Month: June 2023

In This Sacrament, Sweet Jesus

Father John Furniss, C.SS.R. (1809-1865), composed the words for this hymn for use at Mass and it first appeared in his HYMN-BOOK FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL OR CATECHISM published in 1861, and was sold throughout Dublin, London, and Derby by publisher Thomas Richardson and Son. It consisted of six verses.

John Furniss was born near Sheffield, England on June 19, 1809 where is father was a wealthy master-cutler. He attended Sedgley Park School, St. Mary’s College in Oscott, and Ushaw College, where he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1834. He was a resident priest at Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England for five years and afterwards traveled for eight years throughout Europe and the East. He returned home in 1847, and spent some time at Islington, a district in the North of Greater London. He joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, the Redemptorists, at St. Trond (Sint-Truiden), Belgium in 1851. He served for a short time as a missionary in England and Ireland but eventually devoted himself completely to missions for children.

This devotion to children inspired him to write hymns and books for their needs in simple language. Among his more popular works are the Sunday-School or Catechism, the Hand-Book for the Sunday School Teacher, The Sight of Hell and What every Christian must Know and Do.

What every Christian must Know and Do, published in 1857, which contained a condensed exposition on the moral and natural law, drew a critical review by the Protestant publication the Saturday Review. Father Furniss wrote a defense in response to this review.

Father Furniss continued to write hymns and books for children until his death on September 16, 1865 in Clapham, England. More than four million of his booklets were published and many of his booklets are still available today.

Other hymns written by Father Furniss which gained some popularity include:

In This Sacrament Sweet Jesus, found its way into other Catholic hymnals in America and England which include: the CROWN HYMN BOOK, 1862; the CROWN OF JESUS MUSIC, 1864; the CANTICA SACRA, 1865; PETERS’ SODALITY HYMN BOOK, 1872 and 1914; LAUDIS CORONA, 1880; the PAROCHIAL HYMN BOOK, 1881 thru 1897; MANUAL OF SELECT CATHOLIC HYMNS, 1885 and 1932; the SODALIST HYMNAL, 1887; CATHOLIC HYMNS, 1898; SUNDAY SCHOOL HYMN BOOK, 1887 thru 1935; ST. BASIL’S HYMNAL, 1888 thru 1953; CATHOLIC SCHOOL AND SODALITY HYMNAL, 1900; the HOLY FAMILY HYMN BOOK, 1904; YOUTH’S MANUAL FOR CHURCH AND SCHOOL, 1908; CROWN HYMNAL, 1913; DE LA SALLE HYMNAL 1913; the BOOK OF HYMNS, 1913; SURSUM CORDA, 1925; OUR LADY OF MERCY Volume 2, 1927; HYMNS USED BY THE PUPILS OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME, 1921 and 1948; the ALVERNO HYMNAL, 1953; NEW ST. BASIL’S HYMNAL 1958.

Free downloads of many of the hymnals noted above can be found online at Corpus Christi Watershed website or at the Internet Archive.

The Melodies

Several melodies were composed for this hymn including by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791); a melody by Msgr. Lorenzo Perosi (1872-1956); William J. Marsh (1880-1971); a German melody; an Irish and French melody; a melody by Sister Mary Alexis Donnelly (1857-1936); a melody by E. F. MacGonigle; a melody by Joseph Mohr; a melody by J. Storer; a couple of airs identified as St. Alphonsus and St. Joseph; and a melody by Samuel Richard Gaines (1869-1945).

Of these melodies, two became popular, the German melody, and the melody by Samuel Richard Gaines.

