The pium dictamen (plural pia dictamina), known in German as a Reimgebet or Leselied,[1] is a Christian hymn for private devotion, generally rhyming and often using acrostics.
It includes "psalters" (psalteria) with 150 strophes and "rosaries" (rosaria) with 50.
[1][3] Another type was the "gloss song" (Glossenlied, prière glosée), in which a popular prayer was divided up by word, with each word be "glossed" by a stanza of commentary.
They were popular in both Latin and the vernacular and were sometimes multilingual.
[4] The hymn Stabat Mater was originally a pium dictamen.