T. Tertius Noble

Thomas Tertius Noble, born today in 1867, in Bath, England, would eventually come to be known as the dean of American organists later in life. He showed an early interest in music, and once begged to be removed from a boarding school that did not have a music program. At age 12 he was appointed to be the organist of All Saints Parish in Colchester, where the rector had provided him with some musical instruction. Many years later, in an address at the General Theological Seminary in New York, he described the conditions there:

I was almost 13, I could not play the organ very well.  It was an awful, old organ.  It had four stops, and its mechanism rattled so loudly you could hardly hear the music.  For three years I worked there.  I got up at 6:30 summer and winter, and I was in the church practicing by 7:00. (...) Learning on this organ was difficult, but very good for me.

In 1889 he graduated from the Royal College of Music in London, where his teachers had included Charles Villiers Stanford (for composition) and John Frederick Bridge (for harmony). He was then hired there as a teacher himself, and then in 1892 he was appointed organist at Ely Cathedral. Six years later, he started at York Minster, where he remained for the next thirteen years, until he was recruited to be organist-choirmaster at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York in 1913.

A fair amount about his time in New York has been covered here already (links below). Since unfortunately I have used up the internet sound files of his hymn tunes (only four available at the moment),  you can hear one of his settings of the Magnificat from YouTube.



Roman Catholic readers may understand why a Magnificat is always appropriate in May, but Anglicans and Episcopalians like them year-round.



Nine Years Ago: T. Tertius Noble

Eight Years Ago: T. Tertius Noble

The Mother's Expectation

The story of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), with the surprising news that the angel Gabriel gives to Mary, is read in many churches today.  There are other parts of Mary's story that are also appropriate for Advent, such as her visit to her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-46) which includes the mighty Magnificat, Mary's song of revolution.

Today's hymn, written in the middle of the nineteenth century, goes to a place you might not expect from a Victorian writer: the course of Mary's pregnancy from the Annunciation ('the angel's salutation') to her travels to her cousin ('o'er the mountains of Judea') and finally toward Bethlehem as nine months pass. The baby is called a 'burden' which may bring to mind a chorus from Handel's Messiah about easy yokes and light burdens, but it is also a hard truth not always mentioned in Mary's story: the Incarnation came about through difficult reality for the two earthly parents-to-be, and the good news of it must have seemed far away at times, for all that the author here tries to make it more palatable for us. The meek and mild Mary sometimes portrayed in hymns and stories actually had to be a pretty tough and resourceful young woman to make it all the way to Bethlehem.

Frederick William Faber was a priest in the Church of England who converted to Roman Catholicism only nine years after his ordination. His hymnwriting 'crossed the Tiber' as well, as demonstrated in this hymn, titled "Our Lady's Expectation."

Like the dawning of the morning
On the mountains' golden heights,
Like the breaking of the moonbeams 
On the gloom of cloudy nights;
Like the tidings told by angels,
Far and wide across the earth,
Is the Mother's expectation
Of Messiah's speedy birth.

You were happy, blessed Mother,
With the very bliss of heav'n,
Since the angel's salutation
In your list'ning ear was giv'n.
Since the 'Ave' of that midnight,
When you were anointed Queen,
Like a river overflowing
Has the grace within you been.

O'er the mountains of Judea,
Like the chariot of the Lord,
You were lifted in your spirit
By the uncreated Word;
Gifts and graces flowed upon you
In a sweet celestial strife
And the growing of this baby
Was the lightening of your life.

Oh the feeling of this burden,
It was touch and taste and sight;
It was newer still and newer,
All those nine months, day and night.
Every moment did that burden
Press upon you with new grace;
Happy Mother! You are longing
To behold the Savior’s face!

Frederick William Faber, 1854; alt.
Tune: BLAENWERN (8.7.8.7.D.)
William Penfro Rowlands, 1905

Father Faber's full text runs to eight stanzas, ending with that baby's birth, but since we are still in Advent for another week it seems appropriate to stop here, with Mary's (and our) hope and expectation.

