Suggested tune: KOMM HEILIGER GEIST< HERRE GOTT
Komm heiliger Geist, Herre Gott. M. Luther. [Whitsuntide.] Wackernagel, ii. p. 748, gives as No. 986 a double form of stanza i. from two manuscripts of the 15th century, at Munich; as No. 987 a form from the Basel Plenarium, 1514; and as No. 988 a form from the Obsequiale, Ingolstadt, 1570. This stanza is a translation of an antiphon, not earlier than the 11th century, which reads "Veni Sancte Spiritus: reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende: Qui per diversitatem linguarum cunctarum gentes in unitate fidei congregasti. Alleluia. Alleluia" (see Daniel, ii. p. 315). Bäumker, i. pp. 643, 644, says the Latin antiphon is still sung in many dioceses in Germany on Sundays before High Mass, and cites the German as in the Crailsheim Schulordnun of 1480. Martin Luther adopted this old German stanza with alterations, and adding two original stanzas, published the whole in Eyn Enchiridion, Erfurt, 1524. The complete form in 3 stanzas of 8 lines, with "Alleluia," is in Wackernagel, iii. p. 14, in Schircks's edition of Luther's Geistliche Lieder, 1854, p. 28, and the Unverfälscher Liedersegen, 1851, No. 174. The hymn soon became popular in Germany. Koch, viii. 87, says that in the Peasants' War it was sung by Münzer and his forces immediately before the battle of Frankenhausen, May 25, 1525; that it was sung by Leonhard Kayser when at the stake at Passau, Aug. 16, 1527; and that stanza ii. was the last pulpit utterance of J. M. Dilherr, in March, 1669. Translated as:—
1. Come Holy Ghost! Come Lord our God! In full by J. C. Jacobi, in his Psalmodia Germanica, 1722, p. 25 (1732, p. 42). Included in the Moravian Hymn Book, 1754, slightly altered, but in the 1789 and later editions (1886, No. 239) greatly altered, probably by J. Swertner. The text of 1789 is repeated in the Irish Church Hymnal, 1873. In 1846 W. J. Blew printed a recast for choir use, and included it in his Church Hymn & Tune Book 1852-55, with an added doxology.
2. Holy Spirit, gracious Lord. By Miss Fry, in her Hymns of the Reformation, 1845, p. 108, in 40 lines. Her version of stanza i., rewritten to 2 stanzas of 8 lines, is No. 152 in Whittemore's Supplement to all Hymn Books, 1860.
3. Blest Comforter! come; —Lord our God! In full by A. T. Russell, as No. 17 in his Psalms & Hymns, 1851 j repeated by Dr. Bacon in his Hymns Of Martin Luther, 1884, p. 27, altered to " Come, Holy Spirit, Lord our God, And pour."
4. Come, Holy Ghost! Lord God, fulfil. A good and full translation by R. Massie, in his Martin Luther's Spiritual Songs 1854, p. 19. Repeated in Mercer's Church Psalter & Hymn Book, 1857, unaltered save “full fill" in stanza i. line 1. (Ox. ed., 1864, No. 435, as 6 stanzas of 4 lines; and in the Ohio Lutheran Hymnal, 1880, reading "and fill."
5. Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord. In full by Miss Winkworth, in her Lyra Germanica, 1st Ser., 1855, p. 117 ; and her Chorale Book for England, 1863, No. 72. Repeated in Dr. Thomas's Augustine Hymn Book, 1866, and the Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Book, 1868.
6. Come, Holy Spirit! gracious Lord! Help us. By M.E. Tupper, as No. 57 in Judd's Sunday School Hymn Book, Halifax, 1870.
Other translations are:—
(1) "Come, holy Spirite, most blessed Lorde," by Bp. Coverdale, 1539 (Remains, 1846, p. 542). (2) "Come holy holy Ghost, Lord our God," in Lyra Davidica, 1708, p. 51. (3) "Lord God, the Holy Spirit, come," by J. Anderson, 1846, p. It (1847, p. 41). (4) "Come, Holy Ghost! Come, Lord our God! Thy," by J. Hunt, 1853, p. 49. (5) "Come, Holy Ghost! rule Thou within," by Dr. H. Mills, 1856, p. 143. (6) "Come, Holy Ghost, come, mighty God," by E. Massie, 1867, p. 209. (7) " Come, Holy Spirit, Lord and God," by Dr. G. Macdonald in the Sunday Magazine, 1867, p. 388, and his Exotics, 1876, p. 57. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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