Faith of Our Fathers, Living Still

DESCRIPTION: "Faith of our fathers, living still, in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword. Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy, whene'er we hear that glorious word. Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to you till death." Martyrs and believers are recalled
AUTHOR: Words: Frederick W. Faber (1814-1863) / (usual) Music: Henri F. Hemy (source: hymnary.org)
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (hymnary.org)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad campsong
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 130, "Faith of Our Fathers" (notes only)
Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 81, "Faith of Our Fathers" (1 text, 1 tune)
BoyScoutSongbook1997, p. 114, "Faith of Our Fathers" (1 text)
SongsOfManyNations, "Faith of Our Fathers" (1 text) (CC edition, p. 70) (12th edition, p. 83)
DT, FAIFATHR
Roud #V11132
SAME TUNE:
Faith of Our Mothers (Harbin-Parodology, #419, pp. 102-103)
NOTES [167 words]: John Julian, editor, A Dictionary of Hymnology, 1892; second edition 1907 (I use the 1957 Dover edition in two volumes), p. 363, says this "appeared as the first of two hymns, one 'Faith of our Fathers,' for England; and the second the same for Ireland, in [Faber's] Jesus and Mary; or, Catholic Hys. for Singing and Reading, 1849, in 4 st[anzas] of 6 l[ines]. It was repeated in his Oratory Hymns, and several Roman Catholic collections for missions and schools." By 1853 there was a Unitarian revision (which eliminated a reference to Mary), and after that it spread among Protestants.
Julian, p. 361, says that Faber was ordained in the Anglican church in 1837 but turned Catholic in 1846. All his hymns were written after his conversion, though he had written prose works before that. He supposedly wrote some 150 hymns, mostly because there were so few Catholic hymns in English. On p. 362 Julian lists 24 of Faber's hymns that are fairly well-known, but I didn't recognize any of them. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: ACSF130F

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