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Rabanus Maurus

776 - 856 Person Name: R. Maurus (c.776-856) Author of "Creator Spirit, come, inspire" in Hymns for Today's Church (2nd ed.) Rabanus Maurus (c. 776-856) or Hrabanus Magnentius Maurus, was born of noble parents at Mainz, and educated at Fulda and Tours under Alcuin, who is reputed to have given him the surname, Maurus, after the saint of that name. In 803, he became director of the school at the Benedictine Abbey at Fulda. He was ordained priest in 814, spending the following years in a pilgrimage to Palestine. In 822, he became Abbott at Fulda, retiring in 842. In 847, he became archbishop of Mainz. He died at Winkel on the Rhine, February 4, 856. This distinguished Carolingian poet-theologian wrote extensive biblical commentaries, the Encyclopaedic De Universo, De Institutione Clericorum, and other works which circulated widely during the Middle Ages. Some of his poems, with English translations, are in Helen Waddell's Mediaeval Latin Lyrics. He is the author of: O Come, Creator Spirit, come Christ, the fair glory of the holy angels Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest Creator Spirit, by whose aid --The Hymnal 1940 Companion, New York: The Church Pension Fund (1949) =========================== Hrabanus (Rabanus) Maurus, son of one Ruthard, was born probably at Mainz, about 776. At an early age he was sent to the Monastery of Fulda to receive a religious education. In 801 he was ordained Deacon, and the following year he went to the monastic school of St. Martin at Tours to study under Alcuin, a celebrated teacher of that time, who gave to Hrabanus the name of Maurus to which Hrabanus added Magnentius. On his return to Fulda in 804 he became the head of the school connected with the Monastery. Towards him Ratgar the abbot showed great unkindness, which arose mainly from the fact that Ratgar demanded the students to build additions to the monastery, whilst Hrabanus required them at the same time for study. Hrabanus had to retire for a season, but Ratgar's deposition by Ludwig the Pious, in 817, opened up the way for his return, and the reopening of the school In the meantime, in 814, he had been raised to the Priesthood. Egil, who succeeded Ratgar as abbot, died in 822, and Hrabanus was appointed in his stead. This post he held for some time, until driven forth by some of the community. In 847, on the death of Archbishop Otgar, Ludwig the younger, with whom Hrabanus had sided in his demand for German independence as against the imperialism of his elder brother Lothar, rewarded him with the Archbishopric of Mainz, then the metropolitan see of Germany. He held this appointment to his death on Feb. 4, 856. He was buried first in St. Alban's, Mainz, and then, during the early days of the Reformation, in St. Maurice, Halle, possibly because of the opposition he is known to have made to the doctrine of Transubstantiation. With German historians Hrabanus is regarded as the father of the modern system of education in that country. His prose works were somewhat numerous, but the hymns with which his name is associated are few. We have the "Christe sanctorum decus Angelorum”; “Tibi Christe, splendor Patris”; and the "Veni Creator Spiritus”; but recent research convinces us that the ascription in each case is very doubtful; and none are received as by Hrabanus in Professor Dümmler's edition of the Carmina of Hrabanus in the Poetae Latini aevi Carolini, vol. ii. 1884. Dümmler omits them even from the "hymns of uncertain origin." --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix I (1907) ======================= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabanus_Maurus

