Lauda Sion, Salvatorem Sequence and its Polish Translations in the Source Songbooks

Abstract

Research on the sequence Lauda Sion, Salvatorem dedicated to the Corpus Christi ceremony, allowed us to find and analyze over a dozen translations into Polish of this 13th century Latin pattern. It consists of 12 pairs of stanzas, with their parity – according to the poetics of the sequence – is emphasized by the conformity of a sound of the final verses of each pair of the stanza and the remaining verses are connected by adjoining rhymes, usually feminine, accurate, with aab + ccb scheme. We know most translators by name: Stanisław Grochowski, Jan Białobocki, Stanisław Serafin Jagodyński, Father Ignacy Hołowiński, Father Tadeusz Karyłowski, Jadwiga Gamska-Łempicka, Leopold Staff, several translations are anonymous. All Polish translations agree with the original on the content. However, differences appear in the form, structure of the poetic sequence, number of stanzas and in metrics. The common knowledge of the sequence Lauda Sion, Salvatorem, was probably the fruit of the great Eucharistic devotion in Poland, which was marked already in the 13th century, when the Church introduced the feast of Corpus Christi and lasted for the next centuries, up to the 20th century.