LUMEN HILARE

The music of this plainsong is attributed to Hermann Contractus. Being a cripple from birth (hence the surname Contractus) he was powerless to move without assistance, and it was only by the greatest effort that he was able to read and write; but he was highly gifted intellectually. He took monastic vows in 1043 and throughout his life accomplished great intellectual achievements in many fields. Many students came from all over, attracted not only by the fame of his scholarship, but also by his monastic virtue and his lovable personality. This author of many poems and hymns, maker of musical instruments, is often credited as the composer of Alma Redemptoris Mater as well as Salve Regina.

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This text is the most well known of the four Breviary anthems of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The authorship at times variously assigned to several others, is now generally ascribed to Hermann Contractus. Perhaps because of St. Bernard's devotion to the Mother of God (the saint was diligent in spreading his love for the anthem, and many pilgrim-shrines claim him as founder of the devotion to it in their locality), it was introduced into Cîteaux in the middle of the twelfth century, and down to the seventeenth century was used as a solemn anthem for the Magnificat on the feasts of the Purification, Annunciation, and Nativity B. V. M., and for the Benedictus at Lauds of the Assumption. The use of the anthem at Compline was begun by the Dominicans about 1221, and was rapidly spread by them. Before the middle of that century, it was incorporated with the other anthems of the Blessed Virgin in the "modernized" Franciscan Breviary, whence it entered into the Roman Breviary. Some scholars say that the anthem had been in use in that order (and probably from its foundation) before Gregory IX prescribed its universal use. The Carthusians sing it daily at Vespers as well as after every hour of the Little Office B. V. M. The Cistercians sang it after Compline from 1251 until the close of the fourteenth century, and have sung it from 1483 until the present day as a daily devotion.  The Carmelites say it after every hour of the Office. Pope Leo XIII prescribed its recitation (6 January, 1884) after every low Mass, a practice continued today.

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The anthem figured prominently  in the evening devotions of the confraternities and guilds of Europe which were formed in great numbers about the beginning of the thirteenth century. These services were commonly known in England and Germany simply as the Salve. Particularly favored by sailors, scholars give instances of the singing of Salve Regina by the sailors of Columbus and the Indians.

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Each line of the poem, excepting the final invocation, ends with the same vowel sound.  The poem has inspired many other variations and extensive additional stanzas, as well as many musical settings over the centuries.