ERVING ON A COMMITTEE to produce the St. Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal has brought to my attention many wonderful Catholic hymns. Fr. Adrian Fortescue once said, speaking of an ancient hymn: “Where could anyone find a better evening hymn than this, coming right down from the catacombs? Our hymnbooks know nothing of such a treasure as this, and give us pages of poor sentiment in doggerel lines by some tenth-rate modern versifier.”
I could not find any written out versions of the Gregorian chant hymn Ex more docti mystico (6th century) so I created a clean version. Have you sung this great hymn?
* * PDF Download • “Ex More Docti Mystico” (LENT)
The following is also very nice—but some of you may have sung it before, because it’s printed in many books:
* * PDF Download • “O Sol Salutis” (LENT)
Here is a beautiful page from a book by John David Chambers:
A saint once commented on Psalm 50 (Miserere Mei) something to the effect of: “I wish we could all sin like David, if our repentance were to be as great as David’s…” If someone can send the exact quote, thank you in advance!
The book by Chambers is yet another book we came across in our work on the Brébeuf Hymnal.
By the way, there is another melody commonly used for “O Sol Salutis Intimis” (a.k.a. “Jam Christe Sol Justitiae”):
Abbot Pothier knew his stuff! No wonder Father De Santi called him “master of us all.”
