thumb|[[Visitation (Ghirlandaio)|Visitation, by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1491), depicts Mary visiting her elderly cousin Elizabeth.]]

The Magnificat (Latin for "[My soul] magnifies [the Lord]") is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. The most popular canticle, it is used within the liturgies of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Church and the Anglican Communion. as well as the Book of Common Prayer (1928) and Book of Common Prayer (1979) of the Episcopal Church (United States). In Eastern Christianity, the Magnificat is always sung at Matins. The Magnificat may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which these verses are traditionally read.

Context

Mary's Magnificat, recorded only in Luke's Gospel, is one of four hymns, distilled from a collection of early Jewish-Christian canticles, which complement the promise-fulfillment theme of Luke's infancy narrative. These songs are Mary's Magnificat; Zechariah's Benedictus (1:67–79); the angels' Gloria in Excelsis Deo (2:13–14); and Simeon's (2:28–32). In form and content, these four canticles are patterned on the "hymns of praise" in Israel's Psalter. In structure, these songs reflect the compositions of pre-Christian contemporary Jewish hymnology. The first stanza displays graphically a characteristic feature of Hebrew poetry—synonymous parallelism—in ascribing praise to God: "my soul" mirrors "my spirit"; "proclaims the greatness" with "has found gladness"; "of the Lord" with "in God my Savior". The balance of the opening two lines bursts out into a dual Magnificat of declaring the greatness of and finding delight in God. The third stanza again demonstrates parallelism, but in this instance, three contrasting parallels: the proud are reversed by the low estate, the mighty by those of low degree, and the rich by the hungry.

!Book of Common Prayer (1662)

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: Magnificat anima mea Dominum;

: et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo,

: quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae;

: Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes.

: quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est, et sanctum nomen eius.

: Et misericordia eius a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.

: Fecit potentiam in brachio suo;

: dispersit superbos mente cordis sui;

: deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles;

: esurientes implevit bonis

: et divites dimisit inanes.

: Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus misericordiae suae,

: sicut locutus est ad patres nostros,

: Abraham et semini eius in saecula.

<small>The Gloria Patri is appended to the canticle but is not part of Luke's Gospel.</small>

: Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,

: sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper: et in Saecula saeculorum. Amen.

: Μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν Κύριον καὶ ἠγαλλίασεν τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου,

: ὅτι ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν ταπείνωσιν τῆς δούλης αὐτοῦ. ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν μακαριοῦσίν με πᾶσαι αἱ γενεαί,

: ὅτι ἐποίησέν μοι μεγάλα ὁ δυνατός, καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰς καὶ γενεὰς τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν.

: Ἐποίησεν κράτος ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ, διεσκόρπισεν ὑπερηφάνους διανοίᾳ καρδίας αὐτῶν·

: καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων καὶ ὕψωσεν ταπεινούς, πεινῶντας ἐνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν καὶ πλουτοῦντας ἐξαπέστειλεν κενούς.

: ἀντελάβετο Ἰσραὴλ παιδὸς αὐτοῦ, μνησθῆναι ἐλέους, καθὼς ἐλάλησεν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν τῷ Αβραὰμ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.

In Eastern Orthodox worship, the Ode of the Theotokos is accompanied by the following refrain sung between the verses (a sticheron) and a megalynarion, which is the second part of the Axion Estin hymn:

:Τὴν τιμιωτέραν τῶν Χερουβὶμ καὶ ἐνδοξοτέραν ἀσυγκρίτως τῶν Σεραφίμ, τὴν ἀδιαφθόρως Θεὸν Λόγον τεκοῦσαν, τὴν ὄντως Θεοτόκον, σὲ μεγαλύνομεν.

:('You who are more to be honoured than the Cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, you who, uncorrupted, gave birth to God the Word, in reality the God-bearer, we exalt you.')

Amharic

In the Oriental Orthodox Church Scripture of Ethiopia according to the Ye' Luqas Wongel, Gospel of Luqas (Luke):

46፤ ማርያምም እንዲህ አለች።

47፤ ነፍሴ ጌታን ታከብረዋለች፥ መንፈሴም በአምላኬ በመድኃኒቴ ሐሴት ታደርጋለች፤

48፤ የባሪያይቱን ውርደት ተመልክቶአልና። እነሆም፥ ከዛሬ ጀምሮ ትውልድ ሁሉ ብፅዕት ይሉኛል፤

49፤ ብርቱ የሆነ እርሱ በእኔ ታላቅ ሥራ አድርጎአልና፤ ስሙም ቅዱስ ነው።

50፤ ምሕረቱም ለሚፈሩት እስከ ትውልድና ትውልድ ይኖራል።

51፤ በክንዱ ኃይል አድርጎአል፤ ትዕቢተኞችን በልባቸው አሳብ በትኖአል፤

52፤ ገዥዎችን ከዙፋናቸው አዋርዶአል፤ ትሑታንንም ከፍ አድርጎአል፤

53፤ የተራቡትን በበጎ ነገር አጥግቦአል፤ ባለ ጠጎችንም ባዶአቸውን ሰዶአቸዋል።

54-55፤ ለአባቶቻችን እንደ ተናገረ፥ ለአብርሃምና ለዘሩ ለዘላለም ምሕረቱ ትዝ እያለው እስራኤልን ብላቴናውን ረድቶአል።

Slavonic

The translation of the hymn into Church Slavonic is as follows:

File:Song_of_Theotokos_in_Church_Slavic.png

In modern Cyrillic (Russian) :

: величит душа Моя Господа,

: и возрадовася дух Мой о Бозе Спасе Моем:

: яко призре на смирение Рабы Своея: се бо, отныне ублажат Мя вси роди:

: яко сотвори Мне величие Сильный, и свято имя Его:

: и милость Его в роды родов боящымся Его:

: сотвори державу мышцею Своею: расточи гордыя мыслию сердца их:

: Низложи сильныя со престол, и вознесе смиренныя:

: алчущыя исполни благ и богатящыяся отпусти тщы:

: восприят Израиля отрока Своего, помянути милости,

: якоже глагола ко отцем нашым, Аврааму и семени его до века.

