Hymn in honour of *Faustus, Januarius, and Martialis (martyrs of Córdoba, S00497) composed in Latin in Spain, presumably in the 7th c.
Evidence ID
E05731
Type of Evidence
Liturgical texts - Hymns
Literary - Poems
Hymnodia Hispanica, Hymn 122
IN SANCTORVM FAVSTI, IANVARII ET MARTIALIS
'IN HONOUR OF FAUSTUS, IANUARIUS, AND MARTIALIS'
The first three strophes encourage the people to praise the Trinity and give thanks for the martyrdom of Faustus, Ianuarius, and Martialis. The martyrs are tortured by fire and cruelly blinded (strophes 4–5; cf. Martyrdom of Faustus, Ianuarius and Martialis 4 and 7) but their injuries are miraculously healed (strophe 6). This provokes the anger of the ruler who condemned them (strophe 7). The martyrs patiently suffer all torments in hope of the reward from God and later are welcomed in heaven by the angels who put crowns on their heads (strophe 8–9).
(10) Adestote, sancti Dei, supplicanti populo
et petentibus prebete quesitum remedium,
30 regnum ut participentur uestro in consortio.
'(10) Give heed, o saints of God, to the begging people and provide the requested remedy to those who ask, so that they can join you in the Kingdom.'
Text: Castro Sánchez 2010, 452-454.
Translation and summary: M. Szada.
Liturgical ActivitiesComposing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracles experienced by the saint
Chant and religious singing
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Prayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesMiracles experienced by the saint
Miracle at martyrdom and death
Source
The hymn is written in trochaic septenerius. Diaz (1958, no. 355) and Szövérffy (1998, 34–35, 39) date it to the 7th century.It is preserved in two manuscripts: Psalmi Cantica et Hymni, Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, ms. 10001, from the 9th/11th c., and Psalmi, Cantica et Hymni, London, British Library, ms. 30851, from the 11th c. (with the lacuna in vv. 4–6; and with three additional strophes, one at the beginning and two at the end, see Blume 1897, 176, in critical appratus and Gilson 1905, 260–261).
Josef Pérez de Urbell’s method of dating hymns:
The method is based on two preliminary assumptions:
a) that the bulk of the Hispanic liturgy was composed in the seventh century, the ‘golden age’ of the Hispanic church, and that important intellectual figures of this period (Braulio of Zaragoza, Isidore of Seville, Eugenius of Toledo, and others) participated in its creation;
b) that the liturgy was, nevertheless, still developing and changing in the period after the Arab invasion, and therefore, many texts which we find in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries liturgical manuscripts might be of more recent date. Some hymns can be dated with some confidence to the period after 711, for instance if they mention ‘hagaric oppression’ or if they are in honour of saints whose cult appears to have been imported into Hispania after the seventh century (since they do not feature in earlier literary and epigraphic evidence, nor are attested in the oldest liturgical book from Hispania, the Orationale Visigothicum).
It is more difficult to identify the hymns which are certainly from before 711. Pérez de Urbell, firstly and reasonably, attributed to this group hymns with what appear to be reliable attributions to authors from the seventh century (like Braulio of Zaragoza or Quiricius of Barcelona), and those which are stylistically close to the poetry of Eugenius of Toledo from the seventh century.
Pérez de Urbell then compared the two groups of hymns – those probably earlier than 711, and those probably later – and noticed the following:
a) late hymns contain barbarisms and solecisms, while early ones are written in correct Latin;
b) late hymns are composed in rhythmic metres, while early ones are in correct classical quantitative metres; authors of the eighth and ninth century who attempted to write in quantitative metres always made mistakes; also from the eighth century onwards we have no more poetic inscriptions in quantitative metres;
c) some rhythmical poetry could nevertheless be early;
d) although both early and late hymns sometimes have rhymes, perfect rhymes occur only in late hymns.
In the absence of any certain indications for dating, Pérez de Urbell assumed that a hymn is early if at least two requirements were met: the Latin is ‘correct’ and there are no perfect rhymes. He also considered early every hymn composed in a quantitative metre.
Bibliography
Edition:Castro Sánchez, J., Hymnodia hispanica (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 167; Turnhout: Brepols, 2010).
Castro Sánchez, J., Hymnodia hispánica (Corpus Christianorum in Translation 19; Turnhout: Brepols, 2014). Spanish translation.
Further reading:
Blume, C., Die Mozarabischen Hymnen des alt-spanischen Ritus (Leipzig, 1897).
Diaz y Diaz, M.C., Códices visigóticos en la monarquía leonesa (León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación "San Isidoro", 1983).
Fábrega Grau, Á., Pasionario hispánico (Madrid, Barcelona: Atenas A.G., 1953).
Férotin, M., Le Liber Mozarabicus sacramentorum et les manuscrits mozarabes (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1912).
Gilson, J.P., The Mozarabic Psalter (ms. British Museum Add. 30.851) (London, 1905).
Norberg, D., An Introduction to the Study of Medieval Latin Versification (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2004).
Pérez de Urbel, J., "Origen de los himnos mozárabes," Bulletin Hispanique 28 (1926), 5-21, 113-139, 209-245, 305-320.
Pinell, J. M., "Fragmentos de códices del antiguo Rito hispánico," Hispania Sacra 17 (1964), 195-229.
Szövérffy, J., Iberian Latin Hymnody: Survey and Problems (Turnhout: Brepols, 1998).
Record Created By
Marta Szada
Date of Entry
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00497 | Faustus, Ianuarius, and Martialis, martyrs of Córdoba, Spain | Faustus, Ianuarius, Martialis | Certain |
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