On our annual Australian Christus Rex Pilgrimage (do come!) we sing the Rosary and begin each mystery with a hymn. As music director, I'm stuck at this mystery, which cries out for a dedicated hymn. Is there one out there? There's a short verse in "Protect Us While Telling", but are there any hymns dedicated to the Finding of the Child Jesus? Or maybe Kathy P. you could compose one in a common metre?
There are the hymns written for the feast of the Finding (Inventionis Pueri Iesu in medio Doctorum, usually assigned to a Sunday after the Epiphany) for the old pre-Pius X Breviarium Romanum. English versions can be found in the Bute translation of the Breviary.
Chonak, Tomjaw and Fr Thompson & PLTT many thanks. Brilliant sleuthing! Quam utilis est locus iste!
Now, one supreme last effort: can anyone find a metrical translation of this text into English? See, I want a version that our pilgrims can sing along to as they walk. It's not in the "Hymns of the Dominican Missal and Breviary" which is otherwise a vast and great resource. I might have to farm it out to a Latin scholar friend who is also v. good at poetry. But in case there is an extant translation that would save a lot of work. But thanks heaps for all your efforts. This is quite fun, though, isn't it? God bless and be assured of my prayers on our Christus Rex Pilgrimage in October.
Well if Aquinas Byrnes did not translate it hmmm, I have looked in Julian and in couple of books of Caswall, and no luck. It may be quicker to ask a translator, than look through the various books of translations.
Hugh, i'm not sure which book you looked at....see here (https://archive.org/details/romanbreviaryref00cath), p. 917ff. It has a translation of Jesu Magister Cordium, as well as a translation of the hymn at Lauds (Foecundae fons scientiae).
Thanks for the clarification, PLTT and Chonak, (et al.) I went astray reading the rubrical instructions and hopelessly misunderstanding them (not for the first time).
"And they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances ... After three days they found him..."
Well, after three days seeking among my "kinsfolk and acquaintances" here, I've found "hymn"! I think God has a great sense of humor.
I'll take the text, and make it suitably feisty for our sweating pilgrims by putting it to 'Agincourt'. Other suggestions welcome, of course. (Tune 'Puer Nobis Nascitur/Praetorius' has just swum into my ken.)
Thanks too to Daniel for an alternative I hadn't considered.
Maybe this is overkill, but the Servites had another melody for this hymn that could work with the English translation above. (From a 1949 supplement to the Liber Usualis).
Check out this link to THE PAROCHIAL HYMN BOOK WORDS AND MELODIES, Rev. Anatole Police, London, 1883. Go to page 98, #65, for a hymn that does contain a verse "Finding in the Temple."
Also, CROWN OF JESUS MUSIC, Henri Hemy, London, 1862 contains six "Rosary" hymns (2 each for the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries). The fifth verse of the two Joyful hymns specifically relate to the "Finding in the Temple." At the beginning of this section in the hymnal, there is a statement, "After each mystery is announced, the verse appropriated to it may be sung, as also the 'Gloria Patri' at the end of each decade." You might find this useful.
To participate in the discussions on Catholic church music, sign in or register as a forum member, The forum is a project of the Church Music Association of America.