BRIGID AND HER VENERATION:

TWO SEQUENCES

By Dr. Sara G. Caseyof the University of Pittsburgh

BRIGID, along with Patrick and ColumCille, is considered one of the three great saints of Ireland.18 Although her similarity to a pagan deity is very strong and evidence of the historical Brigid somewhat limited, her adoption as a saint by the Irish church is evidenced as early as the seventh century, when her first Vita was written by Cogitosus. Examples of the new genre of hagiography, all of the vitæ written in her honor are catalogs of miracles, seemingly designed to “boost Brigid’s reputation as a wonder worker and therefore a suitable candidate for veneration.” 19

What appears to be discernable as truth from the vitæ is that Brigid was born in the mid-fifth century, possibly near Dundalk, at Faughart.20

Consecrating herself to God at an early age, she received the veil from St. Macaille.21 She was the founder of the monastery of Cell-dara, or Kildare, “Church of the Oak.” Founded initially for nuns, it soon became a double monastery, with Brigid presiding over both monks and nuns. With the addition of men to her community, Brigid considered it essential to have a bishop, and Conlaedh (d. 520) was appointed.22

18 James Kenney, The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: Ecclesiastical (New York: Columbia University Press, 1929; reprint New York: Octagon Books, 1996), 41.19 Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, A New History of Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 384. See Kenney, 359, for manuscript lists of her vitae. See also Mario Esposito, “On the Earliest Latin Life of St. Brigid of Kildare,” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C, XXX (1912), 307-26; D.N. Kissane, ‘Vitae metrica sanctae Brigidae: a critical edition with Introduction, Commentary, and indexes’, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 77c (1977), 57-192; Richard Sharpe, “Vitae St. Brigid: the Oldest Texts,” Peritia, 1 (1982), 81-106; Kim McCone, “Brigit in the Seventh Century: A Saint with Three Lives,” Peritia 1 (1982), 107-45; Thomas Torma, “This Woman Alone: Approaches to the Earliest Vitae of Brigit of Kildare,” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Edinburgh, 2001).20 Butler, I, 226.21 Aubrey Gwynn and R. Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland (Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1970; reprint 1988), 320. 22 Gwynn and Hadcock, 320.

We are told that Brigid instituted the perpetual fire for the use of pilgrims and travelers. This fire was continued in her memory after her death at the age of seventy, in the 520s.23

Gerald of Wales commented on the fire in the twelfth century:

. . .The fire of Brigid which they call inextinguishable. . . because the nuns and holy women so anxiously and punctually cherish and nurse the fire with a supply of fuel, that during many centuries from the virgin’s own day it has ever remained alight and the ashes have never accumulated… Whereas in the time of Brigid twenty nuns here served the Lord, she herself being the twentieth, there have only been nineteen from the time of her glorious departure and they have not added to that number. But as each nun in her turn tends the fire for one night, when the twentieth night comes the last maiden having placed the wood ready, saith, ‘Brigid, tend that fire of thine, for this is thy night.’ And the fire being so left, in the morning they find it still alight and the fuel consumed in the usual way.”24

The Dublin-born scholar Richard Staneyhurst reported in 1564 that he “…did see a monument like a vault, which to this daie they call the ffire (sic) house.”25 While the fire was extinguished by the seventeenth century, the legend of Brigid and her holiness has endured.

Brigid’s cult is widespread. There were innumerable churches dedicated to her in Ireland, although many of these disappeared after the enactment of the penal laws of the seventeenth and eighteenth century. However, her veneration continued to flourish.

Although her vitæ make note of her travels within Ireland, Brigid never left the island of her birth. In spite of this, she is venerated throughout Europe. One of the reasons for this are the travels of the Irish peregrini. Beginning in the sixth century, groups of monks from Ireland desired to go on 23 Gwynn and Hadcock, 320.24 Butler, I, 227.25 Lisa M. Bitel, Landscape With Two Saints: How Genovefa of Paris and Brigit of Kildare Built Christianity in Barbarian Europe (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 203.

peregrinatio pro Christo. These holy people left their homeland and, in increasing numbers, travelled to regions throughout Britain and to the continent of Europe, taking with them their liturgy and customs, which included the veneration of St. Brigid.

