The Love of God was Shown to Man

Embroidery by Henri Van Severen - Courtesy of Wikipedia

The Love of God was Shown to Man is written by the Benedictine Nuns of Stanbrook Abbey. In the Divine Office (1974) it is sung at Morning Prayer on the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart. For it's musical setting the Office recommends the 1874 hymn tune: Abends by the English composer and musician, Herbert Stanley Oakeley (1830-1903).

Tune: Abends

All Ye Who Seek / Quicumque Certum Quæritis

New Grace, New Hope Inspire

All Ye Who Seek is a translation the 18th century anonymous Latin hymn, Quicumque Certum Quæritis. It was translated into English by Fr. Edward Caswall (1814-1878) and included in his 1849 publication, Lyra Ca­thol­i­ca. It is set to the tune: St. Bernard, an arrangement by John Ri­chard­son (1816-1879) of a chorale from the Toch­ter Si­on of 1741. In the Divine Office, All Ye Who Seek is used on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

Tune: St. Bernard (Ri­chard­son)

ALL YE WHO SEEK FOR SURE RELIEF by Ed­ward Cas­wall, 1849 (Public Domain)

1. All ye who seek for sure relief
In trouble and distress,
Whatever sorrows vex the mind,
Or guilt the soul oppress,

2. Jesus, who gave Himself for you
Upon the cross to die,
Opens to you His sacred heart;
O to that heart draw nigh.

3. Ye hear how kindly He invites;
Ye hear His words so blest;
“All ye that labor come to me,
And I will give you rest.”

4. What meeker than the Saviour’s Heart?
As on the Cross He lay,
It did His murderers forgive,
And for their pardon pray.

5. O Heart, Thou joy of Saints on high,
Thou hope of sinners here,
Attracted by those loving words
To Thee I life my prayer.

6. Wash thou my wounds in that dear Blood,
Which forth from Thee doth flow;
New grace, new hope inspire, a new
And better heart bestow.


QUICUMQUE CERTUM QUAERITIS, (Public Domain)

1. Quicumque certum quæritis
Rebus levamen asperis:
Seu culpa mordet anxia,
Seu pœna vos premit comes.

2. Jesu, qui, ut agnus innocens,
Sese immolandum tradidit,
Ad cor reclusum vulnere,
Ad mite cor accedite.

3. Auditis ut suavissimis
Invitet omnes vocibus:
Venite quos gravat labor
Premitque pondus criminum:

4. Quid Corde Jesu mitius?
Jesum cruci qui affixerant
Excusat, et Patrem rogat
Ne perdat ultor impios.

5. O Cor, voluptas Cœlitum,
Cor, fida spes mortalium,
En hisce tracti vocibus,
Ad te venimus supplices.

6. Tu nostra terge vulnera
Ex te fluente sanguine
Tu da novum cor omnibus
Qui te gementes invocant.

O Sacred Heart

Our Trust Is All In Thee

O Sacred Heart was written Fr. Francis Stanfield (1835-1914). He is also the author of Sweet Sacrament Divine. During the 1880's Fr. Stanfield was Parish Priest at the 'Actor's Church', Corpus Christi in London's West End. It was the first Catholic Church dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament after the Reformation and had only recently opened a sanctuary dedicated to it's Adoration before Fr. Stanfield had been posted there. It is in this same time period that O Sacred Heart first appeared in hymnals. In the following video is set to a tune composed by Sir Richard R. Terry (1865-1938). In the Divine Office it is used on the Feast of the Sacred Heart and with Morning and Evening Prayer.



O SACRED HEART by Francis Stanfield (Public Domain)

1. O Sacred Heart, our home lies deep in thee;
on earth thou art an exile’s rest,
in heav’n the glory of the blest,
O Sacred Heart.

2. O Sacred Heart, thou fount of contrite tears;
where’er those living waters flow,
new life to sinners they bestow,
O Sacred Heart.

