Hymn of the Month

I am pleased to announce the latest development for the Mother of Mercy Catholic Hymns website! HYMN OF THE MONTH. Each month I will feature a story on a new old hymn with a short biography on the author and composer with links to hymn sources and when possible, newly commissioned recordings granted by Peter Meggison, Producer of The Devotional Hymns Project.

Many of the hymns that I will feature are hymns that I sang in St. Mary’s Choir (1977-2010) and new hymns that I have added to my repertoire. These hymns have kept me grounded in my Catholic Faith and I turn to them in good times and bad. They are a source of comfort and spiritual nourishment to me, and I hope for you as well. They are prayerful and meaningful with approved texts by the Catholic Church. Don’t under estimate the providence that can come from hearing these beautiful hymns.

The first hymn of the month is Dear Guardian of Mary in honor of the Feast Day of Saint Joseph, March 19th. So, Like or Bookmark this page to follow along or check back often. I hope you will find my selections and my reflections intuitive and helpful.

Mother of Mercy Catholic Hymns Facebook Page

I am excited to announce the launch of the Mother of Mercy Catholic Hymns Facebook page. Be sure to Like this page to follow along to keep updated on current news and project developments.

Dear Guardian of Mary

Of all the hymns I would sing at St. Mary’s for the Feast of St. Joseph, Dear Guardian of Mary was my favorite. The choir and congregation also liked it. Father Frederick William Faber (1814-1863) wrote the words of this beautiful hymn, and it first appeared in his hymnal JESUS AND MARY published in 1849. Fr. Faber began writing hymns in 1848 and wrote his first two hymns while on a retreat in Yorkshire. Fr. Faber was a convert to Catholicism and joined the church in 1846. He wrote more than ninety hymns, authored several books, and was declared Doctor of Divinity in the Catholic Church.

In my survey of hymns to St. Joseph which consisted of over one-hundred Catholic public domain hymnals from the late 19th and early 20th century period, I found over sixteen different melodies, four of these melodies were widely used. You can learn more about these melodies in A COLLECTION OF CATHOLIC DEVOTIONAL HYMNS TO ST. JOSEPH, 2021.

Brother Bonitus, FSC (Brothers of the Christian Schools) composed the most widely used melody found in the hymnals I surveyed. He also composed many musical compositions and hymns. Many of Brother Bonitus compositions can be found in the CATHOLIC YOUTH’S HYMN BOOK, 1871 and DE LA SALLE HYMNAL, 1913.

The CATHOLIC YOUTH’S HYMN BOOK was compiled in 1871 by Brother Luke of Mary, FSC (Nicolas Lauer, 1838-1900), assisted by Brother Bonitus, and Brother Bardomian, FCS (George Labrecque, 1836-1901).

The DE LA SALLE HYMNAL was compiled in 1910 by Brothers Chrysostom John, FCS (Joseph J. Conlan, 1863-1917), Camillus Joseph, FSC (Charles J. Merkling, 1852-1921), Theodorus of Milan and Attalus Jerome.

The attributions of Bn., Bro. B., B. Bs, and Bonitus, are all his. Providence led me to an article in the May issue of the DE LA SALLE MONTHY published in May of 1872. The article was an obituary notice for Brother Bonitus. Here is a brief account from that article.

Jesus and Mary, 1849
De La Salle Monthly, May 1872

Brother Bonitus was born Jean, or possibly John Schiesser in 1819 and educated in Germany devoting most of his studies to all branches of music. He arrived in America in 1845 and took the post of organist and teacher at St. James Church, Baltimore. He had an enterprising disposition and was engaged in various pursuits. In the early 1850s he traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to further some of his projects. After spending some time there, he traveled to Detroit where he called to see Father Schaeffler, who was then the Superior of the Redemptorists in that city and a close friend. Fr. Schaeffler conceived the idea of encouraging his friend to employ his many talents to a more worthy cause than in service of the world.

This was not an easy task but finally after several attempts and a spiritual retreat, in November of 1852, John Schiesser entered the Novitiate of the Christian Brothers of Montreal. He taught in the schools run by the Brothers of Montreal for about four years. He was then sent to Marseilles, France to teach English and remained there for fourteen years and directed music at the large college in that city which was run by the Brothers. He returned to America by 1870 and was employed in the music department of Manhattan College. After Christmas of that year he was transferred to the New York novitiate then assigned to Classon Point near the village of Westchester. He remained there for about a year as Inspector of the nearby Protectory schools when he was appointed Director of a small community in West Troy, New York. He quickly won the kind esteem and affection of the students, teachers, parents, and anyone who came to know him. On the morning of April 12, 1872, Brother Bonitus died suddenly from a stroke.

