Jesus, good above all other
Jesus, good above all other. Percy Dearmer* (1867-1936).
Written for EH to fit the tune QUEM PASTORES LAUDAVERE, this has become one of Dearmer’s most popular hymns. It was written for children, and it neatly turns the Nativity opening into a general hymn of perseverance, thus making it eminently suitable for a school hymn.
It was written in imitation of part of a hymn sometimes attributed to Adam of St Victor* (d. 1146) and translated by John Mason Neale* beginning ‘Missa Gabriel de caelis’. Neale’s translation, beginning ‘Gabriel, from the heaven descending’, was published in his Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (Second Edition, 1863). It contained the stanzas:
Jesus, kind above all...
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MLA style (see MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing, 3rd Ed.)
. "Jesus, good above all other."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press. Web. 7 Nov. 2025.<
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/j/jesus,-good-above-all-other>.
Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "Jesus, good above all other."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed November 7, 2025,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/j/jesus,-good-above-all-other.