O staropolskiej pieśni Bądź wiesioła, Panno czysta... (kilka uwag wydawców)

Abstract

The fifteenth-century song about seven joys of Saint Mary Bądź wiesioła, Panno czysta is a translation of a Latin song Septem Gaudia Marie Virginis. The contrastive analysis of both texts shows that an anonymous Polish translator formulated many passages of the original not in agreement with the Latin structure thus revealing an exquisite poetic ingenuity. First of all the comment refers to the additional symbolism introduced in the last stanza, namely that of Christ - a white stone. The white stone, in the Christian world, functioned as a symbol present in many spheres of reference: to the figure of Christ, to the award of salvation (Apocalypse), to the act of acquitting the human kind before God’s judgement, to the role of Saint Mary in the mission of salvation and her mediation. Such an approach deepens the meaning and symbolism of the Polish text with reference to the Latin original.