Church Music

When I looked at this hymn previously, I made the mistake of thinking the setting I knew was the one all Catholics knew. Luckily, Mary at Godsongs let me know the wider picture.

Still, the New Living Parish Hymn Book selected REX as well, and so did The Australian Hymn Book, Together in Song and Gather Australia, so maybe it is at least the one used more in Australia.

The text is by Patrick Brennan (with a little bit of “alt” going on) and the setting, REX, is by William Henry Grattan Flood. It is a natural hymn for Christ the King. The text below is what is printed in the NLPHB.

It is also commonly set to ST GEORGE’S WINDSOR by George Elvey and KING DIVINE by C.W. Rigby.

Chris at Liturgy Share has many resources for this hymn.

My fake BIAB organ backing is a little tidier this time:

1 Hail Redeemer, King divine!
Priest and Lamb, the throne is thine,
King, whose reign shall never cease,
Prince of everlasting peace.

Refrain

Angels, saints and nations sing :
“Praise be Jesus Christ our King;
Lord of life, earth, sky and sea,
King of love on Calvary”.

2 King, whose name creation thrills,
Rule our hearts, our minds, our wills,
Till in peace, each nation rings
With thy praises, King of kings.

Refrain

3 King most holy, King of truth,
Raise the lowly, guide the youth;
Christ thou King of glory bright,
Be to us eternal light.

Refrain

4 Shepherd-king, o’er mountains steep,
Homeward bring the wandering sheep;
Shelter in one royal fold
states and kingdoms new and old.

Refrain

REX

ST GEORGE’S WINDSOR

KING DIVINE

I covered this C19 hymn in a desultory fashion once before here, but since my home parish is now Star of the Sea, George Town, Tasmania, I really should do a bit more. We are near the Bell Bay port and many seafarers pass us by and have done so for many years, so here is a prayer for those wanderers.

John Lingard’s text was inspired by the chant Ave Maria Stella. It is set to STELLA by Henri Freidrich Hemy, a gentleman who failed to make his way in Australia in the 1850s and had to settle for a return to England and fame as a musician.

I’m sure this song has more YouTube clips than any other hymn – I have a selection below.

This hymnal has John de Luca’s arrangement, but alas this backing I made is still just my fake BIAB organ.

1 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.

2 O gentle, chaste, and spotless maid,
We sinners make our prayers through thee;
Remind thy Son that He has paid
The price of our iniquity.
Virgin most pure, star of the sea,
Pray for the sinner, pray for me.

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

4 And while to him who reign above,
In Godhead one, in Persons Three,
The source of life, of grace, of love,
Homage we pay on bended knee;
Do thou, bright Queen, star of the sea,
Pray for thy children, pray for me.

Goodness, this sheet music is in Eb – de Luca sensibly brought it down to C – thanks be to God.

As editor of the New Living Parish Hymn Book, John de Luca sparingly used the opportunity to put his own compositions in the hymn book.

This is his setting of the Hail Mary.

I made two backings but his work deserves better:

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb: Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

Pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

His setting is exceptionally put of print so here is the sheet music. I’d be intrigued at any organist’s comments on their late colleague’s work.

‘

Going through John de Luca’s New Living Parish Hymn Book is an introduction to me of some traditional Catholic Hymns that I have never come across before.

This one is a Lenten Eucharistic hymn with a C18 Italian text by St. Alphonsus Liguori (Viva! Viva! Gesu) translated by Frederick William Faber (C19) and here set to INNSBRUCK by Heinrich Isaac, a very old tune − early C16!

Godsongs has commentary.

My backing is more fake BIAB organ using made up chords derived from the organ music.

1 Hail! Jesus, hail! who for my sake

Frail flesh from Mary’s womb did take,

And shed you blood for me:

Oh, blessed be my Saviour’s blood,

My life, my light, my only good,

To all eternity.

2 To endless ages let us praise

The precious blood, whose price could raise

The world from wrath and sin;

Whose streams our inward thirst appease

And heal the sinner’s worst disease,

If he but bathe therein.

3 O, sweetest blood that can implore

Pardon of God, and heaven restore,

The heav’n which sin had lost;

While Abel’s blood for vengeance pleads,

What Jesus shed still intercedes

For those who wrong Him most.

4 Oh, to be numbered with the throng

Of those who chant the angel’s song,

And at the Lamb’s feast sing:

The multitude of those washed clean

In Jesus’s blood, a host unseen,

Yet closest to the King.

5 Ah, there is joy amid the saints,

And hell’s despairing courage faints,

When this sweet song we raise:

Oh, louder, then, and louder still,

Earth with one mighty chorus fill,

Earth with one mighty chorus fill,

The precious blood to praise!

Some proper organ:

This is a curiously affecting old Eucharist hymn that was quite new to me. It has special resonance for Holy Thursday.

The text is by St Thomas Aquinas as translated by Ronald Knox and it is set to SACRIS SOLEMNIS, a Downside melody.

Godsongs has some background here.

I made up chords based on the sheet music and made a backing:

1 Greet we this mystery yearly returning;
Still does its history set our hearts burning;
Gone are the former things, all shall be new again,
Thoughts, words, actions be true again.

2 Christ in the sight of his brethren reclining
On that last night of his, gave them for dining
Bread where no leaven was, lamb that was slain for them,
So did Moses ordain for them.

3 Thence this unaltering sacrifice fioweth;
Still his unfaltering grace he bestoweth
Where priests do consecrate, worthily taking it,
Then to Christians breaking it.

4 Man makes repast in this banquet supernal;
Shadows fade fast in this sunlight eternal;
Wondrous our heritage, Lord, in receiving thee,
Earth’s poor slaves — yet believing thee.

