Wednesday, August 7, 2024

It is the 7th of August 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

We continue on our summertime trek through the biggest names, events and ideas in the history of the church…. Not that this isn’t what we normally do- but I tend to bring some of the unknown and passed over figures and stories.

And you might think today’s show would fit under that category. After all, if I say the name “John Mason Neale,” how many of you would recognize it?

While he has not had his own show (a glaring oversight on my part) I have- according to google- mentioned his name in passing on numerous shows.

But John Mason Neale- born in London in 1818- even though he wrote a lot- you probably are unfamiliar with it. Except for his translations of ancient hymns- those have lead to his name being plastered (albeit in small font) on some of the great hymns and especially a few classics which have served to teach countless across generations.

John was born into an evangelical leaning Anglican home of some repute; his father was a fellow of St. John’s Cambridge and his mother the descendant of a famous Puritan.

He excelled at school such that he too went to Cambridge, but his problem with math (a subject strangely made plural in the UK) led to his “only” receiving an ordinary degree. At Cambridge, he was involved with a group of high church-leaning Anglicans in the model of those in the Oxford movement. John would be ordained, but his affiliation with the high churchmen led to difficulties in securing work. That, and he was sickly such that when he was offered a job, for example, in Perth, his body would be unable to sustain the cold, and he turned the job down.

Nonetheless, he was married and had 5 children where he served as a warden to a home for the poor and aged. He was remembered, somewhat pitifully by a friend with the remembrance: ""he spent nearly half his life where he died, in the position of warden of an obscure Almshouse on a salary of £27 a year.”

But there he spent his time translating, writing his own verse, tending to the retirees, and founding an Anglican religious order for Nuns- the Sisterhood of St. Margaret. You can imagine this did not help his standing with those who thought he leaned Catholic.

But without Neale not only would we not wonder about who “King Wenceslas” was and why he’s looking out on the “Feast of St. Stephen”. He translated that popular Christmas carol.

But more importantly- during Advent, you sing “O Come O Come Emmanuel” and may even know something about those antiphons because of John Mason Neale, who translated those hymns as well. So too, his word is the words you sing in English when you sing “All Glory Laud and Honor,” “Art Though Weary,” “Of The Father’s Love Begotten” (perhaps with that haunting tune), and “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice”- my favorite story of that hymn is that it was so popular we have a record in 1745 at a Moravian Missionary in Pennsylvania the song was song simultaneously in 13 languages.

John Mason Neale helped popularize the singing of hymns in English- going even beyond Watts in his borrowing from various sources.  Neale was especially interested in the eastern hymns- that tradition of course, began there and came to the West with Ambrose.

He also remind us that the work of translators is absolutely paramount. If something was not written in English and part of its appeal is the artistry of the language, you have the translator to thank. As we thank John Mason Neale- on this, the 7th of August- the anniversary of his death at the age of 48.

I have left a little time as I have a favorite hymn- at least in terms of words and content and I’m going to recite it as the final word.

  

The last word for today is from the daily lectionary from Venantius Honorius Clematianus Fortunatus a 6th century poet who wrote what Neale brought to us as “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle.”

1 Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle;

sing the ending of the fray.

Now above the cross, the trophy,

sound the loud triumphant lay:

tell how Christ, the world's Redeemer,

as a victim won the day.

 

2 Tell how, when at length the fullness

of the appointed time was come,

He, the Word, was born of woman,

left for us His Father's home,

blazed the path of true obedience,

shone as light amidst the gloom.

 

3 Thus, with thirty years accomplished,

He went forth from Nazareth,

destined, dedicated, willing,

did His work, and met His death;

like a lamb He humbly yielded

on the cross His dying breath.

 

4 Faithful cross, true sign of triumph,

be for all the noblest tree;

none in foliage, none in blossom,

none in fruit your equal be;

symbol of the world's redemption,

for the weight that hung on thee!

 

5 Unto God be praise and glory:

to the Father and the Son,

to the eternal Spirit honor

now and evermore be done;

praise and glory in the highest,

while the timeless ages run.

  

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 7th of August 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who wonders how far 27 pounds a year could get him- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who wishes he could say “maths” and all like a fancy talker…. Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.