"Blessed city, heavenly Salem" is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

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'' d ...

. It was translated in 1851 by

John Mason Neale John Mason Neale (24 January 1818 – 6 August 1866) was an English Anglican priest, scholar, and hymnwriter. He worked on and wrote a wide range of holy Christian texts, including obscure medieval hymns, both Western and Eastern. Among his mo ...

from the text of the 6th- or 7th-century Latin

monastic Monasticism (; ), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual activities. Monastic life plays an important role in many Christian churches, especially ...

hymn '' Urbs beata Jerusalem''. It describes the prophetic vision of the

New Jerusalem In the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible, New Jerusalem (, ''YHWH šāmmā'', YHWH sthere") is Ezekiel's prophetic vision of a city centered on the rebuilt Holy Temple, to be established in Jerusalem, which would be the capital of the ...

from the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. The first word is normally spoken or sung with

disyllabic A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

pronunciation as '' blessèd''. '' Salem'' is a poetic name for

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Later stanzas of Neale's translation also gained popularity as a standalone hymn, "Christ is made the sure foundation", and the two hymns are sometimes published separately in

hymnal A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Christia ...

History

The text of the hymn has it origins in an 8th-century hymn, '' Urbs beata Jerusalem''. It was translated in 1851 by the English clergyman and scholar,

as "Blessed City, heavenly Salem". In his ''Mediæval hymns and sequences'' (1863), Neale notes that the hymn was rewritten as ''Cœlestis Urbs Jerusalem'' under the reforms of the

Roman Breviary The Roman Breviary (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical Catholic prayer, prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notat ...

Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (; ; baptised 5 April 1568 – 29 July 1644), born Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 August 1623 to his death, in July 1644. As pope, he expanded the papal terri ...

– a reworking he considered inferior to the original – and again in a later Paris

Breviary A breviary () is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such as Aberdeen Breviar ...

as ''Urbs beata, vera pacis''. The German hymnologist thought the last two stanzas of the hymn were a later addition, but the Irish

Richard Chenevix Trench Richard Chenevix Trench (9 September 1807 – 28 March 1886) was an Anglican archbishop and poet. Life He was born in Dublin, Ireland, the son of Richard Trench (1774–1860), barrister-at-law, and the Dublin writer Melesina Chenevix (1768� ...

clergyman disagreed, arguing that the entire text was of one date of origin.

Musical settings

While originally an unaccompanied

plainsong Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive for ...

melody, both "Blessed City, heavenly Salem" and the derivative hymn "Christ is made the sure Foundation" are now commonly sung either to the tune of "Westminster Abbey", adapted from the final section of Henry Purcell's anthem "O God, Thou Art My God'" Z35; or the tune of "Regent Square", composed by

Henry Smart Henry Thomas Smart (26 October 1813 – 6 July 1879) was an English organist and composer. Biography Smart was born in London, a nephew of the conductor Sir George Smart and son of a music publisher, orchestra director and accomplished violin ...

. The

early Renaissance Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...

Franco-Flemish composer

Guillaume Du Fay Guillaume Du Fay ( , ; also Dufay, Du Fayt; 5 August 1397 – 27 November 1474) was a composer and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered the leading European composer of h ...

wrote at least two settings of "Urbs beata Jerusalem" for four voices, dating from the 1490s. There is also a

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...

setting by the Spanish composer

Tomás Luis de Victoria Tomás Luis de Victoria (sometimes Italianised as ''da Vittoria''; ) was the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He stands with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlande de Lassus as among the principal composers of the late Re ...

. Neale's translation of "Blessed city, heavenly Salem" was set as an

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to sho ...

for choir and organ by

Edward Bairstow Sir Edward Cuthbert Bairstow (22 August 18741 May 1946) was an English organist and composer in the Anglican church music tradition. Life and career Bairstow was born in Trinity Street, Huddersfield in 1874. His grandfather Oates Bairstow was ...

in 1914.

