Above: Naumburg, Germany, Between 1890 and 1900
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsca-00974
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CHRISTOPH HOMBURG (1605-JUNE 2, 1681)
German Lutheran Hymn Writer
Christoph Homburg was a skilled poet. He, born at Eisenach, Thuringia, in 1605, practiced law at Naumburg, Saxony-Anhalt. He also wrote secular poetry, including love songs and drinking songs, for years, until a series of difficult events, including his illness and the death of his wife, led to a conversion. Homburg, who belonged to the Fruitbearing Society (founded in 1617 and devoted to standardizing vernacular German and promoting it as a literary and scholarly language) and the Elbe Swan Order (founded by hymn writer Johann Rist, who lived from 1607 to 1667), wrote about 150 hymns for his private use. Then he published them in the two volumes of Geistliche Leider (1659). Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878) translated one of his hymns as “Christ, the Life of All the Living” in 1863. The last stanza follows:
Then, for all that wrought my pardon,
For Thy sorrows deep and sore,
For Thine anguish in the Garden,
I will thank Thee evermore,
Thank Thee for Thy groaning, sighing,
For Thy bleeding and Thy dying,
For that last triumphant cry,
And shall praise Thee, Lord, on high.
—The Lutheran Hymnal (1941), hymn #151
Homburg died at Naumburg on June 2, 1681.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JANUARY 13, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, FOUNDER OF THE SISTERS OF NOTRE DAME
THE FEAST OF SAINT HILARY OF POITIERS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF HUBERT HUMPHREY, UNITED STATES SENATOR AND VICE PRESIDENT
THE FEAST OF KENTIGERN (MUNGO), ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF GLASGOW
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear God of beauty,
you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to
Christoph Homburg and others, who have composed hymn texts.
May we, as you guide us,
find worthy hymn texts to be icons,
through which we see you.
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15
Psalm 147
Revelation 5:11-14
Luke 2:8-20
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Leave a Reply