The German melody featured here from the SUNDAY SCHOOL HYMN BOOK, 1907 was composed for the nativity carol Schönstes Kindlein, and appeared in the 1858 edition of Bern H. Francis Hellebusch’s Katholisches Gesang-und Gebet-Buch. This melody can be found in other American hymn books including:

The Catholic Youth’s Hymn Book, 1871; the St. Basil’s, (1906 thru 1918) and the De La Salle, 1913 hymn books for the text Hear Thy Children, Gentle Jesus
Laudate Choir Manual, 1942 for the text Dear Little Jesus, Sweetest Savior
The St. Mary’s Manual Chants and Hymns, 1924; the Mt. Mary Catholic Hymnal, 1937; the St. Rose Catholic Hymnal, 1940; and Manual of Select Catholic Hymns, (1885 and 1925) for the text Lovely Infant, Dearest Savior

The second melody for the text Come, Sweet Jesus, first appeared in the MANUAL OF SELECT CATHOLIC HYMNS AND DEVOTIONS, 1885. This collection of hymns was published for the parish services of the Redemptorists Fathers in the United States and was compiled and arranged by Father Philip Mary Colonel, C.SS.R. (1843-1925) *

The only clue that we have that points to a composer of the second melody are the initials S.R.G., or Samuel Richard Gaines. His name also appears in the Diocesan Hymnal of the Cleveland Diocese, Part Two, Devotional Hymns, as one of the musicians responsible for harmonization’s for the hymns Sweet, Mother Hear and On This Day O Beautiful Mother. The Diocesan Hymnal which consisted of three volumes, was compiled by Bishop Schrembs of Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, the melody appears in:

the ST. BASIL’S HYMN BOOK from 1888 thru 1953, for the text In this Sacrament, Sweet Jesus.
the NEW ST. BASIL HYMNAL, 1958 with a melody composed by William Marsh for the text In this Sacrament, Lord Jesus.

*About Father Philip Mary Colonel, C.SS.R.

Recently, I learned more about Father Philip Mary Colonel, C.SS.R., and his role in Catholic music from the Redemptorists Archivist in Philadelphia. Philip was born on September 8, 1843 in Kloster Ebrach, Bavaria. His father, who was born in France, was a staunch Catholic, and his mother, whose birthplace was Alsace Lorain, was a devout Lutheran. Philip was the youngest of nine children and as a boy served at mass and sang in the choir of his parish church. Afterward, he played the organ there.

His father died when he was young, and shortly after this his mother and siblings came to the United States and settled in New York. At age seventeen, Philip entered the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. He professed his vows in 1860 and was ordained in 1869. On the day Philip was invested with the Redemptorists habit, his mother became a Catholic. He was stationed in Buffalo at St. Mary’s Church for 25 years, during which time he composed and published his hymnal of 1885. His brother Joseph was a member of the St. Louis Province of the Redemptorists. Their sister became an Ursuline nun.

Father Colonel died on March 1, 1925 while a member of the St. Michael the Archangel community in Baltimore. He was the oldest Redemptorists in the Province, he served fifty-six years as a priest and sixty-five years in religious life. I hope this short exposé on Father Colonel’s life, brief though it be, will find favor with him and his brother Redemptorists Father John Furniss, and bring awareness to many of you of their contribution to Catholic music.

Reflection

I remember singing this hymn at Mass on so many occasions when I sang in St. Mary’s Choir (1977-2010). This is a beautiful hymn to sing for Communion and during Eucharistic Adoration. The verses are clear and unmistakable in professing the Catholic belief in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

During Communion we ask Jesus to come so that we can receive Him and be united to Him and never more to be separated from Him. The hymn is even appropriate to sing after Communion because we thank Jesus for coming, and truly believe that He is present in our souls. Take a moment to reflect on these verses and ask your music director to incorporate this lovely hymn into your next Mass or Eucharistic Adoration. The arrangement I sang in St. Mary’s Choir was from the Revised Edition of the ST. BASIL’S HYMNAL, 1918.

I want to thank Peter Meggison, producer of The Devotional Hymns Project for granting permission to link to a recording by Vocalist Teri Kowiak and colleagues who joined organist Peter Krasinski at St. Joseph Church in Needham, Massachusetts. This is the German melody from the SUNDAY SCHOOL HYMN BOOK.

A special thank you to Noel Jones, AAGO in granting permission to link to A Catholic Book of Hymns & Chants with nearly 300 time-honored traditional Catholic hymns and Chants including In this Sacrament Sweet Jesus.

Also, to the Redemptorists Archives, Philadelphia for their help in providing details of Father P. M. Colonel.

