The Hymn for the Procession of the Oils

The 1998 sacramentary-that-never-was contains this noble effort at telling the story of the Chrism Mass:

Refrain:
O Redeemer and Messiah,
listen to our song of praise!

1. In the yard of olive presses
Christ endured his agony;
Now the Church rejoicing blesses
Oil to serve his mystery.
Refrain

2. Once anointed by the Spirit,
He, the Lord, has never ceased,
In the light that saints inherit,
To be prophet, king, and priest.
Refrain

3. So the farmer’s work has flourished,
And the orchard yields its fruit,
For the life of grace is nourished
By the ancient olive-root.
Refrain

4. First, the oil marks catechumens
Grafted into Christ the Lord;
Then, baptismal grace illumines
All whose life has been restored.
Refrain

5. Next, the Lord by confirmation
Seals us in the Paraclete,
With a charge to all creation
Till his kingdom is complete.
Refrain

6. Lastly, weakness or diseases
Need the strength of Christ within:
Then anointing soothes and eases
And removes the scars of sin.
Refrain

7. Praise be given to the Father,
Praise be given through the Son,
Praise be given in the Spirit,
One in Three and Three in One.
Refrain

Paul Ford

Paul F. Ford, Ph.D., has been professor of theology and liturgy at St. John Seminary, Camarillo, CA, since February of 1988. He is the author of <em>By Flowing Waters: Chant for the Liturgy</em> (The Liturgical Press, 1999) and the convener of the five-member Collegeville Composers Group, authors of <em>Psallite: Sacred Song for Liturgy and Life</em> (The Liturgical Press, 2005–2010).

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Comments

8 responses to “The Hymn for the Procession of the Oils”

  1. Bill deHaas

    No hint of ordination, commitment to priesthood, etc. Look at what we lost…..jfp, excellent.

    Reply
  2. Jeremy Stevens

    The 2010 Missal keeps the translation of the Crux fidelis on Good Friday from the 1998 Missal. Are you sure they didn’t keep the O Redemptor?

    Reply
  3. Angela Ackley

    Is there an author to this? Do we know where it came from? Just curious since the director of music at our cathedral wrote a piece with these words, or nearly these words (I don’t have my copy here at home) before 1998. Verses 1-3 are sung every year during the blessing of the oils. He never copyrighted the piece, so I asked him about four years ago if we could use it for our Procession and Presentation of the Oils during the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. To which he gave his permission. We now use verses 4-7 at our parish celebration. It’s a nice tie-in piece (especially for our catechumens and candidates) for those who travel to the Chrism Mass in the morning and then attend Holy Thursday mass in the evening.

    Reply
    1. Mike Burns

      It is a translation of the latin O Redemptor. For some reason Peter Scagnelli comes to mind. I am not sure if I am correct.

      Reply
  4. Jeffery BeBeau

    The actual payers for the blessing of the oils for the Mass of Chrism aren’t in the revised Missal, they are in the separate text, which is where the Hymn O Redemptor is found.

    Reply
  5. G. Michael McGuire

    See OPEN THREAD for the Holy Thursday and Good Friday Pange, lingua texts, translated by the same person (I think) who did the Chrism Mass hymn.

    Reply
  6. Fr. Christopher Costigan

    Like most of the music in the Missal this probably would have just been ignored anyway.

    Reply
  7. Jeffrey Herbert

    It’s an improvement at least over the “Sunlight makes the Olive Fruitful” version….

    Reply

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