HYMN OF THE MONTH - August: Immaculate Mary
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 744
    HYMN OF THE MONTH – August: Immaculate Mary

    As part of my series on Catholic hymns, I have chosen the hymn Immaculate Mary. This is a hymn that all Catholics should know but you may not be aware of the history and development of the hymn. Please take a moment to read about this beautiful Marian hymn.

    Please visit my website Mother of Mercy Catholic Hymns and click on HYMN OF THE MONTH.

    https://www.motherofmercycatholichymns.com/immaculate-mary/
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen oldhymns
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,197
    Thank you.

    Our Lady of Victories was the French national parish for Boston, run by the Marists, before it was closed in 2016. It was gutted last year and is in the process of being turned into condos.

    https://bostonrealestatetimes.com/kems-corporation-and-finegold-alexander-commence-construction-of-la-victoire-in-bostons-bay-village-neighborhood/

    It's offensive that the promoters of the condos are promoting their "sinful view of Boston".

    https://www.lavictoireboston.com/
    Our Lady of Victories Boston.jpg
    1500 x 1000 - 270K
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 744
    @Liam - Thank you for the photo. Any idea on what happened to the organ. I have some details about the casavant organ opus #1484 sent to me by the archivist if anyone is interested.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,197
    Unfortunately, I don't. I wonder if the Marists had any other place that could make appropriate use of it.

    The magnificent Hook organ of the Jesuit's former Immaculate Conception Church (closed in 2007; now condos, of course...) in the adjoining neighborhood ended up in storage at Boston College. https://www.thediapason.com/content/1863-e-g-g-hook-opus-322-church-immaculate-conception-boston-massachusetts-part-1
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,604
    Tozer was wrong to remove the last Ave. Yes, the Latin accent is wrong, but it’s not called the Roman Hymn, now is it.

    And this made me wildly angry when I read it the first time. It is dripping with contempt, and the new words are not nearly as good.

    Catholic devotion, as the Church takes care to emphasize, should represent, not what we would wish to feel, but what we actually feel. There is no need for saying our hearts are on fire when really thy are not. This device exalts the emotions at the expense of reason. The whole tradition of Catholic devotion opposes the fabrication of an external devotion with poetic conceits and painfully drawn figures of speech which does not in the least represent our interior dispositions.

    The hymn must express, not what makes its subject so sweet or beautiful alone, but what makes it so holy, magnificent, and lovable, so worth singing to and about. THE PEOPLES HYMNAL strives, therefore, to avoid every meretricious pretense of emotion, and replace this all-too-common hymnology with compilation of hymns meant to arouse a mature, honest, and integrally human response.
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,051
    The "revision" of "Immaculate Mary" published in the 1950s (Cantate Hymnal, People Mass Book) is actually based on an earlier hymn, "Hail Virgin All Fair, Thy Praises We Sing." This in turn is based on "Hail Virgin of Virgins" of Jeremiah Cummings - hence the attribution to Cummings in the PMB and elsewhere.

    I found it in a Catholic hymnal from 1914, Hosanna Catholic Hymn Book, though I do not know whether or not this was the first time it appeared. Unfortunately this hymnal does not give the authors of the hymn texts in it.
  • CGM
    Posts: 723
    This hymn is sung every day during the processions of pilgrims at Lourdes (which typically lasts an hour or more).

    During the procession the pilgrims hold small lit tapers (reminiscent of the Easter Vigil), and there are paper cup-like wax-catchers at the base of the tapers on which are printed the lyrics of the hymn in several languages.

    I took the English lyrics from this Lourdes printing and set them to the music we know as "Immaculate Mary," comprising the first six verses here.

    In addition, a couple years back I received the remarkable assistance of Serviam Scores who translated 60 verses of the French into English. I took a few of those verses, adjusted them for rhyme/meter, and included them as well, comprising verses 7-11.

    The doxology (v.12) came from yet another source.

    Our parish — containing the oldest Lourdes grotto in the United States — does a special Mass and procession every year on Feb. 11 (OL Lourdes), and this is the version of the hymn we've used the last few years. Perhaps it may be used profitably elsewhere too.
    LourdesHymn_ImmaculateMary_SATB.pdf
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    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,604
    The problem with the usual version is that Americans stick out at Lourdes; it’s a weird hill to die on, since the (British and I guess Irish etc.) English version of the tune uses the original Ave.

    Would you be able to change the you to thee? I would like to use this even if it’s a bit weird in that we also sing Immaculate Mary in its (American) canonical form — but see my point above. And I know people who do the Fatima Ave which has the same issue. Thank you.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,197
    CGM

    Should the second line of v 3 begin with "And" rather than "She"?
    Thanked by 1CGM
  • CGM
    Posts: 723
    Liam, thanks for your note — the first page has been corrected.

    MRoth, I'm not sure whether your note is directed to me — but if it is, I don't quite follow what textual change you're suggesting. As mentioned above, the first six verses in the PDF come directly from Lourdes' own English translation, which I wouldn't want to alter.
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