More Hymns for the Fourth Sunday of Advent:

Eight (Liturgical) Years Ago: Great Gabriel sped on wings of light

Seven (Liturgical) Years Ago: Away! with loyal hearts and true

Four (Liturgical) Years Ago: Praise we the Lord this day

Two (Liturgical) Years Ago: Today the angel comes, the same

One (Liturgical) Year Ago: Shall we not love thee, Mother dear

Also: 

Eight (Calendar) Years Ago: Phoebe Worrall Palmer

Six (Calendar) Years Ago: Charles Wesley

Four (Calendar) Years Ago: Charles Wesley

One (Calendar) Year Ago: Charles Wesley

Saint Mary the Virgin

The Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin on August 15 is also celebrated in some churches as the Assumption (or Dormition) of Mary.  Today's hymn is by William Chatterton Dix (1837-1898), a "committed High Church Anglican," according to the new book by Carl P. Daw Jr., Glory to God: A Companion (2016).  The hymn has also certainly been sung by Roman Catholics, as it appeared in the St. Alban's Hymnal (1921) and probably some others.

Every generation, Mary, calls thee blessed,
Lady, first of women by the Church confessed.
Since Saint Gabriel's message fell upon thine ear,
Filling thee with gladness and with holy cheer.

Refrain
Blessed then and always, Christ's dear Mother thou,
Mary, highly favored, God is with thee now.

Graced by God the Spirit, gone to take thy place,
Hail thou Queen of Heaven, hail thou, full of grace
Virgin, yet a mother, clothed in sunlight now,
Mary, Israel's Lily, earth's dear mother thou.
Refrain

Mary, Star of ocean, light within the gloom,
Since the Holy Flower chose in thee to bloom;
Though so far above us, Mother, thou art ours,
In the world's hard conflict, in death's lonely hours.
Refrain

Unto our Creator, joyful songs we sing,
Unto Christ our Brother, thankful hearts we bring,
To the Holy Spirit, bow we and adore,
As doth faithful Mary, now and evermore.
Refrain

William Chatterton Dix, 19th cent.; alt.
Tune: HERMAS (6.5.6.5.D. with refrain)
Frances Ridley Havergal, 1871

The tune HERMAS, by Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879), is her most well-known composition, and probably the only tune of hers that people might recognize, though she wrote several more.


P.S. The painting above, The Assumption of Mary (1835), is by French painter Charles LeBrun, once called "the greatest French artist of all time" by King Louis XIV.



Eight Years Ago: Ye who claim the faith of Jesus

Seven Years Ago: Hail, holy Queen!

Six Years Ago: Sing, sing, ye angel bands

Five Years Ago: Virgin born, we bow before thee

Four Years Ago: Let today above all other

Three Years Ago:  Hail, Queen of heav'n, the ocean star

One Year Ago:  Behold her open grave, adorned

Saint Mary the Virgin

Today's feast day is celebrated in some places as a day to honor Mary in general, and in other places it is a more specific celebration of the Assumption, the day when Mary was taken up bodily (or 'assumed') into heaven.  That story does not appear in the New Testament, but grew out of accounts dating from the fourth century.

Today's anonymous hymn text comes from a Roman Catholic collection titled English and Latin Hymns (1884).  These two stanzas, part of a longer hymn, depict the fourth and fifth of the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, Mary's Assumption and Coronation in Heaven.

Behold her open grave, adorned

With blossoms fair and bright,

And friends who mourned for Mary stand

Enraptured with the sight.

They find her earthly body gone, 

Sweet roses in its place,

Assumed on high she leaves this world

And God will grant her grace.

To welcome Mary, queen of saints,

See countless angels throng,

Their glad 'Hail Mary!' rends the skies,

An anthem loud and long.

See, Jesus crowns his mother dear

With rays of dazzling light,

As saints and angels kneel and sing

That maiden Mother's might.

Anonymous, 19th cent.; alt.

Tune: AMBERLEY (C.M.D.)

C.H.H. Parry, 1904

P.S. The art above is detail from Assumption of the Virgin Mary by Annibale Carracci, circa 1600.


Seven Years Ago: Ye who claim the faith of Jesus

Six Years Ago: Hail, holy Queen!

Five Years Ago: Sing, sing, ye angel bands

Four Years Ago: Virgin born, we bow before thee

Three Years Ago: Let today above all other

Two Years Ago:  Hail, Queen of heav'n, the ocean star

Be It According to Thy Word

On this fourth Sunday in Advent many churches hear the lesson of the Annunciation, Mary's encounter with the angel Gabriel who brings news from God.  Mary famously says "yes" to God, perhaps more remarkably than we first realize for a young girl of no stature in her society, who would not have been able to make important decisions for herself.  And yet, she was chosen for this honor and agreed.

