Ave Virgo gratiosa
  • Ben_WhitworthBen_Whitworth
    Posts: 90
    Just out of idle curiosity, does anyone recognise these lines?

    Ave Virgo gratiosa
    Paradisi alma rosa
    Inter spinas lilium

    They are carved in a tablet next to a statue of the Virgin and Child, just by where you get off the waterbus when you visit Torcello from Venice. I understand that this little shrine was put up only about five years ago, to mark the resolution of a dispute between the commune of Torcello and the Venetian city council regarding flood defences! Italian municipal piety is a wonderful thing. The statue and the inscription are modern, but the text sounds like a bit of a medieval Sequence. Is it?
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,513
    Seems so! I found a reference to a polyphonic setting (I think) by Jacquet de Mantua. Unless it is a different song under the same incipit.

    While browsing, I happened upon this website that might please you http://www.diamm.ac.uk/
    Thanked by 1Ben_Whitworth
  • Ben_WhitworthBen_Whitworth
    Posts: 90
    Thanks, Kathy. I will try & track down the Jacquet.

    I remember seeing the early publicity for DIAMM; looks like they've been busy since then.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    My understanding is that the little shrine was put up to replace a Madonna that had always been in that place previously. If you google "Ave Virgo graziosa paradisi alma rosa" you'll find a reference to it (in Italian).
    Thanked by 1Ben_Whitworth
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