A Dictionary of Hymnology/Zyma vetus expurgetur
Zyma vetus expurgetur. Adam of St. Victor. [Easter.] Gautier, in his ed of Adam's Oeuvres poetiques, 1881, p. 42, gives this from a Gradual of St. Victor before 1239 (Bibl. Nat. Paris, No. 14452), a Paris Gradual of the 13th cent. (B. N. No. 15616), and a Missal of St. Genevieve, c. 1239. It is also found in an early 14th cent. Paris Missal in the British Museum (Add. 16905, f. 146 b); in a Sarum Missal, c. 1370, and a York Missal, c. 1390, both in the Bodleian; in a St. Gall MS. No. 383, of the 13th or 14th cent., &c. The printed text is given with full notes in Trench, ed. 1864, p. 165; also in Daniel ii., p. 69; Kehrein, No. 91; D. S. Wrangham's The Liturgical Poetry of Adam of St. Victor, 1881, i. p. 80, and others. Of this grand sequence Clichtovaeus says with accuracy:—
"The wonderful mysteries of the Resurrection of our Lord are here set forth, as foreshadowed in the Old Testament by many types, and through the goodness of God explained more clearly to us in the New. And of a truth this prose is almost divine, embracing much in few words, and all distinctly taken from the Sacred Scriptures."
In this eulogy Abp. Trench agrees. The explanation of the Scriptural allusions is given by Abp. Trench, Dr. Neale in his Med. Hys., and Mr. Wranghamn in his Liturgical Poetry of Adam of St. Victor. In the Sarum use this was the Sequence on Monday in Easter Week; Paris on the Tuesday; York on the Friday; St. Victor and St. Genevieve on the octave of Easter.
[J. M.]The trs. of this Sequence include:—
1. Purge we out the ancient leaven. By J. M. Neale, in his Mediaeval Hys., &c., 1851, p. 88, in 15 st. of 6 l., the text used being that in Daniel ii, 69. Interesting notes are added explanatory of various and in some cases obscure references in the sequence to figures applied by the early Fathers to Christ and His holy work; and also of the typical teaching of certain historical events recorded in Holy Scripture and referred to in the sequence.
2. Purge out the leaven old of sin. By E. H. Plumptre, made for and included in the Hymnary, 1872, in two parts of 7 st., and 2 additional stanzas to be sung at the end of each part. Pt. ii. begins "Shadows of good the law doth show." This rendering is less literal than Dr. Neale's, and the obscure passages are omitted. Dean Plumptre tr. from the Sarum Missal.
Other trs. are:—
1. Let the old leaven be purged out. By C. B. Pearson in the Sarum Missal in English, 1868; and his Sequences from the Sarum Missal, 1871.
2. Purge the old leaven out, that we. By C. B. Pearson in his Sequences from the Sarum Missal, 1871.
3. Purge the old leaven all away. By D. T. Morgan, 1871.
4. Purge away the former leaven. D. S. Wrangham, 1881.