Robert II, King of France

970 - 1031 Person Name: Robert II. of France (972-1031) Author of "Holy Spirit, Lord of light" in Life-Time Hymns Robert the Second, King of France, surnamed "Le Page" and "Le Devot," born circa 970, was the son of Hugh Capet, the first of the line of kings that succeeded the Carlovingian monarchs on the French throne. After having been associated with his father in the government of the kingdom, in 988 he became king in his own right. The story of his life, rather than of his reign, is a sad one; troubles both in his family and without so multiplying upon him that it needed all the consolation that he sought and found in religion to enable him to bear up against them. Having in 995 or 996 espoused Bertha, the widow of Eades, Count of Chartres, and daughter of Conrad the Pacific, his cousin in the fourth degree (a marriage at that time strictly forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church), he was commanded by a decree of Pope Gregory V. to put her away. He was tenderly attached to her, and refused, whereupon he was excommunicated. This sentence caused the unhappy couple to be abandoned by all their courtiers, and even their servants, with the exception of two of the latter. After living together for a while in a state of sore privation, nay, almost absolute destitution, Bertha was delivered of a still-born infant, which was represented to Robert to have been a monster with “a head and neck like a goose." On hearing this (for the fond husband was but a weak and credulous man), Robert repudiated his wife, who thereupon retired into a nunnery. Subsequently, probably about 1002, he married Constance, a daughter of the Count of Aries, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. Much of the misery of his later life resulted from this marriage; for in addition to the antagonism which existed in their tastes and pursuits, Constance endeavoured to secure the kingdom for her youngest son Robert, to the exclusion of the third son Henry (Hugh, the eldest, haying died, and Eudes, the second, being an idiot), and this led to constant domestic broils which embittered the gentle king's existence. In 1024 he refused (and wisely) the Imperial Crown of the House of Saxony, when the Italians offered it to him on the death of Henry II., the last of the Saxon Emperors. Robert spent much of his time in the society of monks, assisting in the services of the Church, and engaging on pious pilgrimages. It was upon his return from one of the latter to some of the principal sanctuaries of France that he was attacked by a fever, to which he succumbed at Thelun in 1031, in the 60th year of his age and the 34th of his reign more deeply lamented by his people, to whom he had attached himself by the sweetness and simplicity of his character, than any other king, probably, who ever reigned in France. Robert had a great love for, and skill in, church music, and it is not improbable that compobitions of his are even at this day in use in the services of his Church. [Rev. Digby S. Wrangham, M.A.] It has been the custom to speak of King Robert as a hymn-writer. But when the different authorities come to specify the pieces which he is said to have composed, their statements are hopelessly at variance. For the purposes of this article we shall take four ancient authorities:— (a) and (b) In the Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France, vol. x., Paris, 1760, pp. 297-300, there are extracts "ex chronico Sithiensi" (a); and also "ex chronico Alberici ad annum 997 " (b). (c) In the Junius manuscript, 121, in the Bodleian there is a list of authors of sequences, written about 1300. (d) William Durandus (d. 1296) in his Rationale, Bk. iv., has a section "De prosa seu sequentia." This occurs in two manuscripts of the 14th century in the British Museum [Add. 18304, f. 20 b; Reg. 7 E., ix. f. 53. An earlier and finer manuscript than either (Add. 31032) has unfortunately lost the leaf containing this section]. By these four authorities the following hymns and sequences are ascribed to King Robert :— 1. Chorus novae Hierusalem. 2. Rex omnipotens die hodierna. 3. Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia. 4. Veni Sancte Spiritus. 5. Victiniae Paschali. But of these a only ascribes to him No. 3, and does not mention Nos. 1,2, 4 or 5, while b ascribes to him Nos. 2 and 3, and does Dot mention Nos. 1, 4 or 5. On the other hand c ascribes to him No. 5, while No. 3 it ascribes to Hermannus Contract us, and Nos. 1, 2, 4 it does not mention at all. Lastly d ascribes to him Nos. 1 and 4, but ascribes Nos. 2 and 3 to Hermannus Contractus, and does not mention No. 5. Taking these in detail, we find No. 1 is only ascribed to King Robert by d, and seems more probably to be by Fulbert of Chartres (see p, 224, i.). No. $. seems without doubt to be by Notker Balbulus (see note on "Sancti Spiritus adsit"). For No. 5 see note on "Victimae Paschali." No. 2 is noted at p. 958, ii, and, according to the common opinion, is there ascribed to Hermannus Contractus; but this ascription is very doubtful, seeing that he d. in 1054, and was only b. in 1013, while the Bodleian manuscript 775 was written in England about 1000, so that the ascription of b deserves attention. As to No. 4 the subject of authorship is treated more fully under "Veni Sancte Spiritus," but here it may be said that Durandus and those who followed him are alone in ascribing it to King Robert, for the French tradition was clearly against this, e.g. neither a nor b ascribe it to him, and Clichtovaeus in his Elucidatorium, Paris, 1516, and the Augustinian Missal, printed at Paris, 1529, which may be taken to represent the later French tradition, while agreeing in ascribing No. 3 to King Robert, agree also in treating No. 4 as of un¬known authorship. To sum up then it seems to us that No. 2 is possibly by King Robert; that Nos. 3 and 4 are clearly not by him; and that his claim to Nos. 1 and 5 is exceedingly doubtful. The French chronicles a and b as above also ascribe to King Robert other liturgical pieces, viz.:—(1) "O Constantia martyrum," (2) "Judaea (O Juda) et Hierusalem," (3) "Eripe me," (4) " Ounctipotens genitor"(5) "Cornelius centurio," (6) "Pro fidei meritis," (7) “Concede nobis quaesumus." These appear to be Responsories and Antiphons, but whether rightly or wrongly ascribed to Robert the present writer cannot say. No. 7 is also ascribed to him by c as above. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Richard of Chichester

