Tag: frfrederickoakeley

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, CHRISTMAS Prayers & Hymns, CHRISTMASTIDE!, HYMNS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE

Our Morning Offering – 25 December –Adeste Fidelis, O Come, All Ye Faithful!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 25 December – The Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Day!

Adeste Fidelis
O Come, All Ye Faithful!
By John Francis Wade (c1711-1786)
Composer, Hymnist, Professor of Music at the Douay Seminary

O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come and behold Him, born the King of Angels!
Refrain:
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord!

God of God, Light of Light,
Lo, He abhors not the virgin’s womb;
Very God, begotten, not created.
[Refrain]

Sing, Choirs of Angels; sing in exultation;
sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest!
[Refrain]

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be all glory giv’n!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!
[Refrain]

John Francis Wade (1711 or 1712-1786) is now generally recognised as both Author and Composer of the hymn “Adeste fideles,” originally written in Latin in four stanzas.
The earliest manuscript signed by Wade is dated about 1743. By the early 19th Century, however, four additional stanzas had been added by other writers.
A Roman Catholic, Wade apparently moved to France because of discrimination against Roman Catholics in 18th Century England—especially so. after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
He taught music at an English college in Douay and hand copied and sold Chant music for use in the Chapels of wealthy families. Wade’s copied manuscripts were published as Cantus Diversi pro Dominicis et Festis per annum (1751)

The Translator is Father Frederick Oakeley (1802-1880), ex Anglican minister, in 1845, he became a Catholic and a Priest and Canon of the Diocese of Westminister.
His publications are numerous, and some of them have considerable value.

Posted in ADVENT PRAYERS, DECEMBER - The DIVINE INFANCY and The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, IMMACULATE CONCEPTION Prayers and Novena, MARIAN HYMNS, MARIAN PRAYERS, Our MORNING Offering, The IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Our Morning Offering – 8 December – The Stars Retire, When First The Sun …

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Our Morning Offering – 8 December – “The Month of the Divine Infancy and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary” and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

The Stars Retire, When First The Sun …
By Fr Frederick Oakeley (1802-1880)

  1. The stars retire, when first the Sun
    His giant race essays to run;
    Those lamps that stud the arch of night
    Wax pale before the Fount of Light.
  2. One only star nor fades nor sleeps.
    But still her twilight station keeps,
    With eye undimm’d and beams unshorn;
    The bright, the peerless Star of Morn.
  3. When Christmas first reveals its light,
    The Church’s firmament is dight;
    Her stars still pave the wintry sky,
    A great and glorious galaxy;
  4. Martyrs and Virgins, Pontiffs bold
    And Doctors with their words of gold;
    Then comes a void, as, one by one,
    The stars retreat before the Sun –
  5. Save that Apostle, whom his Lord
    From chilling doubt to faith restor’d;
    Who now beside His Cradle pays
    No tardy vows, no faltering praise.
  6. But Mary all the while is there,
    In hymn, or antiphon, or prayer;
    Shedding o’er every page and line
    A lustre, only not divine.
  7. When Advent lessons first begin,
    We muse on Mary, clear of sin,
    And in the Virgin’s primal grace
    The promise of the Mother trace:
  8. And meet it were and duteous, sure,
    That Mother should from stain be pure;
    Who did, by high prerogative,
    The Manhood to her Maker give.
  9. For eight full days, with reverence due,
    We linger fondly o’er the view
    Of her, on whom the Father’s Eye
    Dwelt with intent complacency;
  10. For, mirror’d in that glass, He saw,
    Undimm’d by cloud, unspoil’d by flaw
    (Albeit in creature’s meek estate),
    The Beauty of the Uncreate.
  11. Years roll away—the Virgin pure
    Is stablished, lo, in grace secure;
    Girlhood’s soft bloom still gilds her brow,
    But matron honours crown it now.
  12. ‘Mary in hope’—O Mother-Maid,
    What thoughts thy wondering heart pervade!
    But wait awhile and God will ope
    Visions, transcending e’en their scope.
  13. Speed on, ye lagging moments, speed,
    Till joy fulfill’d to hope succeed
    And Mary’s patient faith have won
    God for our Saviour and her Son!

This is the original text of this Hymn from Fr Frederick Oakeley’s (1802-1880) Lyra Liturgica (1865) – English Convert, Hymnist, Writer, Translator. It is listed in that Hymnal under the heading “Stella Matutina.”
The content of the Hymn focuses on the Feasts falling during Advent and the role of the Blessed Virgin in the prayers throughout.
The Immaculate Conception is highlighted and so it is an appropriate Hymn for that Feast.
Our Image contains only those most focused on the Blessed Virgin and the Immaculate Conception verses 1,2,6-13.