Translators of the Hymns

The Hymns of the Breviary and Missal

AYLWARD, VERY REV. JAMES AMBROSE, O.P. (1813-1872) was the Dominican Prior at Woodchester, England. His translations were edited by Mr. Orby Shipley, in whose Annus Sanctus many of them appear. “Father Aylward,” says Mr. Shipley, “was a cultured and talented priest of varied powers and gifts, whose memory is held dear by all who knew and were influenced by him.” Hymns: 67, 68, 87.
BAGSHAWE, MOST REV. EDWARD GILPIN (1829- 1915). Educated at St. Mary’s College Oscott, and at London University. Bishop of Nottingham (1874), titular Archbishop of Seleucia (1904). Translated all the hymns of the Breviary and Missal in his Breviary Hymns and Missal Sequences (Burns, Oates and Washbourne, London, 1900). His translations are the latest as well as the most literal of all the translations of our Latin hymns. His sole aim was “to keep to the sense of the original, neither adding to this nor taking from it” (Preface). His translations are too labored and prosy, but it is unfair to judge them without considering the purpose of their pious author. Hymns: 98, 146.
BALL, REV. THOMAS ISAAC, LL.D. (1838-1916). Dr. Ball contributed numerous translations of Latin hymns to many hymnals, notable among which are the Appendix to the Hymnal Noted, 1863, and The New Office Hymn Book, 1905. His translations are faithful, musical, and sustained, Hymns: 81, 90, 135.
BENEDICTINES OF STANBROOK, Worcester, England. The translations ascribed to The Benedictines of Stanbrook are taken from their classic little volume The Day Hours of the Church, which contains the Breviary Office in Latin and English for all the Hours except Matins. (Burns, Oates and Washbourne, London, 1916.) Hymns: 99, 100, 121, 122, 140.
BLACKER, REV. MAXWELL JULIUS, MA. (1822- 1888). Mr. Blacker was educated at Merton College, Oxford. His numerous translations from the Latin are in The Hymner. Hymns: 10, 114, 115, 151.
BLOUNT, WALTER KIRKHAM (d. 1717). Author of the Office of Holy Week, Paris, 1670. Hymn: 51.
BLEW, REV. WM. JOHN, MA. (1808-1894) was educated at Wadham College, Oxford. “His translations are terse, vigorous, musical, and of great merit. They have been strangely overlooked by the compilers of recent hymnbooks” (Dict. of Hymnol.). His translations appeared in The Church Hymn and Tune Book, 1852. Hymns: 70, 113.
BUTE, THE MARQUESS OF, MA. (1847-1900) was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Convert, 1869. Translator of the Roman Breviary into English. The translations of Latin hymns in his Roman Breviary in English are the work of many scholars, both Catholic and non-Catholic. It is not known which hymns are from the pen of the Marquess. The following are from his Roman Breviary: 84, 95, 141.
CAMPBELL, ROBERT (1814-1868) was an advocate of Skerrington, Scotland. Convert, 1852. Educated at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. In 1850 many of his translations appeared in the St. Andrew’s Hymnal. Many others were left by him in MSS. and were edited by Mr. Orby Shipley. From these Mr. Shipley published a considerable number in his Annus Sanctus, 1884. His translations are “smooth, musical, and sustained” (Dict. of Hymnol.). Hymns: 59B, 60, 62.
CASWALL, REV. EDWARD, MA. (1814-1878) was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford. Convert, 1847. After his conversion he joined Cardinal Newman at the Oratory, Edgbaston. Father Caswall, despite the great names of Newman, Faber, and others, is pre-eminently “The Poet of the Oratory” (Father Matthew Russell, S.J.). With Dr. Neale, Father Caswall shares the honor of being the most felicitous of the translators of our Latin Hymns. His translations appeared in his Lyra Catholica, in 1848, the year following his reception into the Church. “Caswall’s translations of Latin hymns from the Roman Breviary and other sources have a wider circulation in modern hymnals than those of any other translator, Dr. Neale alone excepted. This is owing to his general faithfulness to the originals, and to the purity of his rhythm” (Dict. of Hymnol.). Many of Father Caswall’s translations appear in the Annus Sanctus and are characterized by Mr. Shipley as “vigorous, dogmatic hymns.” Father Caswall translated the Roman Breviary Text. Despite his undoubted ability as a translator, one can not but regret that so many of his translations are in Common Meter instead of Long Meter. Hymns: 22, 31, 32, 37, 42B, 43, 47, 54, 73, 74, 76, 78, 83, 85, 86, 88, 89, 93, 106, 107, 108, 110, 111, 112, 117, 119, 124, 125, 126, 127, 132, 134, 137, 147, 148, 152, 153, 162, 165, 167.
