Edward Caswall
1814-1878

He was born July 15, 1814, at Yateley, Hampshire, England. Caswall was the son of Robert Clarke Caswall, vicar of Yateley; a brother was also a clergymen of distinction in the Church of England. He attended Chigwell Grammar School, Marlborough School, and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated with honors. Before leaving Oxford, he published, under the pseudonym of Scriblerus Redivivus, "The Art of Pluck," in imitation of Aristotle, a satire on the ways of the careless college student (which was still popular in the early 20th century).

In 1838, he was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England, and 1839 as an Anglican priest. In 1840 he became perpetual curate at Stratford-sub-Castle near Salisbury. He resigned his ecclesiastical position in the Church of England in 1846 with a view to joining the Roman Catholic Church, which he and his wife did in 1847. When she died suddenly in 1850, he became a priest in the Congregation of the Oratory, which John Cardinal Newman established at Birmingham, where he remained until his death. It was at the Oratory of St. Philip Neri at Edgbaston that he did most of translations of hymns; he also wrote original lyrics.

He died January 2, 1878, at Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, and was buried at Rednal, Warwickshire, England. Newman lies nearby.

His life was marked by earnest devotion to his clerical duties and a loving interest in the poor, the sick, and in little children. His translations of Latin hymns have a wider circulation in modern hymnals than those of any other translator, with the exception of Dr. John Mason Neale. This is owing to his faithfulness to the originals and the purity of his melody and rhythm, the latter features specially adapting his hymns to music and for congregational purposes.

His translation from St. Bernard, beginning, "Jesus, the very thought of thee," is one of the finest. Most of his original hymns are so Romish in doctrinal teaching as to make them unfitted for use in Protestant hymnals. His hymns are found in his Lyra Catholica, 1849; Masque of Mary and Other Poems, 1858; A May Pageant and Other Poems, 1865. The contents of all these volumes are contained in his Hymns and Poems, 1873.

Other works include:

• Sermons on the Seen and the Unseen, 1846

• The Catholic’s Latin Instructor in the Principal Church Offices and Devotions

• Days and Moments Quickly Flying

• See Amid the Winter’s Snow or See, In Yonder Manger Low

• Bethlehem of Noblest Cities
• Come Hither Ye Faithful (Adeste fideles)

• Come, Thou Holy Spirit, Come (Veni Sancte Spiritus)

• Earth Has Many A Noble City (O sola magnarum urbium)

• Flowers of martyrdom, all hail!

• Glory Be to Jesus

• Hark a Thrilling Voice is Sounding (Vox clara ecce intonat)

• I Met the Good Shepherd

• Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee (Dulcis Jesu memoria)

• Let Alverna’s Holy Mountain (Crucis Christi mons Alvernae)

• My God, I Love Thee (O Deus, ego amo te)

• Now, My Tongue, the Mystery Telling

• O Hope of Every Contrite Heart

• O Jesus, King Most Wonderful

• O Saving Victim, Open Wide (O Salutaris Hostia)

• O Zion, Open Wide Thy Gates (Templi sacratas pande, Sion, fores)

• Sun Is Sinking Fast, The

• Beim frühen Morgenlicht)

Sources:

• The Hymnuts

• The Cyberhymnal

• Christian Classics Ethereal Library

• Rev. Duncan Campbell, Hymns and Hymn Makers (London: A. & C. Black, Fourth Edition, 1908)