A hymn for martyrs sweetly sing

A hymn for martyrs sweetly sing. Bede* (673/4-735), translated by John Mason Neale* (1818-1866). This hymn, ‘Hymnum canentes Martyrum’, is found in an anthology, Hymni Ecclesiastici (Cologne, 1556), ascribed to the Venerable Bede. Neale’s translation of some of the verses appeared in Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851), with a first line ‘The hymn for conquering martyrs raise’, and a note saying that it was ‘a Hymn for the Holy Innocents’. It appeared in the First Edition of A&M with the first line as above, in the section entitled ‘The Innocents’ Day’. A&M used verses 1, 3, 4, and 5 of Neale’s six verses, with slight alterations, except for verse 1 (EH followed...

If you have a valid subscription to Dictionary of Hymnology, please log in to view this content. If you require a subscription, please click here.

Cite this article