The Feast of All Saints

Hark! the sound of holy voices,

Chanting at the crystal sea,

Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ, to thee;
Multitude, which none can number,
Like the stars in glory stand
Clothed in bright apparel, holding
Palms of victory in their hand.

Now they reign in heav’nly glory,
Now they walk in golden light,
Now they drink, as from a river,
Holy bliss and infinite:
Love and peace they taste forever,
And all truth and knowledge see
In the beatific vision
Of the blessèd Trinity.

God of God, the One begotten,
Light of light, Emmanuel,
In whose body joined together
All the saints forever dwell;
Pour upon us of thy fullness
That we may forevermore
Great Creator, risen Christ, and
Holy Spirit all adore.

Christopher Wordsworth, 1862; alt.
Tune: KNIGHTSBRIDGE (8.7.8.7.D.)
James Baden Powell, 1885




Four Years Ago: The Feast of All Saints

Three Years Ago: The Feast of All Saints

Two Years Ago: The Feast of All Saints

Saint Simon and Saint Jude

Another October 28 has come around, the commemoration of Saint Simon and Saint Jude.  General hymns about saints and martyrs are always appropriate for saints' days if one for the specific day is not available.  This hymn is a John Mason Neale translation of the medieval Latin text O beata beatorum.

Blessed feasts of blessed martyrs,
Holy women, holy men,
With affection's recollections,
Greet we your return again.
Mighty deeds are theirs, and wonders,
Worthy of the name they bore;
We, with joyful praise and singing,
Honor them for evermore.

Faith prevailing, hope unfailing,
Loving Christ with single heart,
Thus they, glorious and victorious
Bravely bore the martyr's part
By contempt of every anguish,
By far-ranging journeys done;
Victors at the last, they triumph
With the host of angels one.

Therefore, ye that reign in glory,
Fellow heirs with Christ on high,
Join to ours your praise and worship
When before him we draw nigh,
Praying that, this life completed,
All its fleeting moments past,
By his grace we may be gathered
To eternal bliss at last.

Latin, 12th cent.
tr. John Mason Neale, 1851; alt.
Tune: EVERTON (8.7.8.7.D.)
Henry T. Smart, 1867

Neale's original translation was a bit longer but it has been altered by many hands over the years.  His original last four lines may show why it is probably not considered to be his best work.  

That this naughty life completed,
And its transient labors past.
We may merit to be seated
In our Lord's bright home at last.

'Naughty' is probably not a word ever used in a hymn text outside, perhaps, some for Victorian-era children. Hymn texts are sometimes altered not only for theological reasons, or for modernization, but just because a generally-great poet sometimes needs a little help.

EVERTON is one of many tunes by Henry Smart, whose birthday this past Friday (October 26) has been marked a few times at this site.  Though the tune is no longer very well-known, there is nothing about it that should relegate it to forgotten status.



Four Years Ago: Saint Simon and Saint Jude

Three Years Ago: Saint Simon and Saint Jude 

Two Years Ago: Saint Simon and Saint Jude

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Today is the 140th birthday of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.  His home town of Down Ampney (in the Cotswolds) is planning a memorial concert of some of his works this evening.

He did not show any particular talent for composition at an early age, though he attended the Royal College of Music, studying with Charles Villiers Stanford. His first published piece, a secular song called Linden Lea, did not appear until he was thirty.  By the time of his death in 1958 he had compiled a very long list of compositions in nearly every possible form, from traditonal choral and instrumental works to scores for radio, film, and television.

Today's tune by Vaughan Williams first appeared in The English Hymnal (1906) which he edited and which contained many of hsi tunes and arrangements of English folk melodies.  This hymnal was extremely successful, adopted by many Anglican churches, and also very influential for future hymnal editors.  Not only many tunes of Vaughan Williams have survived, but also many of the text-tune combinations that were first matched in that book.

God be with you till we meet again;
May God's counsels guide, uphold you,
With the sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
When life’s perils thick confound you;
Put Love's arms unfailing round you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
'Neath God's wings protecting hide you;
Daily manna still provide you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
Keep Love’s banner floating o’er you,
Smite death’s threatening wave before you;
God be with you till we meet again.

