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Bernard, of Cluny

1100 - 1199 Person Name: Bernard of Cluny, 12th cent. Author of "The Clouds of Judgment Gather" in Lutheran Service Book Bernard of Morlaix, or of Cluny, for he is equally well known by both titles, was an Englishman by extraction, both his parents being natives of this country. He was b., however, in France very early in the 12th cent, at Morlaix, Bretagne. Little or nothing is known of his life, beyond the fact that he entered the Abbey of Cluny, of which at that time Peter the Venerable, who filled the post from 1122 to 1156, was the head. There, so far as we know, he spent his whole after-life, and there he probably died, though the exact date of his death, as well as of his birth is unrecorded. The Abbey of Cluny was at that period at the zenith of its wealth and fame. Its buildings, especially its church (which was unequalled by any in France); the services therein, renowned for the elaborate order of their ritual; and its community, the most numerous of any like institution, gave it a position and an influence, such as no other monastery, perhaps, ever reached. Everything about it was splendid, almost luxurious. It was amid such surroundings that Bernard of Cluny spent his leisure hours in composing that wondrous satire against the vices and follies of his age, which has supplied—and it is the only satire that ever did so—some of the most widely known and admired hymns to the Church of today. His poem De Contemptu Mundi remains as an imperishable monument of an author of whom we know little besides except his name, and that a name overshadowed in his own day and in ours by his more illustrious contemporary and namesake, the saintly Abbot of Clairvaux. The poem itself consists of about 3000 lines in a meter which is technically known as Leonini Cristati Trilices Dactylici, or more familiarly—to use Dr. Neale's description in his Mediaeval Hymns, p. 69—" it is a dactylic hexameter, divided into three parts, between which a caesura is inadmissible. The hexameter has a tailed rhyme, and feminine leonine rhyme between the two first clauses, thus :— " Tune nova gloria, pectora sobria, clarificabit: Solvit enigmata, veraque sabbata, continuabit, Patria luminis, inscia turbinis, inscia litis, Cive replebitur, amplificabitur Israelitis." The difficulty of writing at all, much more of writing a poem of such length in a metre of this description, will be as apparent to all readers of it, as it was to the writer himself, who attributes his successful accomplishment of his task entirely to the direct inspiration of the Spirit of God. "Non ego arroganter," he says in his preface, "sed omnino humiliter, et ob id audenter affirmaverim, quia nisi spiritus sapicntiae et intellectus mihi affuisset et afftuxisset, tarn difficili metro tarn longum opus con-texere non sustinuissem." As to the character of the metre, on the other hand, opinions have widely differed, for while Dr. Neale, in his Mediaeval Hymns, speaks of its "majestic sweetness," and in his preface to the Rhythm of Bernard de Morlaix on the Celestial Country, says that it seems to him "one of the loveliest of mediaeval measures;" Archbishop Trench in his Sac. Lat. Poetry, 1873. p. 311, says "it must be confessed that" these dactylic hexameters "present as unattractive a garb for poetry to wear as can well be imagined;" and, a few lines further on, notes "the awkwardness and repulsiveness of the metre." The truth perhaps lies between these two very opposite criticisms. Without seeking to claim for the metre all that Dr. Neale is willing to attribute to it, it may be fairly said to be admirably adapted for the purpose to which it has been applied by Bernard, whose awe-stricken self-abasement as he contemplates in the spirit of the publican, “who would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven," the joys and the glory of the celestial country, or sorrowfully reviews the vices of his age, or solemnly denounces God's judgments on the reprobate, it eloquently pourtrays. So much is this the case, that the prevailing sentiment of the poem, that, viz., of an awful apprehension of the joys of heaven, the enormity of sin, and the terrors of hell, seems almost wholly lost in such translations as that of Dr. Neale. Beautiful as they are as hymns, "Brief life is here our portion," "Jerusalem the Golden," and their companion extracts from this great work, are far too jubilant to give any idea of the prevailing tone of the original. (See Hora Novissima.) In the original poem of Bernard it should be noted that the same fault has been remarked by Archbishop Trench, Dean Stanley, and Dr. Neale, which may be given in the Archbishop's words as excusing at the same time both the want, which still exists, of a very close translation of any part, and of a complete and continuous rendering of the whole poem. "The poet," observes Archbishop Trench, "instead of advancing, eddies round and round his object, recurring again and again to that which he seemed thoroughly to have discussed and dismissed." Sac. Lat. Poetry, 1873, p. 311. On other grounds also, more especially the character of the vices which the author lashes, it is alike impossible to expect, and undesirable to obtain, a literal translation of the whole. We may well be content with what we already owe to it as additions to our stores of church-hymns. -John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ================== Bernard of Cluny, p. 137, i., is best described thus: his place of origin is quite uncertain. See the Catalogue of the Additional MSS. of the B. M. under No. 35091, where it is said that he was perhaps of Morlas in the Basses-Pyrenees, or of Morval in the Jura, but that there is nothing to connect him with Morlaix in Brittany. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

