Once again the editors of CWB II thought better of the less common setting of a text in the original CWB and replaced it with the more usual hymn tune.
For Frederick Faber’s famous hymn text, CWB I used SAWSTON (aka CROWN OF JESUS and very like NAZARETH), while CWB II went for ST CATHERINE, which I blogged here.
The sheet music is here. I mostly derived the chords from the organ music. The text below is from CWB I – you will see all sorts of variants and adaptations of these words. I’m not sure I’d sing any of them. In this setting the last line of the Refrain is sung twice.
1
Faith of our fathers, living still
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword,
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene’er we hear that glorious word!
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death! (Rpt)
2
The martyrs, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free;
And truly blest would be our fate,
If we, like them should die for thee:
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death! (Rpt)
3
Faith of our fathers, faith and prayer
Shall win all nations unto thee;
And through the truth that comes from God
Mankind shall then indeed be free.
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death! (Rpt)
4
Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife,
And preach thee, too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death! (Rpt)
This is one of the collection of Australian Marchy hymns.
I do notice there are a couple of differences from earlier versions – Verse 2 used to start ‘Our fathers, chained in prisons dark’ and Verse 3, ‘Mary’s prayers will win all nations (our country in some versions) back to thee’
Gio
I’m not surprised you have a different version of the text – there are many revisions, this is just the one from CWB I.
Geoff
Actually, I’m with the CWB I editors on this tune selection here. They are right. It was the contextually appropriate choice. I recently realised that since last night, I did not pay attention to the comparison of CWB2.
The Living Parish Hymnal, as well as the Fr. Percy Jones hymnals, the Eucharistic Congress hymnals (on the NLA website), Gregorian Manual (New Norcia) all have SAWSTON as the hymn tune. Living Worship hymnal implies SAWSTON as well (as earlier versions have O Faith of our Fathers with the tune)
Apologies for when I edit my comments to the point where my message is smothered, but CWB2 is 95% there – I love it, but the 5% gets to me and it jolts me from my hymnodic ecstacies. (I encountered a flock of them over the weekend, liasing with a herd of Gather Australia)
I had a big long comment essay about hymnal editing prepared, but I decided it needed more polishing and maybe LOTS of editing, so it will remain unpublished for now…
My sharpened point is that the ST CATHERINE melody with Faith Of Our Fathers is an abomination, and it should be detained to O Bread Of Heaven, (it’s fate in LP, my beloved). It would then match SWEET SACRAMENT (Jesus My Lord, My God, My All)
Oh wow… my opinions… so strong…
Gio
I’m happy to agree that the American hymnals and CWB II are wrong in this case, but I must admit I had only ever heard the ST CATHERINE setting before.
Even with the Marian lines removed, I don’t recall this one from my Presbyterian upbringing, so I must have heard it from near secular sources.
You are most welcome to have strong opinions. In particular, I like to see opinions based on experiences other than my own narrow contact with church music. That’s why Chris is such a good corrective to my inexperience with traditional hymnody and chant.
cheers
Geoff
There is a rather a lot of English/Irish history behind this one!
The tune choice is really between the UKI version (SAWSTON) or the USA one (ST CATHERINE) – rather than the merits or otherwise,
I really dislike this hymn, just because of the political leanings associated with what people think it means!