Entrance: Behold the Glory of God (O’Connor) AOV 1/156
Psalm 29 (McKenna)
I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Gifts: Will You Love Me? (Boniwell) AOV 1/40
Communion: Bread of Life (Farrell) AOV 1/164
Rec essional: Jesus is Risen (O’Brien/Ogilvie)
Entrance: We Walk By Faith (Haugen) AOV 1/63
Psalm 117 (McKenna)
Give thanks to the Lord for he is good., his love is everlasting.
Gifts: This Blessing Cup (Andersen)
Communion: Bread of Heaven (Manibusan-Hart)
Recessional: Alleluia! Love is Alive (Angrisano, Manibusan, Hart)
I am completely ignoring the many songs that the Praise to God hymnal got from the New Living Parish Hymn Book, because I will look at that collection soon enough, but a collection that was used surprisingly little by the editors, was the Australian published, Pius X Hymnal.
You can read about that collection here, where there is a link to download the pdf.
“An Australian Christmas Carol” is the only song listed from Pius X to be selected for PTG. Both the Pius X and PTG list this Australian Christmas song as being by an anonymous Presentation Sister. However I found this background information here:
This obscure Christmas Carol has been attributed to
Rev Mother Francis Tobin, IBVM, Australian Loreto
Sister. It is not known when it was written but it
appeared in the December 17, 1953 edition of The
Catholic Weekly with just the attribution of IBVM.
However, when it was published in the December 1968
edition of Progress – the staff magazine of the State
Savings Bank of Victoria – Mother Francis Tobin was
recorded as the author.
Rev Mother Francis Tobin was born Elizabeth “Lizzie”
Tobin in 1860 in Auburn Villa, Ararat, Victoria. In
October 1875, at the of age 15, she became the seventh
student to be enrolled in Mary’s Mount, Ballarat – the
first Loreto school in Australia. At 19 she became the
first Loreto student in Australia to become a postulant
in the Loreto order, taking her vows in 1881, and
professed in 1888. She passed away at Loreto, Kirribilli
on August 12, 1956.
There is more about Mother Francis Tobin at the Loreto site. The song has taken on a life of its own with many variations on the text, some of whch are listed here.
The setting is noted to be Irish traditional arranged by the hymnal’s editor Percy Jones. If anyone knows what the tune is called, I’d love to know.
I made a backing nonethless:
I assume that Percy Jones, collected all of the verses and consolidated them in Pius X and PTG copied them, just removing the thees and thous:
O little Babe of Bethlehem!
The Southern Cross shines down,
As once a star shone glorious
above an Eastern town.The hearts of Bethlehem are cold,
The streets are hushed with snow,
The doors are barred, there is no room,
Dear Lord, where will you go?O come sweet Jesus come to us!
Australia’s sun is warm,
And here are loving hearts enough
to shield you from the storm.Come! We will give you all we have:
Each bird and flower and tree,
The breeze that stirs the silver gums,
The music of the sea.And sweet clematis starry-eyed
with delicate ferns we’ll bring;
Our wattle trees shall shower their gold
in tribute to our King.We’ll watch, when evening sounds begin
And dreaming flowers nod,
Your mother fold you in her arms,
Dear little Lamb of God.Bell-birds shall ring their silver peal
from gullies green and deep,
And mingle with the magpie’s note
to call you from your sleep.O little Babe of Bethlehem!
Australia loves you well;
Come to our hearts this Christmastide
and there forever dwell.
The last song I will look at in the Praise to God parish hymn book that the editors took from James Quinn‘s New Hymns for New Seasons, is “O Father, Take in Sign of Love”. It was a new text when he wrote in in the 1960s and it is set to an old tune, HORSLEY. It is a hymn for Offertory and Eucharist.
The best source for his songs, including this one, is the collection, Hymns for All Seasons. The sheet music below is in Eb, PTG is in D and I’d take it down to C at least.
The text is here.
This is one of three songs from James Quinn’s New Songs For New Seasons, that was used in the Praise to God parish hymnal, that I haven’t already covered on this blog. I have already blogged “This Is My Will“, “O Flock of Christ“, “Christ be Beside Me“, and “This Day God Gives Me“. Currently the best source for James Quinn hymns is the collection, Hymns For All Seasons.
