Untitled

80 LATIN CHANT BEFORE ST. GREGORY
f-T*-
quern Pater mi sit ovibus pa-sto-rem. Al-le-lu-ia, al - le - lu-ia.
(We praise thee, almighty Lord; thou that sittest above the Cherubim and
Seraphim, hear us. The angels and archangels bless thee, and the prophets and
apostles worship thee. We adore thee, we pray to thee our great Redeemer,
whom the Father has sent as shepherd to the sheep. Alleluia, alleluia.)
We reproduce also the well-known 'Venite populi', an Easter hymn
also given in the manuscripts
Ex-. 29 (a)
e . ,
Ve-
fiHrc
Ex.2g(b)
as a Communion chant: 1
- ni-te, po-pu-li, ad sa-crum et im-flior-ta-le... Al-
- le - -lu-ia
ad sacrum et-immor-ta - le.... Al -
- le -
(Come, ye people, to the holy and everlasting [banquet], Alleluia.)
(iv) Chants of the Office. Very few specimens of the psalmodic and
antiphonal melodies of the Gallican Office have come down to us.
Gloria in excelsis was sung at the end of Lauds on Sundays and festi
vals before it was transferred to its present place after the Kyrie of the
Mass. Hymns, of the Ambrosian type, were sung in some churches,
forbidden in others. The hymns for the feasts of the Holy Cross,
Vexilla regis prodeunt and Pange lingua gloriosi praeliwn certaminis,
composed by Venantius Fortunatus (d. before 610), were cer
tainly written for the Gallican liturgy. The dramatic Popule meus
1 Printed by Dom P. Ferretti in the Proper of the Papal Masses (Rome, 1922) as
4
ex antiqua liturgia gallicana'.