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Views from the Choir Loft

Peace and St Francis

Veronica Brandt · October 4, 2014

St Francis and the Sultan by Gozzoli St Francis’ Trial by Fire before the Sultan from a series of frescoes in Montefalco (1450-52) by Benozzo Gozzoli ODAY MANY PEOPLE ARE PRAYING for peace, especially through the intercession of St Francis, who died on Oct 3 1226 and whose feast day we celebrate today.

I bet there will be a lot of people singing Sebastian Temple’s Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. Which is a great song, but I’d like to share a few others which today brings to mind.

But first a little about the illustration there.

The 14th century book, The Flowers of St Francis, relates how he went to visit the Sultan during the 5th Crusade:

Then St Francis standing before him, inspired by the Holy Spirit, preached most divinely the faith of Christ; and to prove the truth of what he said, professed himself ready to enter into the fire. Now the Sultan began to feel a great devotion towards him, both because of the constancy of his faith, and because he despised the things of this world (for he had refused to accept any of the presents which he had offered to him), and also because of his ardent wish to suffer martyrdom. From that moment he listened to him willingly, and begged him to come back often, giving both him and his companions leave to preach wheresoever they pleased; he likewise gave them a token of his protection, which would preserve them from all molestation.

There are a lot of discussions about how accurate that retelling was, but well worth reading.


217 St Francis There is a little known hymn to St Francis beginning “Corda pia inflammantur” which can be translated as Godly hearts are inflamed. The tune is very simple – same for the refrain as for the verses. The text elaborates on St Francis receiving the stigmata. Go listen and share it. It makes a change from the Peace Prayer of St Francis.

      * *  MP3: Corda Pia – one minute audio clip with two verses out of eleven and three repeats of the refrain. The singers are my mother, my son and myself.
      * *  PDF: Corda Pia – pages 50 & 51 from A New Book of Old Hymns

Another alternative to the Peace Prayer of St Francis is the antiphon “Da pacem.” The translation runs thus, “Grant peace, O Lord, in our days, as there is no other who will fight for us, except thee, our God.”

Here is Giovanni Vianini singing the antiphon paired with Psalm 121/122:

The psalm verses are:

I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord. Our feet were standing in thy courts, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, which is built as a city, which is compact together.

This is also in a New Book of Old Hymns. In the book this antiphon is followed by the round setting by Melchior Franck. In the new edition I clarified how the parts fit together – it is a canon in the hypodiatessaron or the second part comes in a fourth below. Here is a pdf copy of the page:

      * *  PDF: Da pacem, Domine p70 of A New Book of Old Hymns

Now, you might have noticed that both those pieces are in Latin. Aren’t there any English hymns you can recommend?

There is a novena to St Francis carried out each year at the Maternal Heart of Mary Church in Sydney. They use the hymn by Shane Leslie which begins:

Francis, thou wast lonely plying
For thy bread from door to door
Till God heard thy bitter sighing
For His Wounds and for His poor.

You can find the whole novena with the hymn (and Corda Pia) here as a pdf taken from the listing of Mass Propers of the Saints

It appears in the Westminster Hymnal of 1958 (unfortunately not in the Old Westminster Hymnal which I wrote about earlier) The meter is 87.87. I will try to find the name of the tune! (In solfege it begins: re do re fa sol fa mi re – do you recognise it?)

Zenit is promoting a new book on St Francis by Fr Cantalamessa In Love with Christ: The Secret of Saint Francis of Assisi. They are selling through Createspace, which also sells A New Book of Old Hymns and The Old Westminster Hymnal. Just letting you know.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “What Martin Luther Said…”
    My pastor asked me to write little columns for the bulletin each week. The article for 20 July 2025 has been posted, and it’s called: “What Luther Said…” Martin Luther (an ex-priest and apostate) was an infamous heretic whose ignorance of JESUS CHRIST was only exceeded by his filthy and disgusting vulgarity.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“I never cared a tinker’s cuss what the Congregation may have decided about the order in which the acolyte should put out the candles after Vespers.”

— Dr. Adrian Fortescue (24 Nov. 1919)

Recent Posts

  • “Musicam Sacram” (5 March 1967) • Does It Apply?
  • “What Martin Luther Said…”
  • “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
  • Worship the Lord in Holy Attire
  • “How to Conduct 90 Vespers Services Each Year and Live to Tell the Tale.”

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