Well, initially, it shamed me -- Noel & c. listed so many text and tunes of which I had never heard!
And for quite a while, really ever since I found the Britt book, cheap on eBay, I'd been interested in the Office Hymns, and then I thought this year being potentially a very great one for Cardinal Newman I really ought to introduce the choir to some of his, and then there was talk of Chesterton whom I was unaware had written hymns, (though it only makes sense, him being a poet and all, duh...) and I began to think of other converts, and frankly, WOW.
I had no idea Fr Faber was so prolific. Charming self-deprecation:
The domestic wants of the Oratory kept alive the feeling that[English Catholic hymns were] needed; though at the same time the Author’s ignorance of music appeared in some measure to disqualify him for the work of supplying the defect. Eleven, however, of the hymns were written, most of them, for particular tunes and on particular occasions, and became very popular with a country congregation. They were afterwards printed for the schools at St. Wilfrid’s, and the very numerous applications to the printer for them seemed to show that, in spite of very glaring literary defects, such as careless grammar or slipshod metre, people were anxious to have Catholic hymns of any sort. The MS. of the present volume was submitted to a musical friend, who replied that certain verses of all or nearly all the hymns would do for singing; and this encouragement has led to the publication
Did you know there were so many? I didn't.
- Blood Is the Price of Heaven
- By the Archangel’s Word of Love
- Dear God of Orphans, Hear Our Prayer
- Dear Jesus, Ever at My Side
- Exceeding Sorrowful to Death
- Faith of Our Fathers
- From Pain to Pain, from Woe to Woe
- Hark! Hark, My Soul!
- Have Mercy on Us, God Most High
- Holy Ghost, Come Down upon Thy Children
- I Wish to Have No Wishes Left
- I Worship Thee, Sweet Will of God
- Jesu, Gentlest Savior
- Jesus Is God!
- Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All!
- My God! My God! And Can It Be
- My God, How Wonderful Thou Art
- O Come and Mourn with Me
- O Gift of Gifts!
- O Jesus, Jesus
- O God, Thy Power Is Wonderful
- O How the Thought of God Attracts
- O Paradise!
- O Soul of Jesus, Sick to Death
- Oh! Come to the Merciful Savior
- Pilgrims of the Night, The
- Sleep, Sleep My Beautiful Babe
- Souls of Men! Why Will Ye Scatter
- Sweet Savior, Bless Us Ere We Go
- Thy Home Is with the Humble, Lord
- True Shepherd, The
- Why Is Thy Face So Lit with Smiles?
- Workman of God
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