5 O gracious Trinity, fill, we implore thee,
With thy Divinity hearts that adore thee;
Dwelling in light, to that light bring us home again,
From thy paths ne’er to roam again.

I did cover this song by Sister Anne Kelly in the Praise to God Parish Hymn book, but I warn you the backings I made there took the suggestion that is was a march a little too far.

This is a still a stirring entrance. John de Luca has made his own arrangement and made the chords more interesting as is his wont.

I made a backing that is better than the last time:

Refrain

Great is the Lord! Acclaim him all you peoples,
Great is the wonder of our God.

1 Enter his courts with praise. Hasten and enter,
Eager to render thanks for his unbounded love.

2 Come, then, with confidence, open and trusting,
Ready to offer all to his unbounded power.

3 When we have entered in, joyful, triumphant,
Then to the Father cry in one unbounded praise.

4 Dwell in his presence here, humble and willing,
Grateful, with all his saints, for his unbounded love.

I previously looked at this one in OCP’s Guitar Accompaniment Book, which kindly made the chant metrical.

The New Living Parish Hymn Book had John de Luca’s own arrangement of PLAINSONG ADORE TE DEVOTE a C17 chant. He did the Latin version earlier as number seven in this hymn book.

The text is attributed to Thomas Aquinas (C13) as translated by Gerald Manley Hopkins C19), so we are in exalted company.

The fake BIAB organ backing I made is my fault and no reflection on de Luca’s arrangement.

1. Godhead here in hiding, whom I do adore
Masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more,
See, Lord, at thy service low lies here a heart
Lost, all lost in wonder at the God thou art.

2. Seeing, touching, tasting are in thee deceived;
How says trusty hearing? that shall be believed;
What God’s Son hath told me take for truth I do;
Truth himself speaks truly, or there’s nothing true.

3. On the Cross thy Godhead made no sign to men;
Here thy very manhood steals from human ken;
Both are my confession, both are my belief,
And I pray the prayer of the dying thief.

4. I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
This faith each day deeper faith be my holding of,
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.

5. O thou our reminder of Christ crucified,
Living Bread, the life of us for whom he died,
Lend this life to me then; feed and feast my mind,
There be thou the sweetness man was meant to find.

6. Jesu, whom I look at shrouded here below,
I beseech thee send me what I thirst for so,
Some day to gaze on thee face to face in light
And be blest for ever with thy glory’s sight.
Amen.

Listen to a lovely acapella version here.

There are lots of version on the Youtubes – here are a few.

I covered this from its appearance in CWB I, only last year but it also turned up here in the New Living Parish Hymn Book.

It’s a French hymn with a text by Didier Rimbaud SJ and was translated by Ronald Johnson and Brian Wren. the tune is DIEU, NOUS AVONS VU TA GLOIRE by Jean Langlais.

Repeating it here lets me do a backing on BIAB organ, but the tune is fiddly and goes too high for an assembly to manage even in the refrain. It is a choir piece.

Refrain:
God, your glory we have seen in your Son,
full of truth, full of heavenly grace;
in Christ make us live, his love shine on our face,
and the nations shall see in us the triumph you have won.

1 In the fields of this world his good news he has sown,
and send us out to reap till the harvest is done.

2 In his love like a fire that consumes he passed by,
the flame has touched our lips: let us shout, ‘Here am I!’

3 He was broken for us, God-forsaken his cry,
and still the bread he breaks: to ourselves we must die.

4 He has trampled the grapes of new life on his cross;
now drink the cup and live: he has filled it for us.

5 He has founded a kingdom that none shall destroy;
the corner-stone is laid: go to work, build with joy!

It appears that this Christmas Carol is one I have never covered.

The text and music are noted to be of traditional English origin.

The text below has some emendations as found in this hymnal.

This is a fine tune and text and I suspect it may be avoided in church because of a lost comma and changes in the meanings of English words over centuries. The gentleman aren’t “merry”, nor are they so “merry” they need to rest. They are to be full of the joy of Christmas and stay strong (ie rest merry), because of the birth of the Saviour.

I suspect the idea of merry gentlemen may be why it so often sung in a secular setting. Then again it is in an awful lot of hymnals, so someone is singing it in church.

1 God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray:

Refrain:
O tidings of comfort and joy,
comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy.

2 In Bethlehem, in Jewry
This blessed babe was born,
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn:
Which poverty his mother Mary
Did not shun nor scorn: [Refrain]

3 From God our heavenly Father
A blessed angel came,
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
the Son of God by name: [Refrain]

4 The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding,
In tempest, storm, and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed Babe to find: [Refrain]

5 But when to Bethlehem they came,
Wherein this infant lay,
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay;
His mother Mary kneeling
Unto the Lord did pray: [Refrain]

6 Now to the Lord sing praises
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All evil should displace. [Refrain]

This is a C17 text by Thomas Ken set to TALLIS’ CANNON by Thomas Tallis (C16).

It is a sung night prayer that finishes with the Doxology. There are minor variations in the text and I have listed that found in this hymnal. Commentary is available here. Sheet music for accompaniment in various forms is provided at LiturgyShare.

Tallis is beyond my BIAB attempts but nonetheless a backing was made:

I tried a different organ sound too:

1 Glory to thee, my God, this night
For all the blessings of the light;
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
beneath thine own almighty wings.

2 Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done,
That with the world, myself, and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

3 Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed;
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the final day.

4 O may my soul on thee repose,
And with sweet sleep mine eyelids close,
Sleep that may me more vigorous make
To serve my God when I awake.

5 When in the night I sleepless lie,
My soul with heavenly thoughts supply;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest,
No powers of darkness me molest.

6 Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise him, all creatures here below,
Praise him above, angelic host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.