Hymn of the Month – February: Mother Dearest, Mother Fairest

As part of my series on Catholic hymns, I have chosen a hymn that was widely used by evening novena prayer groups. The text of the hymn may have been inspired by verses  written by Father Frederick W. Faber. This is one of my favorite Marian hymns and it was sung by St. Mary’s Choir in Akron, Ohio on various occasions for more than thirty-five years. The words and music first appeared in 1883 and can be credited to a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur.

Though not originally written for novenas, the hymn was incorporated into the evening novena programs as early as the 1930s. In addition to the traditional words and melody, I found four other melodies that were used for this hymn.

Please take a few moments to read about this wonderful Marian hymn and visit my website Mother of Mercy Catholic Hymns and click on HYMN OF THE MONTH.

Comments

Beautiful devotional hymn

I like your thorough survey of the hymn "Mother Dearest, Mother Fairest" at https://www.motherofmercycatholichymns.com/mother-dearest-mother-fairest/

The two sample tracks with voices are splendid, especially the recording from St. Cecilia Church. Love those harmonies. And the four different melodies are interesting. Well done!

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

Then Sings My Soul

Don, have you ever seen the book Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan? It has  stories for 150 of the world's greatest hymns. ©2003. I can send you the table of contents if interested. We both know that there are lots of "greatest hymns" books abounding but I thought I would mention this one.

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

The Story of Hymns

I am not aware of that book. So I would be intrested in seeing the table of contents. 
 

TOC for "Then Sings My Soul"

See the TOC here: in the thumbnail previews.

Then Sings My Soul, Volume 1
https://www.christianbook.com/then-sings-my-soul-volume-1/robert-morgan/9780785249399/pd/49397

Richard Schletty | Schletty Design and Music | www.schletty.com

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