Break thou the bread of life
Break thou the bread of life. Mary Artemisia Lathbury* (1841-1913).
Written in 1877 (like ‘Day is dying in the west’*) at the request of the Methodist Bishop John H. Vincent (1832-1920), founder of the Lake Chautauqua Institution. It was intended as a hymn to inspire the ‘Normal Class’, in which Sunday-school teachers came together for Bible study. First printed in leaflet form with its tune, it came into more general use at the Institution, and then farther afield: it was printed in The Chautauqua Carols (1877), and then in The Calvary Selection of Spiritual Songs with music: for use in social meetings (New York, 1878), edited by Charles S. Robinson* and Robert S. MacArthur. The tune was...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Break thou the bread of life."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 8 Feb. 2026.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/b/break-thou-the-bread-of-life>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Break thou the bread of life."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 8, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/b/break-thou-the-bread-of-life.