The Stabat Mater, or Lamentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the well-known Latin hymn on the Crucifixion, is one of the most familiar numbers in the Roman Missal. It is appointed to be sung at High Mass on the Friday in Passion Week, and also on the third Sunday in September. On Thursday in Holy Week it is also sung in the Sistine Chapel as an Offertorium. The poem was written by the monk Jacobus de Benedictis in the thirteenth century, and is regarded as one of the finest of mediaeval sacred lyrics. Grove says of it: "Several readings are extant; the one most frequently set to music being that which immediately preceded its last revision in the Roman Office-Books. There are also at least four distinct versions of its plain-chant melody, apart from minor differences attributable to local usage." It has always been a favorite hymn with the composers. The most famous settings are those of Josquin des Pres; two by Palestrina,--the first, which is the most effective, for a double choir of eight voices, and the second for a triple choir of twelve voices; that by Pergolesi for soprano and contralto; Haydn's, which is in his peculiarly melodious style; Steffani's for six voices; those by Clari, Astorga, Winter, Racimondi, Vito, Lanza, Inzenga, and Neukomm; Rossini's, which is the best known of all; and Dvorak's, written in 1881, which is one of the Bohemian composer's finest efforts. Few hymns have been so variously treated, and, it may be added, few in the Roman service are more popular.