Composition Year | 1863 c. |
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Genre Categories | Sacred hymns; Hymns; Religious works; |
Work Title | Anima Christi |
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Alternative. Title | |
Composer | Maher, William Joseph |
I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. | IWM 5 |
Key | G major |
Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp. | 1863 c. |
First Publication. | 1864 |
Language | Latin |
Composer Time PeriodComp. Period | Romantic |
Piece Style | Modern |
Instrumentation | mixed chorus |
According to hymnary.org, this hymn "became popular in the latter half of the nineteenth century in British Roman Catholic churches, where it was used for evening benediction services. It is believed that Jesuit priest William J. Maher (b. Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, 1823; d. Paris, France, 1877) composed the tune around 1863 for a fourteenth-century Latin hymn, "Anima Christi sanctifica me." The obscure British collection Mission Hymns (1864) first published ANIMA CHRISTI for use with an anonymous English translation of this Latin text."