Columba

521 - 597 Author of "O God, thou art the Father" in Hymns and Psalms Saint Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, 'church dove'; 7 December 521 – 9 June 597) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in present-day Scotland. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the Patron Saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Christian saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. Columba reportedly studied under some of Ireland's most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in the country. Around 563 he and his twelve companions sailed to Iona in Scotland, then part of the Irish kingdom of Dál Riata, where they founded a new abbey as a base for spreading Christianity among the northern Pictish kingdoms who were pagan. He remained active in Irish politics, though he spent most of the remainder of his life in Scotland. Three surviving early medieval Latin hymns may be attributed to him. Columba was born to Fedlimid and Eithne of the Cenel Conaill in Gartan, near Lough Gartan, in modern County Donegal, Ulster in the north of Ireland. On his father's side, he was great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish high king of the 5th century. He was baptised in Temple-Douglas, in the County Donegal parish of Conwal (mid-way between Gartan and Letterkenny), by his teacher and foster-uncle Saint Crunathan. When sufficiently advanced in letters he entered the monastic school of Moville under St. Finnian who had studied at St. Ninian's "Magnum Monasterium" on the shores of Galloway. He was about twenty, and a deacon when, having completed his training at Moville, he travelled southwards into Leinster, where he became a pupil of an aged bard named Gemman. On leaving him, Columba entered the monastery of Clonard, governed at that time by Finnian, noted for sanctity and learning. Here he imbibed the traditions of the Welsh Church, for Finnian had been trained in the schools of St. David. In early Christian Ireland the druidic tradition collapsed due to the spread of the new Christian faith. The study of Latin learning and Christian theology in monasteries flourished. Columba became a pupil at the monastic school at Clonard Abbey, situated on the River Boyne in modern County Meath. During the sixth century, some of the most significant names in the history of Irish Christianity studied at the Clonard monastery. It is said that the average number of scholars under instruction at Clonard was 3,000. Twelve students who studied under St. Finnian became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland; Columba was one of them. He became a monk and eventually was ordained a priest. Another preceptor of Columba was St. Mobhi, whose monastery at Glasnevin was frequented by such famous men as St. Canice, St. Comgall, and St. Ciaran. A pestilence which devastated Ireland in 544 caused the dispersion of Mobhi's disciples, and Columba returned to Ulster, the land of his kindred. He was a striking figure of great stature and powerful build, with a loud, melodious voice which could be heard from one hilltop to another. The following years were marked by the foundation of several important monasteries, Derry, Durrow, Kells, and Swords. While at Derry it is said that he planned a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem, but did not proceed farther than Tours. Thence he brought a copy of those gospels that had lain on the bosom of St. Martin for the space of 100 years. This relic was deposited in Derry. Tradition asserts that, sometime around 560, he became involved in a quarrel with Saint Finnian of Movilla Abbey over a psalter. Columba copied the manuscript at the scriptorium under Saint Finnian, intending to keep the copy. Saint Finnian disputed his right to keep the copy. The dispute eventually led to the pitched Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561, during which many men were killed. A second grievance that he led him to induce the clan Neill to rise and engage in battle against King Diarmait at Cooldrevny in 561 was the king's violation of the right of sanctuary belonging to Columba's person as a monk on the occasion of the murder of Prince Curnan, the saint's kinsman. Prince Curnan of Connaught, who had fatally injured a rival in a hurling match and had taken refuge with Columba, was dragged from his protector's arms and slain by Diarmaid's men, in defiance of the rights of sanctuary. A synod of clerics and scholars threatened to excommunicate him for these deaths, but St. Brendan of Birr spoke on his behalf with the result that he was allowed to go into exile instead. Columba's own conscience was uneasy, and on the advice of an aged hermit, Molaise, he resolved to expiate his offense by going into exile and win for Christ as many souls as had perished in the terrible battle of Cuil Dremne. He left