Lamentations

LAMENTATIONS. - Five poems about the destruction of Jerusalem, to which the Septuagint prefixed the title ἐφῆναι, which also passed into the Vulgate: Threni id est Lamentationes. In the Hebrew Bible the short collection is indicated simply by the first word of the composition ('ēhāh), as also happens for the books of the Pentateuch.

In the Talmud (Bābhā' Bāthrā 15a) the five poems are called qñōth; qñāh denotes a song or funeral dirge and entails a specific poetic meter, usually employed in an elegiac composition.

A more notable difference between the Hebrew Bible and the Greek-Latin one concerns the place occupied by the little book. In the Hebrew text it appears in the third part, among the Kēthābhām, whereas in Greek and Latin it is connected with the book of Jeremiah, which it follows as an appendix. Neither of these arrangements, especially the Hebrew one, is original. The first ecclesiastical writers (Origen, Melito of Sardis) who speak of the Hebrew canon join L. with the larger book of Jeremiah. The same does the Jew Flavius Josephus (C. Ap., I, 40). St. Jerome in his Prologus galeatus is the first to document that some (nonnulli) placed the L. among the hagiographa. While the Greek-Latin arrangement, setting aside also the question of authorship, respects a chronological succession, the Hebrew-rabbinic one is due to the liturgical use of reading the book during the fast of the 9th of 'ābh, instituted to commemorate the destruction of Jerusalem in 587. For this reason the little book was placed among the other four of well-determined liturgical use (Song of Songs, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, Esther), which together with the L. form the five mōghillōth "scrolls." On the other hand, the diversity of the Greek translator proves that the little book was never joined with that of Jeremiah in a perfect manner.

The content of the five poems, which develop a supremely tragic theme, is simple. Often the ideas are repeated, expressions of grief or dismay alternate; for this reason it is difficult to present a summary of the individual poems, since an authentically logical development of concepts is lacking. From L. there emerges a very perfect theological idea of God, in harmony with the theology of the Old Testament. God is the protagonist of history, which owes nothing to chance or to a blind fatalism. The concept of guilt and collective responsibility is developed extensively. For the problem of suffering one can glimpse a solution similar to that proposed in the book of Job. Besides the punitive idea, the purifying value of suffering is set forth.

Literarily the little book is usually much appreciated. It is admitted, however, that the uniqueness of the subject, even if grand, and the rigid alphabetic scheme have sometimes fettered the poetic imagination and have obscured the formal beauty.

Jewish and Christian tradition, unanimous until the beginning of the 18th century, pointed to Jeremiah as the author of the L. Now, instead, among non-Catholics the contrary opinion is dominant (Driver, Sellin, Koenig, Loehr, Eissfeldt, Oesterley-Robinson, Pfeiffer, Rudolph, Weiser, Haller, etc.). Among Catholics there is no lack of those who defend the traditional opinion (Knabenbauer, Ricciotti, Wiesmann, Paffrath), but some limit the Jeremian authenticity to certain poems (Göttsberger, Högli-Miller-Metzinger) or are inclined toward the negative (Nikel, Clamer, Nöscher, Dennefeld).

One must recognize that the tradition, however unanimous, does not appear so very authoritative. The Hebrew arrangement says nothing against Jeremian authenticity, because it is secondary. On the other hand, the testimony of the Talmud (Bābhā Bāthrā 15a) is too late and joined to other implausible assertions to command unconditional assent. The testimony of Flavius Josephus (Antig. Ind., X, 78) also loses its value because it refers the L. to the notice of II Par. 35, 25. The title prefixed by the Greek version is an excellent indication of the antiquity of the opinion, but it offers many doubts regarding its authenticity.

The intrinsic examination reveals no contacts that make the identity of author with the book of Jeremiah necessary; but neither can it be affirmed that the three or four texts on which the opponents insist (1, 9.11; 2, 9.20; 4, 17.20; 5, 7) exclude Jeremiah as author. If the difference of the alphabetic order (inversion of 'ajn-pek) between poems 2-4 and the 1st, and the particular character of the final prayer, non-alphabetic, can be considered — as seems reasonable — as signs of diversity of author, to Jeremiah should be attributed, for intrinsic reasons, the group 2-4.

Jahnow, Das hebräische Leichenlied im Rahmen der Völkerdichtung (Beihefte zur Zeitschr. f. altst. Wissenschaft, 36), 1923; H. Wiesmann, Der planmässige Aufbau der Klagelieder des Jeremias, in Biblica, 7 (1926), pp. 146-61; id., Der Zweck der Klagelieder des Jeremias, ibid., pp. 412-28; id., Das dritte Kapitel der Klagelieder, in Zeitschr. f. kathol. Theologie, 50 (1926), pp. 515-543; id., Die Textgestalt des s. Kapitels der Klagelieder, in Biblica, 8 (1927), pp. 339-47; id., Die Bedeutung der Klagelieder des Jeremias, in Pastor Bonus, 38 (1927), pp. 167-82; id., Der religiös-theologische Gehalt der Klagelieder des Jeremias, in Theologie und Glaube, 20 (1928), pp. 455-72; id., Widersprechen die Klagelieder dem Geiste des Jeremias?, in Theolog. prakt. Quartalischr., 81 (1928), pp. 328-37, 498-510, 717-26; id., Zur Charakteristik der Klagelieder des Jeremias, in Bonner Zeitschr. f. Theol. u. Seelsorge, 3 (1928), pp. 97-118; id., Das Leid im Buche der Klagelieder, in Zeitschr. f. Aussee u. Mystik, 4 (1929), pp. 97-123; id., Der geschichtliche Hintergrund des Büchleins der Klagelieder, in Biblische Zeitschr., 23 (1935-36), pp. 20-43; id., Der Verfasser des Büchleins der Klagelieder. Ein Augenzeuge der behandelten Ereignisse?, in Biblica, 17 (1936), pp. 71-84.

