Published: June 26, 2008 02:50 pm            

Hymns - Faith of Our Fathers

This hymn is very unusual because of the history of why it was written. The “Faith of Our Fathers” referred to in this hymn is the faith of the martyred leaders of the Roman Catholic Church during the 16th century.

The writer of this hymn, Fredrick William Faber, was born June 28, 1814, in Calverley, Yorkshire, England.

His father was a clergyman in the Church of England, and he was reared in strict adherence to the church’s teachings.

He was educated at Oxford University and later was ordained as a minister in the Anglican Church.

The influence of John Henry Newman and others who sought to bring about a renewal in the Anglican Church touched Faber deeply.

Because of this influence, he followed Newman and others into the Roman Catholic Church in 1846.

This seemed impossible since his earlier years as a pastor of the Anglican Church, he had strongly opposed the Catholic Church and its teachings.

He pastored the Anglican Church only three years before leaving for the Catholic Church.

This was the time when John and Charles Wesley were preaching in England and turned the whole religious scene upside down in one of England’s greatest revivals. Wesley’s message was that everyone had to make a personal decision to be saved and serve the Lord.

The message was so simple that anyone could understand. The revival movement was known as the Oxford movement.

The Anglican Church protested because they believed that no one could have a personal conversion.

They believed that the only way to have a meaningful religious experience was through a ceremonial church service.

As a result the Anglican Church lost many great leaders to the Catholic Church, or a new organization known as the Anglo-Catholics.

After the Rev. Faber joined the Catholic Church, he became known as Father Wilfrid.

Shortly after he joined the Catholic Church, he noticed that they did not have the hymn singing that he was accustomed to.

He recalled how the singing of hymns in the Anglican Church added a spiritual element to the services that everyone could take part in.

Faber began to make it his life’s mission to write hymns that promoted the history and teachings of the Catholic Church.

In all, Faber wrote 150 such hymns to match the number of psalms in the Old Testament before his early death at the age of 49.

For his efforts in this regard, he was honored by the Pope with a Doctor of Divinity degree.

“Faith of Our Fathers” was written in 1849 by Faber to remind Catholic congregations of their many leaders who were martyred during the reign of Henry VIII.

It first appeared in printed text in Faber’s collection, “Catholic Hymns for Singing and Reading.”

The version we sing today does not have one of the original verses that Faber wrote:



Faith of our Fathers, Mary’s prayers

Shall win our country back to thee

And through the truth that comes from God

England shall then indeed be free.

Faith of our fathers, Holy faith

We would be true to Thee till death



To make the hymn acceptable to persons of all Christian faiths hymnal editors within a few years of its appearance altered the text until they had the version we sing today.

The tune for this hymn was also written by a Roman Catholic named Henri Hemy, who was born Nov. 2, 1818, in New Castle, England.

He was a respected organist and composer at the church in Tynemouth and in 1864, compiled a popular Catholic hymnal, “Crown of Jesus.”

The tune was originally composed for a Catholic hymn titled “St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr.”

Fredrick W. Faber was born in 1814 and died in 1863. Henri F. Hemy was born in 1818 and died in 1888.



Stories Behind the Hymns is taken from “104 Of My Favorite Hymn Stories, Vols. I and II,” written by Warren Shiver of Biscoe. He can be reached by e-mail at wshiver99@embarqmail.com or by snail mail at P.O. Box 775, Biscoe, NC 27209. The book is available for $14.95 plus $3 shipping. Shipping is free for readers of The Randolph Guide.

Visit www.myfavoritehymnstories.com for more information.

        

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