Alessandro Manzoni - Opera Omnia >>  The Passion Complete text    




 

ilmanzoni text integral passage complete quotation of the sources works historical five may poetry ode napoleon the fifth may in verses prologue



INTRODUCTION TO THE PASSION
 
 
Written by Rev. J.F. Bingham
 
 
"In all Churches the Passion of our Lord, as narrated in the Gospels, has ever formed the central subject of the day's meditation and teaching, while psalm and prophecy have been gathered around it in saddened and penitent tones, the more perfectly to represent before God and man the events of this central Day of the world's history." -- BLUNT.

ARGUMENT. -- In this brief and mournful Hymn - now affecting, now stern, now consolatory -- the Poet prepares the way for his swift but effectively limned sketch of the Passion of the Redeemer by picturing the sad solemnity of the Church's rites on Good Friday -- among which are cited the absence of joyful bells, of church music, of the celebration of the Eucharist, and instead, the voicing of doleful chants and strange prophecies that announce the mysterious and astonishing sufferings of the coming Savior.

Then, he carves out of the evangelistic history those scenes which most powerfully conspire to awaken toward the exalted Sufferer reverence and affection and dwells in an especial manner on the vicarious agonies in the spirit.

Next, hinting at the vengeance threatened on the murderers, he adds, with his own ever-present Christlike temper, a curiously beautiful prayer for the Divine mercy even on them.

Finally, reverting to the agonized and exalted Mother, 'Queen of the sorrowful,' he invokes her pity and aid for all men in the sorrows of this life of exile and in the struggle for a blessed immortality.









eXTReMe Tracker
        Alessandro Manzoni - Opera Omnia  -  a edited by ilVignettificio  -  Privacy & cookie  -  FRIEND WEBSITES : ilPortfolio

w3c xhtml validation w3c css validation