For a more thorough and enlightened discussion of the definition of "hymn," search the forum for "M. Jackson Osborn" hymn song.

You'll have to sort through some posts of dots with yellow boxes. Don't let that deter you.

I was happy to read the MJO post.
Everything seemed clear.
Then came two dots.
And a yellow box with zero dots.
More confusing
than the secret conversations we all share in the Portable Cone Of Silence.
Sigh.

I want to take this opportunity yet again to stress that a hymn is a hymn due to its subject matter, not because it is a 'religious' song sung at mass or anywhere else. We periodically have some confusion about this, both on our forum and in the Church at large. So, at the outset it needs to be asserted unequivocably that a hymn is a literary text, prose or verse, whose objective thematic focus is the deity or theological truth. While the 'hymn' is not to be confused with its associated music, it is a given that a hymn (like a psalm!) is a thing which is to be sung.

St Augustine defined a 'hymn' as (loosely remembered) 'God, words, and music'. This is a very loose working definition. There are many religious songs, however, that we refer to as hymns just because they are sung in Church and, sometimes astonishingly, are found in hymnals, but are not hymns at all. Literarily, they don't come near fitting the definition of hymnus.

A hymn, then, is a text which extols the divinity, or, as often, is in praise of some theological truth. A song, even though sloppily called a 'hymn', that does not have this content and tenor is not a hymn, even though it may or may not be good literature and poetry.

There are other religious songs that are devotional, may be very sound doctrinally, but are more subjective (referencing personal feelings) than objective (purely in praise of the objective diety) in nature.

Examples of the former would be Adoro te, devote, or Schmucke dich, both of which are spiritual jewels characterised by rich mystical imagery and biblical reference.

Examples of the latter might be Te Deum or 'The God of Abraham Praise', both of which are focused strictly on the universal lordship of God, and have some theological substance.

There are some which fit in somewhere in the middle. 'Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven' might be one of these. It is definitely intellectually oriented toward God, but has, as well, a strong subjective undertone when it exhorts 'praise with me the God of grace'.

Some of our favourites are definitely not hymns but are religious songs and carols which sing about the divine but issue from a very subjective grounding. 'O Come, all Ye Faithful', would example these, as would such fine sacred songs as Nun danket all Gott. So would that priceless gem by Bianco da Siena, Discendi, amor santo, set with such excruciating sensitivity by RVW to his own tune, Down Ampney.

There are others which aren't even 'on the fence'. Negro Spirituals mostly are in this category. They have a unique spiritual angst, doubtless reflecting the bitter and cruel crucible of misfortune that engendered them. Also, they betray a deep love of God and his word, an indeflectible faith, but are, almost all, extremely subjective and have little or no theological content - other than a fervent belief in Jesus and his resurrection. But even this is expressed almost wholly in subjective, not objective thought. Hope and trust may, indeed, be the dominant themes, but there is very little of theological development. Many are those whose Good Friday is not complete without singing 'Were You There'. This is a powerful song, extremely moving in its imagery, but it isn't actually a hymn, and has no place at liturgy. Of course, Negro Spirituals have their cousins elsewhere, particularly in evangelical 'hymnody', which is typified by extremely subjective and personal points of view. These lack almost fully any but the most shallow theological content. Several examples might be the well known old favourites 'Just as I am, without one plea', or 'Take my life and let it be'. These are typical of a class of religious songs which express personal love, dependence, faith, and hope, etc., but do not, actually worship God in any objective sense and have but the most tepid theological content.

When I say, then, that a religious song is not a hymn, that is not, necessarily, a judgment that it is without spiritual value. Not at all! It is merely a recognition that, to make an analogy, a fugue follows certain imitative procedures, whilst a sonata follows different procedures. They are both music, but neither is the other.

A final category of religious songs, which I really do intend to excoriate, are those whose focus is almost entirely highly subjective, personal or community oriented in tone, and are inappropriate absolutely at liturgical proceedings. Sadly, there are great numbers of these songs in almost every Catholic hymnal currently being published, including all of those by our most prestigious publishers. I shant dignify any of them by even mentioning any titles, but assume (hope!) that our readers would be able to notice that 'this is all about us, ergo, it doesn't belong at mass'.

Thanks, MJO, for a concise education! (Some would have used 20,000 words for the same--or less--content.)

Actually, Richard, my hand was a little nervous when I put 'O Come, All Ye Faithful' in the 'on the fence' crowd. Ditto, 'Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven'. Anything on the fence is difficult to categorise. There are others that, perhaps, are more deserving of 'on the fence' labeling. 'O Come...', of course, addresses 'all ye faithful' and is an exhortation for them to come and adore. Otherwise, it is, indeed, not absent an objective element of worship. (In fact, my favourite few words of 'O Come,...' are 'God of God, Light of Light, lo! he comes...'.) The same may be said of 'Praise, My Soul...', and even Nun danket, which I placed on the fence. There are, to be sure, numerous examples which better deserve to be placed on the fence.

A good mirror for when deciding the liturgical merit of a hymn would be those hymns of the early centuries by such as Ambrose, Prudentius, John Damascene, and others. There is no equivocation in these. A second good mirror would be to study, earnestly study, the propers, the propers in general as well as for one's specific feast at hand. Good, well chosen hymnody for any day might well mirror the literary tone, the theological object of attention, and the thematic bent of the propers. Except when quoting a psalm, the propers are not at all, ever, subjective in content or focus. Hymnody (or songs) at liturgy would do well to imitate them. The hymns may be thematically aligned with the propers or with the lectionary, or both, but whatever course is followed, they should mirror the general thematic thrust of the propers. There is no better guide for well chosen hymnody than the propers.

A beautiful example of a prayer (there are so many!) might be 'Lord of All Hopefullness, Lord of All Joy'.', which is rich in mystical imagery, expresses solid trust, and adores the attributes of the All Holy. There are many, whose content is rather such a mixture of subjective and objective elements that they are difficult place in this camp or that.

As I just wrote 'Lord of All Hopefulness,...' Langlais' delirious Chant de joie entered my mind. A wonderful piece which I love to play, and will likely put on one of my recitals for next year.