Lenten hymns: joyful but austere...

During Lent our hymns take on a more solemn tune says music historian Monsignor Philip Whitmore because although it is a joyful season , it is austere, and this austerity is reflected in our liturgy : "In the season of Lent we join Our Lord Jesus in his fast of 40 days. We devote ourselves to prayer, fasting and almsgiving, so as to prepare ourselves spiritually for the great events of Holy Week and Easter. ..we use purple vestments , we omit the Gloria and the Alleluia..."

Among the hymns Monsignor Whitmore chooses from our Catholic tradition is 'God of Mercy and Compassion' which tells of God's mercy to us sinners. The words were written by the 19th century Redemptorist priest Edmund Vaughan, uncle of the future Cardinal Herbert Vaughan, who founded Westminster Cathedral...like many Victorian hymns it uses a refrain in which we express our firm purpose of amendment: All my sins I now detest them , never will I sin again".

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