Verbum Supernum Prodiens, the first line of two hymns celebrating respectively the Nativity of Christ and the Institution of the Holy Eucharist. The hymnologist Daniel remarks on the obvious relation between the Nativity and the Eucharist “by which through all ages the Word made Flesh will dwell among us” as justifying the similar forms of the two hymns (Thesaurus, I, 254).
J. Tue Nativity Hymn.—In its unrevised form the second line was: ‘“A Patre olim exiens”. The correctors of the Breviary under Urban VIII changed it into its present Breviary form: “E Patris aeterni sinu”. Sometimes ascribed to St. Ambrose or to St. Gregory the Great, its authorship is unknown. Mone supposed it to be of the second half of the fifth century; but although Advent may possibly date back that far, the hymn is probably much later. From the tenth century it has been the usual hymn for Matins, although given in a few manuscripts to Lauds. Originally the hymn was rhymed throughout in couplets (with one exception). The revision under Urban VIII left not a single strophe unchanged, in the removal of its many unclassical prosodic features.
II. The Eucharist Hymn.—Its second line is: “Nec Patris linquens dexteram”. Left untouched by the revisers of Urban VIII, it lacks classical prosody, is in accentual rhythm, and rhymes alternately: Verbum supernum prodiens
Nec Patris linquens dexteram, Ad opus suum exiens
Venit ad vitae vesperam.
The Word of God proceeding forth Yet leaving not the Father’s side, And going to His work on earth, Had reached at length life’s eventide.
The hymn is assigned to Lauds of Corpus Christi (q. v.) and is commonly ascribed to St. Thomas Aquinas. Dom Morin (Revue Bénédictine, April, 1910, 236-46) compares the Office of Corpus Christi with that of the older Cistercian breviaries (1484-1674), and shows that St. Thomas probably borrowed (while revising) seven of the responsories of Matins from it, and also probably the hymn ‘“ Verbum Supernum”. In the Cistercian Office the hymn comprised nine stanzas divided into two hymns (for Matins and Lauds respectively), whereas now the hymn has only six stanzas. The Cistercian hymn was sung to the the melody of the Advent hymn, “Verbum Supernum”, whereas we now sing the Eucharistic hymn to the different melody of the Ascensiontide hymn, “ Aiterne Rex Altissime”.. “It is very natural to suppose that this choice (a common melody, as in the Cistercian Office, for both of the Verbum Supernum hymns) was the primitive one” (Morin).
I. Julian, Dict. of Hymnology (2nd ed., London, 1907), 1217, 1721, gives twenty-five references to trs.; to his list add: Bagshawe, Breviary Hymns and Missal Sequences (London, s. d.), no. 41: “Eternal Word who dost proceed”; Donahoe, Early Christian Hymns (New York, 1908), 49: “O Word of Might that springing forth”. Shipley, Annus Sanctus (London, 1874), gives trs. of Newman, Caswall, Earle, and Primer of 1706 (which Shipley thinks is probably by Dryden). Pimont, Les Hymnes du Bréviaire Romain, II (Paris, 1878), 29-38, old and revised texts, comment.; Mong, Lateinische Hymen des Mittelalters, 1 (Freiburg, 1853), no. 33, 48; Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnologicus, I, no. 74, 77; IV, 144. f Il. Juxran (op. cit.), 1218, 1721, gives references to twenty-one trs.; to his list add: BAGSHAWE (op. cit.), no. 87: ‘“The Heavenly Word proceeding forth”; Donahoe (op. cit.), 185: “The Word at God’s right hand came forth”; Henry, Surswm Corda (1910), 5. SHIPLEY (op. cit.) gives trs. by Kent, Aylward, Camy bell, Primer of 1706 (“pro-ably by Dryden”). Pimont (op. cit.), III (Paris, 1884), 189-97, speaks enthusiastically of the stanza “Se nascens dedit socium”, whose single rhymic scheme suggests that the writer, “borne on the wings of enthusiasm, breaks through his self-imposed limitations of form and seeks to emphasize his thought by a uniform rhyme”. The thought seems to be borrowed from St. Bernard (De diligendo Deo): “Se dedit in meritum; se dedit in premium; se apponit in refectione animarum sanctarum; se in redemptione distrahit captivarum”. But the writer of the hymn put the thoughts “in a style, a brevity, a collocation, which we cannot too much admire and to which the movement so magisterially cadenced and the highly felicitous rhyme give an inexpressible charm” (Pimont). HymnsAncient and Modern (hist. ed., London, 1909), for Latin texts, Eng. trs., harmonized plainsong and modern setting of both hymns, nos. 44 and 261; BLumg, Thomas von Aquin u. das Frohnleichnamsoffizium etc. in Theologie u. Glaube (1911), no. 5, 358-72.
H. T. Henry.