“Clearly, Carefully and Precisely”: On Music in the Constitutions of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit from the 17th and 18th Centuries

From the very beginning of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, music was the object of particular concern of the Pauline Fathers, which has been reflected in the monastic constitutions. Three of them are the title sources of the article, the aim of which is to present references to music contained in the Pauline constitutions from 1636, 1643 and 1725, compare them and draw conclusions on the codification of music in these constitutions. The text is divided into three main parts, respectively, to three editions of the constitutions. All the sources examined prove that the codification of music in the Pauline Order was characterized by detail and rigor in regulating singing, postures, participation in vocal exercises and the selection of the liturgical repertoire. Marian piety was a special principle that organized the liturgical and musical regulations contained in the Pauline constitutions.