “To-morrow,” saith the word, “ye shall see the majesty of God in you.” This is the meaning of the patriarch Jacob: “To-morrow unto me shall my justice make answer” (Genesis xxx. 33). To-day, indeed, justice is in observance; to-morrow it will answer: to-day it is practised; fruit cometh to-morrow. But that which man hath not planted neither shall he harvest. For neither shall he then behold the majesty who hath meantime made light of the holiness, nor shall the sun of glory rise for him to whom the sun of justice has not arisen, nor shall he see the light of to-morrow who has not been enlightened by to-day. Nay even he himself, who to-day for us is made justice by God the Father, shall appear as our life to-morrow, that we also may appear with him in glory. For to-day he is come to us in childhood, that man may not have wherewith to magnify himself, but that we may be rather converted and become as children. To-morrow shall be shown how great is God, how worthy of praises, that even we ourselves may be magnified in praises, since every man shall have his praise of God. Nay, those whom to-day he has justified, to-morrow he shall magnify; and to the achievement of holiness shall succeed the majesty of vision. No empty vision this, consisting only in similitude. We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Therefore here also the words are not simply “Ye shall see the majesty of God”; but significantly is added “in you”. To-day, indeed, as in a mirror, we see ourselves in him as he taketh our nature; to-morrow we shall see him in us, when he giveth of his nature, since he will show us himself and take us up to himself. This is what he promised to minister at his coming; and meantime we have received of his fulness, not indeed glory for glory, but grace for grace, as it is written ‘The Lord will give grace and worship’ (Psalm lxxxiii. 12). Despise not, then, the gifts preceding, if thou yearnest for those that follow. In Vigilia Nativitatis Domini, V. 3; PL 183: 107.
Refrain reinforces other incremental iteration in an ardent sermon on the Magnificat.[50] The very insistence exhibits strikingly the value of cumulative progress for charging exposition with emotion.
1. Magnificat anima mea Dominum. Magnificat voce, magnificat opere, magnificat affectu. Magnificat laudando, amando, prædicando. Magnificat, laudandi, amandi et magnificandi formam simul et materiam dando. Magnificat anima mea Dominum: quia magnifice a magnifico Domino magnifica est. In primis ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei anima mea mirabiliter a Domino creata est; sed postea in Adam miserabiliter deformata, nunc mirabilius, gloriosius et magnificentius a Domino renovata est. Magnificat anima mea Dominum. Magnificat omnis creatura Dominum, sed amplius super omnem creaturam anima mea Dominum magnificat. In omni enim creatura nihil tam magnifice fecit Dominus sicut animam meam. Sed Dominus est: sicut voluit, sic factum est. Magnificat anima mea Dominum. Dominum magnifica, non temetipsum. Qui semetipsum magnificavit, quantum in ipso fuit, Deum exhonoravit: et ideo non se exaltavit, sed præcipitavit. Tuum est te ipsum humiliare, Domini exaltare.
2. Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo. Vide qualis ordo. Prius citharam, postea psalterium tetigit: prius animam, postea spiritum posuit: non enim prius quod spirituale, sed quod animale; deinde quod spirituale. Et exsultavit spiritus meus, extra omnem creaturam, extra seipsum etiam præ immensitate gaudii saltavit. In quo? Non in me; sed in Deo creatore meo, cognitione et amore ejus fervendo: et hoc non per me, sed mediante et salvante me Salutari meo Jesu filio meo, singulariter meo. Meus est Deus, meus Salutaris, meus est filius. Omnium quidem et mei conditor est, sed mei solius filius est: et me mediante omnium salus est.
[1] Bourgain, 31. The sermon is in PL 158.
[2] “The lord Abbot preached in chapter on the Epiphany a magnificent sermon. I have rendered it rapidly, as well as I could from memory, to send to you.” Odo, quoted by Bourgain, 16.
“Les sermons d’Hildebert n’ont donc pas été prononcés tels qu’ils sont écrits.” Bourgain, 41.
Cf. LM 120-121 on the manuscript sermons of St. Thomas Aquinas. For the text of St. Bernard’s, see Mabillon’s introduction to PL 183.
[3] See Chapter II above.
[4] Special sermons, panegyrics for instance, might be preached after Mass. Both were called sermones in mane in distinction from the afternoon collatio, which, however, might continue or confirm them. See LM, 223-226.
[5] Quoted by LM, 289.
