O that to sinners once again descending

Author: Paul the Deacon

Paul the Deacon [Paulus Diaconus], son of Warnefrid or Winefrid, was born at Frinli, in Italy, circa 730. He studied at Pavia. For some time he was tutor to Adelperga, daughter of Desiderius, the last of the Lombard kings, and then lived at the court of her husband, Arichisius of Beneveuto. Eventually he became a monk at Monte Cassino, where he died circa 799. He was the author of several works, including Be Gest. Langobardorum. His hymn, “Ut queant laxis resonare fibris," is in three parts. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)  Go to person page >

Translator: T. I. Ball

Ball, Thomas Isaac, born 16 August, 1838. On taking Holy Orders in 1865, he successively became Curate of St. Salvador's, Dundee Mission; Incumbent of St. Mary's, The Cove, by Aberdeen; Domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Kinnoull; Curate of All Saints, Brougham Street, Edinburgh; Curate of St. Columba's, Edinburgh; Priest of St. Michael's Chapel, Edinburgh; and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles. Mr. Ball is the author of The Orthodox Doctrine of the Church of England, 1877, and of numerous tracts; and the compiler of The English Catholic's Vademecum, 1868. In 1863 he contributed various translations from the Latin to the Appendix to the Hymnal Noted, for use in St. Alban's, Holborn, London, of which he was co-editor wit… Go to person page >