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Alone with none but thee, my God. St Columba* (521-597), translated by Duncan MacGregor* (1854-1923).
This was first published in Saint Columba. A Record and a Tribute. To which are added the Altus and some other remains, with offices for the thirteen hundredth anniversary of his death (from ancient sources)(Edinburgh and Aberdeen, 1897), one of the first fruits of MacGregor's scholarly interest in the early Celtic church.It had four stanzas:
Alone with none but thee, my God, I journey on...
Altus prosator
This is the first line of an abecedary Hiberno-Latin hymn found in 9th-century manuscripts on the continent, and in two 11th-century copies of the Irish Liber Hymnorum, where it is attributed to St Columba*. The 'prosator' is the first sower, a metaphor for the creator, so that the first line means 'High creator' ('prosator' is an unusual Latin word, typical of Irish Latin literature). The hymn proceeds through 23 stanzas, from the Creation to the Apocalypse; it has been...
DE VERE, Aubrey (Thomas). b. Curragh Chase, Co. Limerick, Ireland, 10 January 1814; d. Curragh Chase, 21 January 1902. Born into the landed gentry (his mother was a Spring-Rice), he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (1832- ), after which he travelled widely and succeeded in meeting many of the remarkable people of his time, such as William Wordsworth*, John Henry Newman*, and Alfred Tennyson*. As a result of his travels in Europe, he published two early books, The Waldenses, and Other...
See Charitie Lees De Chenez*.
The monastery at Bangor, in present-day Northern Ireland, was founded by St Comhghall in 555. A codex of 36 leaves was written there between the years 680 and 691, containing three sections: canticles and hymns; collects; and hymns for various liturgical occasions. This manuscript has been known as the Bangor Antiphonary since the 17th century; properly speaking, this is a misnomer, since the manuscript contains no antiphons and was not entitled 'antiphonary' by its scribes. It is a remarkable...
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Irish, 8th century, translated by Mary E. Byrne* (1880-1931), versified by Eleanor Hull* (1860-1935).
This text is found in two manuscripts in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, dating possibly from the 8th century, one a poor copy of the other. The Irish text begins:
Rop tú ma baile a Choimdiu cride:
ní ní nech aile acht Rí secht nime.
It had sixteen 2-line stanzas, many beginning 'Rop tú' ('Be thou'). The stanzas were translated by...
ALEXANDER, Cecil Frances. b. Dublin, April 1818, exact date unknown; d. Derry, 12 October 1895. She was the daughter of Major John Humphreys, a distinguished former soldier who had served in the Napoleonic Wars, and his wife Elizabeth. Her father became agent to the Earl of Wicklow in 1825, and the family were closely associated with the Protestant aristocracy of Ireland. Fanny, as she was known to her family, was well educated and religious, much influenced by figures such as John Keble* and...
DE CHENEZ, Charitie Lees (née Smith; also Charitie Lees Bancroft). b. Bloomfield, Merrion, Dublin, 21 June 1841; d. (?) Oakland, California, USA, 1923. The daughter of a Church of Ireland rector, Sidney Smith, she lived at home at Aghalurcher, County Fermanagh, and in Tattyreagh, County Tyrone, where her father held the living from 1867 onwards. She married Arthur E. Bancroft in 1869; after his death she married again, and is sometimes known by her second married name of De Chenez (sometimes...
Christ is the world's Redeemer. St Columba* (521-597), translated by Duncan MacGregor* (1854-1923).
This is a translation of the second part of a Latin hymn, found in two manuscripts held in Dublin, in the library of Trinity College, and in the Franciscan College.This second part begins 'Christe Redemptor gentium'. Both sections were traditionally attributed to St Columba, but a note in the Trinity College MS casts doubt on his authorship of the first part, beginning 'In Te, Christe,...
Churches of Christ in Great Britain and Ireland came into existence from the mid-1830s as congregations were formed, usually breaking away from Scotch Baptist churches. They were influenced by the ideas of Alexander Campbell (1788-1866), son of an Anti-Burgher Seceder Presbyterian minister in Ireland, Thomas, who emigrated to the USA in 1807. The Campbells became two of the four main leaders of the movement in the USA, from which three distinct 20th-century groups derive: Churches of Christ,...