Jeremiah E. Rankin, 1880; alt.
Tune: RANDOLPH (9.8.8.8.)
Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906

You may have sung this text to a rather different tune.  Author Jeremiah Rankin first published it in the American collection Gospel Bells (1880) where it was set to a gospel song tune (with a refrain "Til we meet at Jesus' feet") by William G. Tomer.  Rankin's text was written as a closing song for worship, based on "good-bye," which derives from "God be with you."  There are at least four additional stanzas which I have never heard sung.  One of these is this original final stanza:

God be with you till we meet again;
Ended when for you earth’s story,
Israel’s chariot sweep to glory;
God be with you till we meet again.




Four Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Four Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

Four Years Ago: Healey Willan

Three Years Ago: Ralph Vaughan Williams

Two Years Ago: Cecil Frances Alexander

Henry Alford

The Reverend Henry Alford, author, theologian, and hymnist was born today in 1810.  As recounted here before, he took a very early interest in hymns, writing his earliest texts while still a schoolboy, and compiling them into a collection at age eleven.

While serving as curate under his father, the rector of the Anglican congregation at , he began to educate the children in the parish, another interest he would cultivate throughout his life.

We have already seen a number of his more familair texts here, so today's is more obscure, and quite short.


O God, at whose divine command,
Good seed is sown in every land,
Your heavenly grace to us impart,
And for your Word prepare each heart.

So may it, while your sowers toil,
Fall in a good and honest soil;
And springing up from firmest root,
With patience bear abundant fruit.

Henry Alford, 1844; alt.
Tune: VOM HIMMEL HOCH (L.M.)
Geistliche Lieder, 1539

As we know, some churches use different kinds of hymns at different places in worship.  A hymn sung before the Gospel reading for the day is called in some traditions a sequence hymn, and sometimes specifically refers to the Word of God.  These hymns are also often shorter than the sort of hymns sung as opening or closing hymns, so a text of only two stanzas is not so unusual in this case.



Four Years Ago: Henry Alford

Three Years Ago: Henry Alford

Two Years Ago: Charles Crozat Converse

Saint MIchael and All Angels

The feast day of Saint Michael and All Angels, also known as Michaelmas, is one of the very few church feasts which is allowed to be transferred to the nearest Sunday in the Episcopal Church, so we will observe it tomorow at my chuirch with appropriate hymns, though we will not be singing this one, which I rather like, by two masters of English hymnody, Reginald Heber and Samuel Sebastian Wesley.

O Captain of God’s host, whose awesome might
Led forth to war the armèd seraphim,
And from the starry height,
Subdued in burning light,
Cast down that ancient dragon fierce and grim.

Saint Michael, Christ, we laud in solemn lays,
And all the angels of the crystal sky,
Who ’mid thy glory’s blaze
Their ceaseless anthem raise
And gird thy throne in faithful ministry.

Therefore with angels and archangels we
To thy dear love our thankful chorus raise,
And tune our songs to thee
Who art, and art to be,
And, endless as thy mercies, sound thy praise.

Reginald Heber, 1837; alt.
Tune: ST. MICHAEL NEW (10.10.6.6.10.)
Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1872

The (brief) story of Saint Michael and the dragon is from Revelation 12:7-12, one of the scripture readings for the day.


P.S. The image above is from a painting fo St. Michael fighting the dragon by the fifteenth-century painter Jean Fouquet.


Four Years Ago: Saint Michael and All Angels

Three Years Ago: Saint Michael and All Angels

Two Years Ago: Saint Michael and All Angels

Emma L. Ashford

I have written about Emma Ashford before on this date (see links below), but unfortunately have not unearthed anything new about her since.  However, in recent months a few people who are also interested in her work have visited the blog and left comments. (I now get many more readers who are searching for a particular writer or composer than those who are looking for the new material.)  One of those commenters has recorded several performances of Ashford's organ compositions and posted them on YouTube.

This is known as Emma Ashford's voluntary on Abide with me (a favorite of many), though of course it's really based on the tune EVENTIDE by composer William H. Monk rather than the text.  Chris S. performs it on a reed organ.



I have been having computer problems for a while now which have mostly curtailed posting but I hope to be back soon.


