• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Catholic Hymnal
  • Jogues Missal
  • Site Map
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Puzzle • “Now Thank We All Our God”

Jeff Ostrowski · July 26, 2018

88112 sperabo OME PEOPLE get very upset when they hear a teacher say: “Children, make sure you have a pencil in your hand.” Another sentence that bothers some people is: “Masses are often referred to by their Introit.” They feel there is a Plural/Singular issue with such sentences.

Some are bothered by the following hymn. They insist it should be “hearts” and mothers’ (notice the apostrophe). They also insist upon “Oh,” not “O.” They also want “our lives.”

1. Now thank we all our God,
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In Whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mother’s arms
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

2. O may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace,
And guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills
In this world in the next.

But very fine hymnals have mother’s (notice the apostrophe):

1910 • Woodward Songs of Syon
1998 • London Oratory Hymn Book
1986 • New English Hymnal
1972 • Hymns Ancient and Modern
1958 • New Saint Basil

Other hymnals (e.g. Ted Marier’s) use mothers’—with the apostrophe at the end.

Hymn by Dr. John Mason Neale:

1. Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness;
God hath brought his Israel
Into joy from sadness;
Loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke
Jacob’s sons and daughters;
Led them with unmoistened foot
Through the Red Sea waters.

Some change “foot” to “feet.”

Saint Robert Southwell, a poet admired by Shakespeare, wrote:

Though thralls of sin lie lingering in their grave,

Some change “grave” to “graves.”

The original 1833 version of “The First Nowell” has “Their knee”:

5. Then entered in those Wise Men three
Most rev’rently upon their knee,
And offered there, in His presence,
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense. R.

AM TOLD the American Book of Commom Prayer has “we have not loved you with our whole heart”—whereas some would insist upon “hearts.” For myself, I don’t have a problem with sentences like: “Let all present now take a breath.” I also don’t mind: “The police carry a gun on their belts.” To me, that sounds just fine. But others will disagree.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe to the CCW Mailing List

Jeff Ostrowski

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

4 March 2021 • Can you spare 15 seconds?

Due to Covid-19, California has basically been under “lock down” for 11 months, and these restrictions have had quite a detrimental effect on our choral programs. We are frequently limited to just 2-3 singers, on account of regulations by the government and our Archdiocese. However, although the number of singers is quite small, I was struck by the beauty of the singing last Sunday. Listen to this 15-second live excerpt and see if you agree?

—Jeff Ostrowski
3 March 2021 • “A policeman” — really?

According to Monsignor Frederick R. McManus, there were “policemen” serving the Sanhedrin in the time of Our Blessed Lord. Look at this awful translation in the 1966 “Saint Andrew Bible Missal” from 1966. Yuck!

—Jeff Ostrowski
Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Angularis fundamentum” is typically sung at the dedication or consecration of a church and on church anniversaries. For constructions too numerous to list in recent generations, it would be more appropriate to sing that Christ had been made a temporary foundation. A dispirited generation built temporary housing for its Lord, and in the next millnenium, the ease of its removal may be looked back upon as its chief virtue.

— Fr. George Rutler (2016)

Recent Posts

  • Two Recent Talks on the Liturgy
  • 4 March 2021 • Can you spare 15 seconds?
  • Now Online! • “Missale Romanum” (1615 edition)
  • “Ash Wednesday” • Banned by YouTube after 93,000 Views!
  • 3 March 2021 • “A policeman” — really?

Copyright © 2021 Corpus Christi Watershed · Charles Garnier on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.