Ireland, to return only once, many years later. Columba's copy of the psalter has been traditionally associated with the Cathach of St. Columba. In 563, he travelled to Scotland with twelve companions, in a wicker coracle covered with leather, and according to legend he first landed on the Kintyre Peninsula, near Southend. However, being still in sight of his native land, he moved further north up the west coast of Scotland. The island of Iona was made over to him by his kinsman Conall, king of the British Dalriada, who perhaps had invited him to come to Scotland in the first place. However, there is a sense in which he was not leaving his native people, as the Irish Gaels had been colonizing the west coast of Scotland for the previous couple of centuries. Aside from the services he provided guiding the only centre of literacy in the region, his reputation as a holy man led to his role as a diplomat among the tribes; there are also many stories of miracles which he performed during his work to convert the Picts, the most famous being his encounter with the Loch Ness Monster in 565 AD, where he banished a ferocious "water beast" to the depths of the River Ness after it had killed a Pict and then tried to attack Columba's disciple (see Vita Columbae Book 2 below). He visited the pagan King Bridei, King of Fortriu, at his base in Inverness, winning the Bridei's respect, although not his conversion. He subsequently played a major role in the politics of the country. He was also very energetic in his work as a missionary, and, in addition to founding several churches in the Hebrides, he worked to turn his monastery at Iona into a school for missionaries. He was a renowned man of letters, having written several hymns and being credited with having transcribed 300 books. One of the few, if not the only, times he left Scotland was towards the end of his life, when he returned to Ireland to found the monastery at Durrow. Columba died on Iona and was buried in AD 597 by his monks in the abbey he created. In AD 794, the Vikings descended on Iona. Columba's relics were finally removed in AD 849 and divided between Scotland and Ireland. The parts of the relics which went to Ireland are reputed to be buried in Downpatrick, County Down, with St. Patrick and St. Brigid or at Saul Church neighbouring Downpatrick. (Names of Iona), Inchcolm and Eilean Chaluim Chille. Columba is credited as being a leading figure in the revitalization of monasticism. It is known that Clan MacCallum and Clan Malcolm are descended from the original followers of Columba, It is also said that Clan Robertson are heirs of Columba. Clan MacKinnon may also have some claim to being spiritual descendants of St Columcille as after he founded his monastery on Isle Iona, the MacKinnons were the abbots of the Church for centuries. This would also account for the fact that Clan MacKinnon is amongst the ancient clans of Scotland. The cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Argyll and the Isles is placed under the patronage of St. Columba, as are numerous Catholic schools and parishes throughout the nation. The Scottish Episcopal Church and Church of Scotland also have parishes dedicated to him. The village of Kilmacolm in Renfrewshire is also derived from Columba's name. Columba is the patron-saint of the city of Derry, where he founded a monastic settlement in c.AD 540. The name of the city in Irish is Doire Colmcille and is derived from the native oak trees in the area and the city's association with Columba. The Catholic Church of Saint Columba's Long Tower stands at the spot of this original settlement. The Church of Ireland Cathedral in Derry is dedicated to St Columba. St. Colmcilles Primary School and St. Colmcilles Community School are two schools in Knocklyon, Dublin, named after St. Colmcille, with the former having an annual day dedicated to the saint on 9 June. Aer Lingus, Ireland's national flag carrier has named one of its Airbus A330 aircraft in commemoration of the saint (reg: EI-DUO). As of 2011, Canadians who are of Scottish ancestry are the third largest ethnic group in the country and thus Columba's name is to be found attached to Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian parishes. This is particularly the case in eastern Canada apart from Quebec which is French-speaking. Throughout the U.S.A. there are numerous parishes within the Catholic and Episcopalian denominations dedicated to Columba. Within the Protestant tradition the Presbyterian Church (which has its roots in Scottish Presbyterianism) also has parishes named in honour of Columba. There is even an Orthodox Church monastery dedicated to the saint in the Massachusetts town of Southbridge. St. Columba is the Patron Saint of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, OH. The Cathedral there is named for him. --en.wikipedia.org/wiki (excerpts)

