Hymns for Doctors of the Church
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    Has anyone found great hymns that are appropriate for Feasts of the Doctors of the Church?

    This Is the Feast Day/ This the Confessor is one, but are there others?

    I'm especially looking for texts in the public domain.
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 685
    I've been compiling a list of hymns to the Saints from my collection of Catholic hymnals starting in 1840 and working my way forward. Currently I'm in the early 1900s. There are what I would classify as "generic" hymns to the Saints for example: "Hymns for a Martyr' s Day," "Hymn for a Saints Day," "Hymn for English Martyrs," "Hymns for Confessors" etc., but nothing specifically for "Doctor's of the Church."

    Now there are numerous hymns for specific Saints like "St. Dominic, St. Agatha, St. Stanislaus," etc. I could send you a list of hymns I've found so far with the first line of the hymn. I decided to attach the list. It is in order of copyright or date of the hymnal. Hope it helps.

    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    @Kathy
    The Paris Breviary of 1736 has Proper Office Hymns for Doctors... While 'some' dislike this Breviary, St. John Henry Newman translated these hymns...
    Links to relevant material, https://societyofstbede.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/hymns-for-doctors/
    The Sarum sequence Adest Nobis Dies Alma can be modified to mention Doctor N. instead of presul N. We have modified this Sequence for St. Bede. I can't post it here because I have over written the .pdf copy posted on the Sarum chant website... One day I will set our own version.
    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    Thank you, Gentlemen!

    Don9of11, thank you for the attachment!

    tomjaw, are these sung in the Ordinariate in any official way, according to books?

    Also, why is the Paris Breviary disliked by some?
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    @Kathy The newer french breviaries offended Dom Prosper Gueranger... he preferred the far older breviaries that had fallen out of use.

    I do not know if anyone uses these Latin hymns they are not easily available... I presume that they may be used by some in France. I do not know why St. JHN translated them he must of thought them worthy of his time. That alone is a reason to use them. I almost never attend any service in English so have no idea what goes on and what they use. I will ask my Ordinariate friends.
    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • ...sung in the Ordinariate...
    Not to my knowledge.
    Thanked by 2tomjaw Kathy
  • At St. Paul in Cambridge, MA, we sing the attached paraphrase of Psalm 78.1-6 after Vespers for Doctors.

    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 685
    Kathy, if you need my list sorted in a different way like "by Saint's Name" I can easily do this or you can pm and I can provide you with the excell file and you can sort to your hearts content...LOL