Peter Abelard: Hymni et Sequentiae

The hymn collection Peter Abelard composed for Heloise and the nuns of the Paraclete, often called the Hymnarius Paraclitensis. In a prose preface addressed to Heloise, Abelard explains that he at first thought new hymns superfluous, but was persuaded by her argument that the Gallican Church followed custom rather than authority in its hymns and that existing texts were often unsuitable for the hours at which they were sung. The collection is arranged in small books: hymns for the weekdays, night and day offices, the great feasts, and the festivals of saints.

The hymns use a variety of short accentual stanzas, as in the passage on the Cross where Christ is compared to Moses’ bronze serpent and to the rock struck twice in the desert. They are among the best-known Latin religious verse of the twelfth century; one of them, O quanta qualia, is still sung. The collection also documents the liturgical life Abelard designed for the Paraclete and the role of Heloise in commissioning it.