Poetry
Hymns of the Passion
Passíusálmar
Hallgrímur Pétursson · 1666
Synopsis
Fifty hymns that follow the Passion of Christ, from the entry into the Garden of Gethsemane to the burial, by way of the arrest, the trials before Caiaphas and Pilate, the crucifixion and the seven words from the cross. Each hymn bears a title naming the episode it meditates on and the tune to which it is sung, and each belongs to one working day of the seven weeks of Lent. The poet constantly links his own suffering to that of Christ.
Context
Begun in 1656 at Saurbær, on the shore of Hvalfjörður, and finished in May 1659, the hymns were first printed in 1666; five editions followed before the end of the century, and the collection has been reprinted dozens of times since. Sung or read in homes during Lent, they have been read every year on state radio since 1943. Their passages hostile to Jews, common in the Christian literature of the time, led in 2012 to a request to stop these readings, which the radio refused. Translated into Latin, Danish, English and Chinese, they appeared in French in 2008, translated by Patrick Guelpa.
Who it is for
For readers who want Iceland's best-loved devotional book, in which a pastor meditates on the Passion through his own suffering.
Prizes and reception
Popular from the start, they remain Icelanders' most cherished devotional songs and rank among the summits of religious poetry.