Today's hymn is by an old friend, Christopher Wordsworth, and comes from his collection The Holy Year (1865), containing appropriate hymns for each Sunday and major feast day of the church's liturgical year.  Originally published with twelve stanzas, I have brought it down to a more manageable four.

Today the angel comes, the same,
Who once of old to Daniel came;
Tidings of joy has Gabriel,
Tidings of thee, Emmanuel.

"Hail, highly favored! for of thee
Conceived and born a Child shall be,
Jesus our Savior, ever blest,
In human flesh made manifest."

"I am the servant of the Lord.
Be it according to thy word;"
With faith and forthright courage said
Mary, the highly favorèd.

May we thy living Word receive,
Bring forth to life what we believe;
O come to us, and with us dwell,
And be our souls' Emmanuel.

Christopher Wordsworth, 1864; alt.
Tune: ANGELUS (L.M.) 
Georg Joseph, 1657

While Gabriel's appearance to Mary is probably his most famous, he had previously visited Daniel in the eighth and ninth chapters of the Book of Daniel.


P.S. - The fifteenth-century painting below is The Annunciation by Filippo Lippi.


Six (Liturgical) Years Ago: Great Gabriel sped on wings of light

Five (Liturgical) Years Ago: Away! with loyal hearts and true

Two (Liturgical) Years Ago: Praise we the Lord this day

Saint Mary the Virgin

Many Roman Catholic, Episcopal, and Orthodox churches observe this feast day dedicated to Mary, the mother of Christ.  This hymn for the day begins with the same words as an ancient antiphon to Mary, Ave regina caelorum, which is still part of the daily office of the church.  It also refers to another title for her that you may have heard, the ocean star, or Star of the sea.

Hail, Queen of heav'n, the ocean star,
Guide of the wand'rer here below;
Thrown on life's surge, we claim thy care;
Save us from peril and from woe,
Mother of Christ, star of the sea,
Pray for the wand'rer, pray for me.

Sojourners in this vale of tears,
To thee, blest advocate, we cry,
Pity our sorrows, calm our fears,
And soothe with hope our misery.
Refuge in grief, star of the sea,
Pray for the mourner, pray for me.

And while to Christ who reigns above,
In Godhead One, in Persons Three,
The source of life, of grace, of love,
Honor we pay each day to thee.
Heavenly Queen, star of the sea,
Pray for all people, pray for me.

Latin; tr. John Lingard, 18th cent.; alt.
Tune: STELLA (8.8.8.8.8.8.)
Henri F. Hemy, 1851

Henri Frederic Hemy was a Roman Catholic composer, and this tune first appeared in his collection Easy Hymn Tunes for Catholic Schools (1851).  It it supposedly based on an English folk melody and has been matched with this text ever since.



Five Years Ago:  Ye who claim the faith of Jesus

Four Years Ago: Hail, holy Queen

Three Years Ago: Sing, sing, ye angel bands

Two Years Ago: Virgin-born, we bow before thee

One Year Ago: Let this day, above all other

The Favored of the Lord

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is sometimes at the center of worship on the last Sunday in Advent.  The story of the Annunciation, told in Luke 1:26-38 (subject of a separate feast day on March 25), describes the coming of the angel Gabriel to Mary to announce the birth of Christ.  Mary's agreement to bear this child sets events in motion to bring about the promised reign of God.

Today's anonymous hymn text was first published in a small collection called Hymns for the Festivals and Saints' Days of the Church of England in 1846.  Unlike many hymns of its day, the number of hymnals that include it has actually increased up to the present day.

Praise we the Lord this day,

This day so long foretold,

Whose promise shone with cheering ray

On waiting saints of old.

The prophet gave the sign
For faithful souls to read;
A virgin born of David’s line
Shall bear the promised seed.

Ask not how this should be,
But worship and adore,
Like her whom heaven’s majesty

Came down to shadow o’er.

Then Mary bowed her head
To hear the gracious word,

The maiden destined to become
The favored of the Lord.

Blessèd shall be her name
In all the Church on earth,
Through whom that wondrous mercy came,
Th'incarnate Savior’s birth.