The peregrini exerted a powerful influence in the region of Francia through the eighth century, founding and populating more than sixty-five monasteries, which are spread throughout present day France, Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria, and Italy. Veneration of Brigid went wherever the peregrini could be found. Ultimately, their influence waned in the wake of increasing Roman influence and the Carolingian concept of unitas.26 However, even today we find remnants of Brigid’s veneration in the continental landscape, with chapels and altars dedicated to her still in Brittany, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.27

The widespread nature of Brigid’s cult is also reflected in the manuscript tradition, where chants or chant texts for her veneration are found in manuscripts with provenance from Ireland, Scotland, England, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. These range in date from the eighth to the fifteenth century. Even in manuscripts without prayers written specifically for Brigid, her presence in numerous liturgical calendars provides evidence of a continued and extensive veneration of her feast day.28

While some research has been accomplished on the office for Brigid, less has been done on other liturgical genres.29 The Analecta Hymnica lists two sequences for St. Brigid.30

Campi flos et lilium is found in the Arbuthnott Missal of 1491.31 The inclusion of Brigid’s sequence in this manuscript is under current 26 See Sara G. Casey, “Songs for the Peregrini: Proper Chants for Irish Saints as found in Continental Manuscripts of the Middle Ages,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 2003).27 Róisín Ní Mheara, In Search of Irish Saints (Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1994), passim.28 Ann Buckley, A New History of Ireland (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 781.29 Canty, Flame of Ireland: Medieval Irish Plainchant, an Office for St. Brigid, Gaudeamus compact disk (2005). Liner notes and melodic transcriptions by Dr. Ann Buckley.30 Guido Dreves, Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi (Leipzig, 1891; reprint London, 1961), 40:157; 42:182.

investigation, but may be related to the fifth or sixth century St. Ternan, bishop to the Picts, who along with St. ColumCille was actively involved in their conversion. Listed in the Félire Óengusso, St. Ternan is the patron saint of Arbuthnott Church.32 The second sequence, Gloriosæ Brigidæ, is found in a Gradual of Cologny, dated 1507.33 While exact provenance for this manuscript has not yet been established, one may posit the presence of Brigid’s sequence within as part of the influence of the Irish peregrini in the region’s medieval manuscript tradition.

Infrequently sung in the modern liturgy, the sequence was an important part of poetic and musical composition for liturgies in the medieval era, as we will see. A brief examination of sequences and their texts in general and the texts for Brigid’s sequences in particular will allow us to locate her sequences stylistically within the larger sequence repertory of the Middle Ages.

The Sequence and Its History

The sequence was a very popular genre throughout the Middle Ages. There are more than 1,400 sequence melodies and 3,000 sequence texts found in over 1,400 manuscript sources.34 Much having to do with the sequence is a matter of debate, however, with scholars frequently focusing on its origin and derivation. First appearing in the eighth century, the sequence represented a new form of musical composition, one whose origins are not yet clear. The sequence was sung in the liturgy on feast days and was found most commonly after the alleluia.

31 G. H. Forbes and A. P. Forbes, Liber ecclesie Beati Terrenani de Arbuthnott. Missale secundum usum Ecclesiæ Sancti Andreæ in Scotia (Burntisland: Pitsligo Press, 1864). See also Sara G. Casey, “The Sequences of the Arbuthnot Missal,” in process.32 Butler, III, 528.33 Cod. S. Martini Colonien. XXV. Possibly Cologny, Benediktinerabtei Gross Sankt Martin 1519.34 Nancy van Deusen, “The Use and Significance of the Sequence,” Musica Disciplina 40 (1986), 5.