CHADWICK, JOSEPH WILLIAM, MA. (1841-1882). Educated at Queen’s College, Oxford. Vicar of Westgate Common, Wakefield. His translations in this volume are from The Hymner. Hymns: 13, 17, 19.
CHAMBERS, JOHN DAVID, MA. (1805-1893) was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. His translations are found principally in his Lauda Syon, which appeared in two parts in 1857 and 1866. “His translations of Latin hymns are close, clear, and poetical; they have much strength and earnestness, and the rhythm is easy and musical . . . Greater use, however, might be made of these translations than has been done. Their earnestness and dignity would raise the tone of many collections” (Dict. of Hymnol.). Hymns: 13, 21, 28, 161.
COPELAND, WM. JOHN, MA. (1804-1885). Mr. Copeland was educated at Trinity College, Oxford. His translations, mostly from the Roman Breviary Text, appeared in his Hymns for the Week and Seasons (1848). He was also the editor of Cardinal Newman’s Sermons. Hymn: 9.
COURTHOPE, "WILLIAM JOHN, LL.D. (1842-1917), was educated at Harrow, and New College, Oxford. Mr. Courthope was professor of poetry at Oxford, 1895-1901. Author of History of English Poetry, 4 vols., 1895-1903. He contributed five beautiful translations of Latin hymns to Church Hymns, 1903; through the kindness of The Macmillan Company all of these spirited translations appear in this volume. Hymns: 14, 16, 18, 27, 36.
DEARMER, REV. PERCY, M.A., D.D. (b. 1867), was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the compilers of the English Hymnal, 1906, to which he contributed ten translations. He was appointed to the Chair of Ecclesiastical Art, King’s College, London, 1919. Hymn: 156.
DONAHOE, JUDGE DANIEL JOSEPH, was born at Brimfield, Mass., 1853, and was educated at Wesleyan University. He is the author of several volumes of poetry, original and translated. His translations from the Latin comprise two volumes under the title Early Christian Hymns, published by the Donahoe Publishing Co., Middletown, Conn. These translations, 288 in all, include 115 hymns from the Breviary and Missal. They are uniformly musical but quite free. Early Christian Hymns is the most extensive work of its kind thus far undertaken in America, or even in England since the days of Neale and Caswall. Judge Donahoe is a frequent contributor to several magazines. Hymns: 86, 123, 142, 143, 159.
DORAN, Rev. John Wilberforce. For details see page 372.
DRYDEN, JOHN (1631-1701). Poet-Laureate, 1670. Convert, 1685. Mr. Orby Shipley and Mr. W. T. Brooke ascribe to John Dryden the bulk of the 120 translations of Latin hymns in The Primer, or Office of the B. V. Mary in English, 1706. Many of these translations are in the Annus Sanctus, the Preface of which contains a discussion of the question of Dryden’s authorship. Hymns: 50, 72.
ELLERTON, REV. JOHN, M.A. (1826-1893). Mr. Ellerton was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is widely known as an hymnologist, editor, hymn-writer, and translator. He was one of the editors of Church Hymns, 1871, published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S. P. C. K.). Hymn: 4.
FABER, FREDERIC WILLIAM, D.D. (1814-1863). Father Faber was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. Convert, 1845. In 1849 he established in London the “Oratorians,” or Priests of the Congregation of St. Philip Neri, where he remained as superior until his death. Father Faber is the author of many well known prose works full of sweetness and unction, and a Book of Hymns, 150 in number, many of which have become very popular. He is best known as a writer of original hymns, not as a translator. Hymn: 133.
GARESCHE, REV. EDWARD FRANCIS, S.J., MA. (b. 1876). Father Garesché was educated at St. Louis University, and at Washington University. Practiced law 1898-1900. Entered the Society of Jesus, 1900. Lawyer, author, professor, poet, and formerly editor of The Queen’s Work, St. Louis. Hymn: 80.