1197 - 1253 Person Name: St. Richard of Chichester, c. 1197-1253 Author of "St. Richard's Prayer" in The Hymnal for Boys and Girls

Richard Rolle

1290 - 1349 Person Name: R. Rolle, d. 1349 Author of "A New Song" in Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

James Ryman

1450 - 1550 Author of "In Bethlehem, That Noble Place" in The Cyber Hymnal

Jan Roh

1487 - 1547 Person Name: Johann Horn, c. 1495-1547 Composer of "GAUDEAMUS PARITER" in RitualSong (2nd ed.) Pseudonyms-- Johann Cornu Johann Horn John Horn Roh, Johann, was a native of Domascbitz near Leitmeritz, in Bohemia. Roh was his name in Bohemian, but when he wrote in Latin he styled himself Cornu, and in German Horn. In 1518 he was ordained priest and appointed preacher to the Bohemian Brethren's community at Jungbunzlau, in Bohemia. At the Synod of Brandeis, in Sep. 1529, he was chosen as one of the three Seniors of the Unity. Finally, at the Synod of Brandeis, in April 1532, he was appointed Bishop, and held this post till his death, at Jungbunzlau, Feb. 11, 1547. (Koch, ii. 114; Wackernagel, i. p. 727, &c.) Roh was the editor of the Bohemian Hymn Book of 1541, and is said to have written a number of hymns in the Bohemian language, but the edition of 1561 only gives one with his name. He also edited the second German hymn-book of the Brethren, viz., Ein Gesangbuch der Brüder inn Behemen und Merherrn, Nürnberg, 1544; and seems to have been author or translator of all, or nearly all, of the 32 hymns there added. Another hymn ("O heiliger Vater, glitiger Herr") is also given with his name in the Kirchengeseng, 1566. A considerable number of Ron's hymns passed into the Lutheran hymn-books of the 16th and 17th centuries, and into the Moravian Hymn Books of the 18th cent. Rather curiously in the last Moravian Hymn Books, (the Kleines Gesangbuch, Gnadau, 1870), his name is not found in the list of authors. Those of Roh's hymns which have been translated into English are:— i. Gottes Sohn ist kommen. Christmas. In 1544, as above, and thence in Wackernagel iii. p, 350, in 9 stanzas of 6 lines, The heading "Ave Hierarchia" refers to the melody, for it is not a translation from the Latin. Included in V. Babst's Gesang-Buch, Leipzig, 1553, and recently in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 6, Strangely enough this fine hymn was omitted from the Kirchengeseng of 1566 and later editions; and though it was included in the Herrnhut Gesang-Buch, 1735, and the Brüder Gesang-Buch, 1778, it has again been omitted from the Kleines Gesang-Buch, 1870. The translations are:— 1. Lo! from highest heaven. A free translation of stanzas i.-iii., vi., by A. T. Russell, as No. 27 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851. Included, altered, in Kennedy, 1863. 2. Once He came in blessing. A good translation of stanzas i.-iii., v., ix., by Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 26. Included in J. Robinson's Collection, 1869, and the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868. 3. God's Son once descending. This is No. 249 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754. Hymns not in English common use:— ii. Betrachtn wir heut zu dieser Frist. Easter. 1544 as above, and in Wackernagel, iii. p. 359, in 14 stanzas of 3 lines. Translated as:—(1) "The Saviour Jesus, Friend of Man." As No. 332 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754. This is from the recast "Der selge Heiland, Jesus Christ" (based on ii.-v.), as No. 1875 in Appendix xii. c. 1745, to the Herrnhut Gesang-Buch 1735. iii. Ein starker Held ist uns kommen. Christmas. 1544 as above, and in Wackernagel, iii. p. 352, in 12 stanzas of 4 lines. Translated as (1) "God took our nature upon Him (stanza iii.), as No. 251 in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754. iv. Lob Gott getrost mit singen. Christian Church. 1544 as above, and in Wackernagel, iii. p. 360, in 9 stanzas of 8 lines. In the Kirchengeseng, 1566, two st. were inserted between iii. and iv. This form, in 11 stanzas, is No. 563 in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen 1851. In the Brüder Gesang-Buch 1778, No. 1014, is a cento in 3 st. (from st. vi., viii., ix. of the 1544, and iv. of the 1566), beginning "Lass dich durch nichts erschrecken," and this form has been translated as "O be not thou dismayed, Believing little band," as No. 596 in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1886. v. O Mensch, thu heut hören. Passiontide. 1544 as above, and in Wackernagel, iii., p. 355, in 20 stanzas of 4 lines. The English version is "I am thy Lord and God" (st. ii.), as No. 258, in pt. i. of the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Georg Rhaw