Four Years Ago: Emma L. Ashford

Two Years Ago: Emma L. Ashford 

Hymns in the News

According to an article in Salt Lake City's Deseret News, a hymn was spontaneouly sung yesterday afternoon  at a meeting during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.  US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was addressing the LDS Democrats Caucus and asked the group to join him in singing Have I done any good in the world today?  While this song is apparently well known in Mormon churches, it was actually written by gospel song writer Will L. Thompson, who is best known as the writer of Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.  You will probably be able to tell that there are some similarities in the two melodies.

Here's the song performed by (who else?) the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, with the text below.




Have I done any good in the world today?
Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.
Has anyone’s burden been lighter today
Because I was willing to share?
Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?
When they needed my help was I there?

Refrain

Then wake up and do something more
Than dream of your mansion above.
Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure,
A blessing of duty and love.

There are chances for work all around just now,
Opportunities right in our way.
Do not let them pass by, saying, “Sometime I’ll try,”
But go and do something today.
’Tis noble of man to work and to give;
Love’s labor has merit alone.
Only he who does something helps others to live.
To God each good work will be known.
Refrain

Will L. Thompson, 19th cent.

Four Years Ago: Amy Beach

Three Years Ago: Amy Beach

The Lodestone of Thy Love

It's the last unofficial weekend of summer and many churches all over will be starting their program years next week. Attendance is often down in the summer months and some people who haven't been around since June will return again. So today's hymn is a sort of gathering song for the busy times ahead as Sunday school teachers prepare to meet their classes and choirs and music directors look ahead to a busy Christmas season. 

Jesus, united by thy grace,
And each to each endeared,
With confidence we seek thy face
And know our prayer is heard.

Make us into one spirit drink;
Baptize into thy name;
And let us always kindly think,
And sweetly speak, the same.

Help us to help each other, Lord,
Each other’s burdens bear;
Let all their friendly aid afford,
And feel each other’s care.

Touched by the lodestone of thy love,
Let all our hearts agree,
And ever toward each other move,
And ever move toward thee.

To thee, inseparably joined,
Let all our spirits cleave;
O may we all the loving mind,
That was in thee receive.

And when the fullest joy is given,
The same delight we prove,
In earth, till when we rise to heav'n,
Our all in all be Love.

Charles Wesley, 1742; alt.
Tune: ST. FULBERT (C.M.)
Henry J. Gauntlett, 1849




Four Years Ago: Queen Liliuokalani

Three Years Ago: Queen Liliuokalani

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (August 29, 1809 - October 7, 1894) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and lived there for most of his life. Educated as a physician, he was for many years a professor or anatomy at Dartmouth College and Harvard Medical School, his alma mater.

There is always a "however" when Holmes's life is recounted, because his legacy has little to do with his education and occupation.  He is much more known today in the field of American literature and as a founder of the Atlantic Monthly magazine, which published many of his poems and essays.

Several of his poems have been adapted as hymns over the last century. Holmes is generally associated with the Unitarian faith, though his views on theology were perhaps even more broad than that denomination's reputation might suggest.  He once claimed that he "believed more than some and less than others."  The Episcopal Hymnal 1940 Companion says that several of his poems (sung as hymns in many churches) were "written in revolt against the merciless dogmas of his Calvinistic forefathers."

Today's hymn (the closing stanzas of a much longer poem) is certainly one of those texts in revolt.  Holmes presented it for the first time at the Unitarian Festival on June 2, 1882. Its theme of universal salvation (that everyone, regardless of religious belief, will be reconciled to God) renders this hymn unsingable in many places, and Hymnary.org finds it in only two hymnals published in the early twentieth century, but I think there are certainly churches where is could still be sung today.

Though scattered far the flock may stray,
Your own as Shepherd you shall claim -—
The saints who never learned to pray,
The friends who never spoke your name.

When shall the gathered church rejoice
Your word of promise to recall -—
One shelt'ring fold, one Shepherd's voice,
One great Creator over all?

Dear Savior, while we hear your voice
That says, "The truth shall make you free,"
Your people still by loving choice,
Help us sing praise eternally.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1882; alt.
Tune: WAREHAM (L.M.)
William Knapp, 1738



Four Years Ago: Oliver Wendell Holmes

Because God Leads the Way

In many churches today one of the assigned readings was Psalm 34. Today's hymn by Presbyterian hymn writer and composer Calvin Laufer is not really a paraphrase of that psalm, but it takes some of its language as a starting point.


