Above: Ruins of Roxburgh Castle, Kelso, Scotland, Between 1890 and 1900
Image Source = Library of Congress
Reproduction Number = LC-DIG-ppmsc-07621
Published by Detroit Publishing Company, 1905
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MARY LUNDIE DUNCAN (APRIL 26, 1814-JANUARY 5, 1840)
Scottish Presbyterian Hymn Writer
Mary Lundie, born in Kelso, Scotland,was a daughter of the Reverend Robert Lundie, a Church of Scotland minister. Her sister married Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), a great hymn writer. Our saint married the Reverend William Wallace Lundie (died in 1864), a Church of Scotland minster at Cleish, in 1836. Their marriage was brief, for she died in January 1840, after a chill turned into a fever. Our saint died a few months before her twenty-sixth birthday, leaving two young children behind.
The 1935 companion volume to the 1933 Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Hymnal says of our saint:
Mary Duncan was a most remarkable character. Her contemporaries compared her brilliant mind, overflowing personality, and devout spirit to those of Madame Guyon, the “evangelist of quietism.”
–pages 461-462
And Robert Guy McCutchan, in his 1937 companion volume t the 1935 Methodist Hymnal, wrote:
She was a beautiful woman with a beautiful character.
Here is an image of Mary Lundie Duncan I found at http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/u/n/duncan_ml.htm:
And here is a public domain image of Madame Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717):
For more about Quietism, follow this link.
Our saint wrote hymns for her children from July to December 1839. Her mother had them published posthumously. Among those hymns was “Jesus, Tender Shepherd, Hear Me.”
Our saint’s widower participated in the 1843 Disruption which formed the Free Church of Scotland, which reunited with the Church of Scotland in 1929.
Mary Lundie Duncan lived well during the short span of her life. She devoted her life to God and loved her family. Fortunately for us, that legacy survives in hymnals.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 6, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS VINCENTIA GEROSA AND BARTHOLOMEA CAPITANIO, COFOUNDERS OF THE SISTERS OF CHARITY OF LOVERE
THE FEAST OF ISAIAH, BIBLICAL PROPHET
THE FEAST OF JAN HUS, PROTO-PROTESTANT MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT PALLADIUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Dear God of beauty,
you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to
Mary Lundie Duncan 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
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Revised on November 21, 2016
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