O Jesus, Mary's son,
We praise thee and adore,
Who art with our Creator One
And Spirit evermore.

author unknown, 1846; alt.
Tune: WALMISLEY (S.M.)
Thomas Attwood Walmisley, 1853

Saint Mary the Virgin

The feast day of Saint Mary the Virgin (also known as the Assumption) is celebrated today (or was perhaps yesterday) in some churches. Though the story of Mary rising bodily into heaven is not told in the Bible, it dates back several centuries. One theory of its origin is that, although the bones and relics of the apostolic saints were venerated as early as the second century, there never were any claims of finding relics of Mary; therefore, her earthly body was no longer in this world.

We sing this hymn every year in my church when celebrating this feast, though it is not quite as focused on Mary as it is on Jesus (which makes it equally as appropriate for the Feast of the Presentation, when we also sing it). It is one of the posthumously-published hymns of Reginald Heber in his Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (1827).

Virgin-born, we bow before thee:
Blessed was the womb that bore thee;
Mary, Mother meek and mild,
Blessed was she in her Child.
Blessed was the breast that fed thee;
Blessed was the hand that led thee;
Blessed was the parent's eye
That watched thy slumbering infancy.

Blessed she by all creation,
Who brought forth the world's salvation,
And blessed they, for ever blest,
Who love thee most and serve thee best.
Virgin-born, we bow before thee;
Blessed was the womb that bore thee;
Mary, Mother meek and mild,
Blessed was she in her Child.

Reginald Heber, 1827
Tune: PSALM 86 (8.8.7.7.D.)
Claude Goudimel, 1564; adapt. 20th cent.

The tune comes from composer Goudimel's setting of Psalm 86 for a sixteenth century French psalter, which he adapted from an earlier tune. It was later used by Gustav Holst in a choral setting os the same psalm.


Three Years Ago: Ye who claim the faith of Jesus

Two Years Ago: Hail, holy Queen

One Year Ago: Sing, sing ye angel bands

Saint Mary the Virgin

August 15 is the feast day of Saint Mary the Virgin, or the Feast of the Assumption, or the Dormition of the Theotokos, depending on your church; different names all referring to the same event, the Mother of God going up to heaven following her death. The painting above is part of a huge fresco in Parma by the sixteenth century artist Antonio da Correggio, depicting Mary, borne aloft by angels, joining the saints.

For appropriate hymns, we generally have to turn to the Roman Catholic church, and I found this one in the Catholic Church Hymnal of 1905. Though it may not be sung anywhere but here today, its author is certainly remembered. Frederick William Faber was a convert to Catholicism from the Church of England and was one of the first to write new hymns in English for Catholics as opposed to translations from Latin.

Sing, sing, ye angel bands,
All beautiful and bright!
For higher still and higher,
Through fields of starry light,
The Queen of heav'n ascends,
Like the sweet moon at night.

A fairer flow'r than she
On earth has never been;
And save the throne of God,
Your heav'ns have never seen
A wonder half so bright
As your ascending Queen.

O happy angels, look!
How beautiful she is!
See, Jesus bears her up,
Her hand is locked in his;
Oh, who can tell the height
Of that fair Mother's bliss?

On then, dear pageant, on!
Sweet music breathes around;
And love, like dew distils
On hearts in rapture bound;
The Queen of heav'n goes up
To be proclaimed and crowned!

Frederick William Faber, c. 1861
Tune: ST. VERONICA (6.6.6.6.6.6.)
Francis H. Champneys, 1889

The picture below shows the ascending Mary with (I think) her hand held by her son, described here in the hymn but generally not a part of artistic depictions of the event.



Two Years Ago: Saint Mary the Virgin

One Year Ago: Saint Mary the Virgin

The Feast of the Visitation

Today marks the commemoration of the Visitation, the story told in Luke 1:39-56 of Mary's visit to Elizabeth that ends with the famous song we know as the Magnificat.

The Magnificat has been sung throughout history, though mostly in basic prose translations. It is a part of the Matins liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Vespers (sometimes called Evening Prayer or Evensong) in the Western Church. Hundreds of musical settings (if not more) have been composed, a fraction of which you can see at the ChoralWiki, and it has also been sung to simpler Anglican chant.

