Strengthen With Thy Grace

On this day in 2017 we have a convergence of traditions. It's the Second Sunday in Lent on
the Christian calendar, and it's also the Feast of Purim on the Jewish calendar. Neither of
these days is tied to a specific date, so they rarely coincide.  And yet, we can bring them
together through one particular hymn.

Purim celebrates the story from the book of Esther, a woman born an Israelite but later

married to King Ahasuerus of Persia, who kept her origins a secret. At this time the Israelites 

were in exile in Persia. When Haman, an advisor to the king, devised a plot to kill all the

people of Israel, Esther defied convention by appearing before the king to plead for her

people (it was a capital offense to approach the king without permission). The eventual

deliverance of the Jews from the genocidal threat against them is marked by the joyful

celebration of Purim. Though Purim is a movable feast, it generally falls during the

Christian season of Lent.

Today's hymn dates from the sixth century, a text attributed to Pope Gregory the Great

(540-604), which begins:

Clarum decus jejunii

Monstratur orbi coelitus,

Quod Christus Auctor omnium

Cibis dicavit abstinens.

This was translated by Maurice Frederick Bell for the English Hymnal (1906). As was typical,

the text's illustrative exemplars from the Bible were all men, a conceit to which we need no

longer subscribe. In the revision below, the original third stanza (which you can see in the

full text here), referencing Daniel and John, was replaced by one about Esther, and

included in our original hymnal project for the Metropolitan Community Church.  

The glory of these forty days
We celebrate with songs of praise;
For Christ, by whom all things were made,
For us has fasted and has prayed.

Alone and fasting Moses saw
The loving God who gave the law;
And to Elijah, fasting, came
The steeds and chariots of flame.

So also Esther, at her hour,
For such a time was filled with pow'r
To go to the king, prepared to give
Her life, to let her people live.

Then grant us, Christ, like them to be
Full oft in fast and prayer with thee;
Our spirits strengthen with thy grace,
And give us joy to see thy face.

Creator, Christ, and Spirit blest,
To thee be every prayer addressed,
Whom grace and pow'r doth freely share,
With all who turn to thee in prayer.

Gregory the Great, Latin, 6th cent.;

tr. Maurice F. Bell, 1906; alt.

st. 3 Steve Carson, 1989

Tune: ERHALT UNS, HERR (L.M.)

Joseph Klug, 1543;

harm. J. S. Bach, 18th cent.
stanza3 Copyright © 1989 Steve Carson

Oddly enough, March 12 was also the original feast day of Gregory the Great (the date
of his death), but in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church moved it to September 3 (the
date of his elevation to Pope). So we actually have a triple convergence today.

Though I have sung this hymn many times (most recently at a 2015 hymn festival
celebrating the women of the Bible), I was not aware of the Lent/Purim relationship
until a few years ago, but I have no doubt that my friend Steve Carson knew when he
chose Esther to be the woman included in this hymn.



Eight Years Ago: Paul Gerhardt

Seven Years Ago: Robert Lowry

Six Years Ago: Paul Gerhardt

Another Female Stanza Substitution: Jesus calls us o'er the tumult

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

Adelaide Anne Procter

In her day, the poet Adelaide Anne Procter (1825-1864) was second in popularity only to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and was a favorite of Queen Victoria. One of her poems, The Lost Chord, became even more well-known after her death when it was set to music as a parlor song by Sir Arthur Sullivan and its sheet music became a Victorian bestseller. 

She reportedly wrote poetry from an early age (her father was also a poet), and her first published poem came out in 1843, in the magazine Heath's Book of Beauty. Ten years later her poems began to appear in Charles Dickens' periodical Household Words. Since Dickens was a family friend, she had used the pseudonym of "Mary Berwick" to avoid any hint of favoritism, and he didn't discover her true identity for nearly two years. Eventually, her poems would make up about one-sixth of the verse that was published in Household Words throughout its lifetime.

