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ilmanzoni text integral passage complete quotation of the sources works historical five may poetry ode napoleon the fifth may in verses prologue, operaomnia # Written by Rev. J.F. Bingham ARGUMENT. -- In this brief and mournful Hymn - now affecting, now stern, now consolatory -- the Poet prepares the way for his swift but effectively limned sketch of the Passion of the Redeemer by picturing the sad solemnity of the Church's rites on Good Friday -- among which are cited the absence of joyful bells, of church music, of the celebration of the Eucharist, and instead, the voicing of doleful chants and strange prophecies that announce the mysterious and astonishing sufferings of the coming Savior. Then, he carves out of the evangelistic history those scenes which most powerfully conspire to awaken toward the exalted Sufferer reverence and affection and dwells in an especial manner on the vicarious agonies in the spirit. Next, hinting at the vengeance threatened on the murderers, he adds, with his own ever-present Christlike temper, a curiously beautiful prayer for the Divine mercy even on them. Finally, reverting to the agonized and exalted Mother, 'Queen of the sorrowful,' he invokes her pity and aid for all men in the sorrows of this life of exile and in the struggle for a blessed immortality. |
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