I know this trinitarian hymn is written by John Henry Newman, but it has a touch of the doggerel about it to my ears. All the “I”s make it less wonderful for an assembly as well.
CWB II set it to Elgar’s DRAKE’S BROUGHTON, although other sources suggest SHIPSTON. It is interesting how often CWB II goes with settings that are not the most commonly associated with the text.
Firmly I believe and truly
God is Three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly
Manhood taken by the Son.And I trust and hope most fully
In that manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly
Do to death, as He has died.Simply to His grace and wholly
Light and life and strength belong,
And I love supremely, solely,
Him the holy, Him the strong.And I hold in veneration,
For the love of Him alone,
Holy Church as His creation,
And her teachings are His own.Praise and thanks be ever given,
With and through th’angelic host,
To the God of earth and Heaven,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
It always surprises me that the words “Holy Ghost” in hymns have not been changed to “Holy Spirit”, and I always feel awkward singing “Holy Ghost”. (Remember a few years ago when it was decided that we could no longer sing “Yahweh” and many hymns had the wording changed to suit this. One song that comes to mind is “Sing a New Song”, but there were several others.) I have seen a version of “Firmly I Believe” where the last line was changed to “Father, Son and Spirit One” – does it really matter, and is it even noticed, that “One” doesn’t rhyme with “host”?! “Angelic throng” probably works a little better?? I guess “I” could be substituted with “we”, but I quite like this song, and it feels like a very personal prayer. After all, we still use the singular person in the Creed at Mass.
“doggerel”?
there is nothing clumsy or structurally incoherent about using “I”, especially since JH Newman was writing it from his heart to express HIS faith in Christ.
The problem is that both of your “solutions” destroy the rhyme scheme, and “Spirit” would also spoil the rhythm. There’s absolutely no reason not to use “Holy Ghost”; in its original sense it means exactly the same as Spirit, taken from the German “Geist” which means that. The Germans still use “der Heiliger Geist”, why shouldn’t we English speakers use “Holy Ghost”? I always have, as has everyone I grew up with.
Re: the “I” vs. “we”, the poem is taken from, if I remember correctly, the “Dream of Gerontius”, where the speaker is the Soul preparing for death, so the singular makes sense.
I can remember singing this hymn to DRAKE’S BROUGHTON many decades ago, and its the tune also used in the New Living Parish hymnal and original Catholic Worship Book. The content of Hymnary.org (which I’m presuming is your source for hymn tune usage) is dominated by American non-Catholic hymnals which significantly biases against common use tunes in the rest of the world. It is a reality, that many hymns have been sung over many decades to different tunes in Catholic and Protestant traditions as well as America and the rest of the world. A well-known example of this is “Away in a Manger”. Having said that, I agree with your comments about all the “I”s in this hymn making its use uncomfortable in liturgy.
There’s no reason that “I” shouldn’t be used in a hymn… as Trish says, after all, the “Credo” is not the “Credimus” — “it’s I believe in God,” not “We,” a personal profession of faith. Faith is a personal matter; we can only speak for ourselves in that. So singing about it in the same way makes total sense! 🙂
As to the tune, I actually didn’t know this hymn until last year, but Drakes Broughton is the tune that went with it; I haven’t yet found a really decent, fully sung youtube video with it, but it’s a beautiful hymn. I prefer this tune to either of the others I’ve heard with it. To each their own, though; I know there are hymns that have several (“Faith of our Fathers” is another I know at least three tunes for!)
I totally agree with your sentiment. At any one time there are people of true faith and those who have not yet true faith singing this hymn together – I feel these declarations should be a personal declaration to God. Others can do likewise and it’s edifying that we’re actually doing it together.
Yes, “we” is supposed to be a bonding exercise – but it can often be a tribal chant.
To me tribal chants are a thing of this fallen world we see with all the flag-waving and ultra nationalist sentiment which leads to all manner of exclusion