Omni die dic Mariae
General information
The second section of a lengthy Marian hymn, or Mariale, whose first section begins with Ut jucundas cervas undas. The Omni die, shortest of all the parts, has 19 stanzas whose verse form is alternate acatalectic and catalectic trochaic dimeter with internal rhyme in the first and third verses (aa/b, cc/b). The meter and rhyme scheme are so intricate that their competent use in a lengthy poem demanded talent in Latin verse composition. It has been ascribed variously to Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1109), Casimir of Poland (d. 1484), and others. But it is ascribed also to Bernard of Cluny (fl. 1150), who in his De contemptu mundi, a 3,000-line poem of similar difficulty, proved his ability to use such a meter. And since no manuscript yet discovered precedes his time, the weight of greater probability leads Julian and others to name him as the author. The text, together with a number of other stanzas found in various MSS, is given in Analecta hymnica 50:423–482.
Settings by composers
Other settings possibly not included in the manual list above
- Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki — Omni die dic Mariae
Text and translations
![]() Omni die dic Mariae |
![]() Poetic English translation: |
![]() by Stanisław Grochowski |