Christina Rosetti's (1830-94) poetry, marked by great beauty and care in the selection of words and pervaded by a deep melancholy, is the expression of a strong Christian faith. Her hymns include the well-known carol 'In the bleak mid-winter':Posted on 01/01/2005 12:10:30 PM PST by sionnsar
Christina Rosetti's (1830-94) poetry, marked by great beauty and care in the selection of words and pervaded by a deep melancholy, is the expression of a strong Christian faith. Her hymns include the well-known carol 'In the bleak mid-winter':
In the bleak mid-winter frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter, long ago.Our God, heav'n cannot hold him nor earth sustain;
Heav'n and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter a stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty Jesus Christ.Enough for him, whom cherubim worship night and day,
A breastful of milk and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for him whom angels fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air:
But only his mother in her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved with a kiss.What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him - give him my heart.
[You might want to check out not only Stand Firm (MS), but Stand Firm - Alabama also. Much material, many links on both. --sionnsar]
None other Lamb, none other Name
None other Hope in heaven or earth or sea,
None other Hiding-place from guilt and shame,
None beside thee.
My faith burns low, my hope burns low
Only my heart's desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe
Cries out to thee.
Lord, thou art Life tho' I be dead,
Love's Fire thou art, however cold I be:
Nor heaven have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but thee.
Of course the Harold Darke setting of In the Bleak Midwinter is a classic -- even we Catholics sang that one for Midnight Mass (I'm encouraging our choir director to appropriate as much English music as possible!)
Great idea! Get rid of the St. Louis Jesuits! Actually, they've probably done that themselves - I think almost none of them are still Jesuits - or probably even Catholics - now.
In any case, many beautiful things came out of the Anglican poetic/song tradition, and even though they were produced by a group in schism, they're a heck of a lot more orthodox than anything that is coming out of post VatII Catholic hymn writers.
Happy New Year, btw. Haven't seen your posts for awhile - hope all is well with you and the lovely Gracie.
What is up with guitars in Mass? Its like they are stuck in 1963.
Our Anglican church was in its earlier years rather, um, sensitive to guitars in church after peoples' experiences with folk masses in ECUSA. My wife brought a guitar in one Sunday to play for the Sunday school, and one parishioner asked a bit snippily, "You aren't going to play that in church, are you?"
The author of "On Eagle's Wings" is one of my prime candidates for extermination. I know it's unChristian, but...
Thanks for these hymns - I hadn't heard of the other Rosetti one. I just left the Anglican/Episcopal Church yesterday after being a member since infancy, and I'm sure I'll miss much of the music and traditions. But given the direction of that church, I look forward to coming into a church that has made it a priority to remain faithful to Scripture.
Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas
Top ten signs a parish has been using Oregon Catholic Press for too long:
10. People call to ask what time Midnight Mass is "sending forth" (usually about 11 PM).
9. Epidemic of laryngitis following attempts to "sing a new church into being."
8. Followers of Huub Osterhuis lobby to have flooring removed in favor of hard-packed dirt.
7. Bored parishioners count how many times the word "gather" is used per Mass.
6. Old "Glory & Praise" books thrown out for being too "conservative" and "exclusive."
5. People discover that they get that same fuzzy feeling of community standing in Wal Mart.
4. Incense is re-introduced at Mass, but it's patchouli.
3. Worn depressions in "D" keys and pedals on the organ.
2. What's an organ?
1. The local Byzantine parish begins construction on the new church building.
But we started back with a 7 mile trail ride Thursday in the Kennesaw Battlefield Park - 7 miles not counting the time we spent cantering around the big open fields out there. Of course Grace is a perfect lady under saddle - my daughter was riding a young green mare who WASN't exactly perfect - think I'll ride her once a week or so and see if I can't smooth the rough edges down a little. Anyhow, it's a wonderful trail - woods and hills and a few creek crossings, then big beautiful open fields to canter around. Unfortunately the Park Service in its zeal has sawed up and carried away all the fallen trees we were jumping over . . . I told our trainer I was going to head out in an ATV with a chain saw and a come-along . . . . I'd love to but I'd probably get caught. I think we'll hike through the riding section and just set up a few logs for the next trip. . . .