Thomas H. Troeger

1945 - 2022 Person Name: Thomas H. Troeger, b. 1945 Author of "As Servants Working an Estate" in Worship (4th ed.) Thomas Troeger (1945-2022), professor of Christian communication at Yale Divinity school, was a well known preacher, poet, and musician. He was a fellow of Silliman College, held a B.A. from Yale University; B.D. Colgate Rochester Divinity School; S.T. D. Dickinson College, and was awarded an honorary D.D. from Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1970 and the Episcopal Church in 1999, and remained dually aligned with both traditions. Troerger led conferences and lectures in worship and preaching throughout North America, as well as in Denmark, Holland, Australia, Japan, and Africa. He served as national chaplain to the American Guild of Organists, and for at least three years he hosted the Season of Worship broadcast for Cokesbury. He was president of the Academy of Homiletics as well as Societas Homiletica. He had, as of 2009, written 22 books in the areas of preaching, poetry, hymnody, and worship. Many of his hymn texts are found in New Hymns for the Lectionary (Oxford, 1992), and God, You Made All Things for Singing (Oxford, 2009). Laura de Jong

Juan Bautista Cabrera Ivars

1837 - 1916 Person Name: Juan Bautista Cabrera, 1837-1916 Author of "Oíd cual ruega al Padre " in Culto Cristiano Juan Bautista Cabrera Ivars was born in Benisa, Spain, April 23, 1837. He attended seminary in Valencia, studying Hebrew and Greek, and was ordained as a priest. He fled to Gibraltar in 1863 due to religious persecution where he abandoned Catholicism. He worked as a teacher and as a translator. One of the works he translated was E.H. Brown's work on the thirty-nine articles of the Anglican Church, which was his introduction to Protestantism. He was a leader of a Spanish Reformed Church in Gibraltar. He continued as a leader in this church when he returned to Spain after the government of Isabel II fell, but continued to face legal difficulties. He then organized the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church and was consecrated as bishop in 1894. He recognized the influence of music and literature on evangelism which led him to write and translate hymns. Dianne Shapiro, from Real Academia de la Historia (https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/39825/juan-bautista-cabrera-ivars) and Himnos Cristanos (https://www.himnos-cristianos.com/biografia-juan-bautista-cabrera/) (accessed 7/30/2021)

David Evans

1874 - 1948 Person Name: D. Evans Composer of "LLANGLOFFAN" in The Cyber Hymnal David Evans (b. Resolven, Glamorganshire, Wales, 1874; d. Rosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales, 1948) was an important leader in Welsh church music. Educated at Arnold College, Swansea, and at University College, Cardiff, he received a doctorate in music from Oxford University. His longest professional post was as professor of music at University College in Cardiff (1903-1939), where he organized a large music department. He was also a well-known and respected judge at Welsh hymn-singing festivals and a composer of many orchestral and choral works, anthems, service music, and hymn tunes. Bert Polman

Emily R. Brink

b. 1940 Author of "When Asked, Who Is My Neighbor " in Lift Up Your Hearts Emily R. Brink is a Senior Research Fellow of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Adjunct Professor of Church Music and Worship at Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her main areas of responsibility are conference planning and global resources. She is program manager of the annual Calvin Symposium on Worship, which draws more than 70 presenters and 1600 participants from around the world. She also travels widely to lecture and to learn about worship in different parts of the world, especially in Asia, where she has lectured in Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan. Her areas of interest include congregational song from all times and places; psalmody; hymnal editing. She was editor of four hymnals and consults with a wide range of churches on worship renewal issues. Dr. Brink is active in the American Guild of Organists, serving in both local and national offices, as well as in the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada (president from 1990 1992) and named a Fellow of the Hymn Society in 2004 in recognition of distinguished services to hymnody and hymnology. --internal.calvinseminary.edu/

William Watkins Reid

1923 - 2007 Person Name: William W. Reid, Jr. Author of "O God of Every Nation" in Psalter Hymnal (Gray) William W. Reid, Jr. (1923-2007), after graduating from Oberlin College and Seminary and Yale Divinity School served for more than fifty years as pastor in the Wyoming Conference in rural and inner-city Methodist churches. He served on the Executive Committee of The Hymn Society of America. He was involved in social issues, serving as a councilman and county commissioner. His hymns are widely published in hymnals of many denominations. Mary Louise VanDyke =============================== William W. Reid, Jr. is pastor of the Methodist Church Circuit at Carverton, Pennsylvania. He previously served in a similar capacity at Camptown in the same State. He is a graduate of the Yale Divinity School and Oberlin College. He served during World War II in the Medical Corps and was held prisoner by the Germans for eight months. He is the author of several hymns including those in "Fourteen New Rural Hymns" and "Twelve New World Order Hymns" published by the Hymn Society. ----Fifteen New Christian Education Hymns, 1959. Used by permission. ================================ William Watkins Reid, Jr., is currently pastor of Central United Methodist Church, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Wyoming Annual Conference and has been active on its Social Concerns, Town and Country, and Evangelism boards, and on the Pennsylvania Council of Churches. ----Twelve New Lord’s Day Hymns, 1968. Used by permission. ================================ [Reid] is an executive committee member of the Hymn Society of America, and is the author of a number of hymns that have been published in hymnals in the United States, Canada, England, and in South Africa. As a council man he is concern with the ecology of Wyoming Valley (Penn. and N.Y.) and with the rebuilding of Wilkes-Barre after the disastrous flood of 1972. --16 New Hymns on the Stewardship of the Environment [Ecology] , 1973. Used by permission.

