VICTIMiE
407
VICTIMS
Pather de Vico left Rome towards the end of March,
- he political disturbances of 1848 making his stay
mpossible. Arago, then Minister of Marine, wished o retain him at Paris, but the threatening outlook if affairs in Europe and the cordial invitation from jeorgetown College to assume charge of its recently 'ounded observatory impelled him to come to the United States. He arrived on 22 July, 1848, and, with characteristic activity, spent the whole of the first light with Lieutenant Jilaury at the U. S. Naval 3bservatory, Washington. The honourable reception,
- he frank and liberal treatment accorded him, and
- he generous offerings made to him, were powerful
nducements to retain him in America, and he accepted
- .he position of director of the observator\' at George-
- own College. Clear-sighted and prompt in planning
'or future work, after a few weeks stay at George- town, he returned to England to expedite necessary Dusiness arrangements: at Li\erpool he contracted
- yphus fever, and, although he recovered, his con-
ititution had been undermined, and he fell into a lecline.
As de Vico's most important works may be men- ioned: "The Discovery of six Comets" (see Poggen- lorfT, infra); "The Discussion of the Rotation-period jf the planet Venus". The dispute between the periods of twenty-four days and twenty-three hours lad been kept up for a century, and was settled by lim by the important discovery that the spots on he planet Venus could be observed in the day-time, it least under the Italian sky. He gave the period
- .wenty-three hours, twenty-one minutes, and twenty-
mo seconds, which was generally accepted until schiaparelli (1890) maintained that the rotation
- oincided with the revolution, as is the case with our
noon. De Vico's value was, however, justified, imong others, by A. MuUer (1898) and Belopolsky 11911). His various astronomical works are con- ained in the "Memorie" of the Roman CoUege for he years 1836 to 1847, besides minor articles in the istronomical journals ("Comptes Rendus" and 'Astronomische Xachrichten"). In addition to lis scientific attainments, de Vico acquired reputa-
- ion as a musical composer; his compositions were
produced in the churches in Rome on the principal easts, and his "Lamentations", published under the itle " Antiphons and Responses of Matins and Lauds or the Last Three Days of Holy Week" (London, 1877), are famous in sacred music.
Secphi in Memorie del Osservatorio del Collegia Romano (1850), ..31 s<iq.: V01.PICELLI. Atti Acad. Xuuvi Lincei, I, 172; PoooEN- )ORFF, I1andw6Tterbuch, II, 1203; Herschel, Monthly Notices of he Royal Astronomical Society of London, IX (1849), 65;
- o.MMERVOOEl.. Bihliothique de la Compagnie de J^sus, VIII, 642.
iee also L'Ami de la Religion. CXXXIX (Paris, 1S4H). 2,39-42. E. I. Devitt.
Victimse Paschali Laudes Immolent Christiani,
- he first stanza of the Easter sequence. Medieval
nissals placed it on various days within the octave, lut the Roman Missal a.ssigns it daily from Easter to he following Saturday inclu.sively. On the au- hority of ,<in Einsiedeln manuscript of the eleventh 'entury, its authorship, has been ascribed to Wipo [q. v.). With less apparent reason it has been iscribed to Notker Balbulus (q. v.) by Cardinal Bona,
- o Robert II of France by Durandus, and even to
\dam of St. Victor (although found in manuscripts intedating his birth). It shares with certain of Not- ter's .sequences their varying stanzaic form and almost M.sual £is.sonance, but makes an advance in the fre- quency of rhyme; it thus marks a transition from the Notkerian sequences to the regul;ir rhymic and stan- zaic form of those of Adam of St. Victor. As the inly sec^uence in quasi-Xotkerian form retained in our Missal, It is of great interest hymnologically. " Vos" in the line "Pra'cedet vos in Galilaam", in the typi- cal Mi.ssal (19(X)), w-as replaced in the Vatican Gnidu- ile (1908) by "suos", the original word; this brings
the line into appropriate syllabic conformity with the
similar line in the preceding stanza, "Et gloriam vidi
resurgentis". Although the lines in any one stanza
will vary in syllabic length, a comparison of stanzas
will show perfect numerical correspondence in the
lines. Thus, stanzas 2 and 3:
Agnus redetnit ovcs;
Christus innocens Patri
Reconciliavit
Peccatores.
Mors et Vita duello
Conflixere mirando;
Dux vitae mortuus
Regnat vivus.
The first two lines in the stanzas have seven syllables
each; the third Une has six; the fourth line, four. The
chant melody is the same for each stanza. Another
melody is foimd for the next two stanzas, which are
also in perfect syllabic correspondence:
Die nobis, Maria,
Quid vidisti in via?
Sepuichruni Christi viventia
Et gloriam vidi resurgentis.
Angelicos testes,
Sudarium et vestes.
Surrexit Cliristus spes r
Prsecedet suos in Galila
Finally, comparing the original sixth stanza (omitted
in the reform of the Missal by the Council of Trent,
when, also, "suos" was changed into "vos" and
"Amen. Alleluia." w-as added to the sequence), per-
fect correspondence is again found:
Credendum est magis soli
Scimus Christum surrexisse
A mortuia vere.
Tu nobis victor
Rex miserere.
Amen. Alleluia.
Dr. Neale, in his "Epistola" (published in Daniel,
IV), speaks (p. 22) of the wonderful art of building
proses or sequences, and expresses (p. 10) his surprise
at the deep ignorance, displayed by hturgists, of the
rhythm of the Notkerian proses. Daniel also (V, p.
68) is shocked at the judgment of Frantz, — that the
text is trivial, considered as poetry, and that the se-
quence has retained its popularity because of its good
melody. The text of the " Victimae Paschali Laudes"
has, however, so rarely appeared in correct form, that
the syllabic correspondence cannot be perceived.
Modern commentators often replace "surrexisse" by
"resurrexisse", ".suos" by "vos", and omit "vidi"
from the fourth stanza. The apparently irregular
rhj'thms and casual rhymes or assonances liave com-
bined to give pause to translators, who render the
sequence in our regular English stanza (as C. S. Cal-
verley) :
Our salvation to obtain Christ our Passover is slain: Unto Christ we Christians raise This our sacrifice of praise,
or (like Caswall) rhyme with apparently equal casual- ness:
Forth to the paschal Victim, Christians, bring
Your sacrifice of praise:
The Lamb redeems the sheep . . .
What thou sawest, Mary, .say.
As thou wentest on the way . . .
or vary the verse lengths while keeping rhyme (like C. B. Pear.-ion in I lie Baltimore " Manual of Prayers"), or franklv adopt i)rosc (like the version in the "Missal for the Use of the Laity", London, 1903).
This "magnificent sequence . . . this triumphal hymn" (P. Wagner) assumed a .scenic character as early as the thirteenth century, became a portion of the "Office of the Sepulchre", entered into many paschal Mystery Plays, and served as a model for many imitations in honour of the Blessed Virgin and the saints.
Mearns and Julian in Diet, of Hymnology (London, 1907), 1222-4. 1722, with bibliographical references; to the list of tra. add: Baoshawe, Breviary Hymns and Missal Sequences (London, B. d.), no. 80: Esung in Catholic Record, V, 12; Donahoe, Early Christian Hymns. H. II (Middletown. Conn., 1911); and prose tr. in Missal for the Use of the I^iity (London. 1903). Kay»er, Beitrdgc zur (Icsch. u. ErkUirung der tilteslen Kirchenhymncn, II (Paderborn, 1886), .37-60, with variant texts, rubrics, in full, of the tjepulcri Officiujn. comment. Waoneb, Origine el Dtveloppe-
