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Reginald Heber

1783–1826 · England · Classical

Author

English parish priest and Bishop of Calcutta, author of 'Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty' and pioneer of hymns for the Church Year.

Life

Reginald Heber was born in 1783, the son of a wealthy clergyman and landowner, and won fame as a poet at Oxford. After an extended tour of Scandinavia, Russia and Central Europe he was ordained in 1807 and took his father's old parish of Hodnet, Shropshire, where he served for sixteen years. He also wrote on the works of Jeremy Taylor. In 1823 he was consecrated Bishop of Calcutta, with a diocese covering all of British India; he travelled widely and worked hard for the spiritual and material welfare of his people, but the climate and his duties broke his health, and he died in India in 1826 at the age of 42.

As a Hymn Writer

Heber was among the first Anglicans to write hymns systematically for the Sundays and festivals of the Church Year, matched to the Epistles and Gospels. His collection, Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, appeared after his death (1827). His style is literary and vivid. 'Holy, Holy, Holy' is a sustained meditation on Revelation 4 and the Trinity; 'Brightest and Best' is an Epiphany hymn; and his missionary hymns reflect his own call to India.

In The Lutheran Hymnal and Lutheran Service Book (5)

  • TLH 70 Hosanna to the Living Lord
  • TLH 128 Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning
  • TLH 246 Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty
  • TLH 452 The Son of God Goes Forth to War
  • TLH 495 From Greenland's Icy Mountains

Sources: Wikipedia, 'Reginald Heber'.

Hymn Texts (11)