How I Discovered A Marian Pentecost Hymn

As a Christian musician, I love the opportunity to learn new songs that could help awaken my faith.  Worship songs have a tendency to get under our skin, to help remind us of central truths of the Gospel narrative, and provide color and emotions to the basic fact.

As a Catholic, I love the opportunities that the liturgical calendar provide.  For a full year, we are directed towards other powerful reminders in the history of salvation.  Through the use of feasts, solemnities, Scripture readings and liturgical seasons, we are continuously reminded of Biblical stories that bring us to a fuller appreciation of what Christ had done for us.

As a worship podcaster, I am constantly looking for “new” old songs and hymns, that can combine my love of music with my devotion.  This past month, I came across an extremely rare epic hymn by Frederick Faber, a 19th century convert best known for “Faith of Our Fathers.”

The best resource I have used to discover “new” hymns has been Hymnary.org, and I have learned to master its sophisticated search tools.  There are thousands of hymns freely available to use, so long as they are in the public domain (that is, most likely printed before 1922).  Within that framework, I searched in hymnals by denomination, and then by theme, and came up with a workable list of hymn texts (and, sometimes melodies) that I can work with.  The melodies, if they exist, I type these into my music notation software to get a general sense of how they sound; I craft a guitar arrangement around this melody.

The epic hymn, “O Mighty Mother! Why That Light” was one such result in my search for Pentecost/Whit-Sunday public domain hymns.  It was only printed in two resources, then forgotten.  And yet, it pulled a hat trick that I’ve never seen in the hundreds of hymns I had run across.  It is both a Marian hymn and one that focuses upon the events of Pentecost.  In other words, it looks at the events of those in the upper room, through the eyes of Mary, who was there.

We often forget that when the disciples had gathered in the Upper Room, to await for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also there.  This would be the very last mention of Mary in the New Testament; we do not know the events for the rest of her life after this event, until her assumption.  The very fact that she was there is enough to recognize that this event is noteworthy in itself; she witnessed firsthand the effect of the promised Holy Spirit, coming as a flame over each persons’ head (including her own), and transforming a timid and cowardly Peter into a preacher of such power that thousands came into the fold that very day.

While this year is an exception, Pentecost Sunday usually takes place in May, which coincides with the month of Mary.  For a church musician, this usually leads to somewhat of a schizophrenic selection, as there are no such hymns in our current resources that combine the two.  And the Catholic Church is a very big family; there is room for both Marian spirituality and charismatic spirituality.  So when I discover a resource that can combine both types in a single form, I jump at it.

Therefore, it became my goal to see if such a hymn could be crafted for today.

After wrestling with this over a course of weeks, I settled on the version that is here.  I removed stanzas to make the text tighter; I had combined stanzas to make the number of verses shorter.  The central melody was taken from Wolfgang A. Mozart, but I also crafted counter melodies to complement the central theme.

The final result is “Beneath Our Lady’s Shadow,” and I hope you enjoy it.  If you want to discover more hymns for Pentecost, check out the free music at Prayer Meeting Podcast (ep. 044).

Note to Musicians: music notation is available.

 

O Mighty Mother! Why That Light
Original Text by Frederick Faber (1814-1863).

O Mighty Mother! Why that light
In thine uplifted eye?
Why that resplendent look of more
Than queenlike majesty?

O waitest thou in this thy joy
For Gabriel once again?
Is heaven about to part, and make
The Blessed Vision plain?

She sat; beneath her shadow were
The Chosen of her Son;
Within each heart and on each face
Her pow’r and spirit shone.

Hers was the courage they had won
From her prevailing prayers;
They gazed on her, until her heart
Began to beat in theirs.

Her Son had left that heart to them:
For ten long nights and days
The Saviour gone, no Spirit come
She ruled their infant ways.

Queen of the Church! Around thee shines
The purest light of heaven
And all created things to thee
For thy domain are given!

Why waitest thou then so abash’d,
Wrapt in ecstatic fear,
Speechless with adoration, hush’d,
Hush’d as though God were near?

She is a creature!  See!  She bows,
She trembles though so great;
Created Majesty o’erwhelm’d
Before the Increate!

He comes! He comes! That mighty Breath
From heaven’s eternal shores;
His uncreated freshness fills
His Bride as she adores.

Earth quakes before that rushing blast,
Heav’n echoes back the sound,
And mightily the tempest wheels
That Upper Room around.

One moment—and the silentness
Was breathless as the grave;
The flutter’d earth forgot to quake,
The troubled trees to wave.

One moment—and the Spirit hung
O’er her with dread desire;
Then broke upon the heads of all
In cloven tongues of fire.

Who knows in what a sea of love
Our Lady’s heart He drown’d?
Or what new gifts He gave her then?
What ancient gifts He crown’d?

Grace was so multiplied on her
So grew within her heart
She stands alone, earth’s miracle,
A being all apart.

What gifts He gave those chosen men
Past ages can display;
Nay more, their vigor still inspires
The weakness of today.

Those Tongues still speak within the Church
That Fire is undecay’d;
Its well-spring was that Upper Room,
Where Mary sat and prayed.

The Spirit came into the Church
With His unfailing power;
He is the Living Heart that beats
Within her at this hour.

Speak gently, then, of Church, and Saints,
Lest you His ways reprove;
The Heart, the Pulses of the Church
Are God’s Eternal Love.

O let us fall and worship Him
The Love of Sire and Son,
The Consubstantial Breath of God
The Coeternal One.

Ah! See, how like the Incarnate Word,
His blessed Self He lowers,
To dwell with us invisibly,
And make His riches ours.

Most humble Spirit! Mighty God!
Sweet must thy presence be
If loss of Jesus can be gain,
So long as we have Thee!

Public Domain