ALMA REDEMPTORIS MATER. - It is the first of the four great Marian antiphons, and it is recited at the end of Lauds and Compline, from the First Sunday of Advent until the Purification (Feb. 2). Its author is very probably Herman Contractus, a monk of Reichenau.
It is composed of six dactylic hexameters (classical quantitative meter), with a grave and solemn rhythm. Theologically it is a jewel of sacred literature: it extols the divine motherhood of Mary, her cooperation in the work of the Redemption, her mediating power, the wondrous prodigy (natura mirante) of her perpetual virginity. Dear to medieval piety, it furnished inspiration for other compositions: its first verse was chosen as the opening of hymns (cf. U. Chevalier, Repert. Hymnol., 6 vols., Louvain and Brussels 1892-1920, passim) and its individual words as the opening of the stanzas of a long carmen, called precisely Aureum Alma B. M. V. (G. M. Dreves-C. Blume, Analecta Hymnica, 50 [1907], p. 317 ff.) The versicles and the prayer that follow it - different for the season of Advent (Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae...) and for the season of Christmas (Post partum Virgo inviolata permansisti...) - express concepts and sentiments proper to the beautiful antiphon, which, having entered the liturgy as early as the 13th century, was definitively introduced into the Roman Breviary with the reform of Pius V (1568).
Bibliography3 worksJ. C. Trombelli, De cultu publ. ab Eccl. B. M. exhibito, Diss. X, in J. J. Bourassé, Summa Aurea de laud. B. V. M., IV, Paris 1866, cols. 31
BIBL.: J. C. Trombelli, De cultu publ. ab Eccl. B. M. exhibito, Diss. X, in J. J. Bourassé, Summa Aurea de laud. B. V. M., IV, Paris 1866, cols. 311-16 (cf. III, col. 651 ff.); H. A. Daniel, Thesaurus Hymnol., II, Leipzig 1855, p. 318; M. Meschler, Die Kirchl. Ant. d. Advents- u. Weihnachtszeit, in Magazin für volkstümliche Apologetik, 2 [1903-1904], pp. 377-81.
Cecchetti, Igino. “Alma Redemptoris Mater.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, col. 911. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/alma-redemptoris-mater.
MLA
Cecchetti, Igino. “Alma Redemptoris Mater.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, col. 911. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/alma-redemptoris-mater.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_alma_redemptoris_mater,
author = {Cecchetti, Igino},
title = {Alma Redemptoris Mater},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {911},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/alma-redemptoris-mater}
}
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