COLUMBA, St. ('Colm Cille'). b. County Donegal, Ireland, 521; d. Iona, Scotland, 597. Born in the north-west of Ireland, he was trained and educated in Ireland, emigrating to Iona in 563 where he founded a monastery and remained for the rest of his life. The name 'Colm Cille' means 'Dove of the Church', which is latinised as 'Columba'.
St Adomnán (d. 704), ninth abbot of Iona and Columba's biographer, stated that Columba had written a book of hymns for the week (Hymnorum liber septimaniorum)...
COLUMBANUS, St. b. Ireland, 543; d. Bobbio, Italy, 615. Born in the western part of the province of Leinster, St Columbanus became a monk at the Abbey of Bangor, Co. Down (now in Northern Ireland), during the abbacy of its founder, St Comgall (ca. 516-601). He went into exile, ca. 590, together with twelve companions. They called themselves Peregrini pro Christo and were responsible for the foundation of numerous monasteries in France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy during the 7th and 8th...
Come see the place where Jesus lay. James Montgomery* (1771-1854).
In JJ, p. 251, there is precise information about this hymn. It was written for 'The Seventh Anniversary of the Sheffield and Attercliffe Missionary Union in aid of the London Missionary Society', and was first sung in Howard Street Independent Chapel, Sheffield on Easter Sunday, April 2nd, 1820. In leaflet form, it was signed 'J.M.'
It was included in Montgomery's The Christian Psalmist (Glasgow, 1825) and, with minor...
Come, ye disconsolate, where'er you languish. Thomas Moore* (1779-1852).
First published in Moore's A Series of Sacred Songs, Duetts and Trios (1824), the second volume with this title (following that of 1816). It was written to be sung to a tune known as 'German Air' by the music editor, John Andrew Stevenson (1761-1833). It had three stanzas:
Come, ye disconsolate, where'er you languish, Come at the shrine of God, fervently kneel, Here bring your wounded hearts, here...
Do no sinful action. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
From Alexander's Hymns for Little Children (1848). It was Hymn V, on the first promise in the catechism, to 'renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the lusts of the flesh' (following the promise made by the godparents at Baptism). It had seven stanzas:
Do no sinful action, Speak no angry word; Ye belong to Jesus, Children of the Lord.
Christ is kind and gentle, Christ is pure and...
DARLING, Edward Flewett. b. Cork, Republic of Ireland, 24 July 1933. Edward Darling was educated at Cork Grammar School, Midleton College, Co. Cork, and St John's School, Leatherhead, Surrey. Following further study at Trinity College, Dublin (where he graduated and qualified for ordination in the Divinity School), he took Holy Orders (deacon, 1956, priest 1957), serving two curacies: at St Luke's, Belfast (1956-59) and St John's, Orangefield, Belfast (1959-62). He was appointed first...
HULL, Eleanor Henrietta. b. Cheetham, Manchester, 15 Jan 1860; d. Wimbledon, Surrey, 13 Jan 1935. Born into an Irish family, Eleanor Hull was educated at Alexandra College, Dublin, and the Royal College of Science. She was evidently very proud of her Irish background, and devoted her life to the study of Irish culture. In 1899 she was one of the founders of the Irish Texts Society, and she acted as its London secretary for thirty years.
Before 1899 she had already edited The Cuchulain Saga in...
OWEN, Frances Mary (née Synge). b. Glanmore Castle, County Wicklow, Ireland, 16 April 1842; d. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, 19 June 1883. Born into the Irish landed gentry, she married (1870) the Revd J.A. Owen, sometime Fellow of University College, Oxford, and subsequently a housemaster at Cheltenham College. She helped her husband in the care of boys in his house, and also did much work in Cheltenham with friendless girls and the education of working people. Her influence in the town was so...
