H. J. Pye

Pye, Henry John, M.A., son of H. J. Pye, of Clifton Hall, Staffordshire, was born circa 1825, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, (B.A. 1848, M.A. 1852.) Taking Holy Orders in 1850, he was presented by his father in 1851 to the Rectory of Clifton-Campville, Staffordshire. In 1868 he, together with his wife (only daughter of Bishop S. Wilberforce), joined the Roman Catholic Church. Mr. Pye published Two Lectures on the Church, 1852; Short Ecclesiastical History, 1854; and various Sermons. He also compiled a book of Hymns for use at Clifton-Campville in 1851. To that collection he contributed a few hymns, including:—

1. In His temple now behold Him. Purification of Blessed Virgin Mary. This hymn was repeated, in a slightly altered form and an additional stanza (iv.), by Canon W. Cooke in the Cooke and Denton Hymnal, 1853 ; the Salisbury Hymn Book, 1857; and many later collections. It is sometimes given with the fourth stanza as in the Sarum, 1868; Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, &c. The full Pye-Cooke text of 1853 is in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Church Hymns, 1871; Turing's Collection, 1882 (slightly altered); and others. This hymn is sometimes given as a translation from Angelus Silesius (Scheffler), but in error.
2. 0 praise ye the Lord, Ye nations rejoice. Annunciation. This hymn was also repeated in the Cooke and Denton Hymnal, 1853, No. 169. [Rev. William Cooke, M.A.]

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)