The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1912-03-16
UNIQUE SWEDISH HYMN BOOK
ITS LUTHERAN COMPILER ALTER.
Ed THE LATIN TEXT.

1t is matter of common knowledge
that King Christian III. of Denmark
| 1536-1559) methodically weaned the
Scandinavian people from the ancient
faith, writes H. Grattan Flood in the
Ecclesiastical Review. This monarch
cut off the essentials, but retained the
old form of'worship. Even at the pres
ent day High Mass" is the popular
name in Norway for the Protestant
morning service, and many of the pre-
Reformation hymns are still every
where sung. The drastic efforts of the
Swedish ruler succeeded in wiping
almost out of existence Catholicity in
Scandinavia, and it is only in recent
years that any material progress has
been made in the revival of the old
religion.
No better proof can be cited for the
extraordinary manner in which the
liturgical and extra-liturgical hymns of
the Lutheran Church in Sweden and
Finland were treated by the reform
ers" of the mid-sixteenth century than
the hymn-book entitled "Piae Can
Tones" which was published at Cries
valid in 1882. Only one copy of this
work has survived, and no copy of it
is in the British Museum. Further, a
search for duplicate copy by those
indefatigable hymnologists, Dreves
and Blume, the well-known editors of
Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi (of
which volumes have been published),
has proved unsuccessful. Therefore
it may we'll be called a unique Swed-
ish hymn-book.
Who was the compiler of the "Piae
Cantiones," or is anything known of
it's history? Fortunately, Tobias Nor
lind, in his "Svensk Musk Historic"
published at Helsingborg in 1901, sup
plies us with the needed information.
Theodore Petri (known also as Peter
SOM, the son of Peder Johnson, be-
came student of the University of
Rostock in 1880 and in 1882 published
at Greiswald his famous hymn-book
dedicated to Christian Horn, Free
Baron of Aminua. In 1891 he was ap-
pointed secretary to King Sisimund
and he edited an enlarged edition of
his "Piae Cantiones" in 1925. His death
occurred in Poland some years later,
but meantime, in 1916, an edition in
the vernacular was issued by Rector
HI. Hemming, of Masku, and num-
: Der of the tunes were included in a
Swedish hymn-book, "Nagre Psalmer,"
edited by Haakon Laurentii a Rheze-
lis, in 1919. Finally, a third edition
Of the original work, with Latin words,
appeared in 1860.
The compiler of "Piae Cantiones, y
though generally known as Theodore
Petri of Nyland, is more popularity
known as Diedrik Peterson, and he
} came of noble Finnish family. His
grandfather, Joris Jute, was a Dane
but in the first years of the sixteenth
century he settled in Finland, where
his son, Peder johnson, got pat
ent of nobility and acquired consid
cradle property at Abo in 1860. Petrl
7 was poet of no mean order, but was
a bitter Lutheran, and he pandered tc
: the wishes of the then ruling powers
? by converting and deliberately alter
' ing the Latin text handed down from
the "veteres Episcopi, especially in
the case of hymns in honor of the
4 Blessed Virgin. BY dextrous and
Y fearsome alteration of the verses and
+ passages relating to the ever-blessed
t Mother of God, Petri transformed the
i hymns in honor of Our Blessed Lady
e into cantiones in honor of her Divine
= Son, with the inevitable result of alb
surd SMILES, meaningless blunders
and serious doctrinal errors.
Petri set himself the task of placing
n on permanent record selection O
!, the best and most melodious of the
e psalms, hymns, and school-songs, SCI
/, to music. These settings had been fol
Y centuries in use in Finland, then par
l. of the kingdom of Sweden, but he
l. added some additional Lutheran
|. hymns. At first he intended to pub
9 lish 50 hymns, but he thought it bet
= ter to increase the number to "a, ant
e he engaged the services of capable
j. musician to arrange the cantiones il
q various settings, some in two parts
The melodies range in date from tn,
6 tenth to the middle of the sixteenth
= century, and are mostly of Swedo
l. Finnish provenance, although French
e and German pre-Reformation hymn
8 books are also drawn on, and even /;
It few betray Moravian or HUSTLE orr
II gin. Most of the authors cannot b,
n traced, but three are easily discovered
b There is scarcely doubt but tina
a John HIS himSelf wrofo ssIoeu
e Christus nostra salus," inasmuch al
D. the ten verses make an acrostic, read
Is ing johannes Oc-Hus" Dreve
f. quotes the ten stanzas as from MS
1t Gradual, circa 1410, belonging to tn
{. Abbey of Hohenfurth, in which tn
IS melody is also given, and it was use,
e by Johannes Walther in 1924 Tw'
a. other hymns are taken from Luca
10 Lossius, a well-known Lutheran o