Father, Most Holy, Merciful and Tender

Representative Text

1 Father, most holy, merciful, and tender;
Jesus our Savior, with the Father reigning;
Spirit of mercy, Advocate, Defender,
Light never waning;

2 Trinity blessed, Unity unshaken;
Deity perfect, giving and forgiving,
Light of the angels, Life of the forsaken,
Hope of all living;

3 Maker of all things, all Thy creatures praise Thee;
lo, all things serve Thee through Thy whole creation:
hear us, Almighty, hear us as we raise Thee,
heart's adoration.

4 To the almighty triune God be glory:
highest and greatest, help Thou our endeavor;
we, too, would praise Thee, giving honor worthy,
now and forever.

Source: Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #170

Translator: Percy Dearmer

Dearmer, Percy, M.A., son of Thomas Dearmer, was born in London, Feb. 27, 1867, and educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford (B.A. 1890, M.A. 1896). He was ordained D. 1891, P. 1892, and has been since 1901 Vicar of S. Mary the Virgin, Primrose Hill, London. He has been Secretary of the London Branch of the Christian Social Union since 1891, and is the author of The Parson's Handbook, 1st edition, 1899, and other works. He was one of the compilers of the English Hymnal, 1906, acting as Secretary and Editor, and contributed to it ten translations (38, 95, 150, 160, 165, 180, 215, 237, 352, 628) and portions of two others (242, 329), with the following originals:— 1. A brighter dawn is breaking. Easter. Suggested by… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Father most holy, merciful, and tender
Title: Father, Most Holy, Merciful and Tender
Latin Title: O Pater sancte
Translator: Percy Dearmer
Meter: 11.11.11.5
Source: Latin, c. 900
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

CHRISTE SANCTORUM (53432)


O PATER SANCTE


HERZLIEBSTER JESU

Partially based on earlier melodies (including the Genevan tune for Psalm 23), HERZ LIEBSTER JESU was composed by Johann Crüger (PHH 42) and published in his Neues vollkömliches Gesangbuch (1640). Johann S. Bach (PHH 7) used the tune in both his St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, and variou…

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Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #1557
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)
Small Church Music #1528
  • PDF Score (PDF)

Instances

Instances (1 - 13 of 13)

Ambassador Hymnal #138

Text

Christian Worship (1993) #191

TextPage Scan

Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #436

Audio

Evangelical Lutheran Worship #415

Hymns and Psalms #5

TextPage Scan

Hymns to the Living God #24

Text

Lutheran Service Book #504

Lutheran Worship #175

TextPage Scan

Psalms and Hymns to the Living God #170

Audio

Small Church Music #1528

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #1557

Text

The New English Hymnal #144

Text

Worship Supplement 2000 #746

Include 15 pre-1979 instances
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