Below are recordings from The Devotional Hymns Project website featuring St. Joseph Church in Needham, Massachusetts, and a recording from A Catholic Book of Hymns. Also, a computer generated piano arrangement of the Samuel Gaines melody. The tempo is approximate but should provide the listener a good sense of what the hymn sounds like. All the hymns are in the public domain.

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Hide Thou Me

This short write-up is about a local musician from Cleveland, Ohio. His name was Louis (Ludwig) Adolph Imgrund (1873-1950). Louis was an immigrant and organist at two Catholic parishes, a composer of both secular and sacred music, a teacher of organ technique and composition for more than forty years. He traveled to Germany on more than one occasion and applied for US Citizenship and took the Oath of Allegiance in 1913. The narrative of this work has been kept to a minimum to allow the documents to speak for themselves.

Louis (Ludwig) Imgrund is the composer of the hymn Hide Thou Me. Louis Imgrund immigrated to the United States with his father, mother and siblings and settled in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1880, he was six years old. His father was a wagon maker and as a young man Louis studied music at various academies and by his early twenties went to Cologne, Germany to complete his studies.

In 1902, while in Germany completing his studies, he received a commission to be the organist at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On May 6, 1903 he married his first wife Catherine Newberg. St. Augustine’s was a new church and was dedicated on May 12, 1901 and was under the jurisdiction of the Franciscan Friars. A detailed history of the Diamond Jubilee of St. Augustine Parish can be found online, a reference to Louis Imgrund can be found on page 163 and this is the only mention of him in this historical account. He was the choir director of the Casino Choral Club, a group of thirty-five singers consisting of both men and women. The Choral Club was established by the St. Augustine Casino Society which took their name from the old school hall.

Between 1910 and 1913, Louis was involved in directing and accompanying various organ recital’s, holiday concerts, and charity benefits including directing the first Pittsburgh Opera Concert. During this time, a musical piece, A Song of Old Pittsburgh, was published. The words were by Dr. H. Asthalter, and the music was composed by Louis Imgrund. He served as organist for St. Augustine’s Parish for about 15 years.

Around 1914/15, Louis, his wife, and two children moved to Cleveland, Ohio where he took the job of organist at St. Agnes Church. St. Agnes Parish was established to meet the pastoral needs of the German and Irish immigrant neighborhoods. The Rev. Gilbert Jennings was the first pastor, and the school was staffed by the Congregation of Saint Joseph. St. Agnes Parish was established in 1873 and by 1894 the growth of the parish necessitated expanding the church and construction of a new school building in 1904. St. Agnes High School for girls opened in 1911. The parish continued to grow and in March of 1914, ground was broken for a new church.

The new church was completed in 1916 and Louis Imgrund, organist and choirmaster directed the music at the dedication. A news article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer documents the event.

On August 15, 1929, just a few weeks after the family returned from a trip to Bremen, Germany, his wife of twenty-six years, Mary Catherine, died at home from cancer. She is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

After his wife died, Louis opened his home to lodgers and according to the April 1930 census, Louisa Singuf and her daughter Margaret Singuf were lodgers. Louisa was well-connected with the larger music scene in Cleveland. Her name and that of her late husband Adolph Singuf appears in an advertisement from the 1919-1920 Second Season of Cleveland Orchestra which was conducted by Nikolai Sokoloff. Later that year, on October 11, 1930, Louis married Louisa A. Singuf. On January 22, 1932, Louisa’s daughter Margaret Mary died after suffering from a long illness. She is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.

On June 3, 1934, a three-day celebration took place for the Golden Jubilee of Msgr. Gilbert Jennings the first pastor of St. Agnes Church. Prof. Louis Imgrund conducted a choir of sixty-five boys and twenty men.

In 1936, Louis composed and arranged the hymn HIDE THOU ME. This hymn was published by Kollie’s Music House in Cleveland, Ohio. Kollie’s Music House was located along the 9700 block of Lorain Ave and was established on December 1, 1920 by J. P. Kollie and his sons. It was at first a small neighborhood store with a small stock of records and a small stock of instruments. It would become the recognized musical instrument place on the West Side of town and a leading supplier of Catholic Church Music. A second location was established on Hemlock Ave around 1923. Based on a review of archived city directories Kollie’s Music House continued operations until 1944.

