Anglican hymns that are suitable for Catholics?

[Dave_in_Dallas]

If I had my drothers I would attend an EC church, but alas it is too far away to be practical plus not really part of my heritage at all. Having said that I have noticed that my current RC parish will play/sing some hymns that are accompanied by organ that are pretty singable and sound much better than the some of the more 1970’s / 80’s tunes IMHO.
The dates on these are from 18th and 19th century so I am guessing they are Anglican in origin maybe? Anyways can someone recommend some Anglican hymns that would be appropriate for Catholics to listen to… For that matter if there are Catholic hymns that are sung in English that are say a bit more “historic” than the 70’s / 80’s I’d like to know if any exist.
Thanks!

 

[liturgyluver]

If I had my drothers I would attend an EC church, but alas it is too far away to be practical plus not really part of my heritage at all. Having said that I have noticed that my current RC parish will play/sing some hymns that are accompanied by organ that are pretty singable and sound much better than the some of the more 1970’s / 80’s tunes IMHO.
The dates on these are from 18th and 19th century so I am guessing they are Anglican in origin maybe? Anyways can someone recommend some Anglican hymns that would be appropriate for Catholics to listen to… For that matter if there are Catholic hymns that are sung in English that are say a bit more “historic” than the 70’s / 80’s I’d like to know if any exist.
Thanks!

Hello Dave

I think there would be very few Anglican hymns that would be unsuitable for a Catholic mass. Most of the traditional Anglican hymnnody was written in the 18th and 19th century and are really very beautiful and reverent. In the UK the denominational hymnbooks contain a lot of cross-denominational material.

Here are a few Anglican - and some Methodist and Lutheran origin - hymns that can be used: there are many many others. You will see from the list that some are particularly suitable for the different liturgical seasons:

Lo He comes with clouds descending
In the Bleak midwinter
O little town of Bethlehem
Once in Royal David’s City
What Child is this?
Faithful Vigil ended
My song is love unknown
When I survey the wondorous Cross
Sing we of the Blessed Mother
Who are these like stars appearing?
The day thou gavest
Alleluia Sing to Jesus
Deck thyself my soul with gladness
Lord Jesus think on me
Lord enthroned in heavenly splendour
O thou who at the Eucharist did pray
Abide with me
All people that on earth do dwell
Angel voices ever singing
Come ye faithful raise the anthem
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
I heard the voice of Jesus say
King of Glory, King of Peace
Christ Triumphant ever reigning
Tell Out My Soul
Love Divine All Loves Excelling
Praise my soul the King of Heaven
Ye Holy Angels Bright (this was written by a Presbyterian)
Judge Eternal Throned in Splendour
Lord for the Years

 

[Pfaffenhoffen]

If I had my drothers I would attend an EC church, but alas it is too far away to be practical plus not really part of my heritage at all. Having said that I have noticed that my current RC parish will play/sing some hymns that are accompanied by organ that are pretty singable and sound much better than the some of the more 1970’s / 80’s tunes IMHO.
The dates on these are from 18th and 19th century so I am guessing they are Anglican in origin maybe? Anyways can someone recommend some Anglican hymns that would be appropriate for Catholics to listen to… For that matter if there are Catholic hymns that are sung in English that are say a bit more “historic” than the 70’s / 80’s I’d like to know if any exist.
Thanks!

I will follow this thread.

 

[The_Reginator]

I was going to suggest “Crown Him with May Crowns”. I grew up in the Anglican church and this was one of my favourites and seemed to be quite a staple at most parishes.

I just did a web search and found this:

Based on the verse, Revelation 19:12, Matthew Bridges, in 1851, wrote the hymn, “Crown Him With Many Crowns.” Bridges became a convert to Roman Catholicism at the age of 48 and then wrote this hymn, the original title of which was “The Song of the Seraphs.” 30 years later Godfrey Thring wrote six more stanzas and added it to the six stanzas that Bridges had written. Each of the stanzas exalts Christ for some specific aspect of His person or ministry. In most hymnals, we find only four stanzas. Stanzas 1, 2 and 4 have been written by Bridges and number 3 by Thring.