This text is based on Psalm 150 and used in the Divine Office for evening prayer. Here it is set to DIADEMATA, but is also set to CORONA.
The text is here.
Another of the collections that the Praise to God parish hymnbook used was Father James Quinn‘s, New Hymns for New Seasons, from 1969. These were new hymn texts often set to old tunes. While that collection is out of print, you can still get this song in his best of collection, Hymns for All Seasons.
This one is his version of the Magnificat set to EDWIN by Edgar M. Deale, who lived from 1902 to 1999, so I suppose his music was actually current in 1969. The text is in this preview, but note that this has a different setting by Paul Inwood.
It was time for the wind up BIAB fake organ:
This is a much later song from the Weston Priory that was used in the Praise to God hymnal. This is from 1989, so Gregory Norbet was long gone by this stage. Cathy Polinski is noted as a songwriter for the album, Move With One Heart, but whether she wrote this particular song I can’t tell.
The collection is still for sale at the Priory.
Refrain:
Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth,
for our God speaks to all people.
Cease to do evil and learn to do good.
Make justice your home forever.
- Shelter the oppressed and the homeless,
and share your bread with the hungry.
Release all those bound unjustly,
and hear the widow’s plea.- Revive all spirits dejected,
and heal the hearts of the crush’d.
Open the eyes of the blind,
and strengthen all weary hearts.
© 1989 The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc.
This is yet another song in the Praise to God parish hymn book sourced from Weston Priory‘s Locusts and Wild Honey collection, written by Gregory Norbet.
It is a sung prayer.
Refrain:
We thank you, Father, for the gift of faith,
through Jesus Christ your son,
and for the gift of life with our brothers, in this our family.
May your good news be a constant source of strength and joy,
for all of us who share in your wonderful love each day.
- To live in the Spirit is to grow in liberty.
Without love our freedom cannot be real.
Copyright © (1971), from the recording “Locusts and Wild Honey”,
The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc.,
Weston Priory, Weston, Vermont.
This is another Weston Priory song with instructions to be “lively” – it seems to be their watch word. Like the others it was written by Gregory Norbet from the collection “Locusts and Wild Honey” and was sourced from there by the editors of the Praise to God parish hymnal. I’m having difficulty getting my mind around a time when it appears monks singing folk songs with a hint of a background in chant was revolutionary.
The sheet music is available from the priory.
I made a lot of these backings some time ago when I was a little ill and I skipped this one in error. So I made a quick backing that took ten minutes on Band in a Box – it’s a great program.
Refrain:
Today the goodness of God cries out,
and the waters come to life with your saving grace.
- O Father of all you gave us your son
to redeem us from the darkness of sin.- Radiant is your joy O God
and the splendor of your love is alive, alive.- Today you appear O Christ to the world
and your light has shone upon us, O Lord.
Copyright © (1971), from the recording “Locusts and Wild Honey”,
The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc.,
Weston Priory, Weston, Vermont.
When the editors of the Praise to God parish hymnal, stepped away from the major prior hymn books for inspiration, they frequently turned to the Weston Priory and Gregory Norbet.
From their collection Locusts and Wild Honey they found four songs. I’ve blogged the title track here, and this Christmas song is one of the other three. The songbook is still in print and available from the priory. The lyrics, which I got from their site, have a fifth verse not in PTG.
Refrain:
A child is born for us today, alleluia.
He is our Saviour and our God, alleluia.
- Let our hearts resound with joy
and sing a song of gladness
for the Lord our brother is come
and we are redeemed.- Tell the world of our good news:
Jesus the Christ is among us,
and his presence we celebrate
offering peace and our joy to all.- Christ is born, the Christ has come!
Sing everyone: Alleluia!
Caught in wonder at this birth
we worship God become man for us.- Glory to God, born today
of the Virgin Mary,
in a cave at Bethlehem.
Is there room in our lives for him?- His name shall be Emmanuel:
God who lives among us.
Angels sing and shepherds cry:
born is the savior our Lord.
Copyright © (1971), from the recording “Locusts and Wild Honey”,
The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc.,
Weston Priory, Weston, Vermont.
The instructions on the music say “lively”, and I’ll leave you to decide if they measured up to that in any of the versions they performed:
