tion in her liturgy or discipline"
(_Inst. Liturg._ I. 1, pp. 170-171).

No part of the Church's liturgy has met with such persistent, abusive,
and often ignorant criticism as her hymns have received.

The renaissance clerics, the Gallicans, the Jansenists, and the
Protestants poured forth volumes of hostile and unmerited criticism on
the matter and form of Rome's sacred songs. Becichemus, rector of the
Academy of Pavia in the sixteenth century, in his introduction to the
work of Ferreri, wrote of the hymns: "sunt omnes fere mendosi, inepti,
barbarie refecti, nulla pedum ratione nullo syllabarum mensu
compositi.... Ut ad risum eruditos concinent, et ad contemptum
ecclesiastici ritus vel literatos sacerdotes inducant.... Literatos
dixi: nam ceteri qui sunt sacri patrimonii helluones, sine scientia,
sine sapientia, satis habent, ut dracones stare juxta arcam Domini." The
remarks of the rector recall the saying of Lactantius, "literati non
habent fidem." Ferreri, who had been commissioned by Pope Clement to
revise and correct the Breviary hymns, wrote in his dedication epistle:
"I have given all my care to this collection of new hymns, because
learned priests and friends of good Latinity who are now obliged to
praise God in a barbarous style, are exposed to laugh and to despise
holy things." Santeuil (1630-1697) characterised the Breviary hymns as
the product of ignorance, the disgrace of the Latin language, the
disreputable relics of the early ages, the result of lunacy.

Violent attack leads to violent defence. Both are generally born of
ignorance, a partizan spirit, and exaggeration. Pious Catholic defenders
write that the Roman Breviary has hymns far superior to the classic
lyrics of ancient Rome; that they have an inimitable style; that they
are far superior to Horatian poetry; that there is nothing to compare
with their style and beauty in pagan classics, Indeed, zeal has led some
holy men to censure Pope Leo X., Clement VII., and. Urban VIII. for
their attempts to correct these compositions, which they hold to have
been perfect.

Truth seems to hold the place of the golden mean between the bitter
critics and the over zealous defenders of our Breviary hymns. The
following propositions, drawn from Father Barnard's _Cours De Liturgie
Romaine_, may be taken as a fair and accurate statement of the views of
scholars, views which may be safely held by all students of this portion
of liturgy.

_First Proposition_:--Ma