I have heard some differences of opinion recently as to whether ‘O Bread of heaven’ is really suitable for use as a communion hymn. Those arguing against will say that it is more suitable for use during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Those arguing for will say that it is a traditional Catholic hymn that has been sung at Communion for many years now.
Let’s look at both of these claims and also at what the General Instruction to the Roman Missal (GIRM) has to say about the Communion chant/song.
First of all, a bit about the history of this hymn.
It was written by St Alphonsus Liguori, and translated to English by Edmund Vaughan (1827 – 1908). Most of our hymn books now have only four verses but it would appear that there are actually more.
Look at this site to see the original text of this hymn as it appears in Hymns & Verses on Spiritual Subjects: Being the Sacred Poetry of St. Alphonso Maria Liguori (1863). It is listed under the header “Hymn to Jesus after Communion.”
‘O bread of heaven’ appears in various hymnals, usually in the form that we are used to seeing it. The Westminster hymnal, edited by R Terry in 1912, has the hymn with the four verses that we have today to the tune by H F Hemy. It is listed here under ‘General’ hymns. When the Westminster hymn book was revised in 1939 the tune name is given as ‘Tynemouth’. It now appears under ‘Corpus Christi and the Holy Eucharist’. The St Andrew Hymnal (1964) gives the tune as ‘Tynemouth’ but lists it under ‘Blessed Sacrament’. I have to say that this version looks identical to the one in the 1939 Westminster hymnal.
However, the hymn as it appears in the St. Basil’s Hymnal (1918), where it is listed under ‘Corpus Christi’, looks very different. The first half of what we know as the first verse is used as a chorus and the verses start with ‘O bond of love’. It includes the two extra verses mentioned above but not the current verse 2.
Of the modern hymn books, Celebration for Everyone lists it under ‘Communion’ while Laudate puts it under ‘Eucharistic adoration’
From what we have here, it doesn’t look as though ‘O bread of heaven’ was intended for use during communion. And it probably wouldn’t have been because when it was written the communion song as we now know it didn’t exist.
Many traditional Eucharistic hymns were composed for Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. They concentrate on adoration rather than on the action of communion and may not be appropriate as communion songs.
CTM CBCEW
The reason for this statement from the bishops of England and Wales is that Communion is something that we all do together as a celebrating body. It’s not an individual “me and Jesus” time, but rather a communal “Jesus and us” time. And the focus of many of the Eucharistic hymns is a personal relationship with Jesus. Not that there is anything wrong with a personal relationship with Jesus of course; quite the opposite, in fact. But it isn’t the focus during the communion procession.
So what does the General Instruction actually say? I will use what it says in Celebrating the Mass which is the book issued by the Bishops of England and Wales. The wording is actually almost identical in GIRM.
The Communion of priest and people is helpfully accompanied by prayerful congregational song. This singing is meant to express the communicants’ union in spirit by means of the unity of their voices, to give evidence of joy of heart, and to highlight more the “communitarian” nature of the Communion procession
CTM CBCEW
Let’s look at each of these in relation to the hymn.
to express the spiritual union of the communicants by means of the unity of their voices
Certainly a hymn like ‘O bread of heaven’ which everyone knows and sings together expresses our oneness through our voices joining together. The disadvantage of a straight hymn during the communion procession is that normally it is very difficult to sing unless you have the words in front of you. And people really don’t want to carry a hymn book with them when they go up to receive communion. This hymn, however, is so well known that, as long as the people who are in their seats (and the choir if there is one) sing well, everyone else is familiar enough with the words to keep singing.
to show gladness of heart,
Well, anyone who has heard a congregation belting this hymn out would have to agree that this is happening.
to bring out more clearly the ‘communitarian’ character of the procession to receive the Eucharist
This is the one where the contention starts. ‘O bread of heaven’ uses “I” rather than “we”. However, so does the creed these days and that is meant to be a statement of our collective belief. In addition, many psalms use I rather then we but could still be used to express our com-union.
Celebrating the Mass also says
The text and the music should be suited to the mystery being celebrated, the part of the Mass, the liturgical season or the day.
CBCEW
There is nothing wrong with any of the sentiments expressed in the hymn. It’s all good Catholic beliefs. It is Eucharist-centered. Looking carefully at the text, however, we can see it verges on being more of a hymn for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as indeed it was originally intended for this purpose. It was meant as a hymn after communion and possibly this is where it would be better suited. It is quite long for a post-communion hymn in our modern Mass however. So if it was meant for after Communion why do we sing it at Communion? I suspect the answer to this is simply that people knew the hymn and when hymns began to be allowed to be sung during Mass it was just there and so was used.
My personal opinion is that it is not so overtly adoration-focussed in the way that some other hymns are. (I’m thinking here of hymns like ‘Sweet sacrament divine’ and ‘Sweet heart of Jesus’.) For this reason, I come down on the side of it being OK to sing ‘O bread of heaven’ as a communion hymn.
Would I sing it often? No, definitely not. There are many songs that are better suited to the Communion procession. But once a year, probably during the summer when the choir and cantors may be away and the congregation have to take responsibility for the singing, yes.
Music, Liturgy and ME 