In 1851 Adelaide and her sister joined the Roman Catholic Church and her poems start to reflect Catholic themes and theology, with a particular interest in the Virgin Mary. Her third book of poetry, A Chaplet of Verses (1862), was published to benefit the Providence Row Night Refuge for homeless women and children, the first such shelter in England to be sponsored by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy. Many of the poems in this book deal with Christian responsibility toward the poor. In the introduction to the book, she recounts the origin of the shelter two years earlier, describes its workings, solicits additional donations to support its work, and prays for its continued success:

May the Mother who wandered homeless through inhospitable Bethlehem, and the Saint who was a beggar and an outcast upon the face of the earth, watch over this Refuge for the poor and desolate, and obtain from the charity of the faithful the aid which it so sorely needs.

She did not, perhaps, intend for her poetry to be sung, but hymnal editors started to include some of her poems in their collections. Today's lesser-known Eucharistic hymn also comes from A Chaplet of Verses.

Give us our daily Bread,
O God, the bread of strength!
For we have come to know
The needs we have at length.
We need your Presence here,
Your people must be fed;
Give us your grace, O God,
To be our daily Bread.

Give us our daily Bread
To cheer our fainting soul;
The feast of comfort, God,
And peace, to make us whole:
For we are sick of tears,
The useless tears we shed;
Now give us comfort, God,
To be our daily Bread.

Give us our daily Bread,
The bread of angels, Lord,
By us, so many times,
Broken, betrayed, adored:
From grace and comfort comes
The feast that Jesus spread:
Give him — our life, our all —
To be our daily Bread!

Adelaide Ann Procter, 1862; alt.
Tune: DENBY (6.6.6.6.D.)
Charles J. Dale, 1904

Procter considered her philanthropic deeds to be much more important than her poetic words. The "useless tears we shed" in the second stanza above may reflect her own preference for action over contemplation or regret. A long and interesting poem in A Chaplet of Verses titled The Homeless Poor lays out the conflict between words and deeds in a dialogue between two angels talking about how best to meet the needs of the destitute. That one is called the Angel of Prayers and the other the Angel of Deeds may give you a clue to the final determination.

She fully demonstrated her own commitment to deeds over words, contracting tuberculosis during her work with the poor of London.  She suffered with the disease for fifteen months before her death on February 2, 1864 (coincidentally, the Feast of the Purification, which she called Mary's "first feast" of the year in her poem Christmas Flowers).



Eight Years Ago: Christopher Wordsworth 

Seven Years Ago: Adelaide Anne Procter 

Six Years Ago: Adelaide Anne Procter

Two Years Ago: Christopher Wordsworth

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) is commemorated today, the anniversary of his death, on various calendars of saints.  He entered monastic life in France at the age of twenty-two and rose in the ranks to head two different communities during his life, and founded many others.  His spiritual influence was said to be exceptionally strong, as four of his brothers, his uncle, and his father all eventually became monks, as well as the son of the King of France and many other men that he encountered. He refused to see his married sister when she tried to visit him, and after the death of her husband she too joined a convent. In Romance of Psalter and Hymnal (1889), author Robert Ethol Welsh writes: "Mothers hid their sons, wives their husbands, companions their friends, lest they should fall under his fascinating influence."

The sacred poetry attributed to him has been translated into several languages and adapted into hymns that appear across many denominations. Usually, the hymns are shorter sections of longer poems.  We have seen some of his familiar hymns here before, notably O sacred head and Jesus, the very thought of thee.

His devotion to the Passion of Christ (seen explicitly in the poem from which O sacred head was derived) is sometimes expressed in images of himself holding either a cross or a sponge on a pole (representing one of Jesus' seven last words, "I thirst"). I believe that the stained glass above might include a stylized sort of sponge, as well as a book representing his writings.

Today's hymn, no doubt also taken from a longer poem of Bernard's, is only documented as appearing in The College Hymnal (1876), which was prepared and published for use at Yale University, but it probably appeared in other hymnbooks. Unfortunately, the translator is not identified in the Yale collection.