Hope you are doing well too. How is Doc doing? Continuing to recover, I hope.
Much of the English music predates the English Reformation - Tallis, Byrd, Farrant, etc. And many of the Oxford Movement types came "home to Rome" - Rossetti of course was Italian (at least her father was) and I wonder if she really wasn't a crypto-Catholic. Much of her poetry seems more Catholic than Protestant.
What church did you decide to join? I admit I was pleasantly surprised by the fidelity to Scripture demonstrated by our local Catholic parish - they are considered highly orthodox even in a very orthodox archdiocese, and I love it!
SONNET
I wish I could remember that first day,
First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
If dim or bright the season, it might be
Summer or winter for aught I can say;
So unrecorded did it slip away,
So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree
That would not blossom yet for many a May.
If only I could recollect it, such
A day of days! I let it come and go
As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;
If only I could now recall that touch
First touch of hand in hand - - did one but know!
UPHILL
Does the road wind uphill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the days-journey take the whole day long?
From morn to night, my friend.
But is there for the night a resting place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin?
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you waiting at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labor you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.
A BIRTHDAY
My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a watered shoot;
My heart is like an apple tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit.
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these things
Because my love is come to me.
Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleur-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me.
SONG
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad song for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree;
Be the green grass above me
with showers and dew drops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise or set,
Haply I may remember
And haply I may forget.
WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND?
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:But when the trees bow down their heads
The wind is passing by.
As I understand it, the Incas were obsessed with death, and, if true, I can fully understand it. I'm only 48 years old, but I think about death quite often. And even though contemplating it can make me melancholy, it also exponentially increases my love and appreciation for my earthly life, and that of all those I love.
LOL! I'm Byzantine rite, you know - and guess why that is. Of course, in practice it's meaningless, because there is no Byzantine rite parish where I live. But if there were one, I'd be there!
I pulled that out of the postings on the Haugen/Haas website just for you, 'cause I saw that! :-D
I've always wondered about Rosetti, too; she was very Catholic in her expression, although, as you note, the Oxford Movement influence was widespread and did produce people who were very Catholic in spirit (and often later became Catholic in fact).
Glad to hear life is good in the horse department. Poor little Doc is definitely out to pasture for good. His sound leg broke down because he carried all of his weight on it for almost a year, so he's definitely unrideable, and even stumbles when he's just ambling around in his paddock. Even so, I had to separate him from the other horses, because he's a dominant little beast and got into such a fight showing that he was more studly than a young Belgian in the pasture that he ended up barely even able to walk at all. I thought he'd calm down, but he kept flying after the Belgian, teeth bared, to drive him away from his "herd" (two decrepit, elderly horses that shared the same pasture), so I moved him to a paddock with an ancient mini, and his life is now very tranquil.
Talk about hard wiring! Or hard-headedness, perhaps. In any case, he's now enjoying his retirement and his new career as a very large pet. I ride other people's horses now and then, but actually, I've been away in Spain a lot so it hasn't been a big problem.
Good luck with that little green mare. Have a great New Year romping over the hills!
When Gracie reaches the age that she can't work, I'll make sure that she has such an arrangement. She's given her best to me for six years already - it's the least I can do for her.
We've been really fortunate at our barn. The oldest horse, Remington Steel, was 38 (!!! but my trainer swears he was 8 when she bought him and she had him for 30 years!!!) and still being used for lessons when he passed away quietly in his paddock one night. He still had plenty of life in him - when my daughter evented him at age 33 he tried to run away with her on the cross country course! The other old-timers are Wendy the Anglo-Arab, still carrying the beginners around the ring at age 30, and Tally-Ho the 28 year old Welsh pony who is still Pony Clubbing and showing.
We have one just a few miles from home (it's a third the distance to our old ECUSA church). We travelled around and visited quite a number of churches. There IS a Latin Mass (indult) parish a little bit farther from home, but I don't think my ex-Methodist husband would have gone for that . . .
At the moment, I'm attending a Reformed church where I've visited in the past - so far, it's been excellent.
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