YEARBOOK OF THE ALAMIRE FOUNDATION

62 KATELIJNE SCHILTZ
Antonius Sconhovius (Antoon van Schoonhove) on the occasion of Comes’s death
in the summer of that year (see Figure 2). 5
The fact that both Comes and Sconhovius were attached to the church of St
Donatian – Comes as a secretary to the Chapter, Sconhovius as a canon – makes it
tempting to speculate about how Willaert might have become acquainted with Comes
and his poetic output. In my opinion, his own contacts with this institution could be
a reasonable explanation. Not only have archival documents revealed that the composer
attended High Mass in St Donatian’s in November 1556 (i.e. during his second
stay in Flanders), but we also know that his brother Antoon had been working for this
church, first as a choir boy, later as a priest. 6
Laus tibi sacra rubens divini gutta Cruoris,
Quam Christo a loto spongia pressa tulit.
Cuius servatae est Aritmathes auctor Joseph,
Ut quina emundans vulnera proluerat.
Basilij foelix aedes, foelicia Brugae
Maenia, thesauro hoc facta beata sacro.
Quem dudum e Solymis tulit huc Bertinicus abbas
Concessum Comiti munus ab Elsatia.
Laus tibi sancte cruor nullis peritura diebus,
Laus tibi qui es famulis sancta medela tuis.
Praise be to thee, holy red drop of the divine blood
that the sponge, on being squeezed, removed from Christ when he was washed;
the cause of thy preservation was Joseph of Arimathea,
when he had cleansed and bathed His five wounds.
Happy the church of St Basil, happy the walls of Bruges,
made blessed by this sacred treasure,
which long ago the abbot of Saint-Bertin brought hither from Jerusalem,
a gift granted by the Count of Alsace.
Praise that shall never die be to thee, holy blood,
praise to thee who art a hallowed cure for thy servants. 7
5 TOURNOY, An Unnoticed Bruges Collection, p. 164, mentions two copies of this print: an uncomplete
one, breaking off after fol. [D 4r], is kept at the University library of Ghent (Res. 435), whereas the copy
at the British Library (no. 11403.aa.19) is complete. The collection also contains poems in honour of
and composed by Marcus Laurinus (Lauwereijn or Laurijn) and the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives,
as well as – interestingly enough – an epitaph for Lupus Hellinck, Ergone harmonie princeps.
6 See A. DEWITTE, Gegevens betreffende het muziekleven in de voormalige Sint-Donaaskerk te Brugge
1251–1600, in Handelingen van het Genootschap ‘Société d’Emulation’ te Brugge, 111 (1974), p. 152,
n. 98; and E. VANDER STRAETEN, La musique aux Pays-Bas avant le XIXe siècle, 6, Brussels, 1882,
pp. 179–180. In addition, one of Antonius Sconhovius’s relatives, Gilbertus Sconhovius, was a singer at
St Donatian, judging from the epitaph Quid species? Quid vox?, which was published in the collection of
1544.
7 I am grateful to Leofranc Holford-Strevens for the English translation of this poem.