O Christ, in whom our love shall find
Its rest and perfect end,
O Jesus, Joy of humankind,
And our eternal Friend:

May every soul your love return
And strive to do your will;
And, keeping your commandments, learn
To love you better still.

Grant us, while here on earth we stay,
Your love to feel and know;
And when from here we pass away,
To us your glory show.

Bernard of Clairvaux, 12th cent.; tr. unknown; alt.
Tune: ST. BERNARD (C.M.)
Tochter Sion, 1741; arr. John Richardson, 19th cent.

John Richardson (1816-1879) was a Roman Catholic organist in England who arranged or harmonized this German tune, and probably named it to accompany a translated text of St. Bernard (not necessarily this one).


Eight Years Ago: Bernard of Clairvaux

Six Years Ago: Bernard of Clairvaux

Saint Mary Magdalene

The saints of the church do not often appear in the modern day 24 hour news cycle, yet Mary Magdalene, whom we commemorate today on the calendar of saints, was the topic of several articles last month when the Roman Catholic church raised the classification of her day from "memorial" to "feast," on par with the twelve apostles. She was described as "an example of true and authentic evangelization; she is an evangelist who announces the joyful central message of Easter."  Or, as she was described by Saint Thomas Aquinas, "apostle to the Apostles."

In fact, she is more well-known than several of the other apostles, about whom little is actually told in scripture, though it is only in recent years that scholars have untangled her story, rejecting the characterization of her as a prostitute, or "fallen woman."  Also, that she is not the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus' feet and wipes them with her hair (Luke 7: 36-50). 

Today's hymn comes from John Newton (whose birthday is coming up this Sunday), telling of Mary's joyful reunion with Jesus on Easter morning.

Mary to her Savior’s tomb
Hastened at the early dawn;
Spice she brought, and sweet perfume,
But her Lord, the Loved, was gone.
For awhile she weeping stood,
Struck with sorrow and surprise;
Shedding tears, a plenteous flood,
For her heart supplied her eyes.

Jesus, who is always near,
Though too often unperceived
Came, his suff'ring child to cheer,
And inquired why she grieved?
Though at first she knew him not,
When he called her by her name,
Then her griefs were all forgot,
For she found he was the same.

Christ, who came to comfort her,
When she thought her all was lost;
Will for your relief appear,
Though you now are tempest-tossed:
On his Word your burden cast,
On his love your thoughts employ;
Weeping for awhile may last,
But the morning brings new joy.

John Newton, 1779; alt.
Tune: ABERYSTWYTH (7.7.7.7.D.)
Joseph Parry, 1876

In stanza 2, the word "inquired" should probably be pronounced "in - qui - red" (like the color) - rather than "in - qui - ured."

I could wish that Newton had gone a bit farther in the story, incorporating the "apostle to the Apostles" theme (as Charles Wesley did), but at least there's no "fallen woman" language, which often appeared in older hymns.  Modern hymnwriters are writing new texts about Mary Magdalene, leaving out the now-discredited parts of her story.



Eight Years Ago: Saint Mary Magdalene

Seven Years Ago: Emily E. S. Elliott 

Six Years Ago: Saint Mary Magdalene

Four Years Ago: Saint Mary Magdalene

Three Years Ago: Saint Mary Magdalene

Other Mary Magdalene Hymns:

Lift your voice rejoicing, Mary
             
Resting from his work today

The Glorious Beauty of Thy Name

For the Second Sunday in Lent I'm returning to Hymnal: A Worshipbook (1992), a collection that I wrote about last summer and intended to get back to at some point. Today's hymn appears in the section titled "Faith Journey: Confession/Repentance", which certainly seems appropriate for Lent.  The hymn first appeared in Hymns for Missions (1854), a small collection compiled by Henry Augustine Collins, who also wrote the text.

