Some more Hymns

In my lonely quest to get better hymns in Catholic Churches, my thoughts on some Lenten and Easter hymns:

1. Where You There?




Probably my favorite Lenten Hymn

2. Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones. This hymn has been stuck in my head since Easter.

3. Ye Songs and Daughters. This is an easy hymn to sing and probably one of the oldest in the Catholic hymnals.

4. Alleluia, alleluia, Let the Holy Anthem Rise.

Easter Sunday

Ye watchers and ye holy ones,
Bright seraphs, cherubim and thrones,
Raise the glad strain, Alleluia!
Cry out, dominions, princedoms, powers,
Virtues, archangels, angels’ choirs:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

And now for a Christmas Message

This is the Holy Innocents choir of St. John Cantius in Chicago. I occasionally would attend St. John Cantius when I lived in Chicago (though the choir is singing here at another church). It is a special church given direction by the Archdiocese to continue traditional worship.

In the Bleak Midwinter

From the Anchoress:



I do not think I have ever heard this hymn before. But it goes along with my belief that we Catholics should simply adopt the old Anglican hymnal.

Another Hymm

As much as I often complain about the quality of hymns in Catholic Churches, I also find myself more and more loving the old Anglican hymns.

For some reason I have gotten stuck in my head the hymn "The Son of God Goes Forth to War". It was written by Reginald Huber, the same Anglican bishop who wrote "Holy Holy Holy." The hymn is probably most famous for its appearance in the John Huston movie "The Man Who Would be King." In the movie, whoever, the tune is changed to an old Irish air "The Minstrel Boy," the tune of which itself is based on an older Irish folk song.

The tune (if not the words) of the Minstrel Boy itself is in the United States associated with the Irish regiments of the Civil War, and is still used today by police and fire departments with a large number of Irish Americans.

Using either tune, the hymn is both powerful and moving. As I have said before, I sometimes wish the American Catholic church would simply buy up some old Anglican hymnals and use those.

Some Favorite Hymns

My post the other day regarding my dislike of most hymns sung in Catholic churches got me thinking, what are my favorite hymns? After all, I am a firm believer that singing makes you pray twice. But hymns must be singable, beautiful and meaningful -- and too many of the songs in our Catholic hymnal fail on all three counts.

But there are great hymns out there, some are even sung in Catholic Churches. A few favorites, off the top of my head (and not including Christmas songs):

• The King of Love my Shepherd Is (perhaps my all time favorite, and one I want sung at my funeral)


• Amazing Grace


• The Prayer of Saint Francis


• Holy, Holy, Holy


• Holy God We Praise Thy Name


• Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above (hearing this hymn reminds me of being little and watching the old Italian ladies walk through the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn with a statute of the Virgin)


• We Walk by Faith

Of these quick hymns, three are Anglican hymns, three are "old" Catholic hymns thought no longer relevant by many, and one (the Prayer of St. Francis) is relatively old but still often sung.

What will it take for Catholics to find their voice?

I find so much about being a Catholic that connects me to the eternal. The ritual, the spirituality, and Apostolic Succession all give me a feeling of touching the eternal, of reaching back to the time of Jesus (and before) and reaching forward into future generations.

What I really wish, however, is that someone would choose some better hymns.

I sat through Mass on Sunday listening to the cantor warble through unsingable hymn after unsingable hymn. I tried to sing, but none of the hymns were singable. The words were vacant and tune tuneless. Save the last one, which was Amazing Grace.

I have complained about this before. Cannot someone in the Church write some hymns that (i) are singable and (ii) are beautiful?

If that is impossible, cannot we at least borrow from the Anglican hymnal or go back to singing some Latin hymns?