Most modern commentary on the Magnificat emphasizes the revolutionary theme of the text, how God will turn things upside down, raising up the fallen and casting down the oppressive powers of the world. This has inspired contemporary hymnwriters such as Timothy Dudley-Smith, in his hymn Tell out, my soul, which appears in many newer hymnals, and Miriam Therese Winter, in My soul gives glory to my God.

The earliest metrical version which was sung as a hymn may be this one from the Scottish Psalter of 1650 (slightly adapted).

My soul and spirit, filled with joy,
My God and Savior praise,
Whose goodness did from poor estate
This humble servant raise.

Me blessed of God, the God of might,
All ages shall proclaim;
From age to age God's mercy lasts,
And holy is God's name.

A pow'rful arm th'Almighty showed;
The proud God's looks abased;
God cast the mighty to the ground,
The meek to honor raised.

The hungry with good things were filled,
the rich with hunger pined;
God sent to blessed Israel help,
And mercy called to mind.

Which to our forebears' ancient race
God's promise did ensure,
To Abraham and Sarah's line,
Forever to endure.

Scottish Psalter, 1650; alt.
Tune: MAGNIFY (C.M.)
Calvin W. Laufer, 20th cent.

This tune by Calvin Laufer (with a rather appropriate name) was not actually written for this text, but for one he wrote, O magnify the Lord with me.

Two Years Ago: The Feast of the Visitation

The Feast of the Annunciation

The Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated today in many churches, commemorating the appearance of the angel Gabriel to Mary to give her the surprising news of her impending pregnancy (as told in Luke 1:26-38). It's nine months to Christmas! Some churches have moved that particular lesson into the season of Advent, while some will mark it on both occasions.

The hymn chosen here is not well known today, though it was one of the office hymns of the church as far back as the sixth century. The Latin text by Venantius Fortunatus was originally sung to plainchant but was also set to music by various composers, such as William Byrd. It begins:

Quem terra, pontus, aethera
colunt, adorant, praedicant,
trinam regentem machinam
claustrum Mariae baiulat.

This comes to us in English from Edward Caswall, published in his Hymns and Poems Original and Translated (1873).

Our God, whom earth and air and sea
With one adoring voice resound;
Who rules them all in majesty;
In Mary's heart a cloister found.

Lo! in a humble virgin's womb,
O'ershadowed by Almighty power;
God whom the stars and sun and moon,
Each serve in their appointed hour.

O Mary blest, to whom was giv'n
Within thy compass to contain
The Architect of earth and heav'n,
Whose hands the universe contain;

To thee was sent an angel down;
In thee the Spirit was enshrined;
From thee came forth the Mighty One,
The long-desired of humankind.

O Jesus, born of Mary bright,
Unending praise we sing to thee,
To the Creator infinite,
And Holy Spirit: wondrous Three.

Venantius Fortunatus, 6th cent.
tr. Edward Caswall, 1873; alt.
Tune: SHARON (L.M.)
Frederick A. Gore Ouseley, 1875

John Mason Neale translated this Latin text in his Hymnal Noted (1854) as The God whom earth and sea and sky, and his version (somewhat altered) is still in the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 but I liked Caswall's version better. Neale already gets plenty of exposure.

P.S. The window above with Mary and Gabriel is from the Lady chapel of my own church, older than the ones seen here before.

Two Years Ago: The Feast of the Annunciation

One Year Ago: Godfrey Thring

To Show God's Love Aright (Day Nine)

Moving away from the obscure for a day or two we come to a Christmas selection that I know is a favorite of many. More than four hundred years old, it comes from German Catholic origins, first published in Gebetbuchlein des Frater Conradus (1582) in nineteen stanzas. At that time it focused on Mary, comparing her to the Rose of Sharon from the Song of Solomon 2:1. In Cologne, a later hymnbook, Alte Catholische Geistliche Kirchengeseng (1599) published twenty-three stanzas.

Before long the hymn was taken up by the Protestants and reinterpreted to relate to Jesus. Some claimed that the German word "Ros," or rose actually should have been "Reis," or branch. This would correspond more closely to Isaiah 11:1.

The translation we know today, mostly from Theodore Baker, somehow or other combines both the Rose with the prophecy of Isaiah. An earlier translation by Catherine Winkworth (1869) remains closer to the Marian German origins of the text. Many of the German stanzas are also preserved online. Most American hymnals today only print these three.