Angelo Penna

THE "L." IN LITURGY AND SACRED SONG. — In the Hebrew liturgy the modulated reading of the "L.," at least since the destruction of the Second Temple, has been among the obligatory readings and was performed on the 9th of the month of 'ābh (July-Aug.). The text sung by the Jews who go to the famous "Wailing Wall," the last relic of the second Temple of Jerusalem, is not taken from the L. of Jeremiah, but composed by the rabbis as a paraphrase and in their style.

In the Catholic liturgy, from the beginnings of the organization of the canonical hours, the "L." are read on the last three days of Holy Week. The last L., entitled Oratio Ieremiae, closes undivided the first Nocturn of the "Tenebrae" of Holy Saturday; the other four are distributed progressively among the first three lessons of the first Nocturn: the end of each pericope is marked by the conclusion: refrain "Ierusalem, Ierusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum." A prolix responsory sung by the choir is interposed after each reading.

The melodic formula on which the text of the L. is recited is more expressive than the common modulation used for the readings of the Divine Office: in the L. it is a matter of a true musical recitative. A letter of the Hebrew alphabet, sung on a short and uniform vocalise, begins each new strophe (in the original Hebrew text the successive letters of the alphabet begin the first word of the successive stichs). The strophes are recited on a formula of the psalmodic type; the intonation is repeated after the various cadences; the reciting note is single (la); two kinds of medial cadences are possible, depending on the length of the text; the final cadence, like the medial cadences, is of tonic structure. The prayer of Jeremiah, besides the common formula of the L., also has a recitative ornamented with cursive pentasyllabic or tetrasyllabic cadences and with two reciting notes (la and re).

Musical recitatives adapted to the text of the L. are numerous in the manuscripts. At first they began to be notated on the very codex that served throughout the year for the biblical readings of the choir: thus the codex Amiatinus (8th century), the oldest complete codex of the Vulgate, indicates with dots, virgae and other simple neumes, in Beneventan-Tuscan notation of later date, a recitative not very different from that published in the Vatican edition. The melody today disseminated by the Vatican edition is the most frequent in the manuscripts (antiphonaries, Bibles, Breviaries) and seems to be the oldest. Others have been published but are no longer legitimate in liturgical use.

D. Hesbert points out the poverty of the Beneventan repertory, which used one and the same formula for the Exsultet and for the L., a psalmodic recitative of the fourth mode analogous to that of the Te Deum and of the Gloria in excelsis, XV of the Vatican edition (cf. Paleog. Mus., XIV, p. 417-18). The same Beneventan tradition also offers one and the same recitative for the "Prayers" in general: thus the Oratio Ieremiae was sung like the prayer of Jonah or that of Azariah.

The North African bishop Verecundus (ca. 550) informs us that the Oratio Ieremiae figured among the biblical canticles sung in Africa, in Spain and in Gaul (cf. Verecundus, Commentariorum super cantica ecclesiast. libri IX, in Spicilegium Solesmense SS. Patrum, IV, Paris 1858, p. 40; cf. also Brev. mozarab.: PL 86, 367). A Hispanic melody is found in the antiphonary of Silos, in Aquitanian notation, and in the Beneventan Bible of Naples (Biblioteca nazionale, VII AA. 3); it is adapted also to the Exultet (cf. Rass. greg., 9 [1910], p. 129). The Mozarabic notation is found for the L. at least in the three following codices: Bible of S. Pedro de Cardena, ff. 236-228 (Seminary of Burgos); Bible of León (ff. 50-52); Bible of Oña (cf. G. Prado, El canto mozárabe, Madrid 1929, p. 26). At Milan the L. are sung on the Friday preceding Palm Sunday; the melody is found in cod. Ambros. E. 51 infer. of the 12th century.

The relationship of the various Latin melodies of the L. to Hebrew chant is not yet clearly defined. It seems that there exists a melodic fund common to all the dispersed synagogues, to be compared not with the melody of the Vatican edition, but with others now vanished (cf. A. E. Milgram Sabaoth, The day of delight, Philadelphia 1946, p. 473; A. Z. Idelsohn, Jewish music, New York 1948, pp. 51-56).

The polyphonists of the 15th and 16th centuries, with a less liturgical criterion, took possession of the L., simple declaimed readings, to transform them into true motets, with the same contrapuntal procedures used both for a Kyrie and for a responsory, thus suppressing the opposition of the soloist (the reader) and the choir: it is true, however, that Palestrina had his L. performed by 5-6 soloists and not by the entire choir. The L. of the polyphonic genre, published in 1506 by Petrucci at Venice, are anonymous. In the collection of Le Roy et Ballard (Paris 1557) appear the names of Arcadelt, Pierre de la Rue, Antoine Févin, etc. The book of L. dedicated by Palestrina to Sixtus V in 1588 replaced, for the service of the Papal Chapel, the L. in use since 1515 and composed by Eléazar Genet called "il Carpentrasso". Various reworkings in the repertory of Holy Week caused new compositions to appear in the Sistine Chapel, both of L. and of the subsequent responsories, owing to Victoria, Ingegneri, Allegri, etc.

Pietro Thomas