[6] The evidence is so ample as to leave no further dispute, though there were naturally exceptions, as in the case of lay brothers in monasteries. See the review in either Bourgain or LM, and for the sermons of St. Bernard Mabillon’s introduction to PL 183.
[7] E.g., Pierre de Blois (PL 207: 750) sends by request a written (Latin) version of a sermon preached in French, remarking that the Latin naturally has more amplitude.
[8] As was suggested by Langlois, L’éloquence sacrée au moyen âge, Revue des deux mondes, 115 (Jan., 1893): 177.
[9] Cruel, 338, has some racy bits from the Dominican Frater Peregrinus.
[10] Samson, famous twelfth-century Abbot of St. Edmund’s, preached in two vernaculars, as well as in Latin. This, doubtless, and his Norfolk accent, seemed worthy of record. His command of Latin and one vernacular would hardly be mentioned. “Homo erat eloquens gallice et latine magis rationi dicendorum quam ornatui verborum innitens. Scripturam anglice scriptam legere novit elegantissime, et anglice sermonicari solebat populo, sed secundum linguam Norfolchie, ubi natus et nutritus erat; unde et pulpitum jussit fieri in ecclesia et ad utilitatem audiencium et ad decorem ecclesie.” Cronica Jocelini de Brakelonda, Camden Soc., London, 1840, page 30; “Rolls Series,” 96, vol. I, page 244.
[11] Sermones ad populum, PL 141.
[12] Bourgain, 86.
[13] Bourgain, 48; LM, 45.
[14] About 1273. See LM, 107-109.
[15] See, e.g., Polheim, 390, on St. Anthony of Padua; Cruel, 337, on Frater Peregrinus.
[16] Cardinal, bishop, historian, famous preacher; died 1240.
[17] This, as well as their derivation from his own sermones ad populum, explains the title sermones vulgares. The scheme by books is:
| I. | Advent to Septuagesima, tempus deviationis; |
| II. | Septuagesima to Easter, tempus revocationis; |
| III. | Easter to Pentecost, tempus reconciliationis; |
| IV. | Pentecost to Advent, tempus peregrinationis. |
| V. | Sancti Maiores, Commune Sanctorum. |
| VI. | Secundum Diversitatem Personarum. |
See LM, 55-58.
[18] E.g., Étienne de Bourbon’s Tractatus de diversis materiis prædicabilibus, for which see LM, 113. See also Little (A. G.), Liber exemplorum ad usum prædicantium sæculo xiii compositus a quodam fratre minore anglico de provincia hiberniæ secundum codicem dunelmensem ed., Aberdeen, British Society of Franciscan Studies, 1908.
For Jacques de Vitry see Crane (T. F.). The exempla ... from the sermones vulgares of J. de V., ed. with introduction, analysis, and notes [of sources and parallels], London, 1890 (Pub. Folk-lore Soc. XXVI).
See also Mosher (J. A.). The exemplum in the early religious and didactic literature of England, New York (Columbia University Press), 1911.
[19] For Guillaume d’Auvergne’s De faciebus mundi, a thesaurus of figures, see LM, 70.
[20] One of these was called from its first text, the Advent “Let us cast away the works of darkness,” Abjiciamus.
[21] See above, Chapter I. As in sophistic, encomium was most readily formalized. See Bourgain, 198, on stock panegyrics.
[22] PL 156: 22. See Bourgain, 67. Guibert died in 1124.
[23] 314, from MS Bib. Nat. fonds latin 9376, folio 89.
[24] MS latin 16530, as summarized in LM 295-296.
[25] See above, Chapter VII. B.
[26] Quoted and discussed in Douais, 65-67. See also LM 131. LM notes (27) that in 1273 half of the principal sermons at Paris were by Dominicans, a large proportion of the remainder being by Franciscans. Humbert de Romans died in 1277.
[27] See above, Chapter VI.
[28] PL 210: 110-198. For Alain’s Anticlaudianus, see above, Chapter VI. D. 1.
[29] The phrase captare benevolentiam and the two ways are traditional and oft-repeated.
[30] Quatuor sunt regulæ scripturarum quibus quasi quibusdam rotis volvitur omnis sacra pagina: hoc est historia, quæ res gestas loquitur; allegoria, in qua ex alio aliud intelligitur; tropologia, id est moralis locutio, in qua de moribus componendis ordinandisque tractatur; anagoge, spiritualis scilicet intellectus, per quem de summis et cœlestibus tractaturi ad superiora ducimur. Guibert, Liber quo ordine sermo fieri debeat, PL 156: 25 D.