HALL, RT. REV. MSGR. CANON LOUIS (1844-1911) was educated at St. Edmund's, Old Hall, and was ordained in 1868 for the Diocese of Southwark. In the division of the diocese in 1882 he was made Canon of the diocese of Portsmouth, and was several times Administrator of the diocese. Msgr. Hall was a devout and cultured priest, and a musician and composer of ability. Many of his hymns, the editor has been informed, are still unpublished. Hymn: 116.
HENRY, RT. REV. MSGR. HUGH THOMAS, LITT.D., LL.D. (b. 1862), poet, lecturer, and hymnologist. Professor of Homiletics in the Catholic University of America. Msgr. Henry was educated at La Salle College, the University of Pennsylvania, and at St. Charles Seminary, Overbrook, Pa. For many years he was professor of English and of Gregorian Chant at St. Charles, and rector of the Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia. He contributed to the Catholic Encyclopedia some fifty scholarly articles on our Latin hymns. He is widely and favorably known as a hymn-writer and translator. His translations appeared principally in his Eucharistica (Dolphin Press, Philadelphia), and in the pages of the American Ecclesiastical Review, and in other periodicals. He has also rendered into English verse the Poems, Charades, and Inscriptions of Pope Leo XIII (Dolphin Press). Hymns: 8, 41, 75, 96, 97, 131, 139, 144.
HORT, FENTON JOHN ANTHONY, BA. (1828-1892), was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He held several distinguished appointments at Cambridge University. He translated a few Latin hymns. Hymn: 4.
HOUSMAN, LAURENCE (b. 1867). Author and artist. He contributed several translations to the English Hymnal, 1906. His devotional poetry is found chiefly in his Spikenard, 1898, and in his Bethlehem, 1902. Hymn: 164.
HUNTER-BLAIR, RT. REV. OSWALD (Sir David Hunter-Blair, Baronet), O.S.B., MA. (b. 1853). Born at Dunskey, Scotland. Educated at Eton and Magdalen Colleges, Oxford. Convert, 1875. Entered the Benedictine Order in 1878. Master of Hunter-Blair’s Hall, Oxford, 1899-1909. Elected Abbot of St. Benedict’s Abbey, Fort Augustus, Scotland, 1913. Author, historian, and extensive contributor to Catholic periodicals and to the Catholic Encyclopedia. Hymns: 30, 141.
HUSENBETH, VERY REV. F R E D E R I C K CHARLES, D.D. (1796-1872). Educated at Oscott College. Provost and Vicar-General of Northampton Diocese. Author and editor of many volumes pertaining to doctrinal, historical, and liturgical matters. Notable among these is his Missal for the Laity. A number of his translations are in Mr. Shipley’s Annus Sanctus. Hymn: 82.
IRONS, WILLIAM JOSIAH, B.A. (1812-1883). Educated at Queen’s College, Oxford. He is best known for his translation of the Dies Iræ, which is more extensively used than any other translation of that great hymn. Hymns: 87D, 166.
JULIAN, REV. JOHN, D.D. (1839-1913) was editor of the Dictionary of Hymnology, a, monumental work which sets forth the origin and history of Christian hymns of all ages and nations. It contains much valuable information on Latin hymns. Hymn: 20.
LACEY, REV. THOMAS ALEXANDER, M.A. (b. 1853). Educated at Balliol College, Oxford. He was one of the committee that compiled The English Hymnal, to which he contributed eleven translations from the Latin and one from the Greek. His translations are of a high order. Hymn: 48.
LEESON, JANE ELIZABETH (1807-1882). Of Miss Leeson’s personal history nothing is known. She published several books of hymns, especially for children. Her widely used translation of the Victimæ Paschali first appeared in Father Formby’s Catholic Hymns, 1851. Miss Leeson, the editor has been informed, was a devout Catholic. Hymn: 59.
LITTLEDALE, REV. RICHARD FREDERICK, B.A., LL.D. (1833-1890), was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was an hymnologist of note. He contributed hymns to many collections, and was one of the contributors to the Marquess of Bute’s Roman Breviary in English. Hymn: 157.
MACCARTHY, DENIS FLORENCE (1817-1882) was Professor of poetry in the Catholic University of Dublin. By his incomparable version of Calderon, “the Spanish Shakespeare,” he has won a permanent place in English letters. He was an ardent patriot and a devout Catholic. Hymn: 57.
