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.

O Loving Wisdom of Our God

O Generous Love!

O Loving Wisdom of Our God was written by Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890). It is an abridgement (beginning at the 2nd stanza) of the more well known, Praise to the Holiest, also used with the Liturgy of the Hours. Both are adapted from Cardinal Newman's 1865 epic poem, The Dream of Ge­ron­ti­us. The text of the hymn is drawn from the final section of the work where a choir of angels sing as the departed soul crosses the threshold to be judged by God. Newman had been asked by fellow convert to Catholicism, Fr. Henry James Coleridge S. J. (1822-1893), editor of The Month magazine, to make a contribution. He had expected Newman to write on some matter of theology, but instead received The Dream of Ge­ron­ti­us, which took Newman less than a month to compose. O Loving Wisdom of Our God is set to the tune, Billing by Richard R. Terry (1865-1938). In the Divine Office (1974), it is used on Holy Saturday.


Tune: Billing

O LOVING WISDOM OF OUR GOD by John Henry Newman, 1865 (Public Domain)

1. O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.

 2. O wisest love! that flesh and blood,
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail!

 3. O generous love! that He, Who smote
In Man for man the foe,;
The double agony in Man
For man should undergo!

Praise to the Holiest

Praise to the Holiest in the Height

Praise to the Holiest was written by Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890). It is an adaptation of a portion of his 1865 poem, The Dream of Ge­ron­ti­us. Praise to the Holiest as well as his other well known hymn, Firmly I Believe and Truly (also drawn from Gerontius) were both sung at Benedict XVI's Mass celebrating the beatification of Cardinal Newman in 2010. Praise to the Holiest in the Height is set to the tune, Billing by Richard R. Terry (1865-1938), editor of the 1921 Westminster Hymnal, at that time the only collection of hymns authorized for use by the Catholic Church in England and Wales. . In the Liturgy of the Hours it is used during Lent.



PRAISE TO THE HOLIEST IN THE HEIGHT by John Henry Newman, 1865 (Public Domain)

1. Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise;
In all His words most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways.

2. O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.

3. O wisest love! that flesh and blood,
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail.

4. And that a higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
God’s Presence and His very Self,
And Essence all divine.

5. O generous love! that He, who smote,
In Man for man the foe,
The double agony in Man
For man should undergo.

6. And in the garden secretly,
And on the Cross on high,
Should teach His brethren, and inspire
To suffer and to die.

7. Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise;
In all His words most wonderful,
Most sure in all His ways.