The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-09-27

Father Walworth's niece, Miss Ellen
Hardin Walworth, who was his aman-
uensis after his eyesight failed, pub
lished, in 1907, life Sketches of
Father Walworth, 182O-19OO." The
Catholic Encyclopedia" contains no
biographical notice of him-unfor-
tunately, as the present writer thinks,
whether we consider him as writer
of several important books, or merely
as the author of the hymn, "Holy God,
latter capacity alone that he was
deemed of sufficient Importance to
merit, in book of most condensed
biography like Julian's dictionary, no
less than sixteen lines of biographical
notice. From this inadequate, but,
nevertheless, generously spaced &C
count, we learn, amongst other things,
that his "paraphrase of the TIE Deum,
Holy God, we praise Thy name : =
is in the Catholic PsalmistS Dublin,
1858, p. no." and that ''in the 'Ameri-
can Episcopal Hymnal,' in 1892, it be-
gins with st. H., slightly altered, as
'Hark, the loud celestial hymn He
died in 1900." In another part of the
Dictionary" under the title of the
hymn, we find that sit is dated 1853
in the American Evangelical HymnaP
(Iall and Lasar), Barnes & Co., New
York, $780,"
A TIE Deum for Congregational
Singing.
While the hymn has always been
popular amongst Catholics, and is
found even in Protestant hymnals, it
is only in recent times that it has
achieved very wide and frequent use
as a practicable TIE Deum for congre-
gational singing in extra-liturgical
services (thus initiating it's prototype,
the beautiful and effective German
hymn, "Grosser Colt, wir loben dich'')
Printed first in 1853, it soon pene-
trated into Ireland (1858); and that it
still remains favorite there is evil
denced by it's inclusion in Father Gay
nor's "St. Patrick's Hymn Book"
-
knows it; for Dom Ould, o. S. B., of
Fort Augustus, has included it in his
excellent Book of Hymns" (Edin-
burgh, 1910, No. 46). DIR. Tozer, the
accomplished English choirmaster and
editor of Catholic Church music, whose
recent death was a distinct loss to
the cause of reform in sacred music,
found place for it in his Catholic
Church Hymnar' New York and Lon
don, 1905). It therefore seems regret
able that the most recent and very
valuable accession to our Catholic
hymn books, the well-edited west
minister Hymnal' (London, 1922,
should have omitted it. AS DR.. Terry,
its editor, noted in the preface to his
work, great care was taken to include
only such texts and tunes as were of
Catholic origin, and perhaps the sur
mise is a fair one that he thought the
'Holy God, we praise Thy name" a
hymn of Protestant origin, for the
reason that the reference to it's date
| (1853) appeared in the Evangelical
HymnaT' (1880). Apropos of this, it
will be interesting to quote from a
recent letter of Miss Walworth to the
present writer: Il remember when
proof-reading 'Andiatorocte,' my uncle
said: You see put in my TIE Deum.
So many Protestants sing it and have
| it in their hymn books, the people
think it is their hymn. I'll claim it
| back" -
A Catholic Tune.
The origin of the tune has also
proved a historical puzzle. Its wide
use in Protestant hymnals is perhaps
partly due to the fact that Zahn, the
historian of German evangelical
hymnody, could not trace it back fur
Their than to a Protestant Choral
Buch" printed at Leipsic in 1919. Per-
haps, too, the uncertainty as to the
source of the tune and its great popu-
larity with our separated brethren
combined to deter some editors of
Catholic hymnals from including it in
their compilations.
Like the words, however, the tune
is apparently Catholic; for Baumker
has traced it to it's earliest known
source, Catholic hymn book pub
lished at Vienna some time before
1880.
Thus highly interesting from his
torical or academic standpoint, the
study of the hymn (both text and
tune) has some results to offer of a
severely practical Importance. Even
recently published Catholic hymnals
have admitted-or, rather, have per-
petuated-so some gross literary errors
and blemishes in the text. The tune
also has suffered not a little from
varied parochial or local "uses," and
so our hymnals sometimes abound in
undesirable variations of melody.
First Printed In 1853.
The hymn appears to have been first
printed in a Redemptorist Mission
Book" in 1853, compiled-or rather
translated from European mission
books and adapted to American needs
by the author himself.
While it is not absolutely certain, il
is nevertheless exceedingly probable
that the hymn was composed after his
conversion to the Catholic faith: HE
had told me of the long walks he took
at st. Trond and Wittem as novice
and theological student, to pilgrimage
| c1,r;roe 90 bou fhrilIino Uac the