Br. Innocent Smith, op47th International Congress on Medieval Studies,

Kalamazoo, MIMay 2012

Dominican Mass Chants for the Ascension

Officium: Viri Galilaei

The Dominican Mass for the Ascension opens with the

Officium, or entrance chant, Viri Galilaei, shared in five of the

six sources of Dom Hesbert's Antiphonale Missarum. The

Dominican version of this chant resembles the Cistercian

version very closely, with only one instance in which the

Dominican version shortens a neume from three repeated notes

to two,1 as well as a slightly different intonation for the

verse. Like the Cistercian version, the Dominican chant

includes a quotation from the Acts of the Apostles in place

of the opening verse from Psalm 46. As William Renwick has

pointed out, the Sarum version includes this same verse from

Acts in a slightly different version, which further

1 The first syllable of "Veniet", right before thealleluias.

emphasizes the similarity of the Dominican and Cistercian

traditions.

First Alleluia: Ascendit Deus

The Dominican Mass provides the widely diffused

Alleluia verse "Ascendit Deus in iubilatione" for the first

alleluia. Although it shares this chant with the Cistercian

tradition, the Dominican manuscripts present the fourth mode

chant in the original key, starting on F and ending on E,

whereas the Cistercian manuscripts transpose the chant to

avoid writing the B-flat, thus beginning on C and ending on

B. This is an example of how despite their reliance on the

Cisterican tradition, the Dominican editors rejected some of

the innovations of the Cistercian reform, such as the

insistance on the use of transposition to avoid the flat.

Second Alleluia: Ascendens Christus

The second Alleluia verse is the more unusual

"Ascendens Christus in altum". In this case, the Dominican

version follos its Cistercian counterpart with just three

exceptions: the Dominican version adds a flat when the B

note first appears, reduces a three note neume to a two note

neume,2 and omits the repetition of a nine-note phrase

within the long melisma on the word "captivitatem." In

contrast to the Sarum version, both the Dominican and

Cistercian version of this chant omit the long melisma that

is found in the Sarum version on the final syllable of the

chant. In between these two versions, we could point to the

13th century Gradual of Rouen3, which gives a moderate

melisma on this syllable that is shorter than the elaborate

melisma in the Sarum version but more developed than the

single note found in the Dominican and Cistercian versions.

Figure 1 - Cistercian setting of Al. Ascendens Christus (BN Ms. Latin17328), fol. 80v)

2 Within the alleluia jubilus.3 (Paris, BN Lat. 904, fol. 147r);

http://bit.ly/JgdjXI.

Figure 2 - Dominican setting of Al. Ascendens Christus, Rome SS XIV L1,fol. 343v.

Figure 3 - Gradual of Rouen - (Paris, BN Lat. 904, fol. 147r)

Offertory: Viri Galilaei

The Dominican Gradual includes a rare chant for the

Offertory: instead of the typical "Ascendit Deus," found in

four of the six Hesbert sources as well as in the Sarum

tradition, it gives "Viri Galilaei," which is found in two

of Hesbert's sources and is shared with the Cistercian

tradition, as well as in other sources such as the

thirteenth century Gradual of Rouen. It is interesting to

note that although the Vatican Edition and Liber Usualis

only provide the offertory Ascendit Deus, the 1974 Graduale

Romanum also includes the offertory Viri Galilaei for "ad

libitum" use.4

Communion: Psalite

The Dominican Gradual offers the widely diffused Psalite

Domino for the communion chant. The text is taken from Psalm

67, "Sing ye to God, Who mounteth above the heaven of

heavens, to the east"; this chant thus forms part of the

tradition of application of prophetic texts to mysteries

celebrated in the liturgy. The Dominican version corresponds

closely with its Cistercian counterpart as well as the

broader Gregorian tradition, although a few phrases take on

a different shape in the Dominican version.5

4 Graduale Romanum (1974) 237.5 Especially "caelorum".

Sequence: Omnes Gentes Plaudite

The Sequence given in the early Dominican manuscripts

for the feast of the Ascension is Omnes Gentes Plaudite / Festos

choros ducite. This sequence was one of twenty-seven that

appeared in the medieval Dominican liturgy. Like twenty

others of its fellow sequences, Omnes Gentes appears to be an

original Dominican composition from the mid-13th century. It

has at times been attributed to Albert the Great, but is

apparently the work of another German Dominican called

Peregrinus of Cologne, also known as William of Cologne.6 In

addition to its presence in the early Dominican liturgical

manuscripts, the sequence is also found in the mid-13th

century Prosary of St-Chapelle, a manuscript which generally

exhibits a Dominican influence. In the 14th century, when

the Church in Finland adopted the Dominican Missal as the

proper rite of the diocese of Åbo, the sequence was included

in the Abonese Missal.7 6 See Becker. Cf. http://bit.ly/Ji7io7.7 Cf. Martti Parvio, "Postscript", 544. On this

account, Prosper Guéranger includes the sequence in L'AnnéeLiturgique, although he assumes that it was composed in the

The sequence, like the preceding alleluia, is in mode

one. The text begins with a joyous invitation to celebrate

the Ascension in song:

"Be glad, all ye people, and sing our festivesongs, for it is the triumph of Christ! He returnsto heaven, leading thither the trophies he haswon; and as he ascends, the jubilant sound of thetrumpet is heard."