Analysis

The hymn celebrates the relationship of the Christian Church to God through metaphors of a city and a building. The "blessed city" mentioned in the first stanza of the hymn is the

, a reference to the visionary city described in the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

(). This "Heavenly Salem is a symbol in Christianity for

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

, and the hymn goes on to evoke a sense of longing for the poetic Jerusalem as a place of peace and love. In the fifth stanza, the city metaphor is extended to that of a building, of which

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

is said to be both the foundation and the

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

. Among Biblical sources for the original text are , which refers to

as "the chief cornerstone" of a building that grows into a holy temple; and , which describes both Jesus and his followers as "living stones". The texts of modern versions of the hymns often vary from Neale's original translations. Notably, in the final

doxology A doxology (Ancient Greek: ''doxologia'', from , ''doxa'' 'glory' and -, -''logia'' 'saying') is a short hymn of praises to God in various forms of Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derives ...

verse, Neale used the phrase "

consubstantial Consubstantiality, a term derived from , denotes identity of substance or essence in spite of difference in aspect. It appears most commonly in its adjectival form, "consubstantial", from Latin ''consubstantialis'', and its best-known use is i ...

, co-eternal" to describe the concept of the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

; more recent publications tend to replace this with "one in might and one in glory" or "one in love and one in splendour", as the words may be considered archaic or too

theologically Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ana ...

specialised.

Christ is made the sure Foundation

In the Breviary, the Latin hymn was divided after the fourth stanza into two parts, a division which was retained in the '' Sarum Hymnal'' (1868). Neale notes that his translation of this second part, "Christ is made the sure Foundation" ("Angulare fundamentum lapis Christus missus est"), had become adopted with "much general favour" as a standalone hymn for the

dedication of churches Dedication of churches is a Christian dedication ceremony of a church building. Churches under the authority of a bishop are usually dedicated by him. Consecration Early customs The custom of solemnly dedicating or consecrating buildings as chur ...

. Neale's translation of the hymn has been published in various forms in a number of popular

hymnals A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). They are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Christia ...

, including '' The Church Hymnary'' (4th ed, 2005) and ''

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 charitabl ...

'' (1874). In ''

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 C ...

'' (1986), the two parts of the hymn are included separately, while in ''

Hymns and Psalms ''Hymns and Psalms'' was the primary hymnbook of the Methodist Church of Great Britain from 1983 until 2010. The hymnbook was first published by the Methodist Publishing House in 1983, to replace the ''Methodist Hymn-Book'', which was publishe ...

'' (1983), it appears as one hymn, with verse 1 beginning "Blessèd city..." and verse 2 as "Christ is made...". "Christ is made the sure foundation" has been sung during a number of significant British royal occasions, including the marriage ceremonies of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960, and Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981; as the opening hymn of Queen Elizabeth II's

Platinum Jubilee A platinum jubilee is a celebration held to mark an anniversary. Among Monarchy, monarchies, it usually refers to a 70th anniversary. The most recent monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the ...

service in

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

in 2022; during the funeral proceedings of Elizabeth II at

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle St George's Chapel, formally titled The King's Free Chapel of the College of St George, Windsor Castle, at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal peculiar, Royal Peculia ...

in 2022; and at the

coronation of Charles III and Camilla The Coronation of the British monarch, coronation of Charles III and his wife, Queen Camilla, Camilla, as Monarchy of the United Kingdom, king and List of British royal consorts, queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth re ...

in 2023, in an arrangement by James O'Donnell. It was also used as the processional hymn of the first visit of Pope to the Westminster Abbey, the historical visit of

Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, his resignation on 28 Februar ...

in 2010.

References

External links

*
Blessed city, heavenly Salem
at

Hymnary.org Hymnary.org is an online database of hymns, hymnodists and hymnals hosted by Calvin University's Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The searchable database contains over one million hymn tunes and texts ...

*
Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation
at

{{Authority control Christian hymns English Christian hymns Hymns in The English Hymnal 19th-century hymns Hymns in The New English Hymnal Songs about Jerusalem