O magnify the Lord with me,
All ye that bear God's name;
Whose faithfulness and sovereignty
Forever are the same.

God is the soul’s unfailing spring,
Its full orbed summer noon;
The autumn of its harvesting,
Its winter’s restful boon.

All times and seasons of the soul,
Revolve God's will around;
The universe itself pays toll
To make its life abound.

So is its life secure and free
Because God leads the way;
At length it shares eternally
With God the perfect day.

O sing with me, both young and old,
Of God's unchanging ways;
And let God's goodness manifold
Forever be our praise.

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

Calvin Weiss Laufer (1874-1938) was for many years the editor of musical publications for the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education and worked on several hymnals and songbooks, including the denomination's Hymnal of 1933.   Unfortunately, his hymns are no longer much used; I believe that only his tune HALL is included in Glory to God, the new Presbyterian hymnal coming out next year.

James M. Black

Gospel song writer and composer James Milton Black was born today in 1856 near Ithaca, New York. Not much of his early life is recorded, but near the start of his career he worked with song writer Daniel B. Towner, who was the music director at the Moody Bible Institute.

He began to write his own songs, both words and music, and later would write tunes for the texts of others.  He is reported to have written nearly 1,500 gospel songs, though, as we have seen with other prolific writers, the songs that were actually published may have been somewhat fewer.  Black also edited several collections of gospel songs.

Around 1881 he settled in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he would live until his death in 1938.  For several years he was active in the Pine Street Methodist Episcopal Church, where he served as a song leader and Sunday school teacher.

In spite of his great body of work, only one of his songs remains well-known today.  Hymnary.org has documented 332 hymnals and songbooks thus far that contain this song, and it is still appearing in new collections.

When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saints of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Refrain
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of the Resurrection share;
When the faithful souls shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
Refrain

Let us labor for the Savior from the dawn till setting sun,
Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care;
Then when all of life is over, and our work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
Refrain

James M. Black, 1893; alt.
Tune: THE ROLL (15.11.15.11.with refrain)

Black was extremely proud of this song, perhaps to a fault. He is said to have requested a large copyright fee to reprint it, claiming that it was "the greatest gospel song that has ever been written for the last twenty-five years."  Years later, he served on the committee that produced the Methodist Hymnal of 1905 (which did not include his famous song).

More recently,  Black has been erroneously credited in a number of books as the composer of a song made famous by Louis Armstrong, When the saints go marching in.  However, Black's song is actually When the saints are marching in, which bears no real resemblance to the other.

Saint Mary the Virgin

Let today above all other
Brightly shine; of Jesu's Mother
Now we celebrate her fame;
For, the Virgin Mary praising,
We today our songs are raising,
Bringing honor to her name.

All Earth's daughters she excelleth;
In the heav'ns where now she dwelleth
Christ her loveliness doth own;
Virgin, yet her Maker bearing,
In a mystery past comparing,
Maid and matchless Mother shown.

Unto our Creator glory,
Unto Christ, whose earthly story
With our Lady's is entwined;
Glory to the Spirit ever
Sing we with our best endeavor
All our strength of heart and mind.

Latin, 12th cent.; tr. T .I. Ball; alt.
Tune: COBB (8.8.7.8.8.7.)
Gerard F.Cobb, 19th cent.



Four Years Ago: Ye who claim the faith of Jesus

Three Years Ago: Hail, holy Queen

Two Years Ago:  Sing, sing, ye angel bands

One Year Ago: Virgin-born, we bow before thee

Sir Frederick A. Gore Ouseley

His full title was actually The Reverend Canon Sir Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley, Bart., and his birthday is today (born in 1825).  As I've written before, he was a musically precocious child who composed an opera at age eight.  Even earlier, at age five he reportedly observed that "Papa blows his nose in G!".

