Happy Birthday, Father Edward Caswall

According to John Julian in the 1907 Dictionary of Hymnology:

Caswall, Edward, M.A., son of the Rev. R. C. Caswall, sometime Vicar of Yately, Hampshire, born at Yately, July 15, 1814, and educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating in honours in 1836. Taking Holy Orders in 1838, he became in 1840 Incumbent of Stratford-sub-Castle, near Salisbury, and resigned the same in 1847. In 1850 (Mrs. Caswall having died in 1849) he was received into the Roman Catholic communion, and joined Dr. Newman at the Oratory, Edgbaston. His life thenceforth, although void of stirring incidents, was marked by earnest devotion to his clerical duties and a loving interest in the poor, the sick, and in little children. His original poems and hymns were mostly written at the Oratory. He died at Edgbaston, Jan. 2, 1878, and was buried on Jan. 7 at Redwall, near Bromsgrove, by his leader and friend Cardinal Newman. Caswall's translations of Latin hymns from the Roman Breviary and other sources have a wider circulation in modern hymnals than those of any other translator, Dr. Neale alone excepted. This is owing to his general faithfulness to the originals, and the purity of his rhythm, the latter feature specially adapting his hymns to music, and for congregational purposes. His original compositions, although marked by considerable poetical ability, are not extensive in their use, their doctrinal teaching being against their general adoption outside the Roman communion.

In other words, Father Caswall was a Catholic, writing hymns for Catholics! English Catholics needed these hymns for their renewed worship and devotion in the nineteenth century. His translations have been influential outside England too, as they are commonly used at Benediction (his translations of St. Thomas Aquinas), for the few Sequences that remain for Sunday Mass (for example, Veni, Creator Spiritus and Pange lingua gloriosi), and during the Stations of the Cross (the Stabat Mater/At the cross her station keeping).

He translated St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Je­su, Rex ad­mi­ra­bil­is for his Lyra Catholica: Containing All the Hymns of the Roman Breviary and Missal, with Others from Various Sources: Arranged for Every Day in the Week, and the Festivals and Saints' Days Throughout the Year: with a Selection of Hymns, Anthems, and Sacred Poetry, from Approved Sources, published in 1849:

O Jesus, King most wonderful,

Thou Conqueror renowned,
Thou Sweetness most ineffable,
In Whom all joys are found!

When once Thou visitest the heart,
Then truth begins to shine,
Then earthly vanities depart,
Then kindles love divine.

O Jesus, Light of all below,
Thou Fount of life and fire,
Surpassing all the joys we know,
And all we can desire!

Thy wondrous mercies are untold,
Through each returning day;
Thy love exceeds a thousand fold,
Whatever we can say.

May every heart confess Thy Name;
And ever Thee adore;
And seeking Thee, itself inflame,
To seek Thee more and more.

Thee may our tongues forever bless;
Thee may we love alone;
And ever in our lives express
The image of Thine own.

Here is the text of the original and here is setting by Palestrina!