Jesu Redemptor omnium, Perpes corona praesulum. [Comm. of Confessors.] This hymn is found in four hymnaries of the 11th century, in the British Museum, viz.: three of the English Church (Vesp. D. xii. f. 109; Jul. A. vi. f. 67; Harl. 2961, f. 249?>), and one of the Spanish Church (Add. 30,851, f. 1546). In the Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 1851, p. 137, it is printed from an 11th century manuscript at Durham. (B. iii. 32, f. 40 b.) It is also found in the Roman (Venice, 1478), Sarum, York, Aberdeen, and other Breviaries. In the Sarum use it was the hymn at Lauds and Second Vespers on the festival of a Confessor and Bishop. Daniel, i., No. 237, gives the text, and at iv. p. 369, cites it as in a 9th century manuscript at Bern. The Roman Breviary text is in Cardinal Newman's Hymni Ecclesiae, 1838 and 1865. Translated as:—
1. Redeemer blest of all who live. By E. Caswall. First published in his Lyra Catholica, 1849, p. 217, in 5 stanza of 4 lines; and again in his Hymns & Poems, 1873, p. 115. It is repeated in some Roman Catholic collections for missions and schools, and also in other hymn-books.
2. Jesu, the world's Redeemer, hear. By J. D. Chambers. Published in the enlarged edition of the Hymnal Noted, 1854; and repeated in the Hymnary, 1872, &c.
3. 0 Thou, Whose all redeeming might. By R. M. Benson. Contributed to Hymns Ancient & Modern 1861, and repeated in the revised edition, 1875.
4. Jesu, Redeemer, the renown. By J. D. Chambers. This second rendering by Mr. Chambers appeared in his Lauda Syon, Pt. ii., 1866, and was repeated in the People's Hymnal, 1867.
Translations not in common use:—
1. Jesu, Redeemer Thou of all. W. J. Blew, 1852-5.
2. Jesus, Redeemer of mankind. J. Wallace, 1874.
In the York Breviary of 1493, stanza iii., iv., slightly altered and beginning "Haec rite mundi gaudia", are given as the hymn for 1st Vespers and for Matins in the office of the Common of one Matron, usually called the Common of Holy Women. This form is found in the reprint of that Breviary by the Surtees Society, ii. 77 (1883). The translation from this text is:—
The world and all its boasted good. This appeared in the enlarged edition of the Hymnal Noted, 1854, in 3 stanzas of 4 lines. It is usually ascribed to Dr. Neale, but in error. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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