Hello,
@Holy Cannoli once again. First of all, the oldest Church in Coimbra (10th century) appears to be the Church of St Bartholomew!!!!
That would explain the Sisters devotion to St Bartholomew and perhaps explain why they saw it as St B who knocked at their door. There is an old fresco commemorating the Martyrdom of St Bartholomew linked with the old Church. So, perhaps, as is known to have happened in Knock, Ireland (where St John was easily recognisable because he looked identical to the Statue commemorating him in the Church) , St Bartholomew also resembled the Icon of himself that was in St Bartholomew's Church in Coimbra.
Anyway, having researched further, - the Stella Caeli it seems it IS linked with the Poor Clare's - but possibly later! - ie in the customary time frame we know to be the era of the Black death.
This Carmelite Convent in Lisbon, in a history of their order (see link) say that at some time they received the Stella Caeli from the Poor Clare's in Coimbra - and call it " a miraculous "gift ..... (see no. 414 - but it's in Portuguese)
books.google.fr/booksI write music, so this seemed like being back at University reading this terribly long exegesis I've linked for you next....
But a Music Historian, apparently likes the Stella Caeli and he did some research to trace it's origins......he links it to a few places, but says that there is a 15th century document in a Portuguese Museum which connects the Stella Caeli with a Poor Clare's Community in Coimbra during the time of the Black death (he mentions St Francis and the tradition of the Franciscans for writing music.)
Brief quotation which is relevant....
"Even more far-flung copies of the hymn have been found, without musical notation, on a piece of fifteenth-century parchment preserved amongst the relics of the monastery of Santa Clara of Coimbra in Portugal,39 and copied at the end of the cantus firmus tenor of an unrelated motet ([N/V]obis iustat carminis odas laudibus) in a central European codex now in Prague, which probably dates from c. 1460–80.40"
publish.illinois.edu/…/Macklin-SCE-in-…You can see it's mentioned here also....... I think the account is true - something can be said for a verbal/written tradition handed down within monastic life, since the information is guaranteed to remain in the same Convent for centuries!. So, without a doubt, It looks confirmed to me. The trouble with English Music Scholars, they tend to make things fit a later date - so it's not quite so obvious that the piece was originally Catholic and not Anglican..... Many people believe that music sung in Anglican Churches was written by Protestant Composers, but it's all totally false. I've proved someone wrong on many occasions. So, when they deny that something has roots in the ancient Liturgies of the RC Church - don't fall for it. In my own studies, musically, It's apparent that many times a tune is referred to in a hymn book as composed by unknown or, "Anon" yet when you study the piece, it's history predates the Reformation going right back to the early centuries of the Church or has been documented as being previously mentioned in connection with the Benedictine Order and has been there all along written on a infinitesimal piece of manuscript in a major University Library - but when it reminds people that the Church in England was once Catholic - the piece of information is dangerous, and like the 3rd Secret - it's better "lost" remaining a secret rather than it upsets the status quo.
books.google.fr/books