In the Victorine thesaurus Sermones centum (PL 179) the 39th opens according to this scheme as follows. Jerusalem civitas sancta (Apoc. 21) et civitas sancti (Isa. 52). Secundum historiam civitas est terrena, secundum allegoriam sancta est Ecclesia; secundum tropologiam vita spiritualis, secundum anagogen patria cœlestis. PL 179: 999.
See also Hugh of St. Victor’s De triplici intelligentia sacræ scripturæ, chapter iii of his De scripturis et scriptoribus sacris, PL 175: 11-12.
[31] For this and for its relations to symbolistic habit see Perdrizet. For one of the many earlier examples of minuteness see the Advent sermon of Pierre de Celles on Isaiah xvi. 1, “Send the lamb” (Emitte agnum tuum), PL 202: 687, which draws significance from every part of the lamb: the four feet, the belly, the back, etc. Alain’s chariot (above, VI. D. 1), remote and artificial to us, was a familiar allegory. Cf. his theological application of grammatica and rhetorica in the verses De incarnatione Christi, PL 210: 577, and Bourgain, 256.
[32] The following translations from St. Bernard in this chapter attempt to suggest his characteristic rhythms. Though these cannot, of course be imitated exactly, even partial or approximate rendering may make him sound the more like himself.
[33] Bourgain, 261. Clerval makes the same criticism (313) of Pierre de Celles. Cruel gives some means of testing it as a generalization by his abundant analyses and digests.
[34] “St Bernard lui-même ne marche que par soubresauts.” Bourgain, 261.
[35] “On ne trouvera point au treizième siècle le grand art, l’éloquence de longue haleine.” LM, 17.
[40] PL 202: 637 seq.
[41] St. Bernard’s dactylic pace is more marked at the opening of the first sermon of this series: “Laborat affectio mellifluæ dulcedinis copiam latius effundere gestiens, nec inveniens verba. Tanta siquidem est gratia sermonis hujus ut continuo incipiat minus sapere si unum iota mutavero.” PL 183: 87.
[43] Modum suum agnoscat humana imbecillitas.... Consilio meo, immo consilio ipsius veritatis et rationis divinæ suam deserat homo rationem. Non timeat se totum deserere, totus Deum sequens, et se totum jactans in Domino. Sciat cui credit quia potens est depositum ipsius reservare sed et augmentare. Ipsum tibi restituet, et cum usura. Accipit in terra et restituet in cælo. Accipit humilem et restituet sublimem. Accipit diminutum et restituet perfectum. Accipit vacuum et restituet facie ad faciem Deum contemplantem. Accipit corruptum et reddet incorruptibilem. Accipit miserum et reddet beatum, temporalem transferens in æternum, hominem in Deum. Quoted by Hauréau, Histoire littéraire du Maine, I. 19. Achard was Abbot of St. Victor 1155.
Cf. St. Bernard’s “Neque sine salute Jesus, neque sine unctione Christus, nec sine gloria venit Dei Filius: siquidem ipse salus, ipse unctio, ipse gloria.” In Vigil. Nativ. Dom. I. 2; PL 183: 87.
[44] For the history of Latin prose rime, with ample documentation, see Polheim; for concise summary, Perdrizet.
[45] See above, Chapter III. A.
[46] In Fest. S. Dionisi, last sentence of the exordium. The sermon is quoted in full by Bourgain, 384 seq.
[47] In Ascens. Dom., quoted in context by LM 312 from Tissier VII. 252.
[48] MS latin 2622, ff. 12-18 (Incipit omelia Beati Anselmi super Johannem de planctu Magdalene), as printed in Bourgain, 373-883. Bourgain’s comment, 225-227, does not clearly distinguish between such passages and the rimed prose of most of this Planctus.
For a discreet use of rimed prose, deliberate but relieved from insistence, compare the passage from Alain de Lille quoted in Bourgain 88: “Fenum et stipule sunt”, etc.
[49] E.g., the one quoted in Bourgain, 235, against “rimorum melodias vel metrorum consonantias que potius fuerunt ad aures audientium demulcendas quam ad animum informandum” (MS latin 15005, folio 193).
[50] In Canticum Beatæ Virginis Mariæ, placed by Mabillon among the sermons attributed to St. Bernard doubtfully or erroneously (PL 184: 1121).
Imitative translation is practically precluded by the intractable rhythm of the familiar English “My soul doth magnify the Lord.”
For an exposition of this text different even in the handling of iteration see Hugh of St. Victor in PL 175: 416.