O Holy Spirit, by whose breath

‘Veni, Creator Spiritus’—Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire: this is one of only two metrical hymns, each paraphrasing the same Lat, in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The one by Thomas Cranmer is now never sung, if indeed it ever was, except as a historical exercise (which happened twice in 2002). By contrast, John Cosin’s text has been universally adopted where that book is in use, notably for the occasions (ordinations) specified there and often also on Whitsunday. It is second only to Te Deum as ‘the greatest and most widely used hymn in the Western church’ (W Milgate), featuring also at services of Baptism, Institution and Induction, Coronations and other special events. The earliest known ms to include it dates from the late 10th c, but by then it was well-established for use at Pentecost. Archbishop Rabanus Maurus of Mainz (c776–856) is often named as the most likely author. In later medieval times it features in countless other service books.

The 20th c, however, brought some attempts both to update Cosin’s language (‘blessèd unction’, ‘soilèd face’) and to make a more faithful translation, as in HTC; the Spirit, after all, is ‘Creator’, a note absent from Cosin. Other editors or authors have felt that only a new translation would suffice; the Canadian John Webster Grant among them. This version, written by him in 1968, first appeared in The Hymn Book (Canada) in 1971; it features in The Australian Hymn Book/With One Voice (1979), and is included here for the first time in a UK hymnal. Like earlier versions, it retains the decisive movement from the petitions for ourselves to its climax of praise to God in Trinity.

Cosin’s version, and most of its revisions including this fresh paraphrase, are written for the traditional plainchant tune VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS. By contrast Margaret MacWilliam’s tune STARRY HEIGHT is relatively new, composed in 1925 for Fonthill School, E Grinstead, Sussex, but not published until Routley’s University Carol Book in 1961. Victor Day has arranged it for Praise!, with an added section (not in the original) for the doxology. It has been associated with another much-varied Latin hymn, the Neale/Fortunatus text The royal banners forward go.

b Norwich 1594 or 1596, d Westminster, London 1671/2. Norwich Free Sch; Caius Coll Cambridge; ordained to serve in various parishes before becoming a Canon of Durham in 1625 and Rector of nearby Brancepeth a year later. Master of Peterhouse Coll Cambridge, 1635; Archdeacon of the E Riding, he was deprived of most appointments by the Long Parliament. For a time he lived in Paris as a royal chaplain and on his return became Dean and then (from 1660) Bp of Durham, attending the 1661 Savoy Conference in an attempt to reconcile Presbyterians and Anglicans. A man of outstanding learning even in a distinguished age, he tried to make Puritans and RCs conform to what he saw as the CofE norm; among his many writings are those attacking transubstantiation and the inclusion of the Apocrypha in the Bible. A friend of the Huguenots and an often bitter opponent of Romanism, he nevertheless favoured elaborate ritual and church decoration. He is not strictly speaking a contributor to Praise!, but his name features as the initial paraphraser of Veni, Creator Spiritus. His version, Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire is one of only two metrical hymns (and the only one still in regular use) included in the 1662 BCP. It was printed in a book of prayers dated 1627 but not much loved by the Puritans. No.522.

b Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada 1919. Pictou Academy; Dalhousie Univ (BA, MA); Princeton Univ; and Pine Divinity Hall, Halifax. In 1943 he was ordained in the United Ch of Canada. After a short time at West Bay, Nova Scotia, he worked in Ottawa with the Wartime Information Board (as director of information for Protestant churches). He was briefly (in 1945) a chaplain in the Canadian navy, and lectured in theology back at Pine Divinity Hall. In 1946 he came to the UK, studying at Keble Coll Oxford as a Rhodes scholar; DPhil 1948. From 1949 to 1959 he was Prof of Church History at the Union Coll of British Columbia, Vancouver, including a spell as visiting Prof at the United Theological Coll of S India and Ceylon at Bangalore. He became editor-inchief of the Ryerson Press in 1959, and 4 years later was appointed Prof of Church History at Emmanuel Coll, Univ of Victoria, Toronto. He chaired a church unity commission 1966–71, and served on the committee for The Hymn Book (Canada, 1971). His books include major studies of the Canadian churches and English Free Ch history from 1870–1940. His hymns ‘are all translations, or rather [as here] re-translations in a more contemporary style’—W Milgate. No.522.