McDOUGALL, ALAN G., was born in 1895, and was received into the Church in 1919. He resides in London. Mr. McDougall is the author of Pange Lingua&mdasha collection of Breviary hymns of old use, with English metrical translations. The translations are exceptionally good and they rank among the most felicitous in the language. They are “equal to Neale’s at his best” is the opinion of no less an authority than Mr. James Britten. This is high praise but it is not unmerited. The volume contains a scholarly thirty-page introduction by Dr. Adrian Fortescue. Pange Lingua is published by Burns, Oates and Washbourne, 22 Orchard St., London, and it is a beautiful specimen of the bookmaker’s art. Hymns: 1, 64, 105, 129, 136, 138, 155.
NEALE, REV. JOHN MASON, D.D. (1818-1866) was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Dr. Neale was an eminent hymnologist and a most felicitous translator of Greek and Latin hymns. His translations of Latin hymns appeared in his Mediæval Hymns and Sequences, 1851, and in the Hymnal Noted, 1852 and 1854, in which 94 out of the 105 hymns therein are translated from the Latin by Dr. Neale. Most modern hymnals contain some of Neale’s translations; two, however, easily obtained, are especially deserving of note; viz., the Rev. Gr. R. Woodward’s Songs of Syon, and the Rev. G. H. Palmer’s The Hymner. The latter book, so we are told in the Preface, contains “translations of all, save two, of the Hymns from the Sarum Breviary . . . Of the total number nearly one-half are from the pen of the late Dr. J. M. Neale, of whose vigorous and scholarly renderings the editor has gladly availed himself.” Neale’s translations are from the Original Text, not from the Roman Breviary Text. Hymns: 3, 5, 6, 11, 23, 24, 26, 34B, 38, 39, 46, 49, 52, 53, 58, 58B, 66, 69, 71, 78, 134B, 150, 154, 158, 163, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173.
NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY CARDINAL (1801-1890) was educated at Ealing, and at Trinity College, Oxford. Convert, 1845. Founder and superior of the Birmingham Oratory and School. Rector of the Catholic University in Dublin, 1854-1858. Created Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII, in 1879. His translations from the Roman Breviary, thirty-three in all, are found in his Verses on Various Occasions. His most popular translation is that of the Nunc Sancte nobis Spiritus, hymn 2 of this volume. Hymns: 2, 15, 130.
OAKELEY, VERY REV. FREDERICK, M.A. (1802- 1880) was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was a prominent Tractarian and author. Convert, 1845. Canon of the Cathedral of Westminster. He is widely known for his fine translation of the Adeste Fideles. Hymn: 40.
O’HAGAN, JOHN (1822-1890) was born at Newry, Ireland, and was educated by the Jesuit Fathers in Dublin, and at Trinity College. Justice O’Hagan was a devout Catholic, a distinguished lawyer, and man of letters. He was a member of the Supreme Court of Judicature in Ireland. His fine translation of the Adoro Te devote was a great favorite with the late Father Matthew Russell, S. J., who included it in several of his charming little books on the Blessed Sacrament. Hymn: 79.
OXENHAM, HENRY NUTCOMBE (1829-1888) was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. Convert, 1857. He is the author of several volumes. Several of his translations are in Mr. Shipley’s Annus Sanctus. Hymn: 120.
PAUL, CHARLES KEGAN, MA. (1828-1902), was educated at Eton College, Oxford. Convert, 1890. He was an author, and head of the well-known publishing house of Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Hymn: 102.
PALMER, REV. GEORGE HERBERT, B.A, was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Mr. Palmer is the editor of The Antiphoner and Grail, and The Hymner, which is exceptionally valuable both for the number and quality of its translations from the Latin. All the translations by Mr. Palmer, M. J. Blacker, J. W. Doran, and J. W. Chadwick in this volume, are from The Hymner. Hymns: 19, 69, 114, 115, 157.
POTTER, REV. THOMAS JOSEPH (1828-1873). Convert, 1847. Father Potter was for many years professor of Belles Lettres and Sacred Eloquence at All Hallows College, Dublin. He is the author of several volumes, one of which, Sacred Eloquence, has been widely used as a text-book in Catholic Seminaries. He translated the Vespers hymns of the Breviary for the Catholic Psalmist. Hymns: 29, 38, 63, 65, 91, 92, 104, 109, 118, 128.
PRIMER. The Primer, or Office of the B. V. Mary in English, was a book of devotion which was very popular with our forefathers. Several editions appeared in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Appendix to Mr. Shipley’s Annus Sanctus, contains many beautiful translations from different editions of the Primer. Hymns: 33, 35, 50, 71.
