Omni Die Dic Mariae
OMNI DIE DIC MARIAE
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.
Bibliography: u. chevalier, Repertorium hymnologicum (Louvain-Brussels 1892–1921) 2:14070. j. julian, ed., A Dictionary of Hymnology (New York 1957) 1200–02. j. de ghellinck, L'Essor de la littérature latine au XIIe siècle (Brussels-Paris 1946) 2:223–226. f. j. e. raby, A History of Christian-Latin Poetry from the Beginnings to the Close of the Middle Ages (Oxford 1953) 318–319.
[g. e. conway]