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The Hymn “Faith of Our Fathers”

No Image Carol H. on October 28th, 2025 at 10:46
The hymn in today’s (10/28/25) Office of Readings is the beloved hymn “Faith of Our Father’s.” It was written by an Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism to honor the Roman Catholic martyrs who suffered...

4 responses to “The Hymn “Faith of Our Fathers””

  1. Dr J. says:

    Father Frederick Faber was the author of many wonderful hymns, including “Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All” and “O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile,” and my personal favorite, “There’s A Wideness in God’s Mercy.” He was also a popular essayist (young Thomas Merton was assigned some of Faber’s meditations to read shortly after he entered Gethsemani). Here’s a sample:We must remember that if all the manifestly good men were on one side and all the manifestly bad men on the other, there would be no danger of anyone, least of all the elect, being deceived by lying wonders. It is the good men, good once, we must hope good still, who are to do the work of Anti-Christ and so sadly to crucify the Lord afresh…. Bear in mind this feature of the last days, that this deceitfulness arises from good men being on the wrong side. — Devotion to the Church,p.27

    • Carol H. says:

      Hi Dr. J,Thanks for the great post on Father Faber. I appreciate your information and will definitely follow up on it. Fr. Faber wrote a couple of versions of the lyrics. His original version included a stanza about Mother Mary:…The original third stanza reads: “Faith of our Fathers! Mary’s prayers / Shall win our country back to Thee; / And through the truth that comes from God, / England shall then indeed be free”.It was removed in most Protestant and other woke hymnals.

  2. psalmgirl says:

    Thank you for sharing this Carol H. It is a beautiful hymn, and your comments have reminded me of the sacrifices our fathers made in the past for the sake of the faith, in times of persecution and fear. It reminds me of the Penal laws in Ireland (17th to the mid-18th century), when Catholics had to celebrate Mass in secret, at Mass rocks in rural and isolated areas, for fear of being shot by the British army.

    • Carol H. says:

      Hi psalmgirl,Thanks for your post. Irish Catholics suffered tremendously for our faith. Sadly, the persecution continued the during the 17th and 18th centuries because of Cromwell’s policies which forcibly removed Irish Catholics from Ireland and made them slaves / indentured servants in the American colonies.The strength and conviction of Ann Glover is little known, but I wish she could be recognized for her sacrifice by the church. In 1688 Boston, prior to the Salem witch trials, Mrs. Glover wouldn’t renounce her faith and was hanged for being a Catholic.“Cotton Mather (a Puritan clergyman) convicted Ann of being an “idolatrous Roman Catholick” and a witch, and she hung on Boston Common on November 16, 1688. Today, just a 15 minute walk away, the parish of Our Lady of Victories (moved to St. Stephen’s) holds a plaque commemorating her martyrdom, which reads: “Not far from here on 16 November 1688, Goodwife Ann Glover an elderly Irish widow, was hanged as a witch because she had refused to renounce her Catholic faith. Having been deported from her native Ireland to the Barbados with her husband, who died there because of his own loyalty to the Catholic faith, she came to Boston where she was living for at least six years before she was unjustly condemned to death. This memorial is erected to commemorate “Goody” Glover as the first Catholic martyr in Massachusetts.”(I won’t post the links, but you can find the two articles through a search engine)From Catholic News Agency: Was the last ‘witch’ of Boston actually a Catholic martyr?”From Irish Boston: Glover, Falsely Hung as a Witch in 1688

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