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September 3, 2021What do the Anglican hymnals The Hymnal 1982 and The New English Hymnal and their predecessors The Hymnal 1940 and The English Hymnal (among other hymnals of the Anglican patrimony) all have in common?
- Theologically & literarily rich hymn texts
- Beautiful music (both the melodies and harmonizations)
- High-quality binding
- Elegant font
- Thorough indices
- Thorough hymn melody & text citations
Thankfully, many very good hymnals for English-speaking Catholics have been released over the last 10 years, ever since ICEL's (the International Commission on English in the Liturgy) new, more accurate and poetic 2011 translation of the 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal was released. Here, however, I seek to call particular attention to A Catholic Book of Hymns, first published in 2020.
A Catholic Book of Hymns exhibits all five of the aforementioned qualities. This hymnal draws strongly from both the Anglican and English Catholic hymn treasuries. Interestingly, there often exists among contemporary English-speaking Catholics (with a fondness for traditional English hymnody) more familiarity with the Anglican stream of hymn repertoire as opposed to the English Catholic one. A Catholic Book of Hymns includes countless well-known, favorite Anglican hymns (such as “The King of Love My Shepherd Is”) and English Catholic ones (such as “Immaculate Mary”). However, the hymnal also includes many lesser-known English Catholic hymn texts, such as “Long Live the Pope!” by priest Hugh T. Henry (1862-1946). In this way, the hymnal seeks to bring lesser-known English Catholic hymns (back) into the combined stream of traditional Anglican and English Catholic hymnody.
In this way, A Catholic Book of Hymns unites these parallel-running, cross-pollinating, Anglican and English Catholic musical traditions into one English Christian hymn treasury. This unification of patrimonies forms the basis of the benefit of an Ordinariate member owning this hymnal. An owner of any of the aforementioned Anglican hymnals will of course already possess the Anglican patrimony but will likely be unfamiliar with some (or more) of these English Catholic hymns. An owner of A Catholic Book of Hymns will not only acquire more English Catholic hymn repertoire but will be able to see how the English Catholic and Anglican hymn patrimonies interact - topically, Scripturally and seasonally.
A Catholic Book of Hymns includes the original hymn texts, unmodernized. This is patrimonially helpful. When folks know a text a certain way, it is disruptive and disrupting when a text is arbitrarily altered. This hymnal leaves the familiar, personal pronouns (“thee,”“thou,” etc.) intact, which anyone who appreciates more antiquated English grammar will appreciate.Unlike some similar competitors on the market, A Catholic Book of Hymns is very well-edited and typo-free, and it does not reharmonize hymns arbitrarily. Indeed, the harmonizations in this hymnal will be familiar to any user of The Hymnal 1940, for example. The hymnal’s serif fonts are entirely pleasing to the eye.
Finally, the inside of the book does feature an imprimatur, a feature that will be appreciated by many Ordinariate members, esp. those who have sought the authority of the Catholic magisterium in their journey from Anglicanism to the Catholic Church.
A Catholic Book of Hymns
Edited by Noel Jones
Sacred Music Library (2020)
351 pages, $24.95 (hardcover), $14.95 (softcover)
To order: Amazon.com
Sarah Rodeo Dzialo freelances as an organist, cantor, chorister and choir director all over Connecticut and Massachusetts.
