May 29

Singing with St Augustine

Tag: Hymns, Prayer & Worship — doug @ 7:33 pm

One of the better known prayer passages from Augustine’s confessions is this one.

Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.1

Since we started including it in a collection of prayers for personal use at the back of our mass booklets, a number of people have commented on how much they appreciated it. For some time now I’ve considered whether it might make the basis of a hymn. This is a first draft, and there are one or two places I still want to work on the wording. The tunes I have in mind are Billing or Gerontius.

Late have I loved you, O my Lord,
before whom beauty pales,
whose glory shines in Christ the Word,
whose splendour never fails.

I searched for you in all you made,
in all my eye discerned,
I did not look within, afraid
to know what passion burned.

You walked with me unseen, unloved,
I trod as one alone,
I seized your gifts, and using, proved
the Giver was unknown

And yet you called, to me you spoke
loud shouted words of love,
which my long-practiced deafness broke
with thunder from above.

Your flashing lightning cleared my sight,
your storm winds conquered me,
and now I see love shining bright,
I breathe air clean and free.

The taste of love is now my meat,
I hunger still for more;
the breath of life is true and sweet,
the touch of peace is sure.

Late have I loved you, O my Lord,
beauty once new and old,
late was my love for Christ the Word,
but now your hand takes hold.

Notes
  1. Confessions Book 10, ch 27 [↩]

3 Responses to “Singing with St Augustine”

  1. Bob MacDonald says:
    May 29th, 2007 at 8:50 pm

    well done - this is a memorable post

  2. doug says:
    May 29th, 2007 at 10:17 pm

    Thanks Bob, most kind

  3. scott gray says:
    July 5th, 2007 at 7:15 pm

    there is a musical setting of this text by the composer Antoine Oomen called ‘for peace,’ published by oregon catholic press (octavo 10294). it’s a bit too complex for strophic parish hymn use, but it is possible in a call-and-response format. it’s a nicely virtuosic anthem for soloist and pianist. the text is a bit different:

    refrain
    far too late have i begun to love you; beauty, you are so old–and yet so new.

    verse 1
    far too late have i begun to love you; you were there within me, i was outside, and i sought you, seeing blindly just beyond myself; and poured away like water, i too flight from you and i was lost, surrounded by such beauty which is not you…

    verse 2
    then you called and cried aloud to me, breaking through the silence of my deafness. dazzling brightness, you apppeared to me, and at once you put to flight my blindness…
    drawing deep, i smell your fragrant presence; still i gasp for breath and long for you. since i tasted you, i only thirst and hunger after you. how, with a simple touch, your fire consumes me. now my heart, aflame and blazing, leaps to you for peace…

    the music oomen has written goes well with the text, i kind of insistent restlessness…

    scott gray

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