RILEY, ATHELSTAN, MA. (b. 1858), was educated at Eton and at Pembroke College, Oxford. Mr. Riley is one of the compilers of the English Hymnal, 1906, to which he contributed seven translations from the Latin. The English Hymnal (Oxford University Press, London) is one of the finest of modern hymnals. It contains 162 translations from the Latin, many of which are recent translations of unusual beauty. Hymns: 42, 149.
SCOTT, SIR WALTER (1771-1832), the eminent poet and novelist, is the author of a fine condensed rendering of the Dies Iræ. Hymn:87B.
SHIPLEY, ORBY, MA. (1832-1916), was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. He was an Anglican clergyman for twenty-two years. He entered the Church in 1878, and at the time of his death he was one of the last of the illustrious band of converts whose conversion is traced directly to the Tractarian Movement. Mr. Shipley was an hymnologist of great ability and his compilation, the Annus Sanctus is repeatedly referred to in this volume. He is also the editor of the Carmina Mariana, and other collections now out of print. He edited the MSS. of Robert Campbell, and of the Very Rev. Prior Aylward, O.P., and included many of their finest translations in his Annus Sanctus (Burns, Oates & Washbourne, London).
WALLACE, REV. WILFRID, O.S.B., D.D. (d. 1896). Father Wallace was educated at London University and in Rome. He was ordained a secular priest and was known to the world as John Wallace. In 1877 he entered the Benedictine Order and was afterwards known by his religious name Wilfrid. In his Hymns of the Church, 1874, he translated all the hymns of the Breviary and Missal. Several of his translations are in Mr. Shipley’s Annus Sanctus. Strangely enough his best translations are from the Passion Offices which are not included in the latest edition of the Breviary. Hymns: 94, 103, 145.
WALWORTH, REV. CLARENCE ALPHONSUS (1820-1900) was an Episcopal clergyman who entered the Catholic Church and became one of the founders of the Paulist Congregation. His fine translation of the Te Deum is in extensive use. Hymn: 8.
WINGFIELD, WILLIAM FREDERICK, M.A. (1813- 1874), was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Convert, 1845. Before his conversion he was an Anglican clergyman; after his conversion, a barrister. Hymn: 87.
WOODWARD, REV. GEORGE RATCLIFF, M.A. (b. 1848), was educated at Harrow, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He is the editor of the excellent hymnal, Songs of Syon, to which he contributed many translations from the Latin, Greek, and German. His translations from the Latin do not include any of the Breviary hymns. He is also the author of the widely known Cowley Carol Book. Hymn: 149B.
YATTENDON HYMNAL, 1899. The Yattendon Hymnal was edited by Mr. Robert Bridges, the Poet- Laureate. It contains, in all, one hundred hymns, many of them recent translations of a high order. Hymn: 12.

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS OF TRANSLATORS

It is interesting to record here the religious affiliations of the translators whose hymns find a place in this volume. It will be observed from the biographies given above that among the Catholic translators fully one-half are concerts. Among those classed as Anglicans the writer believes that all are of the High Church party.

CATHOLICS: Aylward, Bagshawe, Bute, Campbell, Caswall, Donahoe, Dryden, Faber, Garesché, Hall, Henry, Hunter-Blair, Husenbeth, Leeson, McDougall, MacCarthy, Newman, Oakeley, O’Hagan, Oxenham, Paul, Potter, Wallace, Walworth, and Wingfield. The translations in the Primers are all by Catholics.
ANGLICANS: Ball, Blacker, Blew, Chadwick, Chambers, Copeland, Courthope, Dearmer, Ellerton, Hort, Housman, Irons, Julian, Lacey, Littledale, Neale, Palmer, Riley, Woodward, and Doran.
Scott was nominally a Presbyterian with a leaning toward the Episcopal Church.
DORAN, REV. JOHN WILBERFORCE (d. 1906), was, at the time of its opening in 1863, curate of St. Alban’s, long the mecca of High Church Anglicanism. In connection with Spencer Nottingham he brought out The Directory of Plainsong, the best Psalter of its day. Hymns 69, 151.
TRIPEPI, LUIGI CARDINAL (1836-1906) held office under two popes. Pius IX named him Hymnographer of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and Leo XIII appointed him Secretary of the Congregation of Indulgences. Hymns: 121, 122.