S. L. Findlater

1823 - 1907 Person Name: Sarah Borthwick Findlater Translator of "Rejoice! Rejoice, Believers" in The Presbyterian Hymnal Sarah Laurie Borthwick Findlater United Kingdom 1823-1907. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, sister of Jane Laurie Borthwick, she married Erick John Findlater, a pastor in the Free Church of Scotland at Lochearnhead, Perthshire, and they had three daughters: Sarah Jemima, Mary Williamina, and Jane Helen. Findlater and her sister Jane's translations were collected in “German hymns from the land of Luther”, appearing in four volumes (1854-1862). As an author, Sarah wrote fiction, juvenile works, music scores, anthems, and musical parts. She died at Torquay, Devon, England. John Perry

Saint Augustine

354 - 430 Person Name: St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 Author of "Light of the minds that know him" in Common Praise St. Augustine, born in Africa; wrote six books on music, which were printed at Lyons, 1586, eleven hundred forty six years after his death, which took place A.D. 440. A Dictionary of Musical Information by John W. Moore, Boston: Oliver, Ditson & Company, 1876

G. K. Chesterton

1874 - 1936 Person Name: Gilbert Keith Chesterton Author (st. 1-2) of "O God of Earth and Altar" in The Presbyterian Hymnal Chesterton, Gilbert Keith, son of Edward Chesterton, was b. May 29, 1874, at Campden Hill, Kensington. London; and is a well-known journalist and author, now (1906) residing at Battersea Park, London. He contributed to The English Hymnal, 1906, a vigorous lyric beginning, "O God of earth and altar"(Prayer for the Nation). [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.] --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907) ================= Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London, England on the 29th of May, 1874. Though he considered himself a mere "rollicking journalist," he was actually a prolific and gifted writer in virtually every area of literature. A man of strong opinions and enormously talented at defending them, his exuberant personality nevertheless allowed him to maintain warm friendships with people--such as George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells--with whom he vehemently disagreed. Chesterton had no difficulty standing up for what he believed. He was one of the few journalists to oppose the Boer War. His 1922 Eugenics and Other Evils attacked what was at that time the most progressive of all ideas, the idea that the human race could and should breed a superior version of itself. In the Nazi experience, history demonstrated the wisdom of his once "reactionary" views. His poetry runs the gamut from the comic "The Logical Vegetarian" to dark and serious ballads. Though not written for a scholarly audience, his biographies of authors and historical figures like Charles Dickens and St. Francis of Assisi often contain brilliant insights into their subjects. His "Father Brown" mystery stories, written between 1911 and 1936, are still being read and adapted for television. His politics fitted with his deep distrust of concentrated wealth and power of any sort. Along with his friend Hilaire Belloc and in books like the 1910 What's Wrong with the World he advocated a view called "Distributism" that is best summed up by his expression that every man ought to be allowed to own "three acres and a cow." Though not known as a political thinker, his political influence has circled the world. Some see in him the father of the "small is beautiful" movement and a newspaper article by him is credited with provoking Gandhi to seek a "genuine" nationalism for India. Orthodoxy belongs to yet another area of literature at which Chesterton excelled. A fun-loving and gregarious man, he was nevertheless troubled in his adolescence by thoughts of suicide. In Christianity he found the answers to the dilemmas and paradoxes he saw in life. Other books in that same series include his 1905 Heretics and its sequel Orthodoxy and his 1925 The Everlasting Man. Chesterton died on the 14th of June, 1936 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. During his life he published 69 books and at least another ten have been published after his death. Many of those books are still in print. --www.ccel.org/ccel/