Jesus, my Lord, my God, my All,
Hear me, blest Savior, when I call;
Hear me, and from thy dwelling place
Pour down the riches of thy grace;
Jesus, my Lord, I thee adore;
O make me love thee more and more.

Jesus, too late I thee have sought;
How can I love thee as I ought?
And how extol thy matchless fame,
The glorious beauty of thy name?
Jesus, my Lord, I thee adore;
O make me love thee more and more.

Jesus, what didst thou find in me
That thou hast dealt so lovingly?
How great the joy that thou hast brought,
So far exceeding hope or thought!
Jesus, my Lord, I thee adore;
O make me love thee more and more.

Jesus, of thee shall be my song;
To thee my heart and soul belong;
All that I have or am is thine;
And thou, sweet Savior, thou art mine;
Jesus, my Lord, I thee adore;
O make me love thee more and more.

Henry Augustine Collins, 1854
Tune: ADORO TE (8.8.8.8.8.8.)
Joseph Barnby, 1871

Collins was ordained in the Church of England, but converted to Roman Catholicism in 1857, perhaps influenced by the Oxford Movement.  In 1860 he joined the monastic order of the Cistercians and went to live at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey until 1882, when he became chaplain to the nuns at the Holy Cross Abbey in Dorsetshire.


Eight (Liturgical) Years Ago: Unto the hills around do I lift up

Seven (Liturgical) Years Ago: Turn back, turn back

Saint Cecilia

November 22 marks the commemoration of the patron saint of music, Saint Cecilia, in some places.  Her connection to music is perhaps a bit more tenuous than some of the legends which have sprung up around her would suggest, but it is that connection which is most remembered today.

Oh, let the organ swell the lay,
In honor of this festive day;
Let earth's harmonious choirs proclaim
Cecilia's ever-blessed name.

Rome gave the virgin martyr birth,
Whose holy skill has filled the earth,
And from the early dawn of youth,
She fixed herself on song and truth.

Then, from the world's bewild'ring strife,
In peace she spent her holy life,
Teaching the organ to combine
With voice, to praise the Lamb divine.

Cecilia, with a two-fold crown
Adorned in heav'n, we pray, look down,
Upon us exiled here below,
On earth your music here bestow.

Charles Constantine Pise, 1851; alt.
Tune: EASTWICK (L.M.)
T. Tertius Noble, 1900

I believe the "two-fold crown" refers to her standing as both virgin and martyr.

The Reverend Charles Pise, an American, was ordained in the Roman Catholic Church in 1825 and served parishes in Washington DC and Brooklyn.  He was also the first Catholic chaplain of the US Senate who served for a term.  This hymn was first published when added to an American edition of Edward Caswall's Lyra Catholica in 1851.


P.S. One of the most unusual tributes to Cecilia was recorded by the Andrews Sisters during World War II: The Shrine of St. Cecilia, which can be heard on YouTube.


Seven Years Ago: If Jordan Above Me Shall Roll

Six Years Ago: Saint Cecilia

Five Years Ago: Successive Cecilias

Seven (Liturgical) Years Ago: The Feast of Christ the King

Five (Liturgical) Years Ago: The Feast of Christ the King

Three (Liturgical) Years Ago: The Feast of Christ the King

Saint Hildegard

Today in some churches the feast day of Hildegard of Bingen (c.1098-1179) is celebrated. Hildegard was a Christian mystic, and an abbess of the Benedictine order at Disibodenberg, in Germany. She was also a writer, philosopher, and botanist, and most especially for our purposes, a composer, one of the oldest composers whose work we still know today.  Her music has been extensively researched, particularly in the last thirty years or so, and many works have been recorded.

There are a number of modern hymn texts, that have been derived from her life, her poetry, and her theology -- perhaps the best known being O Holy Spirit, root of life by Jean Janzen. Today's text below dates from the nineteenth century and is a translation of her poem O ignis Spiritus Paracliti, also about the Holy Spirit.  Richard Frederick Littledale translated many texts from Greek, Latin, and other languages, the most well known being Come down, O love divine.

