THE
P RTAL
August 2012
Cecil Frances
Alexander
Page 7
Anglican
Luminary
by Fr Keith Robinson
How many couples coming to be married in the Church of England can think of only one hymn?
They just about remember “All things bright and beautiful.” If this tells us something about the teaching of
hymns in English schools in recent decades, and the younger generation’s knowledge of hymnody, it must
surely also say something about the durability of the hymn itself.
In spite of chronic political
incorrectness (the rich man in
his castle…), and numerous
archaisms (the rushes by the water
… I don’t know about you, but it’s
years now since I gathered rushes
on a daily basis!) it is the one hymn
that everybody knows. Its author
however was a devout and humble
woman of considerable spiritual
stature. William
Alexander,
who
subsequently became Bishop of
Derry, and later still Archbishop
of Armagh and Primate of Ireland.
He was something of a poet
himself, and was in fact the last
Irish bishop to sit in the House of
Lords before the Disestablishment
of the Irish Church in 1871, but
overall, she seems to have attained
a more lasting name than he.
Hymns for Little
Children St Patrick’s Breastplate
Mrs Alexander, as she now was,
continued her writing (which
included a memorable translation
of the important early Irish poem
known as St Patrick’s Breastplate)
and increased her existing commitment to charitable
works. She was always a most diligent visitor of the sick
and the poor. But all the income from her publications
was devoted to building of the Derry and Raphoe
D iocesan Institute for the Deaf and Dumb (1846)
Her thinking was greatly influenced by men such which was in fact a school, and later, the Derry Home
as Walter Hook, Dean of Chichester, and especially for Fallen Women.
John Keble who became a close personal friend, and
shared her poetic gifts. They shared a commitment
She also worked to establish and develop a district
to what we would call catechesis: communicating the nursing service. She was a humble character, totally
doctrines of the catholic faith, and they did it through committed to the dissemination of the Faith which
their poetry. Cecil was especially concerned that the she so strongly believed herself, and also to numerous
Faith should be accessible to young children, hence practical expressions of that Faith through the
her large preponderance of children’s hymns, which generosity of her good works.
expound the doctrines of the Creed.
Cecil Frances was the second
daughter of Major John Humphreys
of Dublin. She was born in 1818
into a Church of Ireland family,
and encouraged by her father began writing verses at
a very early age. It is perhaps surprising to note that as
she grew up this young Irish woman became deeply
interested in the Oxford Movement.
over four hundred hymns
Her book Hymns for Little Children first published in
1848 ran through sixty-nine editions within the next
fifty years. It included such enduring favourites as
Once in Royal David’s city, There is a green hill far away
and Jesus calls us . These remain substantial hymns,
especially by today’s standards.
In October 1850 she married an Irish clergyman,
She wrote, apart from other forms of poetry, over
four hundred hymns, and her work was much admired
by Alfred Tennyson and the French composer Charles
Gounod. Having throughout her life placed all her
skills and material advantages at the disposal of the
Kingdom of God, she died on the 12 October 1895,
and is buried in the cemetery in Derry. May she rest
in peace!