Be Thou My Vision

"Be Thou My Vision" ( or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional Christian hymn of Irish origin. The words are based on a Middle Irish lorica that has sometimes been attributed to Dallán Forgaill.

The best-known English version, with some minor variations, was translated in 1905 by Mary Elizabeth Byrne, then made into verse by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. Since 1919 it has been commonly sung to an Irish folk tune, noted as "Slane" in church hymnals, and is one of the most popular hymns in the United Kingdom.

Text

thumb|Church ruins on [[Slane Hill]]

The original Early Middle Irish text, "Rop tú mo baile" is attributed to Saint Dallán Forgaill in the 6th century. However, scholars believe it was written much later than that. Gerard Murphy follows Monica Nevin in dating it to "the end of the tenth century or in the eleventh century" based on the language used.

There are two manuscript sources for the prayer, National Library of Ireland MS. 3 (f. 22r), which Murphy calls P, and R.I.A. MS. 23 N 10 (pp. 95–96), which Murphy calls N. Murphy attributes N to the sixteenth-century (one of the scribes refers to the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day 1575) and P "may also have been written in the sixteenth century, or perhaps a century of so earlier".

Mary Elizabeth Byrne’s 1905 edition and translation in Ériu used Manuscript N (RIA MS 23 N 10), referring to Manuscript P as "evidently only a careless transcript of [Manuscript N]", though she gave no justification for this claim. This is now the most common text used.

The text of Rop tú mo Baile reflects aspects of life in Early Christian Ireland (c.400-800 AD). The prayer belongs to a type known as a lorica, a prayer for protection. The symbolic use of a battle-shield and a sword to invoke the power and protection of God draws on Saint Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (), which refers to "the shield of faith" and "the sword of the Spirit". Such military symbolism was common in the poetry and hymnology of Christian monasteries of the period due to the prevalence of clan warfare across Ireland. The poem makes reference to God as "King of the Seven Heavens" and the "High King of Heaven".

Musical accompaniment

thumb|The melody "Slane"

thumb|The alternative version of "Slane" (upbeats highlighted in red)

The hymn is sung to the melody noted as “Slane” in hymnals, an Irish folk tune in time, first published as "With My Love on the Road" in Patrick Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs in 1909. The tune is a more elemental distillation of earlier forms, such as "The Hielan's o' Scotland' and "By the Banks of the Bann," also compiled in Joyce (1909). The words of "Be Thou My Vision" were first combined with this tune in 1919 (harmonised by Leopold L Dix, 1861-1935), A further version was harmonised by Erik Routley for the English Hymnal.

It was common practice to attribute hymn tune names to the place where they were collected by folk song collectors, such as Ralph Vaughan Williams who co-edited The English Hymnal, published in 1906. Slane is a village in Ireland.

Four more 20th century hymns have been set to the same tune. The first was "Lord of All Hopefulness" written by Jan Struther around 1931. The second was "Lord of Creation, to Thee be All Praise" written by J. C. Winslow and first published in 1961. The third was a popular wedding hymn, "God, In the Planning and Purpose of Life", written by John L. Bell and Graham Maule and first appearing in publication in 1989. The fourth is "Wake Now My Senses," written by Thomas Michaelson and published in "Singing the Living Tradition Hymnal" 1994, by the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Gå inte förbi ("Don't Walk Past") is a duet-single set to the tune, recorded by Swedish singer Peter Jöback and Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebø and written by Ulf Schagerman. Jöback sings the lyrics in Swedish while Sissel sings in Norwegian. It was released as a single in 2003 and at an extended reissue of Jöback's Christmas album Jag kommer hem igen till jul. It was a hit in Norway and Sweden in the Christmas time of 2003 and a music video directed by Mikadelica was made in Denmark. Norwegian newspaper VG gave it 4 out of 6.

Lyrics

The original texts of Rop Tú Mo Ḃaile are in Early Middle Irish. The hymn has been translated into Modern Irish many times. The most popular is that by Aodh Ó Dúgain of Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal. Two verses of his translation were recorded by his granddaughter Máire Ní Bhraonáin – the first time any part of his text has been publicly recorded. Since then, those two verses have been recorded by many artists, including Roma Downey and Aoife and Iona. These verses are paraphrases of the English text and do not closely follow the original Gaelic.

The song has also been translated into Scottish Gaelic by Céitidh Mhoireasdan and published by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.

Two variants of Eleanor Hull's 1912 English translation exist; one version, commonly used in Irish and Scottish hymnals (including the Hymnbooks of the Church of Scotland), fits the metre 10.10.10.10, while a paraphrased version that is used in English books (such as the New English Hymnal) is suitable to an anacrucial metre 10.11.11.11.

Original Old Irish Text

Rop tú mo baile, a Choimdiu cride:

ní ní nech aile acht Rí secht nime.

Rop tú mo scrútain i lló 's i n-aidche;

rop tú ad-chëar im chotlud caidche.

Rop tú mo labra, rop tú mo thuicsiu;

rop tussu dam-sa, rob misse duit-siu.

Rop tussu m'athair, rob mé do mac-su;

rop tussu lem-sa, rob misse lat-su.

Rop tú mo chathscíath, rop tú mo chlaideb;

rop tussu m'ordan, rop tussu m'airer.

Rop tú mo dítiu, rop tú mo daingen;

rop tú nom-thocba i n-áentaid n-aingel.

Rop tú cech maithius dom churp, dom anmain;

rop tú mo flaithius i nnim 's i talmain.

Rop tussu t'áenur sainṡerc mo chride;

ní rop nech aile acht Airdrí nime.

Co talla forum, ré ndul it láma,

mo chuit, mo chotlud, ar méit do gráda.

Rop tussu t'áenur m'urrann úais amra:

ní chuinngim daíne ná maíne marba.

Rop amlaid dínsiur cech sel, cech sáegul,

mar marb oc brénad, ar t'ḟégad t'áenur.

Do ṡerc im anmain, do grád im chride,

tabair dam amlaid, a Rí secht nime.

Tabair dam amlaid, a Rí secht nime,

do ṡerc im anmain, do grád im chride.

Go Ríg na n-uile rís íar mbúaid léire;

ro béo i flaith nime i ngile gréine

A Athair inmain, cluinte mo núall-sa:

mithig (mo-núarán!) lasin trúagán trúag-sa.

A Chríst