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Views from the Choir Loft

“Crown Him with Many Crowns” (Diademata) • Brébeuf Hymnal #752

Jeff Ostrowski · August 13, 2020

ID YOU HEAR the exciting news? They discovered why Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” was never completed! The answer is……   (Sorry; horrible joke from grad school.) Speaking of “missing” stuff, if you haven’t explored the rehearsal videos for each individual voice at the Brébeuf hymnal website, you’re really missing out! In these days of Covid-19 suffering, you can save eons of rehearsal time by having your volunteer singers utilize these! (Singers feel more confident if they can run through their line.)

The hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns” was written by Matthew Bridges, a disciple of Saint John Henry Newman. Cardinal Newman was never consecrated a bishop—similar to how Avery Cardinal Dulles was a priest and cardinal. The Brébeuf hymnal sets it to DIADEMATA, a sensational tune. (I suspect “Diademata” means crown or diadem.)

Rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #752.

Some Catholic hymnals contain pedestrian language with uninspired rhymes. The Brébeuf hymnal promotes sophisticated rhyme schemes, and “Crown Him with Many Crowns” is a good example:

Crown him with many crowns,
The Lamb upon his throne;
Hark! how the heav’nly anthem drowns
All music but its own:
Awake, my soul, and sing
Of him who died for thee,
And hail him as thy matchless king
Through all eternity.

Brébeuf #804 has—in my humble opinion—a rhyme scheme worthy of Msgr. Ronald Knox. Composed by Fr. Dominic Popplewell, FSSP, the entire hymn is based on the book of Genesis, and it’s married with “Rendez à Dieu,” a hymn melody written by Louis Bourgeois (d. 1561), who helped produce the Genevan Psalter and was once imprisoned (3 December 1551) for changing the melodies of well-known psalms “without a license.” This is wonderful melody, and can be found in many Catholic hymnals such as: Adoremus Hymnal (1997) #515; Catholic Hymn Book (London Oratory, 1998) p. 190; Dr. Theodore Marier’s Hymnal (BACS Publishing, 1983) #329. Consider the fourth verse:

4. Evening and morning alternating,
ocean and air were fraught with life,
down in the deep proliferating,
amid the lofty currents rife.
Those sick of sin, physician holy,
direct to penitence profound,
by virtue rising, ever lowly:
so let thy healing grace abound.

Quite impressive!

Here is a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, but the 15th-century artist did not include a crown:

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

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Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Crown Him with Many Crowns, Diademata, Jean de Brebeuf Hymnal Last Updated: August 13, 2020

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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 Michigan. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —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

“A penalty is decreed against clerics, who, being in sacred Orders, or holding benefices, do not wear a dress befitting their Order. […] In these days, the contempt of religion has grown to such a pitch that—making but little account of their own dignity, and of the clerical honor—some even wear in public the dress of laymen…”

— ‘Council of Trent (Session 14, Chapter 6)’

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