The hymn was not featured in any of the main stream Catholic hymnals, and there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that Louis wrote the words of this hymn after reflecting on the death of his wife, his stepdaughter, and other personal hardships.

In 1943, St. Agnes celebrated its 50th Anniversary as a parish with Coadjutor Bishop Hoban presiding at the solemn pontifical jubilee celebration. At this event Louisa Singuf Imgrund directed a choir of forty-five youths and two men with Louis Imgrund as the organist. All the music for this event was composed by Louis Imgrund and dedicated to St. Agnes.

On July 31, 1950 after a long and fruitful career, Louis died. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio. Louis was organist at St. Agnes Church for over 30 years. A memorial of his death appeared in the 1950 November – December issue of the Caecilia Magazine and in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The prayer card has a lovely and prayful sentiment which you don’t find very often today.

Not long after Louis’ death, St. Agnes parish suffered many hardships. In 1962, the Cleveland Diocese placed the parish in the care of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, an order dedicated to serving African-American and Latino Catholics. The week-long HOUGH RIOTS, which ravaged the Hough neighborhood in July of 1966, exacted a heavy price, both physically and psychologically, on the St. Agnes community. Problems continued to plague the parish in the 1970s which included the parish school closing in 1973, and costly repairs to the church building. Faced with renovation and a dwindling congregation, the Diocese of Cleveland opted to demolish the church building in a controversial decision. St. Agnes Church was torn down on November 24, 1975. All that remains of the church is the bell tower.

On March 30, 1980, the Cleveland Diocese officially merged St. Agnes with the neighboring Our Lady of Fatima Parish to create St. Agnes – Our Lady of Fatima Parish.

I contacted the parishes mentioned in this short write-up during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and from St. Agnes – Our Lady of Fatima Parish there was little interest in knowing about the organist Louis Imgrund. The new parish serves the African-American community and celebrates with gospel music.

St. Augustine’s Church in Pittsburgh is now Our Lady of Angels Parish and is staffed by the Capuchin Franciscans. Their interest in learning more about Louis Imgrund was more fruitful. Brother John Harvey, OFM Cap., passed my request to their local historian James Wudarczyk and eventually to Tom Powers, President of the Lawrenceville Historical Society who provided me with the photo of Louis Imgrund’s prayer card and newspaper clippings.

I was also put in contact with Ann Larabee, great-granddaughter of Louis Imgrund. She was quite happy to have the chance to share with me some family history of her great-grandfather. She told me that Louis once played for the Pope, was especially interested in Gregorian chant, and that he composed a Mass.

Reflection

This is how I became familiar with this hymn. It so happened that one day during my time singing in St. Mary’s Choir (1977-2010), my Grandma France, my mom’s mother, asked me to inquire of the organist if he had music for a hymn with the lyrics In Thy Sacred Heart my Jesus, Hide Thou Me. So, I asked Mr. Jordan who was the organist and sure enough he opened the file cupboard in the choir loft and reached in and pulled out two copies of the hymn, one was the Male Quartette arrangement and the other the Solo or Chorus arrangement. Later, when I next saw grandma, I presented her with the two copies and her eyes welled up and I could tell she was deeply touched and wished me to convey her many thanks to Mr. Jordan.

This is an exceptionally beautiful hymn to the Sacred Heart which expresses love and confidence in Jesus Christ and implores his help, guidance, and protection throughout our lives. Sometimes we forget that Jesus Christ, His Mother and His Saints are real people and not just statues, paintings, icons, or figments of our imaginations but real people who have feelings and even though they know all our needs, they still like to be told that we love them.

I like the Male Quartette version the best. When we sang this in the choir at St. Mary’s, the men would sing the baritone part and the choir would join in and sing the harmony parts. We sang this great hymn as a prelude before Mass, as an Offertory hymn, and at Communion especially during the month of June, a time which the Catholic church sets aside for the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

May the hearts of those known only to God find refuge in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and may this hymn hidden for so many years become known again and sung by choirs everywhere.

A special thank you to Peter Meggison, producer of The Devotional Hymns Project website for allowing me to link to a recording of the hymn Hide Thou Me as sung by the Bel Canto Singers of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Volo, Illinois.

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