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Queen of Heaven - Christian Hymn
The Regina Cæli (Queen of Heaven) is an anthem of the Roman Catholic Church which replaces the Angelus at Eastertide (from Holy Saturday until the Saturday after Pentecost); it is named for its opening words in Latin:
Regina coeli laetare,
Alleluia,
Quia quem meruisti portare.
Alleluia,
Resurrexit,
Sicut dixit,
Alleluia.
Ora pro nobis Deum.
Alleluia.
Queen of Heaven rejoice,
Alleluia;
For the Son thou wast privileged to bear,
Alleluia;
Is risen as He said,
Alleluia:
Pray for us to God,
Alleluia.
Of unknown authorship, the anthem was in Franciscan use in the first half of the 13th century. Together with three other Marian anthems, it was incorporated in the Minorite Roman Curia Office, which the Franciscans soon popularized everywhere, and which by order of Pope Nicholas III (1277-1280) replaced all the older breviaries in the churches of Rome.
The Marian anthems run the gamut of medieval literary styles, from the classical hexameters of the Alma Redemptoris Mater through the richly-rhymed accentual rhythm and regular strophes of the Ave Regina Coelorum, the irregular syntonic strophe of the "Regina Coeli", to the sonorous prose rhythms (with rhyming closes) of the Salve Regina. "In the 16th century, the antiphons of our Lady were employed to replace the little office at all the hours" (Baudot, The Roman Breviary, 1909, p. 71).
The authorship of the Regina Cæli being unknown, a pious legend to connect it with Gregory the Great (d. 604) has the first three lines chanted by angels on a certain Easter morning in Rome while Gregory, walking barefoot in a great religious procession, followed the icon of the Virgin painted by Luke the Evangelist, and that the saint thereupon added the fourth line: "Ora pro nobis Deum. Alleluia." (See also Salve Regina).
There are plainsong melodies (a simple and an ornate form) associated with Regina Cæli the official or "typical" melody being found in the Vatican Antiphonary, 1911, p. 126. The antiphonal strophes of Regina Cæli were often set by polyphonic composers of the 16th century. There is a setting by the young Mozart, K. 127.
Other related archives1277, 1280, 13th century, Akkad, Angelus, Blessed Virgin Mary, Canaanites, Christian hymns, Eastertide, Franciscan, Gregory the Great, Hebrew, Inanna, Ishtar, Israel, Jeremiah, Jesus Christ, Judah, Latin, Luke the Evangelist, Mesopotamia, Mozart, Old Testament, Pope Nicholas III, Roman Catholic Church, Salve Regina, Virgin Mary, angels, antiphonal, assumed, breviaries, hexameters, plainsong
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Christian Hymn", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
