ST. AGNES
John B. Dykes composed ST. AGNES for this text. Dykes named the tune after a young Roman Christian woman who was martyred in A.D. 304 during the reign of Diocletian. St. Agnes was sentenced to death for refusing to marry a nobleman to whom she said, “I am already engaged to Christ, to Him alone I keep my troth.” The tune was published in John Grey’s Hymnalfor Use in theEnglish Church (1866). ST. AGNES is a simple tune, best sung in two long lines and in harmony. To encour age meditation on the text (as was the practice with its Latin original), consider having the congregation follow the text of stanza 2 (“No voice can sing”) without singing, but simply listening to it as played by the organ. Liturgical Use: Worship that focuses on Christ’s redemptive work; Lord’s Supper; Lent.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Law (conviction of sin and need for God's Word) → Gospel (Christ's redemption and grace) → Sanctification (Word as guide for holy living)
Associated Hymn Texts (28)
- How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts
- Lord of the Church We Humbly Pray
- O Bless the Lord My Soul
- The People That in Darkness Sat
- As Pants the Hart for Cooling Streams
- Christ, the Life of All the Living
- Come O Come Thou Quickening Spirit
- Come, My Soul, with Every Care
- Dear Father Who hast Made Us All
- Forever with the Lord
- Holy Ghost with Light Divine
- Jerusalem, My Happy Home
- Jesus in Thy Thirst and Pain
- Lord Jesus, Think on Me
- Lord Speak to Us That We May Speak
- Lord Tis Not that I did Choose You
- My Faith Looks Trustingly
- O Christ, Our Hope, Our Heart's Desire
- O Dearest Lord, Thy Sacred Head
- O Jesus Joy of Loving Hearts
- O Thou Who Once in Galilee
- O Thou that Hear'st when Sinners Cry
- Oh, That the Lord Would Guide My Ways
- Our Fathers' God in Years Long Gone
- Through All the Changing Scenes of Life
- Thus Far the Lord Has Led Me On
- To Thy Temple I Repair
- We Are Called by One Vocation