Polorum Regina (Queen Encompassing all of Heaven) is one of 10 songs from the Llibre Vermell (Red Book), a 14th century manuscript kept in the Benedictine Monastery of Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain, (listen to Stella Splendens,
another of the 10 songs. Montserrat – meaning “serrated mountain” because of its jagged rocks – has been a major pilgrimage site since the Middle Ages; the pilgrims go to visit a miraculous statue of Our Lady and Christ Child called La Moreneta (The Little Black Lady), said to have been carved in the early days of the Church in Jerusalem.
The purpose for the Llibre Vermell is written in the book itself, as can be seen from a note in the manuscript (presumably written by a medieval monk):
"Because sometimes pilgrims keeping vigil in the church of the Blessed Virgin of Montserrat want to sing and dance – and similarly on the square during daytime – and since it is not appropiate to sing there anything else than honorable and pious songs, above and below some have been written. They should be used neatly and frugally in order not to disturb those who persevere in prayers and pious contemplations, things all who keep vigil should concentrate on and piously apply themselves to." (1)
Written as a round dance,
Polorum Regina is a touching and innocent homage to Our Lady's Queenship. In a simple
and genial way, the hymn venerates Our Lady’s Perpetual Virginity.
Polorum Regina is a very popular piece in early music repertoire. We have included two interpretations below: the first performance is a collaboration between the Belgian chamber choir
Choeur de Chambre de Namur, the Belgian boys choir
Les Pastoureux (“The Shepherds”), the Belgian early music group
Psallentes directed by
Hendrik van den Abeele (he
speaks about Psallentes' Llibre Vermell album
here), and the early music
ensemble Millenarium. The second performance is a simpler, monastic sounding performance by Psallentes.
For a high-resolution image of this manuscript, click here. Original source
here.
The Virgin of Montserrat with a monk (1640), painting attributed to
Friar Juan Rizi.
The Latin reads: "Quia interdum peregrini quando vigilant in ecclesia Beate Marie de Monte Serrato volunt cantare et trepudiare, et etiam in platea de die, et ibi non debeant nisi honestas ac devotas cantilenas cantare, idcirco superius et inferius aliquae sunt scriptae. Et de hoc uti debent honeste et parce, ne perturbent perseverantes in orationibus et devotis contemplationibus, in quibus omnes vigilantes insistere debent pariter et devote vaccare." Translation and text adapted from
here