Reflection

The verses of the hymn remind me of St. Joseph’s role in protecting and providing for Jesus and Mary. I am reminded of the flight to Egypt and the sands that the Holy Family saw as they traveled, Bleak sands are all round us, no home can we see. Consider the desert sands that surround you in your own life, how bleak they might be, how weary and wild, especially today. St. Joseph was chosen by God, as father and guide, to Jesus and Mary, who felt safe at his side. Turn to St. Joseph and ask for his guidance and protection. Many souls have come to Christ through the intercession of St. Joseph, and many have found comfort in the verses of this hymn. 

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 newly commissioned recording by the Singers from St. Joseph Cathedral, Manchester, New Hampshire. Click on the link to hear this beautiful recording. Dear Guardian of Mary

I want to thank Brother Joseph L. Grabenstein, FSC, Archivist, Legacy Baltimore District, Co-Archivist, District of Eastern North America, De La Salle Christian Brothers who identified Brother Bonitus for me after I provided him with my research.

A Thank You Card from Bishop Malesic

I recently sent the Most Reverend Bishop Malesic, the Bishop of Cleveland, a copy of my book, A Collection of Catholic Devotional Hymns to St. Joseph as a gift. I received this nice thank you card from him congratulating me on a job well done. Thank you and God Bless Bishop Malesic.

Angelus Magazine Showcases Hymns to St. Joseph

I am very exited to announce that my Collection of Catholic Devotional Hymns to St. Joseph appears in a special issue of the Angelus Magazine published by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, honoring the the 250th anniversary of the Mission San Gabriel founding. This is going to be a very well read issue that people will keep for years to come. The hymns to St. Joseph will also appear on the Angelus News website and in their Always Forward newsletter. 

Please visit the Angelus News website to learn more about this amazing and informative magazine or click the image below to read about the Mission San Gabriel Jubilee.

Angelus Magazine

Akron Roman Catholic Home Educators Announce Hymns to St. Joseph

I reached out to the Akron Roman Catholic Home Educators to make them aware of my collection of hymns to St. Joseph. Maria Johnson, one of the home school educators was kind enough to place an announcement on there forum. Here is what she had to say.

“I’m happy to publicize the book. Thank you for putting it together. I’m also looking forward to seeing the hymns to Mary. These two books look like unique contributions in preserving our musical patrimony. Thank you!” ~ Maria Johnson, Akron Roman Catholic Home Educators

Thank you Maria and to the Akron Roman Catholic Home Educators for efforts to help publicize my collection of hymns to St. Joseph. These hymns can be used in a very efficacious way to teach children, young adults, men and women of all ages about St. Joseph’s role in salvation’s history and in our own personal lives. 

St. Joseph’s Hymns on EWTN’s Global Network

I embarked on a Multi-Site internet promotion through EWTN Global Catholic Network. The largest religious media network in the world. The ad pictured below will appear on the National Catholic Register, the Catholic News Agency, and the ChurchPOP websites during the entire month of August, 2021. With over 100,000 impressions and over 2 million unique monthly visitors combined. Please look for this wonderful debut of A Collection of Catholic Devotional Hymns to St. Joseph.
St. Joseph's Hymns on National Catholic Register website.

Kindle eBook Available

For tablets, phones and Kindle Fire devices

I am excited to announce that a Kindle eBook is now available on Amazon for A Collection of Catholic Devotional Hymns to St. Joseph. This is especially useful for musicians, cantors, and choir members who like the convenience, portability, and use of mobile devices. 

Purchase

The story behind the Mother of Mercy Logo

I have had several inquiries from people asking about the Logo on my website. So, I have put together a short story on the origin and how the logo came about. To begin, the logo was created and designed by Victor Howe of Webriver Interactive with input from me. If you are wondering, yes Victor is my brother and in fact he is the youngest of 11 in our family. There were 10 boys and a 1 girl so 11 altogether. Sadly, the two oldest brothers have died in the last couple years. Please visit the Howe family website to learn more about the history of the Howe family of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

The idea of a logo was first proposed by Victor during the initial discussion we had on building a website. So, I put together a concept for a temporary web page and submitted it along with a sitemap of what I wanted. I have a perpetual May Altar in my living room and the Madonna I use belonged to my Mom. I took some photos and created an image of the Madonna surrounded by a blue aura.

Around the middle of May, Victor had set up a temporary web page and began noodling on the logo which would influence the rest of the website design. About two weeks went by and he sent me some concepts he had been working on.