From out the cloud of amber light. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
This hymn for St Mark's Day (25 April) was written by Alexander for the Second Edition of A&M (1875). It draws upon the traditional association of St Mark with a winged lion. It had five stanzas:
From out the cloud of amber light, Borne on the whirlwind of the north, Four living creatures wing'd and bright Before the Prophet's eye came forth.
The Voice of God was in the Four Beneath that awful crystal mist, And...
Good people all, this Christmas time. Irish traditional.
'The Wexford Carol', sometimes called 'The Enniscorthy Christmas Carol' ('Carúl Loch Garman, Carúl Inis Córthaidh'), originates from Enniscorthy, County Wexford, in the north-eastern corner of Ireland. The precise origins are unknown, though some commentaters suggest that its roots extend to the 12th century. Though the only carol known by this name, several carols come from Wexford (Costello, 2016). The Wexford Carol is often confused...
Hail, glorious Saint Patrick, dear Saint of our isle. Sister Agnes, 19th century.
Published in Henri Friedrich Hemy*'s Easy Hymn Tunes with the words in full, adapted for Catholic Schools (1851), where it attributed to Sister Agnes, 'of the Convent of Charleville, Co. Cork'. This was the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy, founded in 1831. The hymn appeared in Suffield and Palmer's Crown of Jesus (1862), and in many later books, including Albert Edmonds Tozer*'s Catholic Hymns: original and...
Hark! ten thousand harps and voices. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
According to JJ, p. 488, this was first published in Kelly's Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (Second Edition, Dublin, 1806) in seven 6-line stanzas. It was headed 'Let all the Angels of God worship him. Heb. 1.6.':
Hark ten thousand harps and voices, Sound the note of praise above! Jesus reigns, and heav'n rejoices: Jesus reigns the God of love: See, he sits on yonder throne; Jesus rules the world alone.
Well may...
Hark, ten thousand voices sounding. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
According to JJ, p. 488, this was first published in Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (Second Edition, Dublin, 1806). It was prefaced by the heading: 'Death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Cor.xv. 54.'
In the original version, the first stanza is in a different metre from the other three: it rhymes AABB and is in the metre of 77.77., whereas the other three are in 8.7.8.7. In the 1820 edition the text was as follows:
Hark ten...
I bind unto myself today. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895). This hymn, in its original Irish form has been attributed to St Patrick, although the dating and authorship remain obscure: in the Irish Liber hymnorum it is said to be 'a lorica [breastplate] of faith for the protection of body and soul against demons and men and vices'. The pagan king, Laoghaire, was confronted by Patrick at Tara in County Meath on Easter Eve: the druids were silenced, and Patrick lit the paschal fire on the hill...
I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship. William Young Fullerton* (1857-1932).
This four-stanza hymn was written to be sung to LONDONDERRY AIR, the plangent tune from Fullerton's native Northern Ireland. Probably the first use of the tune with a hymn was in SofP (1925), when it was set to Frank Fletcher*'s 'O Son of Man, our hero strong and tender'*.
The date of composition of the words is uncertain, but must be before 1930, when they were printed in a Baptist supplement for young...
Irish Church Praise (1990-2000).
When the Church of Ireland published its first edition of the Church Hymnal in 1864, with the approval and blessing of the House of Bishops, it was understood that hymns being used in public worship should always be selected from what is contained in its own official hymnbook. That was still the attitude by the time the Fourth Edition of the Church Hymnal was launched in 1960.
In some ways, however, while this latest edition was both comprehensive and...
Early Irish hymnody
The arrival of Christianity in Ireland is commonly associated with the mission of St Patrick in the 5th century, though there were certainly some groups of Christians in the island at an earlier date. The early history of Irish Christianity (including details of Patrick's work) remains tantalisingly obscure, but what is certain is that, subsequently, monasticism developed rapidly in Ireland, so that from the middle of the 6th century onwards substantial monastic foundations...
It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine. Mary Shekleton* (1827-1883).
Written in 1863 and first published in broadsheet form. It was later included in Ira D. Sankey*'s Sacred Songs and Solos No 1 (ca. 1873) to be sung to Sankey's tune IT PASSETH KNOWLEDGE. It is a reflection on Ephesians 3: 17-19, ending 'to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God'.
It had seven verses. It still appears in some hymn books (WOV, HP) in...
Jesus calls us! O'er the tumult. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
Written for St Andrew's Day (30 November) and included in a book published by the SPCK, Hymns for Public Worship (1852), edited by Thomas Vincent Fosbery*. It was published with an inferior and amended text in its successor, the SPCK Church Hymns (1871) and in the Second Edition of A&M (1875). EH returned to Alexander's version, and many 20th-century books followed, although successive editions of A&M have stuck to...
STEVENSON, (Sir) John Andrew. b. Dublin, 1761; d. Kells, County Meath, 14 September 1833. Born in Crane Lane off Dame Street, Dublin, he was an indentured choirboy at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, in 1775, receiving tutorage under Richard Woodward junior and Samuel Murphy. He was appointed stipendiary at St Patrick's Cathedral on 20 July 1775 by Dean Cradock and at Christ Church Cathedral in 1781; then vicar choral at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1783 and at Christ Church Cathedral in 1800. He...
CUMMINS, John James. b. Cork, Ireland, 5 May 1795; d. London, 23 November 1867. An Irishman, he lived in London from 1834 onwards. He was a Director of the Union Bank of Australia. He was also a student of Hebrew and Theology. He published Seals of the Covenant Opened or the Sacraments of the Church considered in their Connexion with the Great Doctrines of the Gospel (1839), a prose work for his family 'to remind them of their solemn responsibilities, as members of the Church of Christ; and...
POLLOCK, John. b. Glasgow, Scotland, 27 October 1852; d. Belfast, Northern Ireland, 4 January 1935. The son of Janet, née Riddell, and Alexander Pollock, a grocer and tea merchant, John was baptized into the Free Church of Scotland, where his father was an Elder of the Kirk. His lively grasp of ideas and propensity for instructing others were in evidence at an early stage: he became a Sunday School teacher at the age of twelve.
At first attracted to a career in business, he entered the Arts...
MONSELL, John Samuel Bewley. b. Londonderry, Ireland 2 March 1811; d. Guildford, 9 April 1875. He was the son of an archdeacon of Derry, and brother of the politician William Monsell, first Baron Emly (1812-94). He entered Trinity College, Dublin (BA 1832). He was ordained (deacon 1834, priest 1835), and was successively chaplain to Bishop Richard Mant*; Chancellor of the diocese of Connor; rector of Ramoan, Co. Antrim; vicar of Egham, Surrey (1853-70); and rector of St Nicolas, Guildford...
BYRNE, Mary Elizabeth. b. Dublin, Ireland, 2 July 1880; d. Dublin, 19 January 1931. She was educated at the Dominican Convent in Dublin, and the National University of Ireland (the Roman Catholic university founded by John Henry Newman to provide higher education for Catholics parallel to that of Trinity College, Dublin). Her Irish name was Máiri Ní Bhroin, but she published much of her work as Mary E. Byrne. She was a research scholar who worked for the Board of Intermediate Education. With...
SHEKLETON, Mary. b., place and date unknown, 1827; d. Dublin, 28 September 1883. She was born in England, but the place and exact date are unknown. After the death of her father when she was six months old, her mother returned to her family home in Ireland with her children. Shekleton was deeply influenced by her mother, who had experienced an evangelical conversion on the death of her husband, and who brought up her four daughters in a prayerful, scripture-centred household where an emphasis...
Missions and mission hymnody, Britain and Ireland
The idea of 'Mission' is as old as the church itself. One of the last commands of our Lord was to the disciples: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature' (Mark 16: 15), and the events of the first Pentecost (Acts 2) were those of inspiration followed by preaching and healing. Since that time, it has always been a priority of the church to spread the gospel to places where it has not been heard. St Patrick became the...
O for the robes of whiteness. Charitie Lees De Chenez* (1841-1923).
