"I can no more; for now it comes again,"--
Note the musical effect of
"And, crueller still, A fierce and restless fright begins to fill The mansion of my soul. And, worse and worse, Some bodily form of ill."
The pauses after "ill" express horror and weakness,--
[17] (p. 29.) Holy Strong One, Holy God, From the depth I pray to Thee. Mercy, O my Judge, for me; Spare me, Lord.
In the Proper for the season of Good Friday the passage which suggested this reads, in Greek and Latin:
1st choir. Agios O Theos (O Holy God). 2d choir. Sanctus Deus (O Holy God). 1st choir. Agios Ischyros (O Holy Strong One). 2d choir. Sanctus Fortis (O Holy Strong One).
[18] (p. 30.) Death dissolves me.
[19] "Rescue him, O Lord," etc. The solemn chant again. Note the difference in metre between this and the "Novissima hora est; and I fain would sleep. The pain has wearied me." Note the ardor of the Priest's "Proficiscere, anima Christiana," etc.
[20] (p. 32.) The final hour is here. "Into Thy hands." The whole of this prayer for the dying is: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. O Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Holy Mary, pray for me. O Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, do thou protect me from the enemy and receive me at the hour of death."
[21] (p. 32.) "Go forth, O Christian soul, from this world." These words begin the prayer of the priest, recited while the soul is departing from the body. It is paraphrased in English by the Cardinal.
[22] "I went to sleep," etc. The soul of Gerontius has left the body:
[23] (p. 35.) "Another marvel." According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, each soul is given at its birth in charge of a Guardian Angel. It is this angel that sings, "My work is done." "Alleluia" is from two Hebrew words united by a hyphen. It means "Praise the Lord." St. John in the Apocalypse says that he heard the angels singing it in heaven. It occurs in the last five Psalms and in Tobias.
[24] "My work is done, My task is o'er,"
is expressed with a joyous movement,--
[25] Compare the thought in "Hamlet"--Act II, Scene II.--"What a piece of work is man!"
[26] (p. 41.) When the soul has departed, the priest says the prayer beginning "Subvenite, Sancti Dei; occurrite Angeli Domini," etc. ("Come to his assistance, ye saints of God," etc.).
[27] "Low-born clods," etc. The most marked change comes here. The solemnity and sweetness of the soul and the angel's music--their leit-motif--is easily discernible. Now come dissonances and discords,--the rapidity of jangled cymbals struck in scorn. The phrase "chucked down" has been censured as "inelegant." Its meaning and sound accord exactly with the spirit of the demoniac chorus.
[28] (p. 49.) "Extension," "the position of parts outside parts." See p. 366, General Metaphysics, by John Rickaby, S.J., Manuals of Catholic Philosophy.
[29] (p. 51.) St. Francis d'Assisi. In 1224, while on Mount Alvernus, keeping a fast of forty days in honor of St. Michael, a seraph appeared and marked the hands, feet, and right side of St. Francis with the five wounds of Our Lord's Passion.
[30] "Praise to the Holiest in the height." A movement associated by English readers with the hymn particularly:
or
[31] (p. 54.) "Dreed," from the old English verb "dreogan," to suffer.
[32] "Angel of the Agony." Note the solemn and pathetic rhythm effect.
[33] "Take me away, and in the lowest deep, There let me be," etc.