O Fire of God, the Comforter,
O life of all that live,
Holy art thou to quicken us,
And holy, strength to give:
To heal the broken-hearted ones,
Their deepest wounds to bind,
O Spirit of all holiness,
Thou Love of humankind!
O sweetest taste within the breast,
O grace upon us poured,        
That saintly hearts may give again
Their perfume to the Lord.

O purest fountain! we can see,
Clear mirrored in thy streams,
That God brings home the wanderers,
That God the lost redeems.
O breastplate strong to guard our life,
O bond of unity,
O dwelling-place of righteousness,
Save all who trust in thee:        
O surest way, that through the height
And through the lowest deep
And through the earth dost pass, and all
In firmest union keep.

From thee the clouds and ether move,
From thee the moisture flows,       
From thee the waters draw their rills,
And earth with verdure glows,
And thou dost ever teach the wise,
And freely on them pour
The inspiration of thy gifts,
The gladness of thy lore.
All praise to thee, O joy of life,
O hope and strength, we raise,
Who givest us the prize of light,
Who art thyself all praise.

Hildegard; tr. Richard F. Littledale; alt.
Tune: NOAH (8.6.8.6.8.6.D.)
Hubert P. Main, 19th cent. 

This is perhaps not exactly the right tune for this text, but the meter is an unusual one and there aren't many choices among the available sound files.

Hildegard has long been regarded as a saint in Germany, but it was not until May 2012 that her sainthood was officially recognized by the Roman church. Later that year, in October, she was also named a Doctor of the Church, one of four women among the total of  thirty-five.



Five Years Ago: Josiah Conder

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

The Feast of the Epiphany

Twelve days after Christmas we come again to the Feast of the Epiphany, marked by the familiar story of three royal visitors to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12).  

Many churches probably celebrated this occasion yesterday but there will be some service today in various places.

Lo! the pilgrim magi
Leave their royal halls,
And with eager footsteps
Speed to Bethlehem's walls;
As they onward journey,
Faith, which firmly rests,
Built on hope unswerving,
Triumphs in their breasts.

Refrain: 
Praise to the Creator,
Fount of Life alone;
who unto the nations,
made Christ's glory known.

O what joy and gladness
Filled each heart, from far
When, to guide their footsteps,
Shone that radiant star;
O'er that home so holy,
Pouring down its ray,
Where the cradled infant
With his mother lay.
Refrain

Costly pomp and splendor
Earthly kings array;
Christ, a mightier Monarch,
Hath a nobler sway;
Straw may be his pallet,
Mean his garb may be,
Yet with power transcendent
He all hearts can free.
Refrain

At his crib they worship,
Kneeling on the floor,
And their God there present,
In that babe adore;
To our God and Savior
We, as seekers true,
Give our hearts o'erflowing,
Give our tribute due.
Refrain

Charles Coffin, 1736;
tr, John David Chambers, 1857; alt.
Tune: ARMAGEDDON (6.5.6.5.D. with refrain)
Luise Richardt, 19th cent.;
adapt. John Goss, 1871 

The Roman Catholic Charles Coffin wrote his hymns in Latin, most for the Paris Breviary (1736).  We saw a much more familiar Epiphany hymn by Coffin a few years ago.

Luise Reichardt (1779-1826), born in Berlin, was the daughter of two composers, Juliane Reichardt and Johann Friedrich Reichardt.  One of her grandfathers had been concert master in the court of Frederick the Great.  Her earliest published songs appeared in 1800 in a collection of her father's work.  This particular melody was adapted into a hymn tune by John Goss, and has been used most often with the text Who is on the Lord's side.




Five Years Ago: Saw you never, in the twilight

Four Years Ago:  Earth has many a noble city

Three Years Ago: What star is this, with beams so bright

Two Years Ago: As with gladness those of old

One Year Ago:  O thou, who by a star didst guide

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