The opening three words of the chant, Omnes gentes

plaudite, are taken from Psalm 46, which in the Vulgate begins

"Omnes gentes plaudite manibus iubilate Deo in voce

exultationis." This verse is also used as the Officium or

entrance chant for the Vigil of the Assumption celebrated

the day before the sequence was sung, so the opening words

would have been in a sense ringing in the ears of the

singers.

Following the rhythm of the seven syllables of the

opening three words of Psalm 46, the sequence continues with

a newly composed line of seven syllables, "Festos choros

ducite," before ending the first stanza with the six

syllable phrase "Christo triumphante." For the remainder of

fourteenth or fifteenth century.

the sequence, each set of stanzas with repeated music and

meter follows a undulating set of syllabic meters:

1: 7.7.62: 7.7.63: 7.7.7.64: 8.8.75: 8.8.76: 4.4.4.77: 7.7.7.7.68: 8.7.8.7

Thus, although the Vulgate translation of Psalm 46 was

not originally intended to be a poetic meter, the author of

this poet weaves a metrical theme out of the opening words

of the psalm, using seven syllables lines in each stanza of

the sequence.

The opening stanza of the sequence Omnes gentes conveys

two details about the Ascension that elaborate the sober

scriptural account given in Mark and Luke-Acts: first, we

sing of Christ ascending together with the "trophies he has

won," and second, we sing about Christ ascending with the

accompaniment of the "jubilant sound of the trumpet." If we

turn to The Golden Legend, written shortly after the composition

of this sequence by Peregerinus's contemporary Dominican

James of Voragine, we will find an explannation of both of

these ideas.

In his chapter of the Ascension, Voragine proposes to

consider seven questions concerning Christ's Ascension.

Concerning the question "with whom he ascended", Voragine

writes: "let it be known that he ascended with a great catch

of people and a great multitude of angels. That he took a

catch of men with him is obvious from what Ps. 68:18 (RSV)

says: 'Thou didst ascend the high mount, leading captives in

thy train.'"8 In the sequence, then, this "catch of men" is

referred to first in stanza 1b, with the words "He returns

to heaven, leading thither the trophies he has won", and

again in stanza 5b: "He returned to heaven with two troops,—

of angels, and of souls,—and laden with treasures."

Voragine also considers the question of "in what manner

he ascended," responding that Christ ascended powerfully,

openly, joyfully, and swiftly. On the point of the

joyfulness of Christ's ascension, Voragine writes: "He went

up joyfully, because the angels were jubilant, whence Ps.

8 Voragine, trans. Ryan, 2012, 293-294.

46:6 (47:5) says: 'God ascended with jubilee.'" Voragine

then quotes a sermon spuriously attributed to Augustine: "As

Christ ascends, the whole heaven quakes, the stars marvel,

the heavenly hosts applaud, trumpets sound and blend their

dulcet harmonies with the joyous choirs."9 The Psalm that

Voragine alludes to is in fact from the same psalm that

begins with the words Omnes gentes plaudite; the verse itself

continues, "God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with

the sound of trumpet." In the performance of the Mass, this

text would have just been heard as the verse of the first

Alleluia, Ascendit Deus. The author of our sequence is thus

forming a presentation of the scene of the Ascension that is

inspired both by the prophetic texts of the Psalms as

mediated by the tradition of interpretation represented by

the liturgy itself and by Voragine's text of Pseudo-

Augustine.

The sequence continues with a number of typological

readings of the Old Testament, comparing Christ to Moses,

Elias, and Jacob:

9 Ps. Augustine, PL 39:2085; trans. Ryan, 2012, 293.

Like Moses, he enters the tabernacle, and peopleflock to see the grandeur of the mystery: the menof Galilee stand looking up to the cloud thatreceived him out of their sight.

When Elias was taken up from earth, he gave histwofold spirit and his mantle to Eliseus: whenJesus ascended into heaven, he gave to hisservants the talents of his grace.

Like Jacob, he passed over the Jordan, enduringsufferings of wondrous avail to us, and the staffhe used was the cross. He returned to heaven withtwo troops,—of angels, and of souls,—and ladenwith treasures. [This is a reference to Genesis35:10: "For with only my staff I crossed thisJordan; and now I have become two companies."]

The sequence proceeds by describing Christ's entrance

into heaven, his position at the right hand of God, and the

greatness of his majesty. The sequence concludes by

paradoxically inviting the "avenging God" to come in mercy:

O come, thou avenging God! come in thy mercy, whenwe are to appear before thee seated on thy throne.On that day, show unto us thy wonted mercy, andgive us to ascend to the endless life of futureglory. Amen.

The Dominican sequence, Omnes Gentes Plaudites, is an

excellent example of a creative synthesis of theological and

scriptural themes that is at the service of exciting the

devotion of those present, helping them to pray that the

feast that is being celebrated will have a profound effect

in their own redemption. By means of the final invocation,

the sequence shows that the mystery of the Ascension is not

merely a historical event but one that is of contemporary

and eschatological relevance for the participants.