Monday, June 10, 2013

Two Translations by Edward Caswall for the Sacred Heart of Jesus


Yesterday we sang two hymns for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Sunday Mass (celebrating the External Feast rather than the Third Sunday after Pentecost in the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Liturgy of the Roman Rite): both were translated by Edward Caswall, an Oxford Movement convert to "the Church of Rome" as one source tells it.

The first was "To Christ, the Prince of Peace" a translation of "Summi Parentis Filio", sung--with spirit--to the tune St. George by Henry J. Gauntlet:

To Christ, the Prince of peace,
And Son of God most high,
The Father of the world to come,
We lift our joyful cry.


Deep in His heart for us
The wound of love He bore,
That love which He enkindles still
In hearts that Him adore.


O Jesu, Victim blest,
What else but love divine
Could Thee constrain to open thus
That sacred heart of Thine?


O wondrous Fount of love,
O Well of waters free,
O heavenly Flame, refining Fire,
O burning Charity!


Hide us in Thy dear heart,
Jesu, our Savior blest,
So shall we find Thy plenteous grace
And Heav’n’s eternal rest.


The other was "All You Who Seek a Comfort Sure", sung to the tune St. Bernard:

1 All ye who seek for sure relief
In trouble and distress,
Whatever sorrow vex the mind,
Or guilt the soul oppress:


2 Jesus, Who gave Himself for you,
Upon the Cross to die,
Opens to you His sacred heart:
O to that heart draw nigh.


3 Ye hear how kindly He invites;
Ye hear His words so blest:
"All ye that labour come to me,
And I will give you rest.'


4 O Jesus, joy of saints on high,
Thou hope of sinners here,
Attracted by those loving words,
To Thee I lift my prayer.


5 Wash Thou my wounds in that dear blood
Which forth from Thee doth flow;
New grace, new hope inspire; a new
And better heart bestow.


According to the old Catholic Encyclopedia, Father Edward Caswall was an

Oratorian and poet, b. 15 July 1814, at Yately, Hampshire, of which place his father, the Rev. R. C. Caswall, was vicar; d. at the Oratory, Birmingham, 2 January, 1878. He was educated at Marlborough Grammar School and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was Hulme exhibitioner. Before leaving Oxford he published, under the pseudonym of Scriblerus Redivivus, "The Art of Pluck", in imitation of Aristotle, a witty satire upon the ways of the careless college student, which still has a circulation. To the eighth edition, in 1843, he wrote a special preface of regret for certain passages, now excluded, which, at that later date, he had come to regard as irreverent. In 1838 he was ordained deacon, and in 1839 priest, in the Church of England. In 1840 he became perpetual curate of Stratford-sub-Castle in the diocese of his uncle, Dr. Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury. In 1846 he published "Sermons on the Seen and the Unseen", a volume of thoughtful discourses marked by the same tender and fervent piety found in his well-known hymns, and by a clear leaning to certain elements of Catholic doctrine. Soon afterwards, having come under the influence of Cardinal (then Dr.) Newman and the "Tracts for the Times", he resigned his curacy and, in January, 1847, was received into the Church by Cardinal Acton at Rome. In 1849 Caswall's wife, who had also become a Catholic, died suddenly of cholera, and early in 1850 he became an Oratorian. In 1852 he was ordained priest, and lived at the Oratory until his death. He was buried at Rednal, in the private cemetery of the congregation, near the grave of Cardinal Newman. Besides various manuals of devotion, several of which he translated from the French, his principal works are: "Lyra Catholica", a translation of all the Breviary and Missal hymns with some others (often reprinted; last edition, London, 1884); "The Masque of Mary and other Poems", original poetry, thoughtful, imaginative, tender, and full of zealous faith, a book which drew from Cardinal Newman, in return, a remarkable poem addressed to the author (reprinted several times; last edition, London, 1887); "The Catholic's Latin Instructor in the principal Church offices and devotions" (frequently reprinted; last edition, London, 1897).

1 comment:

  1. To Edward Caswall
    (A gift for the new year in return for his volume of Poems.)

    ...
    So on thy verse, my Brother and my Friend,
    —The fresh upwelling of thy tranquil spirit,—
    I see a many angel forms attend;
    And gracious souls elect,
    And thronging sacred shades, that shall inherit
    One day the azure skies,
    And peaceful saints, in whitest garments deck'd;
    And happy infants of the second birth:—
    These, and all other plants of paradise,
    Thoughts from above, and visions that are sure,
    And providences past, and memories dear,
    In much content hang o'er that mirror pure,
    And recognize each other's faces there,
    And see a heaven on earth.

    Bl. John Henry Newman
    The Oratory
    January 1, 1858

    source

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