Ave, Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea)

DESCRIPTION: A French/Quebecois song of praise to the Virgin Mary (sung in Latin): "Ave, maris stella, Dei Mater alma, Atque semper virgo, Felix coeli porta (x2)" "Sumus illud Ave Gabrielis ora, Funda nes in pace, Mutans Hevae nomen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 9th century, according to Julian (see NOTES), although not found in tradition until much later
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Quebec foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Fowke/Mills/Blume-CanadasStoryInSong, pp. 19-20, "Ave, Maris Stella" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 119, "Ave Maris Stella" (1 text, 1 tune)
RELATED: Versions of the the Middle English "Ave Maris Stella," which alternates the Latin with English prayers)
Rickert-AncientEnglishChristmasCarols, p. 8, "Ave Maris Stella" (1 text)
Sidgwick/Chambers-EarlyEnglishLyrics LVI, p. 109, "(no title)" (1 text)
Hirsh-MedievalLyric-MiddleEnglishLyricsBalladsCarols #14, "(Of on that is so fayr and bright)" (1 text)
Brown/Robbins-IndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse, #454
DigitalIndexOfMiddleEnglishVerse #736
ADDITIONAL: Karen Saupe, editor, _Middle English Marian Lyrics_, TEAMS (Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages), Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 1998, #58, p. 120, "(Ave Maris Stella)" (1 text, from British Library MS. Sloane 2593)
Bruce Dickins & R. M. Wilson, editors, _Early Middle English Texts_, 1951; revised edition 1952, #XXXIII, pp. 125-126, "Stella Maris" (1 text)
Carleton Brown, editor, Religious Lyrics of the XVth Century_, Oxford University Press, 1939, #18, #19, pp. 35-36, "Ave Maris Stella," "Hall, Star of the Sea" (2 texts, the first from MS Sloane 2593, the second from British Library Additional MS. 37049. Note that only the Sloane text is IMEV #454/DIMEV #736)
MANUSCRIPT: {MSSloane2593}, London, British Library, MS. Sloane 2593, folio 27
ST FMB019 (Full)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1871 11058, "Ave maris stella," Balmer & Weber (Saint Louis), 1871 (tune); also sm1873 01284; sm1877 05005; sm1873 01284; sm1882 13480
NOTES [405 words]: According to Fowke/Mills, this song was adopted as the quasi-official hymn of the French colony in Canada at the suggestion of Louis XIII, and is still sung on special occasions by the Acadians. There are also many English translations.
The original Latin text is longer and older than the commonly sung French version (which, as far as I know, is the only one with any traditional currency); it has been dated as early as the seventh century. Julian, p. 99, reports "It has been wrongly ascribed to St. Bernard, as it is found in a St. Gall MS., No. 95, of the 9th century, and to Venantius Fortunatus (by M. A. Luchi, 1789), but on insufficient authority....
"It has been treated with so much respect as hardly to have been altered in the Roman Breviary, 1632, and was retained in the revised breviaries of French dioceses (Paris, Lyon, &c.), as one of the few exceptions of old hymns not supplanted....
In the Roman Breviary it is the Hymn for 1st and 2nd vespers in the Feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary; also in the Office of the B. V. M. on Saturdays, and in the Little Office, Officium parvum Beatae Mariae Virginis, at 1st vespers, there being no 2nd vespers in these latter two cases.
"The hymn is found in three MSS. of the 11th cent. in the [British Library] (Harl[eian] f[olio]241; [Cotton] Vesp[asioan] D.xiii f[olio] 63; [Cotton] Jul[ius] A.vi f[olio] 56."
There was a version rendered into Middle English, "Heyl, levedy, se-stoerre bryht" ("Hail, lady, sea-star bright") in MS. Porkington 10/Phillipps 8336 of c. 1460, seemingly by William Herebert (Wells, pp. 499-500), but I know of no reason to think it was traditional. This text is printed in Brown (#17, pp. 20-21).
Brown also has a composite hymn based partly on this, which opens "Wyl be þu, ster of se! Godis moder, blessed þow be" ("Well be you, star of [the] sea! God's mother, blessed you be") in Merton College, Oxford MS. 248 (Brown #41, pp. 55-56), and another, "Heile! sterne on þe se so brigt" ("Hail! Star on the sea so bright") in MS. Bodley 425 (Brown #45, pp. 58-59).
It is perhaps typical of the Marian cult that only one of the images of the poem (the visitation by Gabriel, Luke 1:26f.) is biblical. The others are either from the creed (the trinitarian imagery) or directly from Catholic legend (Mary's eternal virginity, etc.) or apparently specific to the poem (e.g. the reference to the "maris stella" -- the "of-the-sea star"). - RBW
Bibliography

Brown: Carleton Brown, editor, English Lyrics of the XIVth Century, Oxford University Press, 1924
Julian: John Julian, editor, A Dictionary of Hymnology, 1892; second edition 1907 (I use the 1957 Dover edition in two volumes)
Wells: John Edwin Wells, A Manual of the Writings in Middle English 1050-1400, 1916 (references are to the 1930 fifth printing with three supplements)

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File: FMB019

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