Tiles from the Chantry chapel at St Augustine's Ramsgate (sorry about the feet)
Fr Roger Nesbitt once referred to the high speed train through Kent as the "magic train." I took it yesterday and whizzed from Ebbsfleet to Ashford in 18 minutes. The next two legs, either side of Canterbury, were slower, but I was at Ramsgate Station in less than an hour.
The Pilgrimage of the Sodality of the Five Holy Wounds began with Missa Cantata in the Church that Pugin himself regarded as his ideal Church. It was a windy day and for lunch we packed out a small cafe perched over the sea.
After lunch, we had an excellent talk and tour given by Catriona from the Pugin Society. Fr Marcus Holden, Parish Priest of Ramsgate and director of the Shrine of St Augustine of Canterbury, spoke of the significance of St Augustine himself. We finished the day with Benediction, including the Litany of the Five Holy Wounds and the Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart.
It was very much a family day, with lots of young children. They seemed to be fascinated by the details of the Church. At one point, I saw two of the smaller ones sitting on a prie-dieu, and tracing the intricate carving with their fingers. The sheer visual beauty of Pugin's masterpiece must have made an impression on all of them.
Having been catapulted back to Ebbsfleet on the magic train, I drove over to St Mary's Chislehurst to celebrate Low Mass and Benediction (again including the Act of Reparation.) To finish, we sang this stirring hymn:
I remember in my youth that this was one of the hymns most despised as old fashioned, a prime candidate for consignment to the dustbin of pre-Vatican II relics. It was held up as an example of shallow sentimentality (unlike the modern hymn "does a motherrrrr forgeeeet her baaaybeeeee..." for example.) In the 1970s, anyone who did not expunge "To Jesus heart all burning" from their repertoire would risk the kind of contempt reserved for those who failed to nail formica over their panelled doors, smash up their Edwardian fireplaces or cover their tiled floor with padded vinyl.
9 comments:
Tastes vary! I was a boy chorister in 1965 and remember a virtual rebellion against this hymn at choir practice- a unique event. We all thought it ghastly and said so. The tune seemed cheap and tacky even to us boys. To this day I remain a fan of the hymn tunes of Sir Richard Terry. As for seventies schmalz...don't even go there!
Sounds like a wonderful way to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart.
Great hymn Father, interesting to see how many bloggers have featured it over the past few days.
Fr.,
What you say shows just how far we we got it wrong in the
post-Vatican 11 period.
This hymn is thoroughly orthodox and with a stirring tune, unlike one I heard recently sung to the tune of "morning has broken". How yucky!
Thank God we are resanctifying the liturgy.
Thank you for posting this hymn with words, Father. Takes me back to my childhood and how we sung this hymn on First Fridays. I didn't realize there were so many verses to it. I remember how we all nodded our heads when we pronounced the Name of Jesus as we sang. Another lovely one which I miss is Sweet Heart of Jesus, Fount of Love and Mercy. You Tube has some nice versions of this too.
We sing the most dreadful "hymns" at my Church so as a protest, on the way home in my car, I sing all the old hymns I can remember from the 50s very loudly. I'd forgotten this one. Thank you for reminding me.
'Sweet Heart of Jesus, fount of love and mercy'.
'O Sacred Heart, our home lies deep in Thee' (words by Francis Stanfield, who also wrote 'Sweet Sacrament Divine'), music by RR Terry.
Plenty of Latin hymns too. Let's sing 'em.
‘Nail formica over their panelled doors’. Father, your memory is failing you. Barry Bucknell, who in the early 1960’s promised us new modernised homes with no sense of continuity with the past, never would have formica to cover period features. It was always plywood, plywood and plywood. This was invariably painted duck-egg blue and embellished with cheap plastic fittings, once the beautiful Victorian and Edwardian brass fittings had been consigned to the dustbin. He was at the height of his fame and influence c. 1962-5, which was when V11 was doing something rather similar.
Your comment about the hymn reminded me of something, Father. While it and other ‘old standbys’ were sung repeatedly in my youth, there was one that always irked my mother: “Holy God we praise Thy name”.
The standing order to clergy at the time in popular devotions appeared to be: “Sing something the people know”. And everyone knew “Holy God”.
Returning from some devotion or other my mother asked what hymns we sang. “I suppose you sang ‘Holy God’..?” she remarked resignedly, adding: “That old ‘come-all-ye’…”
To anyone familiar with old Irish ballads, the meaning was obvious…
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