Untitled

FORMATION OF ROMAN LITURGICAL CHANT 95
schola reperti fuerint pueri psallentes, tolluntur inde, et nutriuntur in
schola cantorum et postea fiunt cubicularii* 1
(in whatever school shall
be found boys who sing, they are fetched out and brought up in the
singing-school, and later on become papal officials). Historical testi
mony can be adduced to show that a vigorous musical evolution took
place in Rome from the fourth century onwards, though its phases
cannot be exactly determined. Pope Damasus (366-84) held a synod
in 374 and a council in 382 with the collaboration of Eastern bishops.
During the last years of his pontificate he made use of the services
of St. Jerome, the first expert in Eastern liturgy, as a secretary and
adviser in liturgical matters. The Liber Pontificalis contains a copy of
the letter (apocryphal) which St. Jerome addressed to St. Damasus,
relating how this pontiff 'gave order to sing the psalms by day and
by night in all the churches', though they had been introduced by
Celestine I into the *missa fidelium* as antiphonal chant before the
lections. His reform is saturated with Eastern influence; it brought
in the order of Jerusalem, enlivening it with the Roman spirit. It was
simultaneously with this movement that St. Ambrose established a
new order in liturgy and music in the Church at Milan (see p. 59).
Although we possess no musical manuscripts from that epoch, it
has been clearly proved that the actual Gregorian repertory is not
exclusively the work of the Western Church. There are many elements
which originate in the East, notably those which refer to the actual
forms of the chant. St. Ambrose introduced at Milan, in addition to
the antiphony, the singing of hymns. These had been used first in
Syria, Egypt, and Constantinople, and had spread thence all over the
Western churches. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, passed his
second exile in Rome (340-3) surrounded by his monks: it was then
that he brought monachism to the West. St. Hilary of Poitiers, when
exiled in Asia Minor (356-60), became acquainted therewith hymnody
and transferred it to the Western Church, though apparently without
success.
In the time of Celestine I (422-32) choral psalmody was introduced
into the Mass (Introit, Communid) for items which hitherto had been
sung by a cantor as solo psalmody. It was in his days also that the
foundation of a Schola cantorum was brought about in Rome itself,
as a model centre for the cultivation and composition of plainsong.
Sixtus III (432-40) is another illustrious pontiff who played his part
in the development by definitely entrusting to a religious community
the care of the chant of the Office. Leo the Great (440-61) in his turn
1 Patrologia Latina, Ixxviii, 1003.