After experiencing two moves in the last year, our family is finally settling down in our new home and our new parish.
We’re so blessed to have moved close to a very traditional and reverent parish. One thing that our family enjoys the most about our new Sunday Mass experience is the beautiful traditional hymns.
Whether that is your normal Mass experience or not, you can still bring the beauty and joy of sacred music to your children.
Today, I’m excited to introduce you to Grace Brown, the creator of Sing with Grace: Timeless Music for Catholic Kids. Her mission is to help you easily incorporate music appreciation and sacred music into your home.
You can find her work at: Sing with Grace
Beautiful Hymns to Inspire: A Guest Post by Grace Brown
Today I’d love to share with you four gorgeous and timeless hymns every Catholic should know (and that if your church played these, you’d probably want to go to Mass more often!)
“Beautiful Angel”
Though the author of this hymn is unknown, its lyrics and melody paint a cheerful picture of our angelic guardians assigned to us by Our Lord.
Its simple refrain is perfect for young children to learn:
“Beautiful angel, My guardian so mild,
Tenderly guide me, for I am thy child.”
The melody is catchy–almost like a nursery rhyme. And its subject matter, guardian angels, is a helpful aid in prayer for children and adults alike!
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
This is one of the first hymns I learned as a convert to Anglicanism (whose deposit of hymnody are beautiful and span centuries). It is attributed to Robert Robinson in 1758 who, although not a Catholic, writes faithful lyrics:
“Come, thou Fount of every blessing;
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above;
praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
mount of God’s unchanging love!”
The soaring second half of each verse moves me to tears every time. The purpose of hymns isn’t to elicit emotion like so many modern praise and worship songs do with sentimental lyricism and melodies. Instead, hymns like “Come Thou Fount” direct our focus on the supernatural wonder of Our Lord and His Creation and let the subject matter do the heavy lifting.
“Saint Patrick’s Breastplate”
This hymn is long. Really long.
But if you haven’t processed around your parish for 20 minutes singing a triumphant hymn . . . are you really Catholic. (Yes, you are. But you should seriously try it sometime.)
The alternative title of this hymn is its first line, “I Bind Unto Myself Today.”
“According to tradition, St. Patrick wrote this prayer in 433 A.D. for Divine Protection before successfully converting the Irish King Leoghaire and his subjects from paganism to Christianity (the term breastplate refers to a piece of armour worn in battle)” [1].
The hymn is a prayer of protection and to bind the demonic: “We command them to behave a certain way such as to leave a particular person. We can use binding prayers on ourselves and on those who are under our authority, such as a husband employing a binding prayer on his wife or a woman using binding prayer on her children. We bind evil spirits in the name of Jesus Christ” [2].
For more specific information on binding prayers, check out the work of Father Ripperger.
For now, you’re safe to sing the prayers of this triumphant hymn (and it’s especially appropriate on the feast of Saint Patrick!)
“I bind unto myself the Name,
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord. Amen.”
Warning: it is INCREDIBLY CATCHY!
“Salve Regina“
Often sung at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, Salve Regina is one of four Marian Antiphons. In years past, these chants or “seasonal antiphons” were sung nightly following Compline. (Compline is Night Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s obligatory for priests–and recommended for the rest of us.)” [3]
You likely already know the Salve Regina in English. It’s the “Hail Holy Queen” prayed at the end of the Rosary!
It begins:
“Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae;
vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve.”
(Translated: “Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness and our hope”).
If you’re interested in bringing Latin chant into your domestic church, this is an excellent hymn to begin with! William Bloomfield in his amazing One Peter Five article recommends that Catholic families begin to sing the seasonal Marian antiphon as a part of their bedtime routine each night.
After establishing the habit for about 14 days, it will be close to memorized and a source of comfort and authentic Catholic culture in your home.
If you want a curated list of all the Catholic hymns families should start learning, check out this checklist of 19 Beautiful & Timeless Catholic Hymns! (GET IT FREE CODE: ELIZABETH3)
Thank you for taking the time to learn about these four incredible hymns.
Godspeed!
Grace Brown
Creator of “Sing With Grace: Timeless Music for Catholic Kids”
Weekly click-and-go audio lessons delivered to your device.
Learn in the car. Learn at the breakfast table. Bring music appreciation and sacred music into your home without any fuss. Head over to SingWithGrace.com for a free trial!
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