O Holy Spirit, by whose breath

O Holy Spirit, by whose breath. Latin, ca. 9th century, translated by John Webster Grant* (1919-2006). Grant’s translation of the ‘Veni creator spiritus’* dates from 1968. It was made for The Hymn Book (1971) of the Anglican Church and the United Church of Canada, from the Latin office hymn for Pentecost written about the 9th century; it has appeared in numerous hymnbooks, including the Canadian Catholic Book of Worship (Ottawa, 1972, 1980 and 1994), The Australian Hymn Book (WOV, Sydney, 1977), H82, Worship, 3rd edition (Chicago, 1986), Psalter Hymnal (Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1987), The Book of Praise (Toronto, 1997) and Common Praise (Toronto, 1998). It has spread widely across...