This hymn has an unusually interesting history. Its origin is an 11th century Latin text from the Monastery of Saint Arnulf in Metz. [Saint Arnulf was the Bishop of Metz, and the great-great-great grandfather of Charlemagne.] Though the collection in which the text is found is named Meditations of St. Augustine, the texts are not by Augustine. The original text entitled, Mater Hierusalem, civitas sancta Dei, was signed by Johannes who is thought to be Jean, the abbot of Fécamp (ca. 990-1078). [Fécamp, a Benedictine abbey in Normandy, was the first producer of the herbal liqueur, benedictine.]
The first English version of this hymn came in 1585, when William Prid made a metrical translation and paraphrase of the Latin text, which he titled O Mother Dear Jerusalem. The next English version, dating from 1593, is an adaptation of, and inspired by, the two earlier described texts. The oldest known copy is a British Library manuscript containing 26 stanzas, the heading of which attributes it to “F.B.P. to the tune of DIANA.” There is speculation that F.B.P. stands for Francis Baker, Priest, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Hymn writers James Montgomery (1771-1854) and Joseph Bromehead are (1748-1826) generally credited with paring down the number of verses and publishing what is essentially the hymn we know. Even so, our modern hymnals have pared down the number of verses even further.
Some versions of the hymn from the early nineteenth century added the following stanza:
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we’d first begun.
Of course, we know that text as the final stanza of Amazing Grace, H1982 No. 671. Though not part of the original Jerusalem, My Happy Home, it certainly fits the theme. And, it is in the same meter, so you can sing it to the same tune. Give it a try.
Speaking of tunes, we sing the hymn to the early American hymn tune from the shape note tradition, LAND OF REST. The harmonization in our hymnbook is by Annabel Morris Buchanan (1888-1983), an American composer and folklorist. She is known for documenting and preserving many folk songs that might otherwise have been lost. It seems to me the perfect tune for this text. It has a gentle swing, the melody rises and falls at all the right places to fit the text, and you can feel the longing. Hymn singing does not have to be limited to church services. You could rock a baby to sleep with this hymn.
The Hymnal 1940 includes this hymn with two tune choices: LAND OF REST, and DIANA (the tune referenced in that early version of the hymn in the British Library). My view is that DIANA is not nearly as good a fit for the text as is LAND OF REST. If you have an old Hymnal 1940, look at Hymn No. 584, and draw your own conclusion.
There is yet another tune associated with this hymn. The tune MATERNA, by Samuel A. Ward (1848-1903) was written for, and takes its name from, that first English version, O Mother Dear Jerusalem. First published in 1888 in a book called The Parish Choir, it is matched with a text that is a mixture of the stanzas from O Mother Dear Jerusalem and from the hymn by F.B.P. We are quite familiar with MATERNA. We sing it to O Beautiful for Spacious Skies, H1982 No. 719. Since MATERNA has the historical connection to this hymn, and we know MATERNA, we will sing the hymn to MATERNA as well as to LAND OF REST this month. I don’t expect MATERNA to replace LAND OF REST for this hymn, but it will be interesting to pair MATERNA with this hymn. Let me hear what you think.
This hymn speaks of longing for heaven. As the psalmist says so beautifully, “My soul is athirst for God, yea even for the living God. When shall I come to appear before the presence of God?” Psalm 42:2. This passage, in our choral anthem by Herbert Howells, Like as the Hart Desireth the Waterbrooks, always takes my breath away. Jerusalem is, of course, the new Jerusalem referenced in Revelation 21: 2: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.” For the choristers, this calls to mind another one of our favorite anthems, And I Saw a New Heaven and a New Earth.
The hymn also paints word pictures of various heavenly scenes. Stanza 2 speaks of the saints crowned with glory, calling to mind Revelation 7, where the white robed saints with palm branches in their hands are before the throne of God, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. Stanzas 3 and 4 may be my favorites, perhaps because I have a soft spot for the musicians. Just picture it: David, harp in hand, directing the choir; Our Lady, singing the Magnificat; and blessed martyrs’ harmonies ringing in every street! Then, after that glorious description of heaven, how could we not ask God to grant us an entrance. And, indeed the hymn does just that, and more. It takes us there.
— Carolyn Parmenter, Music Director