The placement of the sequence after the alleluia, as well as an occasional similarity of the incipit, or opening melody, to the preceding alleluia, has suggested that the chant was in fact derived from the alleluia. This theory cannot be proven, however, and in that some sequences are not similar to any known alleluia, it seems likely the melodies were derived from elsewhere.

The number of sequences allowed for use in the liturgy was limited after the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century. Only four remained in the Roman Missal of Pope Pius V (1570):35 the eleventh century Victimæ Paschali for Easter, Veni Sancte Spiritus, a twelfth century chant for Pentecost, Lauda Sion composed about 1264 for the feast of Corpus Christi, and the thirteenth century Dies Iræ from the Mass for the Dead. Stabat Mater was added to the number of allowable sequences in the early eightenth century.

Why were sequences dis-allowed after the Council of Trent? An answer might be found in the content of their texts. The texts of sequences were often comprised of vivid narratives detailing aspects of saints’ lives. As such, it may be that the many sequences eliminated after the Council did not conform to the liturgical requirements for music.

Immediately after the Council in 1564, Paolo Manuzio published, along with many other decrees, one stating that music with lascivious or impure elements was to be prohibited. The same wording was also found the new Codex iuris canonici.36

Finally, Gabrielle Paleotti, auditor of the Rota and later archbishop of Bologna, wrote Acta Concilii tridentini.37 Regarding music, Paleotti said:

35 David Hiley, Western Plainchant: A Handbook (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 618.36 Craig A Monson, “The Council of Trent Revisited,” Journal of the American Musicological Society, 55 (2002): 23.37Please see Prodi, II Cardinale Gabriele Paleotti 2:389-424; Hubert Jedin, Das Konzil von Trient, ein Ueberblick über die Erforschung seiner Geschichte (Rome: Edizioni di "Storia e Letteratura," 1948), 37-39.Quoted in Monson, 22.

In the deliberations regarding music in divine service, although some rather condemned [than approved] it in churches, the rest, however, and especially the Spanish, gave their vote that it should by all means be retained in accordance with the most ancient usage of the Catholic Church to arouse the faithful to love of God, provided that it should be free of lasciviousness and wantonness . . . .38

We can see, therefore, that the oft-repeated stricture regarding texts dealing with wanton or impure elements was of critical importance as regards music at the Council of Trent.39

Sequences were not named specifically as a source of wanton texts, but given the secular nature of their narratives, it is likely that they might have been among the texts found guilty. While the texts for Brigid’s sequences may not seem lascivious or wanton to readers or listeners of the twenty-first century, in that they deal with aspects of the life of Brigid of legend, they may have been considered far too secular for proper worship, and so were among those discarded after the sixteenth century.

The Sequence and Its Characteristics

Before looking at the sequences written in honor of Brigid of Kildare, let us briefly discuss the medieval sequences’ makeup. From its earliest examples, the structure of the sequence consisted of two consecutive lines of text set to the same melody, creating paired versicles.40 A single verse sometimes framed the beginning and the end of the prayer, or could be found within the sequence itself, as is the case with Campi flos et lilium. (Please see Appendix 1.) Sequences of the “first epoch,” written from the eighth to the early eleventh centuries, used a highly elevated prose style, while those of the “second epoch” are distinguished by the use of rhyme and rhythm. These two styles are separated by a transitional period that extended roughly from the mid-eleventh to the mid-twelfth centuries. These could have rhyme that was perfectly sustained throughout while rhythm and symmetry of verse structure could be lacking.

