Church Music

More necessary prayers for the evening from CWB, this time from St Joseph’s Abbey.

The text is here.

It is set to the venerable KINGSFOLD.

This is a text by the Benedictine Nuns of St Mary’s Abbey in West Maling.

I have it in RitualSong, and other GIA hymnals, as a chant (TE LUCIS ANTE TERMINUM) for night prayer. In CWB it is set to a French tune, AUCTORITATE SAECULI.

The text is here.

Dusk is indeed a gift and a foreshadowing.

I found chords at Small Church Music.

I can’t find any clips with the tune from CWB, but this is a nice chanted setting:

I’m not sure what to make of this stirring – nay triumphant – hymn set to an Italian tradition melody NOI VOGLIAM DIO, the tune for the anthem of the Papal States. This in turn was a co-opting of a French hymn tune, Nous voulons Dieu.

The text is by J.P. Daly with a final verse added by John O’Brien the pen name of Monsignor Patrick Joseph Hartigan an Australian poet.

The text is here.

I found this clip:

Apologies for the backing, but there are few marching band styles in BIAB:

This is a translation by Louis Blenkner OSB of the C4 text Te Deum laudamus by St Nicetas.

Blenkner was a scholar who published concerning the Gawain poet. I wrote a very dodgy dissertation on the same poet in the remote past, so I feel some kinship.

Here it is not a chant, but set to MONTANA by Henry Bryan Hays OSB and it is found in Hay’s book, the Swayed Pines Song Book. I can’t find it anywhere else so CWB may have found it there. There are some tricky time shifts lying in wait for the unwary.

This clip has the text, but you have to go to YouTube:

This is a song for reconciliation from CWB by Redmond McGoldrick.

The text is on page 387 of this document.

Here it is set to Joshua Leavett’s HIDING PLACE.

Hymnary provided chords for a backing.

Here it is in it’s shape note glory:

This text takes us through many aspects of liturgy. It is C19 text by William Bullock, reworked by Henry Williams Baker and altered by the editors here presumably to make it both more Catholic and less archaic.

There is a lovely appreciation of the hymn here, which mentions the many variations in the text.

CWB sets it to MARIA JUNG UND ZALT a combination unknown to Hymnary, but perhaps an English usage as CWB got the hymn from Jubilate.

This is the text from Ancient and Modern:

1 We love the place, O God,
wherein thine honour dwells;
the joy of thine abode
all earthly joy excels.

2 We love the house of prayer,
wherein thy servants meet;
and thou, O Lord, art there
thy chosen flock to greet.

3 We love the sacred font;
for there the holy Dove
to pour is ever wont
his blessing from above.

4 We love thine altar, Lord;
O what on earth so dear?
for there, in faith adored,
we find thy presence near.

5 We love the word of life,
the word that tells of peace,
of comfort in the strife,
and joys that never cease.

6 We love to sing below
for mercies freely given;
but O we long to know
the triumph-song of heaven.

7 Lord Jesus, give us grace
on earth to love thee more,
in heaven to see thy face,
and with thy saints adore.

CWB has this version:

1 We love the place, O God,
in which your honour dwells:
the joy of your abode
all earthly joy excels.

2 We love the house of prayer,
for where Christ’s people meet;
our risen Lord is there
to make our joy complete.

3 We love the word of life,
the word that tells of peace,
of comfort in the strife,
and joys that never cease.

4 We love the cleansing sign
of life through Christ our Lord,
where with the name divine
we seal the sons of God.

5 We love the holy feast
where nourished with this food,
by faith we feed on Christ,
his body and his blood.

6 We love to sing below
for mercies freely given,
but O, we long to know
the triumph-song of heaven.

7 Lord Jesus, give us grace
on earth to love you more,
in heaven to see your face,
and with your saints adore.

This is a song for Baptism written by Judith Beatrice O’Neill. She was living in Melbourne when she wrote the text in the 1950s. She went on to write junior fiction.

CWB sets it to RICHMOND.

I got chords from TIS. The only alterations made by the editors is to accommodate more than one child for baptism.

1 We praise you, Lord, for Jesus Christ,
Who died and rose again,
He lives to break the power of sin
And over death to reign.

2 We praise you that these children now share
The freedom Christ can give,
Have died to sin with Christ, and now
With Christ is raised to live.

3 We praise you, Lord, that these children
are grafted to the vine,
Are made now members of your house
And bears the cross as sign.

4 We praise you, Lord, for Jesus Christ,
He loves these children we bring:
He frees, forgives, and heals us all,
He lives and reigns as king.

Looking back from 2025, it is quite odd to note that Catholic Worship Book was published in 1985 and feels much earlier, while As One Voice was only seven years later in 1992 and seems a quantum leap in song selection, layout and applicability to a suburban parish. Unsurprisingly, it became the most popular hymnal in Australia combining the best of the UK and US sources with local songwriters. Their subsequent hymn books have added many more useful songs for liturgy.

If you are in a situation in your parish where live music is not always available, the backings available from various sources have often not been of songs that you would like to play at mass, especially not Australian songs.

Willow have now made tasteful piano backings for a selection of their songs that would be very useful where you have someone willing to lead music but no instruments available.

They listed the available songs, which will cost you less than a few hours of hiring a musician:

It’s nice to see music from more recent compositions as well.

You can still purchase the hymnals, many still in physical form, at Willow.

MIDI backings have the advantage of the ability to edit for key and tempo, but most of the songs in AOV are pitched pretty well and you could cover a lot of liturgies with the selected tracks. I hope they continue this project.

The other thing I am turning up in CWB is early Marty Haugen material that I haven’t come across elsewhere.

This is by Haugen and based on Psalm 24 (25). It’s a lovely melody but the verses suggest a cantor.

The sheet music is still available at GIA, where the text is in their preview.

Slogging through the hymns that I haven’t covered already on this blog from CWB, I am a little disappointed at so few Australian hymns. I’m getting a few forgotten folk mass era songs and lots of old hymns to old tunes that are no longer in high rotation. At least the Praise to God hymnal had lots of Australian obscurities.

I am noting a lot of texts translated from German or Latin set to old English or German tunes.

This Marian hymn is translated from German by Brian Moore SJ (“Maria zu lieben”) and here set to a traditional English tune, GALLERY CAROL.

1 To love you O Mary is all my desire,

In joy and in sorrow my heart all afire

With love and with longing true service to give,

Your own still in dying, your own while I live.

2 O Mary, O Maiden, most gentle and just,

As greatly I love you so greatly I trust.

You are, and have shown it, a mother to me,

 In living and dying your child shall I be.

3 O Mother, your grace to my promise impart,

Your name sealing steadfast my mouth and my heart:

Be with me in dying and reach down your hand

and graciously lead me to the heavenly land.

This Youtube clip is a different tune but has a commentary on the hymn and a different translation.

This is the original use of the “Gallery Carol”.