Liturgical use

thumb|The Visitation in the [[Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry|Book of Hours of the Duc de Berry; the Magnificat in Latin]]

The text forms a part of the daily office in the Catholic Vespers service, the Lutheran Vespers service, and the Anglican services of Evening Prayer, according to both the Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship. In the Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer service, it is usually paired with the . The Book of Common Prayer allows for an alternative to the Magnificat—the Cantate Domino, Psalm 98—and some Anglican rubrics allow for a wider selection of canticles, but the Magnificat and remain the most popular. In Anglican, Lutheran, and Catholic services, the Magnificat is generally followed by the Gloria Patri. It is also commonly used among Lutherans at the Feast of the Visitation (July 2).

In Eastern Orthodox liturgical practice, the Magnificat is always sung during the Matins service before the Irmos of the ninth ode of the canon (except on greater feasts of the Lord or the Theotokos, where the magnificat is excluded completely). After each biblical verse, i.e. as a sticheron, the following megalynarion or troparion is sung:

<blockquote>More honourable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, without corruption thou gavest birth to God the Word: true Theotokos, we magnify thee.</blockquote>

As a canticle, the Magnificat has frequently been set to music. Most compositions were originally intended for liturgical use, especially for Vesper services and celebrations of the Visitation, but some are also performed in concert.

Indulgence

In the Catholic Church, the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum of 2004 provides for partial indulgence.

Musical settings

As the Magnificat is part of the sung Vespers, many composers, beginning in the Renaissance, set the words to music, for example Claudio Monteverdi in his Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610). Henry Dumont, André Campra (1713), Antoine-Esprit Blanchard (1741), Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 10 settings (H.72, H.73, H.74, H.75, H.76, H.77, H.78, H.79, H.80, H.81), François Giroust (12 settings), Vivaldi composed a setting of the Latin text for soloists, choir, and orchestra, as did Johann Sebastian Bach in his Magnificat (1723, rev. 1733). Other notable examples include C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat and two extant settings by Jan Dismas Zelenka (ZWV 106 is missing).

Anton Bruckner composed a Magnificat for soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ. Rachmaninoff and, more recently, John Rutter also composed a setting, inserting additions into the text.

Dieter Schnebel wrote a Magnificat in 1996/97 for small choir (schola), percussion and additional instruments ad libitum. Arvo Pärt composed a setting for choir a cappella. Kim André Arnesen's Magnificat for choir, strings, piano, and organ premiered in 2010. The Taizé Community have also composed an ostinato setting of the text.

Together with the , the Magnificat is a regular part of the Anglican Evensong. The "Mag and Nunc" has been set by many composers – such as Thomas Tallis, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Sumsion, Charles Wood and John Tavener – of Anglican church music, often for choir a cappella or choir and organ. Since the canticles are sung every day at some cathedrals, Charles Villiers Stanford wrote a Magnificat in every major key, and Herbert Howells published 18 settings over his career, including the Collegium Regale setting and the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for St Paul's Cathedral.

An Eastern Orthodox setting of the Magnificat (text in Latin and English) is to be found in the 2011 All-night Vigil (Section 11) by the English composer Clive Strutt.

Maria Luise Thurmair wrote in 1954 the lyrics for a popular German ecumenical hymn based on the Magnificat, "Den Herren will ich loben", set to a 1613 melody by Melchior Teschner (that of Valet will ich dir geben). Timothy Dudley-Smith wrote "Tell Out, My Soul", a popular paraphrase of the Magnificat, in 1962. Krzysztof Penderecki composed an extended Magnificat for the 1200th anniversary of the Salzburg Cathedral in 1974, for bass soloist, men's and boys' voices, two mixed choirs and orchestra.

The oratorio Laudato si composed in 2016 by Peter Reulein on a libretto by Helmut Schlegel includes the full Latin text of the Magnificat, expanded by writings of Clare of Assisi, Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis.

Society and politics

In Nicaragua, the Magnificat is a favorite prayer among many peasants and is often carried as a sacramental. During the Somoza years, campesinos were required to carry proof of having voted for Somoza; this document was mockingly referred to as a Magnificat.

During the British Raj, Anglican Archbishop William Temple joked to evangelist Jack Winslow, who was sympathetic to Indian independence, that singing the Magnificat would make him look even more like a revolutionary than wearing home-spun Indian clothing already did.

See also

  • 4Q521, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls

References

Citations

</references>

Sources

  • "The 'Merciless' Magnificat": A Magnificat reflection by Father Johann Roten, S.M., University of Dayton's Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute. The Marian Library/IMRI is the world's largest repository of books, artwork and artifacts devoted to Mary and a pontifical center of research and scholarship.
  • The Magnificat
  • Exegesis and Sermon Study of Luke 1:46–55: The Magnificat, by Curtis A. Jahn
  • ChoralWiki: Magnificat
  • Officium pro defunctis, following the unrevised Vulgate text