38 Monson, 24.39 Monson , 7.40 Hiley, 172.

The opposite could also be true, with texts that were perfectly rhythmic and symmetrical but with no regard for the concepts of rhyme.41 After the twelfth century, “second epoch” sequences became the standard, though those of the transitional style continued to be written as well.42 Paris has been recognized as the major center for “second epoch” sequences, with special prominence being given to the abbey of Augustinian canons at St. Victor in the creation of both their text and music.43

Characteristics of “second epoch” sequences follow the overall form of earlier sequences. They are still composed of two consecutive lines of text set to the same music, creating paired versicles. Now, however, each line of text, or phrase, can be divided into sub-phrases. Frederick Raby describes the sub-phrases of the rhymed or “second epoch” sequence par excellence as “a trochaic line of 8 syllables repeated one or more times, followed by a trochaic line of 7 syllables.”44

An additional characteristic of “second epoch” sequences, is a frequent occurrence of “proparoxytone,” or two unstressed syllables at phrase end, as for example in the word Hibernia or gloria.45

Brigid’s Sequences

Let us turn now to the textual aspects of Brigid’s sequences, seen in Appendices 1 and 2, in order to determine if they fit the general patterns of either transitional or “second epoch” sequences.

41 Lori A. Kruckenberg-Goldstein, “The Sequence from 1050-1150: Study of a Genre in Change,” (Ph.D. Dissertation, Graduate College of the University of Iowa, 1997), 27.42 Kruckenberg-Goldstein, 7-8.43 Margot Fassler, Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augustinian Reform in Twelfth-Century Paris (Cambridge, 1993), 139.44 F. J. E. Raby, A History of Christian-Latin Poetry from the Beginning to the Close of the Middde Ages (Oxford: Clarendon Pres, 1927; 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953), 348. 45 Richard L. Crocker, “The Later Rhymed Sequence,” The New Grove Dictionary of Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 2 April, 2005), http://grovemusic.com.

A syllable count reveals that one of these sequences, Campi flos et lilium, conforms in most aspects to the properties described by Raby as sequences par excellence. Campi flos et lilium also uses words of proparoxytone, at the end of each phrase or versicle. These words are underlined in Appendix 1.

Gloriosæ Brigidæ does not fit the pattern of “second epoch” sequences quite as closely as does Campi flos et lilium, suggesting that it could be a transitional style. An examination of yet a third sequence may shed some light on the nature of Gloriosæ Brigidæ.

Guido Dreves in Analecta Hymnica (42:182) provides the title of the melody for Gloriosæ Brigidæ. It is given as Lætabundus, a melody that was used in numerous sequences from the late-eleventh century on.46 This sequence is believed to survive today only in Dominican liturgical books and is still sung by the Dominicans at the third mass of Christmas, the Epiphany, and Candlemas.47 Professor Kruckenberg has described the text for Lætabundus as characteristic and representative of transitional sequences as a whole.48

An examination of the textual characteristics of Lætabundus (Please see Appendix 3.) shows a close similarity with the text of Gloriosæ Brigidæ and far less similarity with the text of Campi flos et lilium, which fits the characteristics of “second epoch” sequences very closely. This could therefore suggest a later date of composition for Campi flos et lilium than for Gloriosæ Brigidæ.

Does this imply that the sequence Gloriosæ Brigidæ may be considered one of the transitional sequences, which could have been written any time between 1050-1150? It seems very likely, especially given the early dates of manuscript evidence of Brigid’s veneration.

46 Sara G. Casey, “Irish Saints and Laetabundus,” in process.47 Novus Motus Liturgicus, February 1, 2007. www.newliturgicalmovement.org/.../sequence-for-candlemas- laetabundus .html. Accessed April 4 , 2010.48 Kruckenberg-Goldstein, 38.

However, since transitional sequences continued be written along side of ones of the “second epoch,” and since the only exemplar of this chant that has been located to this point is from a manuscript dated 1507, it is difficult to say for certain. Until earlier exemplars of Gloriosæ Brigidæ can be found, the question will remain unresolved. Regardless of the dates that may ultimately be established, the sequences for St. Brigid present a clear view into her liturgical veneration, perhaps from as early as the twelfth century. CR

Appendix 1Campi flos et lilium49

1a. Campi flos et liliumAlta linguens colliumPetit ima valliumCollecturus lilia

1b. Una inter variaRosa pigmentariaInvenitur, balsamaSuperans fragrantia

2a. Hæc est Rosa, quam collegitRex cælorum et elegit,Quam libido non confregit,Sacra virgo Brigida

2b. Castitate singularisAetas floret puellarisMorum normam, stellam marisVita sequens rigida.

