August 15 is the feast day of Mary, the mother of Jesus, on the Episcopal calendar of saints, though some Anglo-Catholic churches apparently celebrate on December 8. On the Roman Catholic calendar, where Mary has a number of days devoted to her, today is the Assumption of Mary, whereupon she was taken into heaven. Though this does not appear to be a movable feast, I know we will be celebrating it on Sunday in my Episcopal parish, and singing my favorite hymn for the day, Sing we of the blessed mother by George Timms (somewhat rewritten for Episcopal worship in the Hymnal 1982). But since that modern hymn is still under copyright, here is another one we will probably sing, though with a different tune (some would say that this is the only correct tune, and that the Hymnal 1982 is wrong to have another).
Ye who claim the faith of Jesus,
Sing the wonders that were done
When the love of our Creator
Over death the victory won,
When God made the Virgin Mary
Mother of the Promised One.
Hail Mary, hail Mary,
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Blessed were the chosen people
Out of whom the Christ did come;
Blessed was the land of promise
Fashioned for an earthly home;
But more blessed was the mother,
Bearing Jesus in her womb.
Hail Mary, hail Mary,
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Wherefore let all faithful people
Tell the honor of her name;
Let the Church, in her foreshadowed,
Part in her thanksgiving claim;
What Christ's mother sang in gladness
Let Christ's people sing the same.
Hail Mary, hail Mary,
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Vincent Stuckey Stratton Coles, 1906; alt.
Tune: DAILY, DAILY (8.7.8.7.D.)
Traditional French melody
The Hymnal 1982 has a new additional verse by F. Bland Tucker, a metrical Magnificat which logically follows the lines in the third verse "What Christ's mother sang in gladness/Let Christ's people sing the same."
V.S.S. Coles was a priest in the Church of England, but as you may guess he was firmly in the Anglo-Catholic camp. He wrote a few more verses of this hymn which are unlikely to be sung today outside the Roman Catholic church, or perhaps the most Catholic of Anglo-Catholic churches. Even the mention of the Virgin Mary outside the Christmas or Good Friday stories is sometimes controversial in many Protestant churches, so these hymns are not often used.
UPDATE 8/17/08: As expected, we did sing those two hymns, as well as Jerusalem, my happy home (which includes the line Our Lady sings Magnificat...) Ye who claim the faith of Jesus was sung to the tune DEN DES VATERS SINN GEBOREN (with apologies to the fans of DAILY, DAILY). When this tune is used, the first two "Hail Mary"s are left out. Thanks to commenter Leland for the sound file!
The Assumption of the Virgin, 15th century painting by Francesco Botticini
6 comments:
I just today received in the mail Canticle: The Franciscan University Hymnal. It doesn't have either of the hymns you mention. "Ye who claim..." was originally "Ye who own..." (as in Oremus), and modernizations often make it "All who claim..." or "We who claim...", which makes it a bit of a bear to search for, but I'm sure I've seen it set to several other tunes. I'm guessing your parish will sing it to JULION? (I haven't looked in Hymnal 1982.) Lots of Anglican hymnals also set it to DEN DES VATERS SINN GEBOREN. Oremus says the '82 has both tunes. The tune you give I think of as proper to "Daily, daily pray to Mary" (which is also not in Canticle, a bit to my surprise). Incidentally, the Methodists have tacked a Magnificat onto the end of "Ye who claim...":
"Magnify, my soul, God's greatness;
In my Savior I rejoice;
All the ages call me blessed,
In his praise I lift my voice;
He has cast down all the mighty,
And the lowly are his choice."
Hail Mary, hail Mary,
Hail Mary, full of grace.
One of my favorite Marian ditties is "Hail, Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star", sung to STELLA (HEMY). I used the tune for my little song on Matthew's foremothers of Christ:
Foremothers of Christ, courageous five,
We sing you songs of grateful praise.
And you without names, your memory's alive:
To you likewise our thanks we raise —
Tamar and Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba,
Mary, and all of you nameless ones!
The Esperanto version was published in Adoru; it's not exactly a translation:
Ni vin memoras kun omaĝ',
Prapatrinaro de l' Savant'.
Ni vin honoras pro l' kuraĝ',
Kaj vin ni laŭdas nun en kant'.
Skandale iom, tamen ja vi
Pretigis la vojon de l' Mesi'
Probably the only time a Baptist has had a text published under the "other saints" rubric in a hymnal with Catholic editors. ;-)
Leland aka Haruo
Definitely not JULION. I'm not always fond of the German tunes but we will do DEN DES VATERS SINN GEBOREN. And that Magnificat is the same one by Tucker, copyright status unclear, which is why I didn't print it.
DAILY, DAILY is used with this text in the New English Hymnal, which is perhaps why some people think it's the "correct" tune, though I agree it's better left with the Daily, daily pray to Mary text. No MIDI of DEN DES VATERS SINN GEBOREN online, though. :(
Sorry about the Magnificat; my source (online) didn't give any authorship or copyright info, just "Methodist". Some Marian site at the University of Dayton. Can't find my 1989 Methodist hymnal at the moment... Too few shelves, too many hymnals. ;-)
I can probably help with the MIDI, give me a few hours...
Leland
Here you go, nothing great, but adequate I think: DEN DES VATERS SINN GEBOREN.
Leland
If you want it tweaked as to speed or instrumentation or something, just let me know. And feel free to copy it somewhere; I've got it on our church's website at the moment, but that may not be permanent.
Leland
Post is updated with the new sound file - thanks!
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