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Latin · Poetry ·

Hymnus De Passione Domini

Mamertus Claudianus · ogl-pl

BothSourceEnglish
JSON Dossier
machine-draft · no human review 2 passages · 333 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

The Hymnus De Passione Domini, attributed to Claudianus Mamertus (d. ca. 473), is a Latin poem on Christ's passion, surviving only in the Old Latin hymnary (ogl-pl). It employs late antique rhetorical devices, military metaphors for Christ's victory, and typological imagery (e.g., sacrificial lamb). The hymn references Adam's fall and Christ's age (thirty years) via 'six lustra.' Its textual tradition is limited to a single manuscript, with no known vernacular translation before modern times. The work was not adopted into the Roman liturgy, and its circulation remains confined to scholarly editions of early Christian Latin poetry.

This hymn matters as a rare example of 5th-century Gallo-Roman hymnody, showcasing the fusion of classical rhetorical devices with Christian typology. It relates to the broader tradition of Latin passion poetry, offering insights into theological themes like Christ's victory and the Fall. Its limited transmission highlights the fragility of early medieval texts and the challenges of textual criticism.

Historical context

The hymn is traditionally dated to the mid-5th century, during the late Roman Empire in Gaul, where Claudianus Mamertus served as a priest and theologian. The community was Latin-speaking, with a strong tradition of theological poetry influenced by earlier Christian poets like Prudentius and Ambrose. The genre is hymnody, a form used for liturgical and devotional purposes, though this hymn's non-liturgical status suggests private or scholarly use. Transmission is precarious: it survives in a single manuscript tradition (ogl-pl) with no independent early medieval copies, limiting textual criticism. The work relates to other early Christian Latin poetry, such as the hymns of Hilary of Poitiers and the poetic works of Sedulius, but its unique manuscript basis and lack of liturgical adoption set it apart. The date remains uncertain due to lack of external evidence.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

12 commentary units 2 structure2 scripture2 background2 parallel2 caution1 term1 reception 0 derived notes 3 open questions 2 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • coverageNo English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed.
  • limitThe English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve.
  • registerRegister: poetry in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 2 narrative.
  • sourceSource edition: ogl-pl — Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
stoa0089a.stoa004.opp-lat1:1 · narrativehigh
Source
MAMERTI CLAUDIANI PRESBYTERI VIENNENSIS HYMNUS DE PASSIONE DOMINI. Pange lingua gloriosi prælium certaminis, Et super crucis tropaeo die triumphum nobilem: Qualiter redemptor orbis immolatus vicerit. De parentis protoplasti fraude a factor condolens, Quando pomi noxialis morsu morte corruit, Ipse lignum tunc notavit, damna ligni ut solveret. 1loc opus nostrae salutis ordo depoposcerat, Multiformis proditoris arte ut artem falleret, Et medelam ferret inde, hostis unde laeserat. Quando venit ergo sacri plenitudo temporis, Missus est ab arce Patris natus, orbis conditor, Atque ventre virginali carne factus prodiit; Vagit infans inter arcta conditus præsepia, Membra pannis involuta virgo mater alligat; Et pedes, manusque, crura, stricta cingit fascia. Lustra sex qui jam peracta, tempus implens corporis Se volente natus ad hoc passioni deditus, Agnus in crucis levatur immolandus. stipite.
English
A hymn of Mamertus Claudianus, priest of Vienne, on the Passion of the Lord. Sing, tongue, of the battle of the glorious contest, and of the noble triumph on the day of the trophy of the cross: how the redeemer of the world, sacrificed, conquered. Grieving with the first-formed parent over the fraud of the creator, when by the bite of the deadly apple he fell in death, he himself then marked the tree, to undo the harm of the tree. This work of our salvation the order had demanded, that by the art of the multiform traitor he might deceive the art, and bring healing from the place where the enemy had wounded. When, therefore, the fullness of the sacred time came, the son, the founder of the world, was sent from the citadel of the Father, and came forth made flesh in a virginal womb. The infant wails, confined in the narrow manger; the virgin mother binds his limbs wrapped in cloths; and a tight band encircles his feet, hands, and legs. Six lustra now completed, fulfilling the time of the body, willingly born for this, given over to the passion, the lamb is raised on the cross, to be sacrificed on the tree.
stoa0089a.stoa004.opp-lat1:2 · narrativehigh
Source
Hic acetum, fel, arundo, sputa, clavi, lancea, Mite corpus perforatur: sanguis unda profluit. Terra, pontus, astra mundus quo lavantur numine. Crux Metis inter omnes arbor una nobilis: Nulla talem silva profert fronde, flore, germine, Dulce lignum, dulce signum, dulce pondus sustinet. Flecte ramos,arbor alta, tensa laxa viscera, Et rigor lentescat ille quem dedit nativitas, Ut superni membra regis miti tendas stipite. Sola digna tu fuisti ferre pretium saeculi, Atque portum praeparare nauta mundo naufrago, Quem sacer cruor perunxit, fusus agni corpore.
English
vinegar, gall, reed, spittle, nails, lance: the gentle body is pierced; blood flows in a wave. The earth, the sea, the stars, the world—by what divinity are they washed. The cross, a tree set apart, is the one noble among all: no forest produces such a one in leaf, flower, or shoot. Sweet wood, sweet sign, sweet weight it bears. Bend your branches, high tree; relax your stretched sinews, and let that stiffness which birth gave grow soft, so that you may tenderly stretch the limbs of the high king on your trunk. You alone were worthy to bear the ransom of the age, and to prepare a harbor for the shipwrecked world, a sailor, whom the sacred blood anointed, poured from the body of the lamb.
Citation. Tergwame, “Hymnus De Passione Domini”, stoa0089a.stoa004.opp-lat1:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/stoa0089a.stoa004.opp-lat1#s1
Colophon. Source: ogl-pl · licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0015 · generated 2026-11-15.