3a. Cuius caro illibataEst virtute exornata,Et cælesti gratia,

3b. Quæ cervicem venenosamAnguis trivit et exosamHabet in munditia.

4a. Virgo casta et peritaSecum ferre non oblitaOleum in vasculo,

4b. Et ad thronum introductaSummi regis, non seducta,Sponsi digna osculo.

49 http://www.archive.org/stream/analectahymnica40drevuoft/analectahymnica40drevuoft_djvu.txt

5a. Castitas præfert palmam,Terris vitam ducens almam,Dei plena gratia.

5b. In hac valle fæcis sita,Cælo, terries inaudita,Fecit mirabilia.

6. Cæco visum, claudo gressumReddens, atque vi opressumSalvans de miseria

7a. Pulsa lepra iam leprosaMunda carne fit formosaEius beneficio

7b. Surdus audit, Christo créditInfedelis, sanus reditPulso mentis vitio

8a. Mutat virgo rerum formam,Supra usum atque normamNovas præstans species

8b. Alteratur ac naturaQuam non prima genituraDedit neque series

9a. Plura manu salutariFecit, quam nos quimus fariVirgo sancta Brigida.

9b. In qua suum struxit templumIpsam nobis dans exemplumIlle verus Idida.

10a. Talis extans, o benigna,Summi regis sponsa digna,Assis tuis famulis.

10b. Qui te laudant venerantes,Tua festa celebrantesAdmiranda s æ culis .

11a. Nos, qui simus in hac fæce,Reducamur tua preceAd supernam patriam,

11b. Ubi Christus, verbum patris,Suæ castæ prece matrisNobis donet gloriam.

Appendix 2Gloriosæ Brigidæ

1a. Gloriosæ Brigidæ votiva festaRecolamus,

1b. VenerantesHanc diem præcalram omnesConcinamus.

2a. Concrepet organicisModulis et canticis Hæc, Brigida,

2b. Proferat hæc contioLaudem, et devotioSit sincera.

3a. Hanc fuisse filiam Dupthati ducis unicamTradunt scripta;

3b. Annis puerilibusSignis et prodigiisFuit clara.

4a. Quia nec obsequia Prætermittens aliqua,Quæ ad Christum

4b. Pertinebant; igiturCultus vanos respuitVenerari.

5a. Huic sanctæ BrigidæVoluit. tribuereChristus tantam gratiam,Ut in virtute

5b. Patris atque filiiSancti quoque spiritusMorbos cunctos que lepramPosset sanare.

6a. Ora pro populo,Precare pro cleroPatrona nostrao Brigida;

6b. Astantem populum, Laudantem te clerum Fore et regeper sæcula.

Appendix 3Lætabundus50

1a. Lætabundusexsultet fidelis chorus.Alleluia.

1b. Regem regumintactæ profudit thorus:res mirranda.

2a. Angelus consiliinatus est de virgine:sol de stella.

2b. Sol occasum nesciens,stella semper rutilans,semper clara.

3a. Sicut sidus radium,profert Virgo Filium,pari forma.

3a. Neque sidus radio,neque mater filio,fit corrupta.

4a. Cedrus alta Libaniconformatur hyssopo,calle nostra;

4b. Verbum ens Altissimicorporari passum est,carne sumpta.

5a. Isaias cecinit,Synagoga meminit,

numquam tamen desinit esse cæca.

5b. Si non suis vatibus,credat vel gentilibus;Sibyllinis versibushæc prædicta

6a. Infelix, propera,crede vel vetera:cur damnaberis,Agens misera?

6b. Quem docet littera,natum considera:ipsum genuit puerpera.Alleluia

50 Novus Motus Liturgicus, February 1, 2007. www.liturgia latina.org/Christmas/laetabundus.htm. Accessed April 4, 2010.