Hymns to the Mother of God are indelibly connected with pilgrimage to her many shrines – that is one reason some of them have so many verses! But in the hymn Christians, join in our procession (Christijane pribihajte), we have a spiritual song which provides an entire theology of pilgrimage.
Here is the version in the Marian Hymnal (1984):
And here is the Slavonic.
Discussion
This is another hymn of somewhat uncertain origin – but it works well as a pilgrimage processional, and the fit of the English accents to music is not bad.
I am not convinced that it is really in 4/4 time throughout – 2/2 might be better. Also, do you think we should include time signatures in regularly metered hymns like this one? (I decided against it for Beautiful Holy Queen, but that was because part of the hymn was metered and part was in “chant style.”)
There is ONE slightly bad accent: verse 1 ends, “When we praise the Mother of God”, and the half note on “of” lands rather heavily. Given the theological nature of this hymn, I propose, just this one, changing “Mother of God” to her formal title, “Theotokos”, which fits the rhythm perfectly.
Thoughts or suggestions?
Please leave a comment!
Deacon Jeff,
I found a few typos needing correction:
1. The first and third notes of the 1st measure should be flipped. It should read A-G-F-G.
2. On the 2nd line, 2nd measure, the half note should be a printed G
3. On the 5th verse, 1st line, it should read “hea-vens” instead of “heav-vens”
Thanks,
George Nagrant
Cantor- St. Nicholas Church, Clinton Twp, MI
Thank you!