HYMN - O Quam Tristis (Sorrowing Mother)

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"O Quam Tristis" (Sorrowing Mother)
Tune: HILLTOP by Br. Anthony Neyrot, T.O.P.
© 2023, Br. Anthony Neyrot
[Dedicated to Mrs. Ann Reins Fangman and to the memory of her late husband, Dr. Timothy Richard Fangman, M.D.]

The hymn O QUAM TRISTIS was one of three extraordinarily beautiful Office Hymns for the Feast of the Sorrows of Our Lady recently recovered and preserved by Fr. Michael Rear, a priest of the diocese of East Anglia. These hymns come from the last known copy of the breviary of the ancient Augustinian Priory at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. As each Augustinian priory at the time had its own breviary, these hymns were unique to the Walsingham breviary. The Augustinian Canons were given care of the shrine shortly after 1169.

The last time these hymns would have been sung by the canons would have been during the Divine Office on the Feast of the Sorrows of Our Lady (known also as “Our Lady of Compassion”) in 1537. That year’s feast would have been particularly poignant for the canons as the violent suppression of religious houses by King Henry VIII was well underway: Four months prior to the feast, after discussing a plan to save the priory and shrine, two heroic choristers – Ralph Rogerson and George Guisborough – along with the Sub-Prior, Canon Nicholas Mileham were arrested. With little evidence, they were convicted of high treason for conspiring to rebel against the suppression of the lesser monasteries, and were hanged just outside the Priory walls. On August 4th, 1538, the king ordered the Priory and Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham to be closed and destroyed.

The hymn is provided here in both Latin and English to make it suitable for various liturgical and devotional occasions. While the text retains some regional Latin Medievalisms, some have been updated to conform with standard Ecclesiastical Latin spelling. These amendments did not alter the content, meter, rhyme or meaning of the poem.

Through these Walsingham hymns, the mystery of Our Lady of Sorrows is intimately tied to those faithful who are persecuted and martyred while preserving the Church against those legion antichrists who labor night and day to replace Her with a counterfeit designed to erase Her from the face of the earth. May all those in our own century who remain true to the perennial faith, doctrine, and Sacraments find consolation in this ancient text. May it recollect our hearts in the brotherhood of St. John and the motherhood of Our Lady as we kneel with them at the foot of the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

- Br. Anthony Neyrot, T.O.P. November, 2023
Omaha, Nebraska