Lo! how a Rose e'er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse's lineage coming,
As those of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.

Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind.
To show God's love aright,
She bore to us a Savior,
When half spent was the night.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
Divisions everywhere;
True flesh, yet very God,
From sin and death Christ saves us,
And lightens every load.

German carol, 15th cent.
tr. Theodore Baker (st. 1 & 2), 1894
Harriet Krauth Spaeth (st. 3), 1875; alt.
Tune: ES IST EIN ROS' (7.6.7.6.6.7.6.)
Cologne, 1599; harm, Michael Praetorius, 1609

Most people probably visualize a red rose when singing this hymn, and another legend about the origins of this carol tells how a German monk from Trier was walking through the woods in winter and found a rose in bloom growing up through the snow. He brought the miraculous flower back and placed it on the altar to the Virgin Mary, and the carol was first written by someone from that monastery. The flower pictured above, however, is the Christmas rose, which does apparently bloom in winter.

This week I came upon another stanza translated by Harriet Spaeth, sometimes used between the second and third one here. Looking further, I see that her full translation, in five stanzas, and generally used in older Lutheran hymnals, begins Behold, a Branch is growing (no Rose for her!). Some of you may know this one; I'm sure I've never sung it before.

The shepherds heard the story
Proclaimed by angels bright,
How Christ, the Lord of glory
Was born on earth this night.
To Bethlehem they sped
And in the manger they found him,
As angel heralds said.

I don't dislike it (the word sped falls in a fun place in the harmony), but I think we've had a lot of shepherds and angels this week, don't you?


One Year Ago: Elizabeth Rundle Charles

Her Own, Her Ancient Song

The story of Mary is another important part of the Advent season. Visited by an angel with a wonderful prophecy, she agreed to her part in it and to the profound change that would overtake her life. Her prophetic song from the first chapter of Luke, which we now know as the Magnificat, tells of the coming reign of justice and mercy foretold by God.

This carol from the nineteenth century first appeared in Carols For Use in Church (1894), collected by R.R. Chope and published in London. Along the journey to Bethlehem, Mary relies on her own song for comfort and relief, aware of its powerful message.

Away! with loyal hearts and true,
O’er hill and dale they pressed
Full four score weary miles, to do
The Cæsar’s high behest;
And Mary sang “Magnificat,”
Her own, her ancient song;
For well knew she that God’s decree
Was bearing her along,
Was bearing her along.

Away! through fields and meadows green,
O’er purple heather-bed,
By mountain pass, or dark ravine,
The faithful couple sped.
And soft and sweet, where’er they went,
To glad the weary way,
Sang Mary that “Magnificat,”
Her own, her ancient lay,
Her own, her ancient lay.

O’erhead the storm clouds often wept,
And tempests o’er them passed,
And cold around them often swept
The bleak December blast.
But still she sang “Magnificat,”
Through weather foul or fair;
For all was rest within her breast,
’Twas always sunshine there,
’Twas always sunshine there.

And when the pilgrimage was o’er,
And of their royal kin,
Not one would open wide the door,
And bid them enter in;
Still Mary sang “Magnificat,”
With ever joyful tone;
“Whate’er betide, our God,” she cried,
“Is mindful of God's own,”
“Is mindful of God's own.”

Worn out at last, and ill-bestead,
Right glad were they to find
Within a sorry cattle shed
A shelter from the wind.
And Mary sang “Magnificat”
Right through that wondrous night;
And, ere the birth of morn on earth,
Was born the Light of Light.
Was born the Light of Light.

Then let us all with one accord
Join Mary’s song and say,
“My soul doth magnify the Lord,”
For ever and for aye.
Loud let us sing “Magnificat,”
That dear and ancient lay,
For God’s own Son with us is one,
And Christ is born today;
And Christ is born today.

J.B. Gray, 1894; alt.
Tune: FORT POLK (C.M.D.)

Just stop and think of how much of the lore that we know about the Christmas season to come derives from just the brief section of Luke 2: 1-8. Author and composer Gray speculates a bit about Mary and Joseph's journey, but the carol still ends up in very familiar territory.



One Year Ago: The World So Long Had Waited

Saint Mary the Virgin

Mary the Mother of Jesus is commemorated today in the Episcopal calendar of saints; today is also marked in the Roman Catholic calendar as the Assumption of Mary.