In spite of this early ability in music, he did not initially pursue formal training in composition.  Following his college education he was ordained in the Church of England in 1849 and only after that did he study for a Doctor of Music degree at Oxford, graduating in 1854.  Probably due to his first calling to the priesthood, his music was limited to sacred themes: anthems, two oratorios, service music and Anglican chants, and, of course, hymn tunes.  In his day, hymn tunes arranged from secular melodies were much more popular than they are today, and he wrote of them with disapproval:

"How can they result in aught but the disgust and discouragement of all musical churchmen, the misleading of the unlearned, the abasement of sacred song, the falsification of public taste, and (last, but not least) the dishonour of our God and his worship?"

Today's tune by Ouseley is perhaps in a style that is not always popular today (some musicians really dislike so-called "waltz tunes" but that can have more to do with how you play them than any deficiency in the tune itself).

There’s not a tint that paints the rose,
Or decks the lily fair,
Or streaks the humblest flow'r that blows,
But God has placed it there.

There’s not of grass a single blade,
Or leaf of loveliest green,
Where heav’nly skill is not displayed,
And heav’nly wisdom seen.

There’s not a star whose twinkling light
Shines on the distant earth
And cheers the silent gloom of night,
But God has giv'n it birth.

There’s not a place on earth’s vast round
In ocean deep, or air,
Where skill and wisdom are not found,
For God is everywhere.

Around, beneath, below, above,
As far as space extends,
Is God, the source of boundless love,
Whose pow'r with mercy blends.

James Cowden Wallace, 1825; alt.
Tune: CONTEMPLATION (C.M.)
Frederick A. Gore Ouseley, 19th cent.

I have used a few other tunes by Ouseley (click on his name in the tags below), but he is not well-loved by modern hymnal editors.  A new feature at Hymnary.org charts the prevalence of hymnal appearances for authors and composers, and you can see his decline (but, to be fair, most of his contemporaries chart similarly).

His more lasting legacy has been in the area of Anglican cathedral music standards.  Ouseley single-handedly founded a choir school , the College of St. Michael and All Angels in 1856 in Tenbury.  He intended for the school to set high standards and to serve as an example for others, and the effort was highly regarded over the next century.  When the school was finally forced to close in 1985 for financial reasons, the assets from the sale of the property were preserved as the Ouseley Trust, which still awards grants each year to support church music programs in England, Wales, and Ireland.



Four Years Ago: Joseph Barnby

Three Years Ago: Frederick A. Gore Ouseley

Two Years Ago: Joseph Barnby

Another Birthday Today: Katharine Lee Bates

Works of Love Surpassing Measure

Psalm 145 is one of the texts appointed for today in some lectionary cycles.  Today's psalm paraphrase, adapting the first ten verses,  is by Bishop Richard Mant of the Church of Ireland, published in his Book of Psalms in an English Metrical Version (1824).

God, my King, thy might confessing,
Ever will I bless thy name;
Day by day thy throne addressing,
Still will I thy praise proclaim.

They shall talk of all thy glory,
On thy might and greatness dwell,
Speak of thy dread acts the story,
And thy deeds of wonder tell.

Nor shall fail from memory’s treasure
Works by love and mercy wrought;
Works of love surpassing measure,
Works of mercy passing thought.

Full of kindness and compassion,
Slow to anger, vast in love,
God is good to all creation;
All thy works thy goodness prove.

All thy works, O God, shall bless thee;
Thee shall all thy saints adore:
King supreme shall they confess thee,
And proclaim thy sovereign pow'r.

Richard Mant, 1824; alt.
Tune: STUTTGART (8.7.8.7.)
Christian F. Witt, 1715
adapt. Henry J. Gauntlett, 19th cent.

The shortened summer service at my church does not include the reading of a Psalm, but we are singing this today (and few will realize that it is from today's missing reading).


Four Years Ago: Martha and Mary

Two Years Ago: Lazarus, Martha, and Mary

John Newton

John Newton (July 24, 1725 - December 21, 1807) will always be best remembered for the hymn Amazing grace.  His well-known conversion experience as an adult would eventually lead him to an active role in the anti-slavery movement in Great Britain.  Fortunately, he did live to see the abolition of slavery there in 1807, months before his death.

Newton's many hymn texts were published together in his collected Olney Hymns (1779) but they had been written over several years, usually to accompany one of his sermons delivered as the rector of Olney parish. We can assume that today's text came from Newton's preaching on the first section of the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Judges, an episode in the life of Samson. 

