I think there's been a misunderstanding - I meant the PROcessional, not the REcessional. (Which, indeed, is the Bach harmonization.) I was wondering about the hymn beginning around the 4:20 minute mark.
I'm sorry if all of this seems obsessive, by the way. I just really like that hymn tune.
I was wondering if I was mistaking you! The clip I got after following the link includes only the concluding rites, and the recessional was the only 'procession' I saw. Plus, could not make out the text at all, so was just assuming it was a setting of the text you referenced. I am now in search of the beginning of the Mass!
Found the beginning of the Mass and the procession. Interestingly, the music is identical to the first two phrases and last two phrases of Farrant's "Lord, for Thy tender mercies' sake" as it is found in the old Concord anthem book. Of the online editions I could turn up with a quick search, this one looks the closest: http://www.cantatedomino.org/cd/musicfiles25/Lord For Thy Tender Mercies Sake - Tye.pdf
So is it known independently as a hymn tune? I am keen to find out. It works beautifully!
The tune is found at no. 339 in the 1933 English Hymnal, and is there called 'Farrant', and says 'Adapted from an anthem of the school of R. Farrant, c. 1530-85.' The harmony is slightly different, but the tune's the same.
I do not know about the U.S.A. but before Vatican 2 this melody by Farrant was very popular in Catholic churches all over the U.K. It is Farrant's 'O sacrum convivium'. I have heard it occasionally since but I do not know which came first, the Catholic motet or the English hymn or even if Farrant was a Catholic. An adapted version of the tune is in 'Praise the Lord', a 1966 English publication, No 9, an Offertory hymn beginning 'Almighty Father, take this bread.'
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