Hymn of the Week: April 11
by the Rev. Brooke Myers
Hymn 206: “O sons and daughters, let us sing”
There are several different types of songs. Perhaps the oldest among them is the story-song. Indeed, it is believed that ancient epics like the Iliad were sung before they were written down. Examples of popular story-songs include Frankie and Johnny (1904), Alice’s Restaurant (Arlo Guthrie 1967), The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot 1975), and Hurricane (Bob Dylan 1976).
This week’s hymn is a song of this type, specifically a late Medieval narrative carol. It tells the story of the Apostle Thomas, who initially doubts his fellow disciples’ story of Jesus’ resurrection. This hymn is especially suitable for use this coming Sunday because it is another telling of John 20:19-31, the Gospel appointed for that day.
Educated guessers attribute the text to a 15th Century French Dominican bishop named Jean Tisserand, but the matter is not settled. It is part of a longer text which includes the words to Hymn 203, the story of the women who first met the risen Christ. Interestingly, though the two hymns are sung to the same tune, one is arranged as plainsong, the other as a waltz. The translation from the Latin was done by John Mason Neale, a 19th Century Anglican priest who is credited with twenty-five hymn translations plus two texts of his own in our Hymnal.
The origins of the tune, O filii et filiae, like the text, are in dispute. Was it composed as plainsong chant or as a metered melody? Who composed it, and when? Some believe it to be a French folk melody or carol tune. Others think it emerged from the monastic tradition. Jeffrey Wasson and Louis Weil in The Hymnal 1982 Companion (a 4-volume must-have for those seriously interested in hymns) take the via media and believe the tune to be an example of “chant-style composition”. Originally published in 1623 in Paris, it first appeared in America 164 years later, and has been in Episcopal hymnals since 1916.
Hear a rendition of this hymn on YouTube:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
O sons and daughters, let us sing!
The King of heaven, the glorious King,
o’er death and hell rose triumphing. Alleluia!
That night the apostles met in fear;
amidst them came their Lord most dear,
and said, “My peace be on all here.” Alleluia!
When Thomas first the tidings heard,
how they had seen their risen Lord,
he doubted the disciples’ word. Alleluia!
“My pierced hands, O Thomas, see;
my hands, my feet, I show to thee;
not faithless but believing be.” Alleluia!
No longer Thomas then denied;
he saw the feet, the hands, the side;
“Thou art my Lord and God,” he cried. Alleluia
How blest are they who have not seen,
and yet whose faith has constant been,
for they eternal life shall win. Alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!
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