I don't believe that most of the book of Judges appears in modern lectionary cycles, and you may understand why if you read all the way to the end of Chapter 14.  I remember hearing about Samson in Sunday school, and of course his later encounter with Delilah is more well-known.  This hymn, according to Hymnary.org, only appeared in eight hymnals in the U.S., and none after the mid-nineteenth century. 

The lion that on Samson roared,
And thirsted for his blood;
With honey afterwards was stored,
And furnished him with food.

Believers, as they pace along,
With many lions meet;
But gather sweetness from the strong,
And from the eater, meat.

The lions rage and roar in vain,
For Jesus is their Shield;
Their losses prove a certain gain,
Their troubles comfort yield.

The lions roar but cannot kill,
Then fear them not, my friends;
They bring us, though against their will,
The honey Jesus sends.

John Newton, 1779
Tune: DUNFERMLINE (C.M.)
Scottish Psalter, 1615

It's unlikely that this will ever be revived, especially with no lectionary connection, but I thought it was interesting, and I do like hymns based on Bible stories.

Four Years Ago: John Newton

Three Years Ago: John Newton

Two Years Ago: John Newton

One Year Ago: John Newton

Saint Mary Magdalene

I have written before about Mary Magdalene on the occasion of her feast day today (as usual, you can check the links below), and about the scholarly confusion that has ensued over the years over just which "Mary" we're reading about at various points in the Gospels.

Not everyone agrees that the woman in Luke 7:36-38 is Mary Magdalene, though she often has been depicted as that woman in art and literature, as well as in today's hymn.  However, I decided to use this hymn text because it does go on to recount her witness to Jesus' crucifixion (when most of the disciples were in hiding).  And then I couldn't resist an addition of my own: a stanza honoring her role as "apostle to the apostles" on Easter morning.  This is an ancient concept which seems to have been (mostly) forgotten for a few centuries but is more often recognized in modern hymnody about Mary Magdalene.

The original Latin text was written by Cardinal Bellamine, probably in the fourteenth century, and used as an office hymn for this day ever since.  It begins:

Pater superni luminis,

Cum Magdalenam respicis, 

Flammas amoris excitas, 

Geluque solvis pectoris.

The English translation, constructed in the same meter by Edward Caswall (whose birthday I missed last week) may have first appeared in Lyra Catholica (1851), a prominent book of ancient Latin texts translated into English.

Creator blest! one glance of thine,

Whose eyes the Universe control,

Fills Magdalene with holy love,

And melts the ice within her soul.

Her precious ointment forth she brings,

Upon Christ's sacred feet to pour;

She washes them with humble tears;

And with her hair she wipes them o'er.

Impassioned to the Cross she clings:

Nor fears beside the tomb to stay;

Nought for its ruffian guard she cares,

For love has cast all fear away.

The morning breaks: He calls her name,

The pow'rs of death could not prevail; 

She hastes to tell the fearful twelve,

First to proclaim the glorious tale.

O Christ, thou very Love itself!

Blest hope of earth, through thee forgiv'n!

So touch our spirits from above,

That we may rise to thee in heav'n.

Riccardo Bellarmine, ca. 14th cent.;

tr: Edward Caswall, 1851; alt. (st. 4 C.W.S.)

Tune: PIXHAM (L.M.)

Horatio W. Parker, 1901

If you don't think that the ancient office hymns should be disturbed, feel free to leave out the fourth stanza, but it seems to me that the Cardinal could have included the idea.  However, for many years the primary educational value of Mary Magdalene was considered to be the story of the reformation of a "fallen woman."

P.S. - The statue above is South German in origin, by an unknown fifteenth-century artist, and currently in the collection of The Cloisters, a renowned museum in New York City.  It caught my eye because one of the stained glass windows in my church (depicting the Presentation) is also from the fifteenth century and was supposedly loaned to and on display at The Cloisters for several years in the 1930s and/or 40s.

Four Years Ago: Saint Mary Magdalene

Three Years Ago: Emily E. S. Elliott

Two Years Ago: Saint Mary Magdalene

God Mend Thine Every Flaw

The debate over the use of patriotic songs in church (and then calling them "hymns") has probably been going on for a very long time, as part of a larger tension between the desires of and allegiances to the church and those of and to the state.  Even Jesus was sometimes seen in opposition to Caesar, and the Old Testament recounts various events where God and earthly rulers were not, shall we say, on the same page.

