"Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!" is a Christian

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'' ...

written by the Anglican bishop

Reginald Heber Reginald Heber (21 April 1783 – 3 April 1826) was an English Anglican bishop, man of letters and hymn-writer. After 16 years as a country parson, he served as Bishop of Calcutta until his death at the age of 42. The son of a rich lando ...

(1783–1826). It is sung to the tune "Nicaea", by

John Bacchus Dykes John Bacchus Dykes (10 March 1823 – 22 January 1876) was an English clergyman and hymnwriter. Biography John Bacchus Dykes was born in Hull, England, the fifth child and third son of William Hey Dykes, a ship builder, later banker, an ...

. Written during the author's time as vicar in

Hodnet Hodnet is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The town of Market Drayton lies 5.7 miles (9.2 km) north-east of the village. History Evidence of a Bronze Age burial site was discovered during construction of the bypass in ...

, Shropshire, England, it was first published posthumously. Appearing in the influential ''

Hymns Ancient and Modern ''Hymns Ancient and Modern'' is a hymnal in common use within the Church of England, a result of the efforts of the Oxford Movement. The hymnal was first published in 1861. The organization publishing it has now been formed into a charitable ...

'', it is one of Heber's most popular compositions, enduring into the 21st century in many Christian traditions. Intended for use on

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...

, the text invites worshippers to join in praising the

trinitarian The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the Fa ...

deity, paraphrasing .

History

The hymn was written in the early 1800s during Heber's time as

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

(1807–1823) in

, Shropshire, England, a period in which the author was prolific, writing more than 100 hymns, many having survived to modern times. It was first published posthumously in ''A Selection of Psalms and Hymns for the Parish Church of Banbury'' (Third Edition, 1826), and thereafter by the writer's widow in ''Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year'' (1827), one of the first hymnals to group their hymns by the liturgical occasion within the church year. It was published when Anglican authorities disapproved of the singing of hymns in churches, other than

metrical psalms A metrical psalter is a kind of Bible translation: a book containing a verse translation of all or part of the Book of Psalms in vernacular poetry, meant to be sung as hymns in a church. Some metrical psalters include melodies or harmonisatio ...

, although there was considerable informal hymn-singing in parishes.*, pp. 77–78 Heber originally intended to win support for their inclusion. It is popular in the Anglican tradition, having appeared in the influential ''

'' (1861) as well as ''

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 ...

'' (1906) and ''

The New English Hymnal ''The New English Hymnal'' is a hymn book and liturgical source aimed towards the Church of England. First published in 1986, it is a successor to, and published in the same style as, the 1906 ''English Hymnal''. It is published today by SCM Ca ...

'' (1986). It is considered the author's best known and most widely used hymn, and remains popular in many denominations. It has been described as one of the rare hymns which appears "in just about every hymnal". It has been performed and recorded in various styles, by artists such as

Steven Curtis Chapman Steven Curtis Chapman (born November 21, 1962) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist. Chapman began his career in the late 1980s as a songwriter and performer of conte ...

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released nine solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomi ...

, Hillsong United, the

Choir of King's College, Cambridge The Choir of King's College, Cambridge is an English Anglican choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's Coll ...

, the 2nd Chapter of Acts and the Mormon

Tabernacle Choir The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, formerly known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is an American choir, acting as part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It has performed in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for ov ...

Text

The text speaks specifically of the

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

, having been written for use on

, although it can also be used as a general hymn of praise throughout the

liturgical year The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...

. The opening line (Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!) references Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8 and mirrors the opening line of the

Sanctus The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition. In Western Christianity, the ...

(Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts). Described as a "reverent and faithful paraphrase of Revelation 4:8–11" and of the Johannine vision of unending worship in Heaven, it is an example of Heber's dutiful attempt to avoid excessive emotionalism. A defining characteristic is that the text does not "initiate praise", but is rather an invitation to join in an endless song. Poetically, it is in the long and unusual 11.12.12.10 meter, contrasting with the shorter stanzas of most preceding English hymnody, such as that of

Isaac Watts Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include "When I Survey the ...

