Tag: Hymn

Music Monday: O Sanctissima

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Today’s music is the Catholic classic, “O Sanctissima”:

O sanctissima, o piissima, dulcis Virgo Maria!
O most holy, o most loving, sweet Virgin Mary!
Mater amata, intemerata, ora, ora pro nobis.
Beloved Mother, undefiled, pray, pray for us.

Tu solatium et refugium, Virgo Mater Maria.
You are solace and refuge, Virgin, Mother Mary.
Quidquid optamus, per te speramus; ora, ora pro nobis.
Whatever we wish, we hope it through you; pray, pray for us.

Ecce debiles, perquam flebiles; salva nos, o Maria!
Look, we are weak and deeply deplorable; save us, o Mary!
Tolle languores, sana dolores; ora, ora pro nobis.
Take away our lassitude, heal our pains; pray, pray for us.

Virgo, respice, Mater, aspice; audi nos, o Maria!
Virgin, look at us, Mother, care for us; hear us, o Mary!
Tu medicinam portas divinam; ora, ora pro nobis.
You bring divine medicine; pray, pray for us.

Music Monday: Holy, Holy, Holy

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Audrey Assad recently released Inheritance, her long-awaited album of hymns. Here’s one of my favourites, “Holy, holy, holy”…

Holy, Holy Holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man, Thy glory may not see:
Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power in love,and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise Thy name in earth, and sky, and sea;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty,
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Lead Thou Me On

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Today Neal Obstat posted the lyrics to the wonderful song “Lead, Kindly Light”, together with a beautiful musical rendition of the text. The words to this song come from the poem “The Pillar of Cloud”  by John Henry Newman, a Catholic priest who was recently beatified.

Newman

I don’t know how, but this song somehow managed to fly beneath my radar for the past thirty years, but I’ve been captivated by it all afternoon, as it’s a perfect song for a Restless Pilgrim like me…

Lead, kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me…

Meantime, along the narrow rugged path, Thyself hast trod,
Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, home to my God.
To rest forever after earthly strife
In the calm light of everlasting life.

After a little bit of googling, I found out a little bit about the background to the song. It turns out that Newman penned the words while he was ill in Italy:

“Before starting from my inn, I sat down on my bed and began to sob bitterly. My servant, who had acted as my nurse, asked what ailed me. I could only answer, ‘I have a work to do in England.’ I was aching to get home, yet for want of a vessel I was kept at Palermo for three weeks. I began to visit the churches, and they calmed my impatience, though I did not attend any services.

At last I got off in an orange boat, bound for Marseilles. We were becalmed for whole week in the Straits of Bonifacio, and it was there that I wrote the lines, Lead, Kindly Light, which have since become so well known”