Most Protestant denominations have a rather ambivalent relationship with Mary; she's allowed to surface in Advent and Christmas, then Good Friday, but is not often mentioned any other time of year. She is much more prominent in the Roman Catholic church, where she is seen as an intercessor between God or Jesus and the people on earth. Many Eastern churches, as well as the Anglicans, call her the Theotokos, the Godbearer, or Mother of God.

So it's to Catholic sources that we usually have to turn to find general hymns about Mary without bringing in Christmas or Advent, or standing at the foot of the cross on Good Friday. This one will be sung in a great many Catholic parishes this weekend.

Hail, Holy Queen enthroned above,
O Maria!
Hail, Mother of mercy and of love,
O Maria!
Triumph, all ye cherubim;
Sing with us, ye seraphim!
Heav'n and earth resound the hymn:
Salve, salve, salve Regina!

The source of joy to us below,
O Maria!
The spring through which all graces flow,
O Maria!
Angels, all your praises bring,
earth and heaven, with us sing,
All creation echoing:
Salve, salve, salve Regina!

Latin, 11th cent.
st. 1 tr. Roman Hymnal, 1884
st. 2 unknown
Tune: HAIL, HOLY QUEEN (8.4.8.4.7.7.7.4.5.)
Choralmelodien zum Heiligen Gesänge, 1808

This is known as a macaronic text, meaning that it incorporates two languages (English/Latin in this case); some Christmas carols do this too. Also, this hymn was introduced to many outside the Catholic faith when it was sung (in an even more energetic arrangement) in the Whoopi Goldberg film Sister Act (1992).

P.S. The illustration above is from the fifteenth-century Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck, in the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Belgium.

One Year Ago: Saint Mary the Virgin

The Feast of the Visitation

Mary's visit to her kinswoman Elizabeth, recorded in Luke 1:39-56, tells us of the importance of these two pregnant women. Elizabeth greets Mary with words that have come down through the ages: "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb." Mary responds with a prophetic song of praise that we know as the Magnificat.

My soul proclaims the greatness of our God,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;
who has looked with favor on this lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
You O God have done great things for me,
and holy is your Name.
You have mercy on those who fear you in every generation.
You have shown the strength of your arm,
and have scattered the proud in their conceit.
You have cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and have lifted up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich you have sent away empty.
You have come to the help of your servant Israel,
for you have remembered your promise of mercy,
The promise you made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and Sarah and their children for ever.
(Version by Frank Huber, 1999)

Taken out of the passage in Luke, Mary's song has been set to music thousands of times: in large choral works by composers such as J.S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi, in liturgical settings used in worship (Evensong in the Episcopal and Anglican traditions, and Matins in the Eastern Orthodox Church), and of course, as congregational hymns. The metrical version from the Scottish Psalter of 1650 begins:

My soul and spirit, filled with joy,
My God and Saviour praise,
Whose goodness did from poor estate
This humble handmaid raise.

Nearly 350 years later, Miriam Therese Winter of the Medical Mission Sisters wrote a version called My soul gives glory to my God, which appears in some newer hymnals.

Somewhere in-between (probably around 1708) Isaac Watts wrote his version of the Magnificat, broadening it from the song of one woman to a hymn for the congregation. Back in the twentieth century we adapted it for contemporary use, taking Watts's original (which subtly warned of Marian idolatry in one verse) and building on it.

Our souls shall magnify our God,
In God the Savior we rejoice;
While we repeat the Virgin's song,
May the same spirit tune our voice.

The Highest saw her low estate,
And mighty things God's hand has done
For Mary, chosen to become
The mother of the Promised One.

Let every nation call her bless'd,
Let endless years prolong her fame;
And God above shall be ador'd;
Holy and mighty is God's Name.

To those that hope and trust in God
Whose mercy stands for ever sure:
From age to age the promise lives,
And God's performance is secure.

God spake to Abr'am and his line,
"In thee shall all the earth be blest;"
From Sarah's child, through ages long
We see the promise manifest.

And now no more shall Israel wait,
No more the world shall lie forlorn:
Lo, the desire of nations comes;
Behold, the Savior Christ is born!

Isaac Watts, c. 1708; adapt.
Tune: TRURO (L.M.)
from Psalmodia Evangelica, 1789