Charles Wesley Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement. Wesley was a prolific hymnwriter who wrote over 6,500 hymns during his lifetime. His works include " And Can It Be", " Christ the Lord Is Risen ...

. Additionally, every single line rhymes with the initial "holy". The text has a wide scope, successively referencing humans, saints, angels and all living creatures, and its main theme is the "basic belief in the Trinity", which is shared by most denominations of the Christian church despite other differences. The first stanza opens with an invitation to worship God in the morning; although variants have been sometimes used to adapt the hymn for any time of day.John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) The second stanza magnifies the opening idea, with

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

s joining "in adoring the Majesty in heaven". The third stanza describes some attributes of the Christian deity, while the final stanza is a climax of the preceding with "earth and sky and sea" joining in praising the divine. Variants to the original text in modern hymnals are relatively minor, mostly found in usage by

non-trinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ...

groups such as the

Mormons Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

where the final line is changed to "God in His glory, blessed Deity!" or as a push for more gender inclusive language.

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee; Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty! God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity! Holy, Holy, Holy! All the saints adore Thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherub A cherub (; plural cherubim; he, כְּרוּב ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'', likely borrowed from a derived form of akk, 𒅗𒊏𒁍 ''karabu'' "to bless" such as ''karibu'', "one who blesses", a name for the lamassu) is one of the u ...
im and
seraph A seraph (, "burning one"; plural seraphim ) is a type of celestial or heavenly being originating in Ancient Judaism. The term plays a role in subsequent Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Tradition places seraphim in the highest rank in Chr ...
im falling down before Thee, Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be. Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide Thee, Though the eye of sinful man, thy glory may not see: Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee, Perfect in power in love, and purity. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! All thy works shall praise thy name in earth, and sky, and sea; Holy, Holy, Holy! merciful and mighty, God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Some Unitarian hymnals also employed, deliberately, the same tune for "Bring, O morn, thy music" by William Channing Gannett, which has been described as a "considered response" to the Trinitarianism of the original text. It includes deliberate quotations of Heber's text, notably the repeated final line "Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be". This text remained popular in such denominations until recently.

Tune

The tune for this hymn, ''Nicaea'', was composed by

for the first edition of ''

'' in 1861. The tune name is a tribute to the

First Council of Nicaea The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. This ecumenical council was the first effort ...

held by the Roman Emperor

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

in 325 which formalized the doctrine of the Trinity. Rarely separated from the lyrics since then, it has been noted as one of the composer's finest and shares resemblances with a 16th-century

Lutheran chorale A Lutheran chorale is a musical setting of a Lutheran hymn, intended to be sung by a congregation in a German Protestant Church service. The typical four-part setting of a chorale, in which the sopranos (and the congregation) sing the melody al ...

, "

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme "" (literally: Awake, the voice is calling us) is a Lutheran hymn written in German language, German by Philipp Nicolai, first published in 1599 together with "". It appears in German hymnals and in several English hymnals in translations such a ...

" by

Philipp Nicolai Philipp Nicolai (10 August 1556 – 26 October 1608) was a German Lutheran pastor, poet, and composer. He is most widely recognized as a hymnodist. Biography Philipp Nicolai was born at Mengeringhausen in Waldeck, Hesse, Germany where his fat ...

. It is a good example of Victorian hymn tune writing, with "solid harmonies and subtle chromaticism." It begins with an ascending major third, which can be seen as symbolizing the Trinity. Few leaps and many repeated consecutive notes lend it a chant-like character. The four-part harmonisation written by Dykes is usually unchanged in hymnals, though it is frequently transposed down a tone from the initial

E major E major (or the key of E) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, ...

. The following setting is as it appears in ''

'': << << \new Staff \new Lyrics \lyricmode \new Staff >> >> \layout \midi

References

External links

* * , sung by the

{{Authority control Hymns by Reginald Heber English Christian hymns Trinitarianism 1861 songs 19th-century hymns