3. O Sacred Heart, our trust is all in thee,
For though earth’s night be dark and drear,
thou breathest rest where thou art near,
O Sacred Heart.

4. O Sacred Heart, when shades of death shall fall,
receive us ‘neath thy gentle care,
and save us from the tempter’s snare,
O Sacred Heart.

5. O Sacred Heart, lead exiled children home,
where we may ever rest near thee,
in peace and joy eternally,
O Sacred Heart.

Liturgical Guide: Sacred Heart

The hymns selected from the Liturgy of the Hours for use on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus reflect the theme of God's merciful love for mankind. Although this feast day had been celebrated locally in France as far back as 1670, it was not made part of the liturgical calendar of the Universal Church until 1856. Over the next century popular Devotion to the Sacred Heart spread, but in recent decades it has declined. In the following video, Fr. Thomas Rosica, C.S.B. of Salt+Light TV presents the case for a renewal of the devotion. Just as Devotion to the Sacred Heart in the 17th and 18th century had helped the Church see it's way through the crisis of Jansenism's severity and sectarianism; this practice of selfless love is needed now, more than ever to counter our individualistic and self-gratifiying modern world that gives little thought to eternity. This urgent need is best expressed in Christ's revelation given to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque: "Behold the Heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing...and in return, I receive from the greater part only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege."



LITURGY OF THE HOURS (1975)
40. Love Divine All Loves Excelling
136. O Christ, Redeemer of Mankind
137. Heart of Christ
138. To Christ, the Prince of Peace
139. Come to Me
140. Shepherd of Souls, in Love Come, Feed Us

DIVINE OFFICE (1974)
All Ye Who Seek a Comfort Sure
The Love of God was Shown to Man

Shepherd of Souls, in Love Come, Feed Us

To Those Refreshing Waters, Lead Us

Shepherd of Souls, in Love Come, Feed Us was first published in 1964. It was written by Omer Westendorf (1916-1997). He was founder of World Library Publications (WLP). This hymn was sung by friends and family as they gathered at his bedside before his death. It is sung to the tune Du Meiner Seelen, a Hungarian Chorale melody from the 16th. century.  It can be heard on the Liturgical and Gospel Music Ministry YouTube Channel.  As well, another version of Shepherd of Souls, In Love Come, Feed Us can be found on the Cantor Hymn Recordings page the Cantors of St. John the Baptist R.C. Church, Pottsville, PA website. It is listed under the heading: "PMB 653".  Shepherd of Souls, in Love Come, Feed Us can also be sung to the tune: Neumark, as featured in the following video. In the Liturgy of the Hours it is used on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.


Tune: Neumark

Come to Me

The Lord is my Shepherd

Come to Me is written by composer and author, Gregory Norbet (b.1940). It was first published 1971 as part of the collection, Locusts and Wild Honey sung by the Benedictine Monks of Weston Priory, Vermont. Over his 21 years as a monk at the Priory, Gregory Norbet composed, sang, and performed on 12 albums. Some of his best known songs from that period include: Hosea (Come Back to Me), Something Which is Known, and Go Up to the Mountain. He remains active today as a composer and recording artist with OCP, as well as serving the Hosea Foundation, a not-for-profit ministry which he founded. In the Liturgy of the Hours, Come to Me is used with the Common of Pastors, the Office of the Dead, and on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

To Christ, the Prince of Peace / Summi Parentis Filio

The Wound of Love He Bore

To Christ, the Prince of Peace is an Anthony G. Petti adaption of the Edward Caswall (1814-1878) 1874 translation of the Latin hymn for Lauds in the Office of the Sacred Heart from the Roman Breviary, Summi Parentis Filio (see 2nd video). Although Caswall's original text is often sung to the tune, St. George; Petti's modern setting is to the William H. Havergal (1793-1870) adaption of Narenza, a melody first published in the Catholicum Hymnologium Germanicum of 1584. In the Liturgy of the Hours, To Christ, the Prince of Peace is used on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.


