"Come Down, O Love Divine" is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

usually sung for the

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...

. It makes reference to the descent of the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

as an invocation to God to come to into the soul of the believer. It is a popular piece of

Anglican church music Anglican church music is music that is written for Christian worship in Anglican religious services, forming part of the liturgy. It mostly consists of pieces written to be sung by a church choir, which may sing '' a cappella'' or accompanie ...

and is commonly sung to the tune "Down Ampney" by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

History

The text of "Come down, O Love divine" originated as an Italian poem, "Discendi amor santo" by the medieval mystic poet

Bianco da Siena Bianco di Santi alias Bianco da Siena or Bianco da Lanciolina (Anciolina, 1350 circa - Venice, 1399) was an Italian mystic poet and an imitator of Jacopone da Todi. He wrote several religiously-inspired poems ( lauda) that were popular in the Midd ...

(1350-1399). The poem appeared in the 1851 collection ''Laudi Spirituali del Bianco da Siena'' of Telesforo Bini, and in 1861, the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

clergyman and writer

Richard Frederick Littledale Richard Frederick Littledale (1833–1890) was an Anglo-Irish clergyman and writer. Life The fourth son of John Littledale, an auctioneer, he was born in Dublin on 14 September 1833. On 15 October 1850 he entered Trinity College Dublin, was elec ...

translated it into English. The first publication of the English version was in Littledale's 1867 hymn-book, ''The People's Hymnal''. Down Ampney church (geograph 2416071)

For the hymn's publication in ''

The English Hymnal ''The English Hymnal'' is a hymn book which was published in 1906 for the Church of England by Oxford University Press. It was edited by the clergyman and writer Percy Dearmer and the composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams, and was ...

'' of 1906, the hymnal's editor

composed a tune, "Down Ampney", which he named after the Gloucestershire village of his birth. This publication established the hymn's widespread popularity. When Vaughan Williams died in 1958, "Come Down, O Love Divine" was sung at his funeral in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

as the composer's ashes were ceremonially interred in the Musicians' Corner.

Text

Come down, O Love divine, seek thou this soul of mine, and visit it with thine own ardor glowing; O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear, and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing. O let it freely burn till earthly passions turn to dust and ashes in its heat consuming; and let thy glorious light shine ever on my sight, and clothe me round, the while my path illuming. Let holy charity mine outward vesture be, and lowliness become my inner clothing; true lowliness of heart which takes the humbler part, and o'er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing. And so the yearning strong with which the soul will long shall far surpass the power of human telling; for none can guess its grace till we become the place wherein the Holy Spirit makes his dwelling.

Tune

The following setting of the tune appears in

(1906): << << \new Staff \new Lyrics \lyricmode \new Staff >> >> \layout \midi

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