"Stabat Mater speciosa" ("The beautiful mother stood"[1][2]) is a Catholic hymn to Mary about the Nativity of Jesus.

It first appeared in a 1495 edition of the Italian poems of Jacopone da Todi, along with "Stabat Mater dolorosa", but "Stabat Mater speciosa" was almost forgotten until it was re-transcribed in 1852 in the Poètes Franciscains en Italie au Treizième siècle in Paris.[1] It has since been viewed as one of the tenderest Marian hymns and one of the seven greatest Latin hymns.[3][4] It has become part of standard oratorios (e.g. Franz Liszt's Christus[5]), and has given rise to various Christmas carols[citation needed].

References

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  1. ^ a b Catholic encyclopedia
  2. ^ Stabat Mater Speciosa
  3. ^ Sabatier, Paul Life of St. Francis Assisi Charles Scribner Press, NY, 1919, page 286
  4. ^ The seven great hymns of the Mediaeval Church by Charles Cooper Nott 1868 ASIN: B003KCW2LA page 96
  5. ^ The Standard Oratorios by George P. Upton (1893 ed.) ISBN 1-4068-5458-1 page 187