Mary and O Gracious Light
“To Thee of right belongs all praise of holy songs”
(verse 3, Hymn 36)
Today we look at Hymn 36, “O gracious Light” which will be featured tonight in our online Compline service at 7 pm. You can hear baritone Corbin Phillips sing the first verse here by viewing the video. Below are all three verses, which you can hear Corbin sing tonight.
O gladsome Light, O grace
of God the Father’s face,
th’eternal splendor wearing;
celestial, holy, blest,
our Savior Jesus Christ,
joyful in thine appearing.
Now, ere day fadeth quite,
we see the evening light,
our wonted hymn out-pouring;
Father of might unknown,
thee, his incarnate Son,
and Holy Spirit adoring.
To thee of right belongs
all praise of holy songs,
O Son of God, Life-giver;
Thee, therefore, O Most High,
the world doth glorify,
and shall exalt for ever.
This hymn text, also known as the “Candlelighting Hymn” dates back to 3rd century Greece, and is one of the oldest Christian hymn texts in existence. A number of poets have translated it from the Greek into English, including notably Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Keble. The translation we have here in Hymn 36 is by the English poet laureate Robert Bridges, who also translated a number of mostly German hymn texts in our hymnals, including “Ah, Holy Jesus”, “All my hope on God is founded”, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, “O sacred Head, sore wounded” and “When morning gilds the skies”.
The tune was composed by French composer Louis Bourgeois (c. 1510-1559) for the text of the Nunc Dimittis for his collection of Protestant psalm settings (1547). Bourgeois is best known today for his hymn tune Old 100th, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow”, found as verse three in Hymn 380: “From all that dwell below the skies”. The Anglo-Genevan Psalter, which included many of Bourgeois’ tunes, was well-known to the Reformed Church in England and to the pilgrims in America.
The harmonization of our hymn today comes from another distinguished Protestant French composer of psalm settings, Claude Goudimel (c. 1514-1572). Some historians say that Goudimel was murdered in Lyon in August 1572 during the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, during which many Huguenot residents of the city perished.
I commend the Compline services on Friday nights to you, if you have not yet tuned in. They are a lovely way to end the day. Past STEEP Complines are available on our YouTube channel (search for St. Thomas-Epiphany Episcopal Parish Compline), if you want to catch up with a different one on different days of the week. Compline is meant to be the last service before going sleep, and is a quiet and peaceful way to offer prayer and praise at the end of your day.
