FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER - 26 SEPTEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN SEPTEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 26th of September

WELCOME!

FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

FATHER FABER - 150 YEARS

Frederick William Faber was born June 28, 1814 and died in London September 26, 1863, 150 years ago. After five years at Harrow School he matriculated at Balliol in 1832, became a scholar at University College in 1834 and a fellow of that college in 1837. Of Huguenot descent, he was divided in his university days between a tendency to Presbyterianism, in the form of individual pietism, a movement within Protestantism. It originated on the reaction against that fruitless aiming at the devotion and practical Christianity.

John Henry Newman was advocated and promoter of the Church Theory and Tractarianism movement. Faber joined the movement and co-operated in the translation of the works of the Fathers then in progress. He received Anglican ordination in 1839 and was tutor until 1843. He was appointed Rector of Elton, Northamptonshire. In 1839-1843 he made two continental tours. He gave strikingly poetic descriptions of the scenes he visited. They glow with enthusiasm for Catholic rites and devotions. Pope Francis one hundred and fifty years later advocated in the first year of his pontificate in 2013 for their return to the Church of today.

HE THEN PREACHED CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OPENLY

On his return to Elton in 1844, he established the practice of confession, preached Catholic doctrine openly advocating the claims and supremacy of Rome, ten years before the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was defined in 1854 and twenty six before Papal Infallibility was also defined 1870 by Pope Pius IX. Bishop William Wareing of Northampton in October 1845 received Newman into the Catholic Church and in November Faber. In 1846 Faber established a religious community known as the Brothers of the Will of God at Cotton Hall near Cheadle, Staffordshire, the gift of the Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1847 Faber was ordained priest and with his zealous community then forty, under the grace of God, converted the whole parish except 'the parson, the pew-opener, and two drunken men.'

SUPERIOR OF THE ORATORY IN LONDON

Newman arrived from Rome in 1848 with his new Congregation of the Oratory of St Philip Neri. He established himself at Old Oscott, Birmingham, later renamed Maryvale and used to this day as a retreat centre under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Nearby is a convent of the Little Sisters of the Assumption founded in 1865 in Paris by Fr Etienne Pernet to protect and preserve family and to encourage a Christian way of life in the working man’s family.

Faber placed himself and his community under Newman. In 1849 he was sent by Newman to found the Oratory in King William Street, London, and appointed superior. In the little chapel, once a tavern, Faber laid the foundation of his future works which included schools for children, night classes and sermons with processions of the Blessed Sacrament hitherto unknown and forbidden by English Penal Laws. These and hymns composed by Faber reflected his own devotion to the Eucharist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. He had found Christ!

HE HAD FOUND CHRIST!

The hymns and services he composed echoed several aspects of Faber beginning with gratitude to God for the gift of faith. His devotions were an expression of that faith he found and had to share. Possibly his best well known is 'Faith of our Fathers, Holy Faith.' Is four verses are on faith. Its third verse is altered in Scotland to read:

'Faith of our Fathers, Mary’s prayers, shall win our country (Scotland) back to thee; and through the truth that comes from God Scotland shall then indeed be free!'

FAITH, DEVOTION AND LOVE OF GOD

At least ten hymns are credited to Faber expressing his faith, devotion and love of God:

1. Jesus, gentlest Saviour

2. Jesus is God

3. Jesus my Lord, my God, my all

4. Most ancient of all mysteries

5. Mother of Mercy

6. My God, how wonderful thou art

7. O come and mourn with me

8. O Purest of creatures

9. Sweet Saviour Bless us

10. By the Blood that flow’d from thee

He wrote eight volumes in eight years! His 'All for Jesus' (1853) had phenomenal circulation giving all the opportunity of making all piety bright and happy in an age facing Jansenism; 'Growth in Holiness' (1854), 'The Blessed Sacrament' (1855), 'The Creator and the Creature' (1858), 'The Foot of the Cross' (1858), 'Spiritual Conferences' (1859), 'The Precious Blood' (1860) and 'Bethlehem' (1860).

A FELLOW FATHER, FR HOPKINS, SUFFERED MUCH; HE WAS IGNORED BY HIS PARENTS AND FAMILY EVER SINCE HE'D BEEN RECEIVED IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH

Gerald Manley Hopkins SJ, a convert to the Faith, a member of the Oxford Movement which included John Henry Newman, Frederick William Faber and several others. Hopkins suffered much and was ignored by his parents and family following his conversion. His early poems 1860-1875 numbered 27 expressing his Catholic conscience. Poems 1876-1889 number 76; ‘unfinished’ 1862-1889 – joint total: 183. A third Jesuit, Fr James Quinn, Sacred Heart, Edinburgh, who died recently was a noted poet and compiler of hymns. He composed ten hymns and adjusted several others.

This article by Fr Bernard J. Canning was published in "The Crusader Magazine", paper edition, issue October 2013.