In his email explained, “The two circular ones on the left, the only difference is the font, sans serif vs. serif. The one on the right is using a frame/border approach as opposed to a circle. I was using blue and gold as sort of a homage to St. Mary’s. 

In 1951, Mom and Dad moved to St. Mary’s Parish in Akron, Ohio where the Howe family grew up. St. Mary’s is a beautiful church with a large fresco of the Assumption of Our Blessed Mother overlooking the High Altar. 

If you like the frame idea, we can explore that a little further. I just grabbed a brush in Illustrator and thought that pattern looked kind of neat”. There were certain elements I liked about each of these concepts. The circular ones appealed to me more than the frame idea although the frame idea might make an interesting book cover. The little “club” symbol in the frame is remarkably close to an ancient symbol for Mary also known as a Fleur-de-lis.

I agreed that blue and gold was a good color scheme. I marked up some ideas and sent them back to Victor and explained what I was looking for. One thought was to put a sun behind the Madonna, “woman clothed with the sun,” instead of straight sun rays and maybe with a slight curve?

I suggested some soft white rays emanating from her hands, “graces and mercy.” Perhaps we should add 12 stars around Mary’s head in a halo? I also asked if it was possible to make it look less like a statue? I really liked the idea of using Mom’s statue but was simply curious what a more artistic Madonna might look like.   All in all, what Victor presented was genuinely a nice start.

A few days went by, and Victor emailed me a dozen or so istockphoto and shutterstock examples of artwork of the Blessed Mother to preview. After careful review, I decided upon several elements from three of the examples and asked Victor if he could incorporate them into one image. Below are the images that I choose.

For the image on the left, I said, “I like the image of the Blessed Mother, she has a nice face with eyes that seem to look back at you and I like the rays coming from her hands.”

For the image in the middle, I said, “I like the fact that she is standing on the snake and the earth under her. This goes back to Gen. 3: 15, in some older bibles this passage reads “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between her offspring and yours, she will crush your head, while you strike at His heel.”

For the image on the end, I said, “I like the rays surrounding her head which is a good representation of the “woman clothed with the sun” and it looks like a super luminous halo, but I don’t care for the image of Mary that much.” The next day, Victor had several logos for me to review based on my remarks. Below are the logos that Victor sent me and here is what he said.

“Don, here are a few more logos to look at based on the artwork we chose. I started off with using the artwork pretty much as is and put the words around it and added the halo thing. I am not crazy about the ellipse and words around, so I started to play with the more symmetrical circle. I also did not like how the rays from her hands were extending beyond the ellipse in the original, so I clipped those at the circle. In the bottom row, I incorporated the club symbol again on a darker blue background.”

I was pleased with his approach and replied to him in an email. 

“Hey these are very good! I like the ones at the bottom with the darker blue background and a full circle.  I am undecided if the lettering should go around or underneath. Maybe underneath? I see a lot of logos with lettering wrapping around the circle so underneath would make it more unique. Perhaps it will depend on how it is situated in the overall design of the web page and the web page background color. Can we make Mary’s image pop more? Maybe a shadow?  Is there room around the halo to add four more stars to make a total of 12? Maybe they would have to be slightly smaller. In your previous efforts there was a blue globe under her feet, just thinking out loud, what if it was a crescent moon? That would fit nicely with the “woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet,” otherwise it looks like she is just floating in midair. I think were on the right track.”

By the next day Victor presented me with two updated logos. We were into the third iteration, and we had narrowed down the logos incorporating all the elements discussed thus far. In the new renders, Victor had added 4 more stars around the halo and added a drop shadow.

After careful review we both agreed the drop shadow was not doing anything for us and Vic removed it. I mentioned to Vic that in a book I have the ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF MARY, there were certain design elements I liked on some of the illustrations. So, I sent him three images, Our Lady of the Highway, Our Lady of Grace, and Our Lady of the Universe. I explained, “In the image of the Lady of the Highway, she has an aura about her that I like. I was also looking at the rays emanating from her hands in the logos and remarked that  the three images I sent, the rays fade out. Look at the images of Our Lady of Grace and Lady of the Universe. Other than that, everything looks great.”

I believe it was that same day in the afternoon Vic sent over an email with a new iteration. Don, he says, “I had an idea I wanted to try, to add some clouds behind Mother Mary. I think it looks really cool. I also made the rays from her hands gradients.” 

I was in complete agreement with his choice, the clouds were just the right design element that was needed. He also split the text and rotated it, so it was above and below. This was perfect! And so, this is how the logo came to be. It is a combination of images and motifs found in Catholic teachings regarding the Mother of Mercy, the Miraculous Medal image, St. Mary’s Parish, and the image of the woman clothed with the sun as described by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation.