God Bless the Pope
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    Anyone know the composer or TUNE name here?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTBJgZcSvRY#t=227

    The video has nothing to do with the following link, but it led me to it.

    For some this would be a MUST READ:

    http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2918/1/2918_748-vol1.pdf?UkUDh:CyT
    Thanked by 1eft94530
  • FidemInFidebusFidemInFidebus
    Posts: 611
    http://www.canticanova.com/articles/feedback/arteae1.htm

    The tune is wiseman same as the composer's last name. Never heard it before! The beginning sounds almost like auld Lang syne
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,951
    This Youtube channel is excellent. There are a few weird comments in the descriptions, but the current user (who inherited from his grandfather) goes to the Institute church in Preston, Lancashire.

    Hymnary.org says Cardinal Wiseman was the author of the text. It doesn't list anything about the tune.
  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,388
    It brought tears to my retinopathic eyes. Not a single reference to Jesus Christ, nor to anything scriptural. God is present in the text only to bless the Pope. Completely anthropocentric; in this case, that means only one man, and it is not the New Adam.
    Thanked by 2PaxMelodious Gavin
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,951
    I was uncomfortable with it being so Ultramontanist, which is ironic to me given the condition of the English even after the restoration of the hierarchy in 1850.
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,371
    In the 1940 edition of the Westminster Hymnal it is one of four Pilgrimage hymns, in this case to Rome. The others are to Our Lady of Lourdes, to St Winefride, and to Our Lady of Walsingham. No tunes are given in this book, and there is no suggestion of a music edition.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Charles Cole recorded it with the Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School. The album is on-line at @oldhymns ' site: http://www.catholicdevotionalhymns.com/classic-recordings/praise-to-the-holiest/

    Thanked by 1noel jones, aago
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    As a song for making the 1850's jubilee year buggy ride from the channel and over the Alps a little more inspiring, it's not as bad as it could be. Of course one wouldn't sing it at Mass. Although I have heard this done in England on a special Pope's day.

    The opening salvo is interesting. The hart panteth for running streams (Psalm 42), one of the basic motifs on many of the extant early apse mosaics in Rome, while on pilgrimage the heart panteth with joy, plus we're exhausted, and it's hot and inhospitable and filthy and muggy.

    The third verse's gates likely includes a reference to the Flaminian gate, through which the priests formed at the English College traveled on their way to possible martyrdom--and through which Wiseman gave a famous pastoral letter.

    Thanked by 2eft94530 noel jones, aago
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Charles provided these liner notes from the CD:

    "Full in the panting heart of Rome" was penned by the first Archbishop of Westminster and became famous for its chorus: ‘God bless our Pope’. Cardinal Wiseman’s original fifth verse (which is not on this recording) has been omitted in most hymn-books since the 1912 Westminster Hymnal because of its somewhat archaic references to the telegraph:

    For like the sparks of unseen fire,
    That speak along the magic wire,
    From home to home, from heart to heart,
    These words of countless children dart.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen noel jones, aago
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,021
    FYI, I do have this in Finale, both melody for congregation and accompaniment. Send me a message if you need to use this hymn. I also have "Long Live the Pope".
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    Steve, I'd love to have both thank you!

    noel@frogmusic.com
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 685
    I think this would have made an excellent hymn to sing during Pope Francis recent visit. After all the Pope did ask us to pray for him and what better way than to invoke God's Blessings upon him.

    I'm just a poor little lamb, but the Church teaches us that although there is only one God, yet, somehow, there are three Persons in God. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, yet we do not speak of three Gods, but only one God. They have the same nature, substance, and being. Thus, Jesus Christ while not mentioned by name, was nonetheless, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity, asked to Bless the Pope.

    God Bless Our Pope!
    Thanked by 2noel jones, aago oldhymns
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,021
    Here you go, Noel. Plus a bonus "Vivat Pastor" for which I don't remember the source.
    Wiseman-h.pdf
    22K
    PopeLive-h1.pdf
    24K
    VivatPastor-h.pdf
    22K
    Thanked by 2oldhymns eft94530
  • MichaelDickson
    Posts: 419


    Now THAT is a dissertation! Love it.
    Thanked by 3oldhymns a_f_hawkins eft94530
  • oldhymnsoldhymns
    Posts: 220
    "God Bless Our Pope" (Full in the Panting Heart of Rome) was actually composed by Cardinal Wiseman at the time of the declaration of papal infallibility (1850). Coming right on the heels of Catholic Emancipation, the hymn obviously was intended to inculcate loyalty. He was rector of the English College in Rome and later was Archbishop of Westminster and was a strong advocate of the restoration of chant and polyphony. There are several melodies for this hymn in various hymnals, but the one posted is the most popular. This hymn to the Pope was extremely popular in the UK, while "Long Live the Pope" was much more popular in the U.S.

    If you don't feel like reading Thomas Muir's entire dissertation which has been linked above, get a copy of his book, which is an outgrowth of his dissertation: ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH MUSIC IN ENGLAND 1791-1914: A HANDMAID OF THE LITURGY? It's quite an interesting and thorough analysis, although it's expensive. I bought it on Amazon for $122 earlier this year, but it's well worth it.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen eft94530
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    Full in the panting heart of Rome... A very popular hymn over here in England among Conservatives and Traditionalists. One priest always demands we sing the 5th verse, I try not to think to much about the words as I find it too funny.

    I have a copy of the melody edition of the Revised Westminster Hymnal (1939 ed.) This only has the 4 verses! but two melodies, Psalm 117, adapted from the Scottish Psalter, 1615. It also has in the Appendix, Wiseman, Melody by C. A. Cox 1853-1916.

    In the Parish Hymn Book, 1968 it only has the Wiseman Melody.
    It also appears with the same melody in the The Catholic Hymn Book, the Oratorian's updated version of the Parish Hymn Book. Both attributing the Melody to Cox.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,934
    I try not to think to much about the words as I find it too funny.


    Same here. LOL. Or to paraphrase the comedian Henny Youngman, "Take our pope...please."
    Thanked by 2Gavin tomjaw
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,605
    I try not to think to much about the words as I find it too funny.


    Like Titus Andronicus?
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