Now while the herald bird of day

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Now while the herald bird of day

Author: Aurelius Clemens Prudentius; Translator: Edward Caswell
Published in 2 hymnals

Author: Aurelius Clemens Prudentius

Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, "The Christian Pindar" was born in northern Spain, a magistrate whose religious convictions came late in life. His subsequent sacred poems were literary and personal, not, like those of St. Ambrose, designed for singing. Selections from them soon entered the Mozarabic rite, however, and have since remained exquisite treasures of the Western churches. His Cathemerinon liber, Peristephanon, and Psychomachia were among the most widely read books of the Middle Ages. A concordance to his works was published by the Medieval Academy of America in 1932. There is a considerable literature on his works. --The Hymnal 1940 Companion… Go to person page >

Translator: Edward Caswell

Edward Caswall was born in 1814, at Yately, in Hampshire, where his father was a clergyman. In 1832, he went to Brasenose College, Oxford, and in 1836, took a second-class in classics. His humorous work, "The Art of Pluck," was published in 1835; it is still selling at Oxford, having passed through many editions. In 1838, he was ordained Deacon, and in 1839, Priest. He became perpetural Curate of Stratford-sub-Castle in 1840. In 1841, he resigned his incumbency and visited Ireland. In 1847, he joined the Church of Rome. In 1850, he was admitted into the Congregation of the Oratory at Birmingham, where he has since remained. He has published several works in prose and poetry. --Annotations of the Hymnal, Charles Hutchins, M.A. 1872… Go to person page >

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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Now while the herald bird of day
Author:	Aurelius Clemens Prudentius
Translator:	Edward Caswell
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Ales diei nuntius. A. C. Prudentius. [Tuesday Morning.] This hymn is No. 1 in the Cathemerinon of Prudentius, and is in 25 stanzas of 4 lines. The cento in use is composed of stanza i., ii, xxi., xxv. of the poem, and will be found in Daniel, i., No. 103 ; additional notes, ii. p. 382; iv. p. 39. In the Roman Brevieary it is the hymn for Tuesday at Lauds. Also in the Hymnarium Sarisburiense, London 1851, pp. 47, 48; which contains, besides the Sarum text, variations from the York Use; and among different readings from Monastic Uses, those of Sts. Alban's, Evesham, Worcester, Stanza Andrew de Bromholm (Norfolk). It is also in the Aberdeen Breviary and others.

The text of this cento is also found in three manuscripts of the 11th century in the British Museum; in the Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 1851, p. 18, it is printed from a Durham manuscript of the 11th century; in Macgill's Songs of the Christian Creed and Life, 1876 and 1879 ; and others. [Rev.W. A. Shoults, B.D.]
Translations not in common use:—

2. Now, while the herald bird of day. Caswall, 1849.

-- Excerpts from John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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