[From http://www.schaefer-family.com/hymns.htm”]HYMN HISTORY]

I have only sung this at a Catholic Mass once or twice in the last 30 years.

 

[I_Thirst]

Dave in Dallas! I guess you are too far from St Basil in Irving and St Sophia in The Colony and Our Lady Of Lebanon in Lewisville, right?

Also, have you considered attending an Orthodox Vespers during the week? Often they have them on Sat nights. Orthodox and EC have some family resemblances. By going to Vespers, you won’t have to worry about communion. Just a capella singing and praying.

As far as suitable Anglican hymns (or any denomination, for that matter) – just read through the lyrics and discern as best as you can. And pray for our Catholic choir directors to do so too. In my experience with Catholic liturgical music and Catholic choir directors, I’ve noticed a real disconnect about the history of Catholic liturgical music and its relationship to and function within the Mass. My parish, in particular, has a history of doing Amy Grant, praise ‘n’ worship, and The Beatles (Let It Be) during Mass.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I will follow this thread.

Can’t say I blame you. Me too. We have sung a number of those titles in my parish. I figured some had protestant origins, but didn’t know where they came from. Some I recognized from my childhood listening to the radio.

 

[OrganistRob]

It is worth noting that a great number of Anglican hymns are actually translations or paraphrases of Catholic office hymns. I find it quite saddening to see that the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal has nearly 50 chant hymns (many in the original Latin) while you are lucky to find 5 in any of the Catholic hymnals currently being published from major publishing companies.

 

[AJV]

If I had my drothers I would attend an EC church, but alas it is too far away to be practical plus not really part of my heritage at all. Having said that I have noticed that my current RC parish will play/sing some hymns that are accompanied by organ that are pretty singable and sound much better than the some of the more 1970’s / 80’s tunes IMHO.
The dates on these are from 18th and 19th century so I am guessing they are Anglican in origin maybe? Anyways can someone recommend some Anglican hymns that would be appropriate for Catholics to listen to… For that matter if there are Catholic hymns that are sung in English that are say a bit more “historic” than the 70’s / 80’s I’d like to know if any exist.
Thanks!

I think there are very few Anglican hymns which would NOT be suitable. Many of them were inspired by mediaeval or post-mediaeval Catholic Latin texts. The High-Church-y ones especially can always usually be interpreted in a Catholic light.

Actually, even many Wesleyan Communion hymns can have a perfect Catholic sense. For example in “Victim divine thy grace we claim”, all one can quibble with is the line “thou art to all already given/ thou dost even now thy banquet crown/ to every faithful soul appear/ and show thy real Presence here.” which could be interpreted as dynamic presence, but it doesn’t really exclude a Catholic sense either.

Hymnals like the English Hymnal, the Sarum Hymnal and Hymns Ancient & Modern are a good place to start looking.

 

[odile53]

From what I’ve seen of Anglican communion services (attending services with some close friends I vacationed with, but I did not receive communion there,) I didn’t hear a single hymn that would have been unsuitable for the Mass. Not being an expert, I didn’t track down the origins of each, but would hazard a guess that some Catholics and some Anglicans could have gotten involved in some pretty lively arm-wrestling about which church the hymn actually belonged to in the first place!

What really surprised me is that I had not expected to hear any Marian hymns, or chant, yet they were there, too, as well as the Anglican version of a rosary (which essentially is made of prayers of the worshipper’s choice.) Yet, all of those elements were there as well.

I think that the Anglican separation is one of the saddest splits of the body of Christ in the English-speaking world, and pray daily for the reunion of this church with Rome, as well as the other Protestant churches that are “pretty close” to Catholicism. May we all soon be forever one!

 

[liturgyluver]

What really surprised me is that I had not expected to hear any Marian hymns, or chant, yet they were there, too, as well as the Anglican version of a rosary (which essentially is made of prayers of the worshipper’s choice.) Yet, all of those elements were there as well.

Yes the Angelus is sung after mass too at some Anglican churches.