According to JJ, p. 109, this was published in Within the Veil, by C.L.S. [Charitie Lees Smith, her maiden name] (1867), but this has not been verified. It has also been stated that it was published in leaflet form in 1860. It was certainly printed in Lyra Britannica (1867), edited by Charles Rogers, where it was entitled 'Heavenly Anticipations'. Philip Schaff*, who printed it in Christ in Song (New York, 1869), described it...
O God, Thou art the Father. Attributed to St Columba* (521-597), translated by Duncan MacGregor* (1854-1923).
This is a translation of the hymn beginning 'In Te, Christe, credentium miserearis omnium'. Both sections were traditionally attributed to St Columba, but a note in the Trinity College MS casts doubt on his authorship of the first part. For details of the MS, the translation, its original, and its first publication, see the entry on 'Christ is the world's Redeemer'*. This translates...
O Thou Who driest the mourner's tear. Thomas Moore* (1779-1852)
From Moore's A Series of Sacred Songs, Duetts and Trios (1816) in two 12-line stanzas, prefaced by a quotation: 'He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. – Ps. cxlvii. 3.' The text was as follows (Godley, 1907):
Oh, Thou! Who dry'st the mourners' tear, How dark this world would be, If, when deceiv'd and wounded here, We could not fly to Thee! The friends, who in our sunshine live, When winter comes, are...
On Christmas night. English Traditional, ascribed to Luke Wadding (1628–1691).
Paul Westermeyer* notes that this is a '“Wexford carol” (though not the carol most often called the “The Wexford Carol”' (Westermeyer, 2010, p. 50). The text and the tune of this favorite carol have distinct backgrounds, though the exact origins of each are unclear. The first printed version of an earlier form of the text appears with the ascription, 'Another short Carroll for Christmas day' in A Smale Garland of...
Once in royal David's city. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
First published in Hymns for Little Children (1848) in six stanzas. Alexander wrote hymns for the articles of the Apostles' Creed: this one is on 'was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary'. It was printed in the Appendix (1868) to the First Edition of A&M, together with the tune by Henry John Gauntlett* entitled IRBY; since that time it has featured in the Christmas section of almost every hymn book. It has...
STEWART, Robert Prescott. b. Dublin, 16 December 1825; d. Dublin, 24 March 1894. Born at Pitt Street (now Balfe Street), Dublin, Stewart joined the choir school at Christ Church Cathedral in 1833. His musical career commenced in 1844 when at the age of 19 he succeeded John Robinson as organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and at the Chapel of Trinity College. Two years later, after the resignation of Joseph Robinson, Stewart assumed the conductorship of the University of Dublin Choral...
Saviour, send a blessing to us. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
First published in four stanzas (not three, as is sometimes stated) in Kelly's Hymns on Various Passages from Scripture (Dublin, 1804):
Saviour, send a blessing to us, Send a blessing from above: All thy truth and mercy shew us, Be thou here, in pow'r and love, Grant thy presence, Be it ours thy grace to prove.
Art thou here? – then have we blessing; Art thou not? – we nothing have; All our good in thee possessing, For...
SECHNALL, Saint. b. ca. 372/3; d. ca. 447. His Latin name was Secundinus. Little is known of his life; such information that we have, from early Irish manuscript sources, is conflicting. Sechnall may have been born in Lombardic Gaul or Italy, and was probably educated in Gaul. 'Secundinus'/ 'Secundus' was a common late-Roman name in both Gaul and northern Italy. He seems to have been a bishop, included in the mission to Leinster led by Palladius. He was appointed bishop of Dunshaughlin (Irish...
Spirit of God, that moved of old. Cecil Frances Alexander* (1818-1895).
First published in Hymns for Public Worship (1852, 1855), edited by Thomas Vincent Fosbery* for the SPCK (it is possible that Fosbery, born in Ireland, had a particular interest in Irish authors: cf. Emma Toke*). It had four stanzas. Taylor (1989, p. 172) notes that it was then printed in Alexander's Hymns Descriptive and Devotional (1858), with an additional stanza (stanza 3 in the following text; this stanza has not been...
