Frederick William Faber



Frederick William Faber (28 June 1814 — 26 September 1863) was an English poet, hymnist, and theologian. His best known work was Faith of Our Fathers (hymn).

Life
Faber was born at Calverley, Yorkshire, where his grandfather, Thomas Faber, was vicar. He attended the grammar school of Bishop Auckland for a short time, but a large portion of his boyhood was spent in Westmorland. He afterwards went to Harrow and Balliol College, Oxford.

In 1835, he obtained a scholarship at University College. In 1836, he won the Newdigate Prize for a poem on "The Knights of St John," which elicited special praise from John Keble. Among his college friends were Dean Stanley and Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne.

In January 1837, he was elected a fellow of the National Scholars Foundation. Meanwhile, he had given up the Calvinistic views of his youth, and had become an enthusiastic follower of John Henry Newman. In 1841, a travelling tutorship took him to the continent; on his return, he published a book called Sights and Thoughts in Foreign Churches and among Foreign Peoples (London, 1842), with a dedication to his friend the poet William Wordsworth.

In 1843, Faber accepted the rectory of Elton in Huntingdonshire. However, there was a strong Methodist presence in the parish and the Dissidents packed his church each Sunday in an attempt to ridicule his Catholic leanings. Many of his parishioners were reputed to be living in sin and the village was notorious for its double standards. Few people were surprised when, after a long, drawn out mental struggle, he left Elton to follow his hero Newman and join the Roman Catholic Church in November 1845. He translated Saint Louis de Montfort's classic Marian book True Devotion to Mary into English and was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1847.

He founded a religious community at Cotton Hall, also known as St Wilfrid's, in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, called Wilfridians (which ultimately merged in the Oratory of St Philip Neri, with John Henry Newman as Superior). In 1849, a branch of the oratory—subsequently independent—was established in London, first in King William Street, and afterwards at Brompton (Brompton Oratory), over which Faber presided until his death. In spite of his weak health, an almost incredible amount of work was crowded into those years. He published a number of theological works, and edited the Oratorian Lives of the Saints.

Family
He is the great-uncle of Geoffrey Faber, co-founder of the publishing house "Faber and Gwyer" which later became "Faber and Faber".

Writing
Though Faber was a Catholic writing for Catholic adherents, many of his hymns today are sung by Protestant congregations. Faber was a supporter of congregational singing and wrote his hymns in an age when English Catholics did not necessarily feel comfortable singing the hymns of their Protestant neighbors. So Faber, as a Catholic, expanded their hymns suitable for congregational singing and encouraged the practice.

Publications
In addition to many pamphlets and translations, Faber published the following works:

Poetry

 * The Cherwell Water-Lily and other poems (1840)
 * Sir Lancelot: A Legend of the Middle Ages (book-length poem, 1842; revised edition, 1857)
 * The Styrian Lake and other poems (1842)
 * The Rosary and other poems (1845)
 * Poems (1856)

Prose

 * Sights and Thoughts in Foreign Churches and among Foreign People (1842)
 * An Essay on Beatification, Canonization, and the Congregation of Rites (1848)
 * All for Jesus, or The Easy Ways of Divine Love (1853)
 * Growth in Holiness, or The Progress of the Spiritual Life (1854)
 * The Blessed Sacrament, or The Works and Ways of God (1855)
 * The Creator and the Creature, or The Wonders of Divine Love (1857)
 * The Foot of the Cross, or The Sorrows of Mary (1858)
 * Spiritual Conferences (1859)
 * The Precious Blood, or The Price of Our Salvation (1860)
 * Bethlehem (1860)
 * Notes on Doctrinal and Spiritual Subjects (2 volumes, 1866)

Hymns
Among his best-known hymns are:
 * 'Faith of Our Fathers'
 * 'Father of Mercies, Day by Day' (1849)
 * 'I was wandering and weary'
 * 'Jesus is God, the glorious bands' (n. 298, The Church Hymn Book (1872)), written in 1862
 * 'My God, how wonderful thou art' (n. 195 in Hymn Book), written in 1849
 * 'O Jesus, Jesus, dearest Lord' (n. 754, Hymn Book), written in 1848
 * 'O paradise! O paradise' (n. 1443, Hymn Book), written in 1849
 * 'Oh, come and mourn with me awhile' (n. 464, Hymn Book), written in 1849
 * 'Oh, gift of gifts' (n. 676, Hymn Book), written in 1848
 * 'Sweet Saviour, bless us were we go'
 * 'There's a Wideness in God's Mercy'
 * 'The Greatness of God'
 * 'The Will of God'
 * 'The Eternal Father'
 * 'The God of my Childhood'
 * 'The Pilgrims of the Night'
 * 'The Land beyond the Sea'
 * 'The Shadow of the Rock'