A note on the hymn

This hymn, beginning on fo. 4v and ending on fo. 6v of the Antiphonary of Bangor, is prefaced with the words ‘Hymnus apostolorum ut alii dicunt.’ The phrase ‘ut alii dicunt’ can bear its standard meaning, but it is possible that alii means ‘some’ rather than ‘others’, as is attested in Hiberno-Latin usage. The hymn is composed of forty-two quatrains of non-quantitative verse, usually, but not always, employing the pattern 5p 7pp. Rhyme is irregular.

The poem links the themes of the primacy of the first day (Sunday), the life of Christ and the divine plan for human salvation, which extends from the creation to the last judgement. It does not commemorate any one liturgical event, but celebrates a number of events of sacred history, each related to the other by the fact that it occurs on a Sunday. That Sunday observance is central to the poem’s message is shown by detailed comparison with two versions of a short tract entitled Dies dominica. In one or both versions the following events which correspond to various stanzas of Precamur patrem are alleged to have occurred on Sunday: the first day of creation, the passage of Israel through the Red Sea, the birth of Christ, the miracle at Cana, the miracle of the loaves and fishes, the founding of the Church, the opening of the gates of paradise and the last judgement. The correspondences are given in the notes to the translation.

A perplexing feature of the poem is its omission of any direct reference to the canonical resurrection, especially as this event occurred on a Sunday according to scripture, and is mentioned in both versions of Dies dominica.

In the portion of the poem that details the life of Christ (stanzas xviii-xxxix), the crucifixion (stanza xxxi) is followed immediately by a description of the rending of the veil of the temple (stanza xxxii) and then three stanzas detailing the harrowing of hell (xxxiii-xxxv), a reference to the Church triumphant (xxxvi), then the opening of heaven to Christ and the righteous persons rescued from hell (xxxvii) – embellished with an allusion to the Good Shepherd (xxxviii) -, and finally, an indication of Christ’s role in the coming judgement (xxxix). One might hypothesise that Christ’s resurrection is acknowledged in the notion that, in order to harrow hell, Christ had to leave his tomb.