Gallus, an Irishman, companion of St Columbanus*, remained in Zürich because of illness when his master continued on his travels to Italy. His hermitage, established ca. 613, attracted disciples, and eventually in 720 St Othmar (ca. 689-759) founded a monastery. The Emperor Louis the Pious made it an independent royal abbey in 813. The period of its greatest cultural and intellectual achievement was the later 9th through to the first half of the 11th century. After a long period of mediocrity,...
See 'I bind unto myself today'*
The head that once was crowned with thorns. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
First published in the Fifth Edition of Kelly's Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (Dublin, 1820). It is based on Hebrews 2:10. It is particularly associated with Ascension-tide.
It is probable that Kelly took his first line, and the inspiration for his theme, from a poem by John Bunyan*, 'One Thing is Needful, or Serious Meditations upon the Four Last Things, Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell'. This poem began:
The head...
The Lord is risen indeed. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
This hymn was first published in Kelly's Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Dublin, 1802). It began with a direct quotation: it was headed 'The Lord is risen indeed. Luke xxiv.34.'. The text in Kelly's Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (1820) was as follows:
'The Lord is ris'n indeed,' And are the tidings true? Yes, they beheld the Saviour bleed, And saw him living too.
'The Lord is ris'n indeed,' Then...
POTTER, Thomas Joseph. b. Scarborough, Yorkshire, 9 June 1828. d. Dublin, 31 August 1873. At the age of 20 he became a Roman Catholic, and was ordained as a priest in 1857. He was appointed Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and English Literature in the Foreign Missionary College of All Hallows, Dublin. From this came his instructive works, Sacred Eloquence; or, the theory and practice of preaching (Dublin, 1866), and The Spoken Word: or, the art of extemporary preaching, its utility, its danger,...
KELLY, Thomas. b. Kellyville, Queen's County [Co. Laois], Ireland, 13 July 1769; d. Dublin, 14 May 1855. He was the son of an Irish judge, Baron Kelly of Kellyville. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (BA, 1789), and began studying for a legal career. Against the wishes of his family, however, he gave up the law and became ordained as a priest in the Church of England in Ireland (1792). He began preaching in Dublin in 1793: the emphasis on the doctrine of grace, and the unusual energy...
MOORE, Thomas. b. Dublin, 28 May 1779; d. Calne, Wiltshire, 25 February 1852. He was the son of a grocer and wine merchant. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he showed early promise as a poet and man of letters, and became a popular and much admired member of London and Dublin society. After graduating from Trinity in 1795, he went to London to study for the Bar at the Middle Temple, but turned to the writing of poetry, helped by some influential patronage from Irish people in England. He...
We sing the praise of him who died. Thomas Kelly* (1769-1855).
First published in Hymns by Thomas Kelly, not before Published (Dublin, 1815). It was headed 'God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross: Galatians 6: 14'. In this text, stanza 5 lines 3-4 were:
'Tis all that sinners want below;
'Tis all that angels know above.
Kelly changed these lines in the Sixth Edition of his Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (Dublin, 1826) to the form that is now used in most books:
The sinner's...
When Thy soldiers take their swords. Frances Mary Owen* (1842-1883).
Written ca. 1872, probably at the same time that Owen was engaged on writing The Story of George Washington (1883), for the boys in her husband's house at Cheltenham College. With its chivalric imagery it was calculated to appeal to boys and young men. The first two stanzas (of five) are an example:
When Thy soldiers take their swords,When they speak the solemn words,When they kneel before Thee here,Feeling Thee, their Father,...
PENNEFATHER, William. b. Dublin, 5 February 1816; d. Muswell Hill, Middlesex, 30 April 1873. He was the son of a distinguished Irish lawyer who became chief Baron of the Exchequer Court. He was educated at Trinity College Dublin (BA 1840; his undergraduate career was interrupted by illness). He took Holy Orders (deacon 1841, priest 1842), and was successively curate at Ballymacugh and vicar of Mellifont, near Drogheda, where he ministered to the people during the famine of 1845. He moved to...