Tune: Narenza

TO CHRIST, THE PRINCE OF PEACE by Edward Caswall, 1874 (Public Domain)

1. To Christ, the Prince of peace,
And Son of God most high,
The Father of the world to come,
We lift our joyful cry.

2. Deep in His heart for us
The wound of love He bore,
That love which He enkindles still
In hearts that Him adore.

3. O Jesu, Victim blest,
What else but love divine
Could Thee constrain to open thus
That sacred heart of Thine?

4. O wondrous Fount of love,
O Well of waters free,
O heavenly Flame, refining Fire,
O burning Charity!

5. Hide us in Thy dear heart,
Jesu, our Savior blest,
So shall we find Thy plenteous grace
And Heav’n’s eternal rest.


Traditional Chant

SUMMI PARENTIS FILIO - Anonymous (Public Domain)

1. Summi Parentis Filio,
Patri futuri sæculi,
Pacis beatæ Principi,
Promamus ore canticum.

2. Qui vulneratus pectore
Amoris ictum pertulit,
Amoris urens ignibus
Ipsum qui amantem diligunt.

3. Jesu, doloris victima,
Quis te innocentem compulit,
Dura ut apertum lancea
Latus pateret vulneri?

4. O fons amoris inclyte!
O vena aquarum limpida,
O flamma adurens crimina!
O cordis ardens caritas!

5. In Corde, Jesu, jugiter
Reconde nos, ut uberi
Dono fruamur gratiæ,
Cœlique tandem præmiis.

6. Semper Parenti, et Filio,
Sit laus, honor, sit gloria,
Sancto simul Paraclito
In sæculorum sæcula. Amen

Heart of Christ

Refuge From Our Strife

Heart of Christ, first published in 1955 was written by Fr. Melvin Farrell, S.S. It is sung to the 1715 tune, Stuttgart by Lutheran organist, composer Christian F. Witt (1660-1716). When Witt's health failed, a 31 year old JS Bach (1685-1750) was commissioned to substitute for him during Passion Week as Kapellmeister in the Court Chapel of Gotha. It is thought that the work performed was Bach's lost "Weimarer Passion". In the Liturgy of the Hours, Heart of Christ is used on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.


Tune: Stuttgart

O Christ, Redeemer of Mankind

May Nations Win Your Saving Grace

O Christ, Redeemer of Mankind was first published by the National Office of the Apostleship of Prayer and the Eucharistic Crusade, Dindigul India. There are approximately 20 million Catholics in India today. The Catholic Church has a long history in India, going back to St. Francis Xavier and other Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century, and even to the Tradition which relates St. Thomas spreading the Gospel there during the Apostolic Age. The Church in India has been blessed with such large numbers entering Religious life, that it now sends many Priests and Consecrated Religious to minister to the spiritual needs of the Church throughout the world. O Christ, Redeemer of Mankind is set to the tune, St. Flavian, first published in John Days's Psalter of 1562. In the Liturgy of the Hours it is used on the Feast of the Sacred Heart.


Tune: St. Flavian

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Joy of Heaven, to Earth Come Down.

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, first published in 1747 was written by Methodist, Charles Wesley (1707-1788). Of the some 6500 hymns he wrote, this remains one of the most popular and is generally considered one of his finest works. While often sung to the tune, Beecher, the version found in the Breviary is set to Hyfrodol, written in 1830 by the Welsh musician, Rowland H. Prichard (1811-1887). Another popular setting is to the tune, Blaenwern (as shown in the 2nd video). In the Liturgy of the Hours Love Divine, All Loves Excelling is used during Ordinary Time for Evening Prayer and also on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart.


Tune: Hyfrodol

LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING by Charles Wesley, 1747 (Public Domain)

Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation;
Enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit,
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit;
Let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its Beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return and never,
Never more Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be.
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Tune: Blaenwern