" By the crosB sad vigil keeping, Stood the mournful inotlier weeping, While on it the Saviour hung."
By Mant, in Ancient Hymns, p. 96 :
"By the cross gad vigil keephig. Stood the mother, dolefid, weeping, Where her Son extended hung."
By Benedict, in Hymns of Hildehert, p. 65 :
"Weeping stood his mother, sighing By the cross where Jesus, dying, Hung aloft on Calvary."
But the best translation is undoidjtedly that of Dr. Coles, of Newark, N. J., which runs thus :
"Stood th' afflicted mother weeping, Near the cioss her station keeping,
Whereon hung her Sini and Lord ; Through whose spirit sympathizing, Sorrowing and agonizing,
Also passed the cruel sword.
" Oh ! how mournful and distressed Was that favored and most blessed
Mother of the Only Son ! Trembling, grieving, bosom heaving, While perceiving, scarce believing,
Pains of that Illustrious One.
" Who the man who, called a brother, Would not wee)) saw tie Christ's mother
In such deep distress and wild ? Who could not sad tiibuie render Witnessing that mother tender
Agonizing with her Child ?
" For his peoi)le's sins atoning, Hini she saw in torments groaning,
Given to the scourger's rod ; Saw her darling oft'spiing dying. Desolate, forsaken, crying,
Yield his spirit up to God.
" Make me feel thy sorrow's power. That with thee I tears may shower,
Tender mother, fount of love ! Make my heart with love unceasing Burn towards Christ the Lord, that pleasing
I may be to him above.
" Holy mother, this be granted, That the slain One's wounds be planted
Firmly in my heart to bide. Of him wounded, all astounded — Depths unbounded for me sounded,
AH the pangs with me divide.
" Make me weep with thee in union ; With the Crucitied cimimuuion
In his grief and suffering give. Near the cross with tears unfailing I would join thee in tliy wailing
Here as long as I shall live.
" Maid of maidens, all excelling! Be not bitter, me repelling,
Make thou me a mourner too ; Make me bear about Christ's dying, Share his passion, shame defying,
All his wounds in me renew.
" Wound for wound be there created ; With the cross intoxicated
For thy Son's dear sake, I pray May I, tired with pure affection, Virgin, have through tliee protection In the solemn judgment-day.
" Let me by the cross be warded. By the death of Christ be guarded,
Nourished by divine supplies. When the body death hath riven. Grant that to the soul be given Glories bright of Paradise."
IV. Criticism. — As to the character of this liymn, Dr. Coles says : " No admiration of the lyric excellence of the Stahat Mater should be allowed to blind the reader to those objectionable features which must always suf- fice, as they have hitherto done, to exclude it from ev- ery hymnarium of Protestant Christendom. For not only is Mary made the object of religious worship, but the incommunicable attributes of the Deity are freely ascribed to her. Her agency is invoked as if she were the third person of the Trinity, or had powers co-ordi- dinate and equal. Plainly it is the province of the Holy Ghost, and not of any creature, to ' work in us to will and to do;' to effect spiritual changes; to 'take of the things of Christ and show them unto us;' and yet these are the very things which she herself is asked to accomplish for the suppliant." True as this is, yet the remark of Dr. Schaff is worthy of consideration : " But we should make allowance for the irresistible influence of the spirit of the times, and not overlook the truth which underlies almost every error of the Roman Church, and gives it such power over the pious feelings of her members."
V. Literature. — On the author's life, see Wad- ding, Annales Minorum seu Trium Ordinum a S. Fran- cisco Institutorum (2d ed. Rome, 1731 sq. [21 vols, in all] ), iv, 407 sq. ; v, 606 scj. ; vi, 76 sq. The best monograph is still Lisco's Stabat Mater (Berlin, 1843), to which may be added Dr. Coles's Latin Hymns (N. Y. 1868), mainly based on Lisco's work. Dr. Schaff" published au article on the two Stabat Maters in the Hours at Home for May, 1867, p. 50-58. There is also a collection of Dutch translations of this hymn, published in the Bd- gisch Museum voor de tieikrduitscke Tael- en Letterkunde en de Geschiedenis des Vaderlands, uiti/er/even door J. F. Willems. Te Gent, bij Gyselinck (i839), p. 443-472. See also Herzog, Real- Encyklop. xiv, 718-720; Theoloi/. U nicer sal- Lexikon, s. v. ; Daniel, Thesaurus Uymnnl. ii, 114 ; Ozanam, Les Poetes Frandscains en Halie au Ti-ei- zieme Siecle, avec un Choix des Petites Fleurs de St. Frangois, traduits de rHulien (Paris, 1852 ; Germ, transl. bv N. H. Julius, MUnster, 1853). See Matkr Dolo- KOSA. (B. P.)
STABAT MATER SPECIOSA must be distinguished from the Stabat Mater Dolorosa (q. v.). While the former sets forth the sorrows of the Virgin Mother at
STABAT MATER SPECIOSA 974 STABAT MATER SPECIOSA
the cross, the Muter Specimt speaks of the joys of the Virgin at the maiitjfr. For five centuries the .\hittr Specii'sa was forgotten, until A. F. Dzanam, in his Po- etts Fnnicbcaifui, rescuetl it from ol>li\ion and jxave it once more to the worlil. Cardinal Dicpenbrock, bishop of Hreslau, made an admirable (ierman transla- tion of this Nativity hymn, and the lat€ Dr. John Ma- son Neale published the original Latin, with the first Knglish translation, in August, 186G, a few days before his death.