REX
17
REYNOLDS
Rex Gloriose Martyrum, the hymn at Lauds in
the Common of Martyrs (Commune plurimorum
Martyrum) in the Roman Breviary. It comprises
three strophes of four verses in Classical iambic
dimeter, the verses rhyming in couplets, together with
a fourth concluding strophe (or doxology) in unrhymed
verses varying for the season. The first stanza will
serve to illustrate the metric and rhymic scheme:
Rex gloriose martyrum,
Corona confitentiimi,
Qui respuentes terrea
Perducis ad coelestia. The hymn is of uncertain date and unknown authorship, Mone (Lateinische Hymnen des Mittel- alters. III, 143, no. 732) ascribing it to the sixth century and Daniel (Thesaurus Hymnologicus, IV, 139) to the ninth or tenth century. The Roman Breviary text is a revision, in the interest of Classical prosody, of an older form (given by Daniel, I, 248). The corrections are: terrea instead of terrena in the line "Qui respuentes terrena"; parcisque for parcendo in the line "Parcendo conf essoribus " ; inter Mar tyres for in Martyrihus in the line "Tu vincis in Marty- ribus"; "Lnrgilor indulgentioe" for the line "Do- nando indulgcntiam". A non-prosodic correction is intende for appone in the line "Appone nostris vocibus". Daniel (IV, 139) gives the Roman Bre- viary text, but mistakenly includes the uncorrected Hne "Parcendo conf e.s.soribus " . He places after the hymn an elaboration of it in thirty-two lines, found written on leaves added to a Nuremberg book and intended to accommodate the hymn to Protestant doctrine. This elaborated form uses only lines
I, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 of the original. Two of the added strophes may be quoted here to illustrate the possible reason (but also a curious misconception of Catholic doctrine in the apparent assumption of the Unes) for the modification of the original hymn:
Velut infirma vascula Ictus inter lapideos Videntur sancti martyres, Sed fide durant fortiter.
Non fidunt suis meritis,
Sed sola tua gratia
Agnoscunt se persistere
In tantis cruciatibus. Of the thirteen translations of the original hymn into English, nine are by Catholics. To the list given in Julian, Dictionary of Hymnologij, 958, should be added the versions of Bagshawb, Breviary Hymns and A/j.s.sai Sequences (London, 1900), 166, and DoNAHOE, Early Christian Hymns (New York, 1908), 50. For many MS. references and readings, see Blume, Analecta Hymnica, LI (Leipzig, 1909), 128-29; Idem, Der Cursus s. BenedicH Nursini (Leipzig, 1909). 67.
H. T. Henry.
Rex Sempiteme Caelitum, the Roman Breviary hymn for Matins of .Sundays and weekdays during the Paschal Time (from Low Sunday to Ascension Thursday). Cardinal Thomasius ("Opera omnia",
II, Rome, 1747, 370) gives its primitive form in eight strophes, and Vezzosi conjectures, with perfect justice, that this is the hymn mentioned both by Ca;sarius (d. 542) and Aurelianus (d. c. 550) of Aries, in their "Rules for Virgins", under the title "Rex aeterne domine". Pimont (op. cit. infra. III, 95) agrees with the conjecture, and present-day hymnolo- gists confirm it without hesitation. The hymn is especially interesting for several reasons. In his "De arte metrica" (xxiv) the Ven. Bede selects it from amongst "Alii Ambrosiani non pauci" to illus- trate the difference between the metre of Classical iambics and the accentual rhythms imitating them. Ordinarily brief in his comment, he nevertheless re- fers to it (P. L., XC, 174) as "that admirable hymn . . . fashioned exquisitely after the model of iambic metre" and quotes the first strophe:
XIII.— 2
Rex EDternc Domine,
Rerum Creator omnium,
Qui eras ante sajcula
Semper cum patre filius. Pimont (op. cit.. Ill, 97) points out that, in its orig- inal text, it is amongst all the hymns, the one a.s- suredly which best evidences the substitution of accent forprosodical quantity, and that the (unknown) author gives no greater heed to the laws of elision than to quantity "qui eras", "mundi in primordio", "plasmasti hominem", "tuse imagini", etc. The second strophe illustrates this well:
Qui mundi in primordio
Adam plasmasti hominem,
Qui tua3 imagini
Vultum dedisti similem. Following the law of binary movement (the alter- nation of arsis and thesis), the accent is made to shorten long syllables and to lengthen short ones, in such wise that the verses, while using the external form of iambic dimeters, are purely rhythmic. Under LTrban VIII, the correctors of the hymns omitted the fourth stanza and, in their zeal to turn the rhythm into Classical iambic dimeter, altered every line except one. Hymnologists, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, are usually severe in their judg- ment of the work of the correctors; but in this in- stance, Pimont, who thinks the hymn needed no alteration at their hands, nevertheless hastens to add that "never, perhaps, were they better in- spired". And it is only just to say that, as found now in the Roman Breviary, the hymn is no lesa vigorous than elegant.
Pimont, Les hymncs du hriviaire romain, III (Paris, 1884), 9:{-100, gives the old and the revised text, supplementary stanzas, and much comment. Complete old text with various MS. readings in Hymnarium Sarisburiense (London, 1851), 95, and in Daniel, Thesaurus hymnoL, I (Halle, 1841), 85 (to- gother with Rom. Brev. text and notes). Text (8 strophes) with English version, notes, plainsong and other settings in Hymns, Ancient and Modern, Historical Edition (London, 1909), 205-7. Old text, with many MS. references and readings, and notes, in Blume, Der Cursus s. Benedicii Nursini (Leipzig, 1909), 111-13 (of. also the alphabetical index). For first lines of translations etc., Julian, Diet, of Hymnology (London, 1907), a. vv. Rex aeterne Domine and Rex sempiteme ccelilum. To his list should be added Bagshawe, Breviary Hymns and Missal Sequences (London, 1900), 78, and Donahoe, Early Christian Hymns (New York, 1908), 22. The translation in Bute, The Roman Breviary (Edinburgh, 1879), is by Moultrie, an Anglican clergvman. H. T. Henry.
Rey, Anthony, educator and Mexican War chap- lain, b. at Lyons, 19 March, 1807; d. near Ce- ralvo, Mexico, 19 Jan., 1847. He studied at the Jesuit college of Fribourg, entered the novitiate of that Society, 12 Nov., 1827, and subsequently taught at Fribourg and Sion in Valais. In 1840 he was sent to the United States, appointed professor of philos- ophy in Georgetown College, and in 1843 trans- ferred to St. Joseph's Church in Philadelphia. He became assistant to the Jesuit provincial of Mary- land, pastor of Trinity Church, Georgetown, and vice-president of the college (1845). Appointed chap- lain in the U. S. Army in 1846, he ministered to the wounded and dying at the siege of Monterey amid the greatest dangers; after the capture of the city, he remained with the army at Monterey and preached to the rancheros of the neighbourhood. Against the advice of the U. S. officers, he set out for Matamoras, preaching to a congregation of Americans and Mexi- cans at Ceralvo. It is conjectured that he was killed by a band under the leader Canales, as his body was discovered, pierced with lances, a few days later. He left letters dating from November, 1846, which were printed in the "Woodstock Letters" (XVII, 149-50, 152-55, 157-59).
Dk Backer-Som?«ervogel, Bibliothique, VI, 1689: .\ppleton8' Cyclopedia of American Biography (New York, 1888), s. v.
N. A. Weber. Reynolds (Greene), Thomas, Venerable. See Roe, Bartholomew, Venerable.
