DOROTA GACKA, Medieval Hymns and Offices about Thomas Aquinas

SUMMARY

In my paper, I present liturgical poems about Thomas Aquinas that came into existence in the Middle Ages. there are eight hymns and two offices among them. these compositions were published by Guido Maria Dreves, S.J. and Clemens Blume, S.J. in Analecta hymnica at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, but they have never been translated into Polish. I present them here with my own translation. the first five hymns and one of the offices were written by an anonymous poet on the occasion of the canonization of Thomas Aquinas in 1323. The author of the next three hymns and the second office was Aldobrandino of Ferrara, a Dominican. He probably wrote his poems in 1401, that is, after the translation of Thomas’s relics from Fossa Nuova to Toulouse in 1369. All of the poems are full of metaphors that refer, for example, to light, the brightness of jewels, the world of plants, the work of farmers, sport, and the life of a soldier. they underline that Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican whose works are important to the whole Church. these poems are also a testimony of medieval spirituality: when we read them, we can imagine how medieval people rejoiced during the feasts of Thomas Aquinas, how sincerely they believed in his miracles and intercession, and how they prized his works and the example of his life.