HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
THE HYMN STORY
In the year 1826, Reginald Heber was in the fourth year of an arduous task. As the Anglican bishop over all of British India he had worked tirelessly to build a training school for local clergy while travelling widely around India preaching the gospel. The mission had taken its toll, however, and it was in this year that he suffered a stroke and died.
He had spent the previous 15 years serving as vicar (the Anglican term for pastor) in Hodnet, Shropshire, England. Reginald was born in Cheshire, England in 1783 and early on developed a fondness for poetry. As a young man he had won a prestigious prize for his poetical efforts, and in his role as vicar he turned his talent to writing hymns. He was the first to compile a hymnal ordering hymns around the church calendar.
At his death, however, his hymns would have been buried in obscurity had it not been for the work his widow undertook to organize his impressive volume of hymns and see to them being published as Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (1827).
Among this collection was one that Alfred Lord Tennyson considered to be the world’s greatest hymn. It has taken its place in the ranks of preeminently loved adoration hymns in the Christian Church -- that hymn being the one we know as, “Holy, Holy, Holy”. This hymn to the Holy Trinity was based on the words of Revelation 4:8, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Heber repeatedly used the symbolism of three throughout this classic hymn to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Stanton Nelson points out that as the hymn unfolds, Heber describes God as “holy, merciful and mighty”, “perfect in power, in love and purity”, worshipped by “saints, cherubim and seraphim”, and being praised “in earth and sky and sea”.
It wasn’t until 1861,however, that a publisher rediscovered this hymn, and turned to John Bacchus Dykes to write a tune for it. Dykes had been a church organist since the age of ten, and was co-founder and president of the Cambridge University Musical Society. He wrote over 300 other tunes, some of which we are familiar with, such as ‘Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee’, and ‘Lead, Kindly Light’. Upon receiving the text of this hymn, he took only thirty minutes to write the melody to which it is universally sung today. He named this tune ‘Nicea’ as a tribute to the First Council of Nicea, where the doctrine of the Trinity was formalized in A.D. 325.
HYMN LYRICS
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man, Thy glory may not see:
Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power in love, and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise Thy name in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, Holy, Holy! merciful and mighty,
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity
SOURCES:
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-holy-holy-holy-lord-god-almighty
https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/john-dykes-composer-of-holy-holy-holy-11630579.html
https://songsandhymns.org/hymns/detail/holy-holy-holy
https://elev8.hellobeautiful.com/444135/behind-the-songholyholyholy/
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In the year 1826, Reginald Heber was in the fourth year of an arduous task. As the Anglican bishop over all of British India he had worked tirelessly to build a training school for local clergy while travelling widely around India preaching the gospel. The mission had taken its toll, however, and it was in this year that he suffered a stroke and died.
He had spent the previous 15 years serving as vicar (the Anglican term for pastor) in Hodnet, Shropshire, England. Reginald was born in Cheshire, England in 1783 and early on developed a fondness for poetry. As a young man he had won a prestigious prize for his poetical efforts, and in his role as vicar he turned his talent to writing hymns. He was the first to compile a hymnal ordering hymns around the church calendar.
At his death, however, his hymns would have been buried in obscurity had it not been for the work his widow undertook to organize his impressive volume of hymns and see to them being published as Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year (1827).
Among this collection was one that Alfred Lord Tennyson considered to be the world’s greatest hymn. It has taken its place in the ranks of preeminently loved adoration hymns in the Christian Church -- that hymn being the one we know as, “Holy, Holy, Holy”. This hymn to the Holy Trinity was based on the words of Revelation 4:8, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Heber repeatedly used the symbolism of three throughout this classic hymn to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Stanton Nelson points out that as the hymn unfolds, Heber describes God as “holy, merciful and mighty”, “perfect in power, in love and purity”, worshipped by “saints, cherubim and seraphim”, and being praised “in earth and sky and sea”.
It wasn’t until 1861,however, that a publisher rediscovered this hymn, and turned to John Bacchus Dykes to write a tune for it. Dykes had been a church organist since the age of ten, and was co-founder and president of the Cambridge University Musical Society. He wrote over 300 other tunes, some of which we are familiar with, such as ‘Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee’, and ‘Lead, Kindly Light’. Upon receiving the text of this hymn, he took only thirty minutes to write the melody to which it is universally sung today. He named this tune ‘Nicea’ as a tribute to the First Council of Nicea, where the doctrine of the Trinity was formalized in A.D. 325.
HYMN LYRICS
Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!
Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.
Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man, Thy glory may not see:
Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in power in love, and purity.
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise Thy name in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, Holy, Holy! merciful and mighty,
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity
SOURCES:
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-holy-holy-holy-lord-god-almighty
https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/john-dykes-composer-of-holy-holy-holy-11630579.html
https://songsandhymns.org/hymns/detail/holy-holy-holy
https://elev8.hellobeautiful.com/444135/behind-the-songholyholyholy/
HOME