O happy band of pilgrims

Translator: J. M. Neale

Neale, John Mason, D.D., was born in Conduit Street, London, on Jan. 24, 1818. He inherited intellectual power on both sides: his father, the Rev. Cornelius Neale, having been Senior Wrangler, Second Chancellor's Medallist, and Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and his mother being the daughter of John Mason Good, a man of considerable learning. Both father and mother are said to have been "very pronounced Evangelicals." The father died in 1823, and the boy's early training was entirely under the direction of his mother, his deep attachment for whom is shown by the fact that, not long before his death, he wrote of her as "a mother to whom I owe more than I can express." He was educated at Sherborne Grammar School, and was afterwards… Go to person page >

Author: St. Joseph the Hymnographer

Joseph, St., the Hymnographer. A native of Sicily, and of the Sicilian school of poets is called by Dr. Neale (in his Hymns of the Eastern Church), Joseph of the Studium, in error. He left Sicily in 830 for a monastic life at Thessalonica. Thence he went to Constantinople; but left it, during the Iconoclastic persecution, for Rome. He was for many years a slave in Crete, having been captured by pirates. After regaining his liberty, he returned to Constantinople. He established there a monastery, in connection with the Church of St. John Chrysostom, which was filled with inmates by his eloquence. He was banished to the Chersonese for defence of the Icons, but was recalled by the empress Theodora, and made Sceuophylax (keeper of the sacred… Go to person page >

O happy band of pilgrims. [Pilgrims of Jesus.] Appeared in Dr. Neale's Hymns of the Eastern Church, 1862, in 8 stanzas of 4 lines, with the note by Dr. Neale, "This is merely a cento from the Canon on SS. Chrysanthus and Daria (March 19)." In his Preface to the 3rd edition, 1866, he is more explicit, and says concerning this hymn, “Safe home, safe home in port," and "Art thou weary?" they "contain so little that is from the Greek, that they ought not to have been included in this collection; in any future edition they shall appear as an Appendix." Dr. Neale did not live to publish another edition: but in 1882 the 4th edition with notes, was issued under the editorship of S. G. Hatherly, and in it the three hymns named were "removed from the body of the work at Dr. Neale's suggestion" and included in an Appendix. Its proper designation, therefore, is By Dr. Neale, based on the Greek Canon on SS. Chrysanthius and Daria by St. Joseph the Hymnographer. It must be added that no Greek lines corresponding to those in the English hymn can be found in that Canon. Dr. Neale nevertheless found what he wanted there, that is the inspiration to write the hymn as it now stands. The use of this hymn is very extensive in all English-speaking countries. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) ======================== O happy band of pilgrims, p. 834, i. The text of this hymn in Church Hymns , 1903, is Dr. Neale's original with st. iii. as the first part of st. iv. in 8 lines, and an alteration in st. v., line 1. That in Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1904, is a new cento, with alterations, from Dr. Neale's full text of 1862. The English Hymnal, 1906, has Dr. Neale's text with alteration as below. The original of st. v., line 1, is "What are they but vaunt-couriers." This is given in Church Hymns as ..."but His heralds"; in Hymns Ancient & Modern as ..."but the couriers"; and in The English Hymnal as ... but forerunners." --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)