Whether or not you sang the following on Sunday, in recognition of Independence Day here in the US, there was likely some discussion about it, either among those planning the service, or later, among those who attended.  Maybe both,  I sometimes fear that this is becoming an American equivalent to the UK's Jerusalem, something used in a vaguely patriotic way without any deeper examination.  And yet, a closer reading of the full text (rarely sung outside of churches, where everyone has the words in their hymnals) suggests that it's really a sort of prayer -- not a blindly patriotic and jingoistic song.  The text really looks to the future, where things will, with God's help, be better than they are today.

So, I guess I am just running it up the flagpole to see who salutes.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain;
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness,
And every gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.

Katharine Lee Bates, 1904
Tune: MATERNA (C.M.D.)
Samuel A. Ward, 1882

Katharine Lee Bates wrote the original version of this text in 1893, inspired by an excursion to the top of Pikes Peak, near Colorado Springs.  Originally titled America: A Poem for July 4, it was quite different from the text we know today.  She revised it extensively in 1904 and it soon began appearing in hymnals., coupled with a number of different tunes no one sings any more.  In 1910 it was first matched with the now-familiar MATERNA by Samuel Augustus Ward.  Ward's tune was originally written for the hymn O mother dear, Jerusalem, which is where the tune gets its name.

In 1880 Katharine Bates graduated from Wellesley College, then as now a college for women.  She returned to Wellesley as an instructor, then full professor, and then head of the English department.  She also had a long career as a writer of poetry, travel books and stories for children.  Bates lived for twenty-five years with Katharine Coman, who also taught at Wellesley (the first woman professor of statistics), and was later the dean.  Coman died of breast cancer in 1915, and Bates said of their relationship: So much of me died with Katharine Coman that I'm sometimes not quite sure whether I'm alive or not.  Seven years later she published Yellow Clover, a book of poetry "to or about my Friend."  

Bates is still remembered at Wellesley, as you can see from the college's homepage. Apparently they still sing America the beautiful at graduation, but with the line "and crown thy good with sisterhood."


Four Years Ago: God of creation, whose almighty hand

Two Years Ago: Many and great, O God

For You Have Set Me Free

One of the readings for this particular Sunday from the Revised Common Lectionary (used in many churches across various denominations) is Psalm 30.  In some places, the psalms are sung in metrical paraphrases (what most people would consider hymns) rather than read or chanted.

The following paraphrase of Psalm 30 is from The Psalter (1912), a collection chosen and assembled by several different subdivisions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States and Canada, working together. 

God, I will praise your name,
For you have set me free,
Nor suffered foes to claim
A triumph over me;
O Lord, my God, to you I cried
And you have health and strength supplied.

You have my soul restored
When I was near the grave,
And from the depths, O Lord,
You graciously did save;
O blessed saints, sing to the Lord,
God's holiness with thanks record.

God's wrath is quickly past,
God's favor lives for aye;
Though grief a night may last,
Joy comes at break of day;
In my prosperity secure
I said, “My peace shall still endure.”

The Psalter, 1912; alt.
Tune: GOPSAL (H.M.)
George Frederick Handel, c. 1750

The tune GOPSAL was indeed written by Handel, and is apparently not an arrangement from one of his other works.  In 1826, the composer Samuel Wesley (son of Charles Wesley and father of Samuel Sebastian Wesley) was cataloguing the music in the library of the Fitzwiliam Museum at Cambridge, and he discovered three tunes by Handel still in manuscript, never published.  Samuel described them in a letter to his wife:

"...fine Hymn-Tunes from Handel's own manuscript, and what is uncommonly fortunate, they are all set to my father's own words, so that my dear father's poetry must have highly delighted Handel."

GOPSAL, originally called THE RESURRECTION, accompanied Charles Wesley's hymn Rejoice, the Lord is King, and is still sometimes sung with that text.  Its new(er) name comes from Gopsal Hall, the former residence of Charles Jennens, who wrote the texts for some of Handel's choral works, including Messiah.