Hymny maryjne dawne i współczesne w odnowionej Liturgii Godzin

Abstract

The modern revision of the Roman Breviary also led to a change in the hymn collection: while the latest editions contained 160 hymns, the renewed book entitled Liturgia Horarum comprises 291 hymns. The paper presents only the collection of hymns about the Virgin Mary: the process of increasing the quantity, the present quantity and origin of the hymns, and finally the chronology of growing the Virgin Mary cult motives in these hymns. The increase of the number of hymns from 4 in 1563 to 24 in 1955 started at the beginning of the 18th century and depends on the increase of the standing of the Marian feasts or on their introduction (of Seven Dolours, Rosary, of the Immaculate Conception, the Holy Virgin Mary of Lourdes, of Maternity, of the Assumption since 1950, and of Mary the Queen since 1955). In adition, on the basis of the author’s own research, 9 hymns about the Virgin Mary which were used in Poland in the 13th and 16th centuries (Cracow) as well as 8 hymns introduced to Proprium Poloniae in the 20th century are presented. The reform of the calendar in 1969 had an effect of stressing the importance of some of the feasts by an addition of some hymns or their better choice. The feasts of the Immaculate Conception, Mother of God, the Assumption, and also of the Visitation, of the Dolourous Virgin Mary and Mary the Queen have three hymns each; the Nativity and Presentation of the Virigin Mary – two hymns each; and of Rosary – only one. Besides, in Commune now there are 6 hymns, among them a fragment of Dante’s Paradise. Altogether the present liturgy has accepted 29 hymns about the Virgin Mary; moreover, the Marian contents are found in 10 hymns about the Mystery of the Incarnation (Christ’s Nativity, Presentation and Annunciation). In this group only 8 hymns were written in the modern times. Hymns dating from before the end of the 6th century worship Mary’s virginal maternity, those from the 7th-9th centuries introduce the title of Mother of the Creator and Mother of Grace; only from the 10th century on hymns, especially those by St. Peter Damian, address Mary herself; hymns from the 12th-14th centuries show Mary’s contribution to salvation and her spiritual maternity; hymns from the 15th-17th century address Mary as the refuge of sinners. The authors writing in the 19th and 20th centuries (Leo XIII, B. Verghetti, and the anonymous author of the latest hymn about the Visitation) treat Mary as the victorious Mother of the faithful and finally as an example of bringing Christ to people.