1488 - 1548 Person Name: George Rhaw, 1488-1548 Composer of "[We raise our voices singing]" in Songs of Light

Adam Reissner

1496 - 1575 Person Name: A. Reusner, 1496-c. 1575 Author of "In Thee, Lord, Have I Put My Trust" in Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary Reissner, Adam, was born in 1496 at Mündelsheim (now Mündelheim) in Swabian Bavaria. He first studied at Wittenberg, and then, about 1521, he learned Hebrew and Greek under Johann Keuchlin. He then became private secretary to Georg von Freundsberg (who died Aug. 20, 1528), and accompanied him during the campaign in Italy, 1530-27. After the capture of Rome in 1527 he went back to Germany, and spent some time at Strassburg, where he became a friend and adherent of Caspar Schwenkfeldt. He seems to have been living at Frankfurt-am-Main in 1563, but thereafter returned to Mündelheim, where he was still living in 1572. He appears to have died there about 1575. (Koch, ii. 156; Preface to his Historia Herrn Georgen unnd Herrn Casparn von Fründsberg’s [died Aug. 31, 1536] Vatters und Sons .... Kriegesthaten, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1568. The British Museum copy is unmistakably dated on title 1568, but the preface is dated Jan. 31, 1572.) Three of Reissner's earlier hymns are in Zwick's Gesang-Buch, 1536-40. His later hymns, including a translation of the hymns of Prudentius, are collected in two manuscripts, both dated 1596 (see Teglichs Gesangbuch . . . durch Adam Reusner, and contains over 40 hymns which may be regarded as by Reissner, the rest being by other writers of the school of Schwenckfeldt. Wackernagel, vol. iii., gives Nos. 170-194 under his name. The only hymn by Reissner translated into English is:— In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr. Ps. xxxi. First published in the Form und ordnung Gaystlicher Gesang und Psalmen, Augsburg, 1533, and thence in Wackernagel, iii. p. 133, in 7 stanzas of 6 lines. It was included in V. Babst's Gesang-Buch , 1545, and repeated in almost all the German hymnbooks up to the period of Rationalism. It is one of the best Psalm-versions of the Reformation period. Included in the Unverfälschter Liedersegen, 1851, No. 629. The translation in common use is:-- In Thee, Lord, have I put my trust. A good translation, omitting st. vii., by Miss Winkworth, in her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 120. Other translations are:— (1) "Lord, let me never be confoundit." In the Gude and Godly Ballates, ed. 1568, f. 82; ed. 1868, p. 141. (2) "Great God! in Thee I put my Trust." By J. C. Jacobi, 1725, p. 33 (1732, p. 116). Repeated in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754, pt. i., No. 118. (3) "Lord, I have trusted in Thy name." By Dr. H. Mills, 1856, p. 171. (4) "On Thee, O Lord, my hopes I lean." By N. L. Frothingham, 1870, p. 263. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)