Fr James Quinn SJ

The 300-odd hymns that James Quinn composed in New Hymns for All Seasons (1969, Chapman) and Praise for all Seasons(1994, Chapman) appear in most modern hymn books whether used for Roman Catholic or Anglican congregations.

His aim, while composing, was to produce a “catechism in song”. “Hymns fundamentally declare the Christian faith,” said Quinn, a Jesuit. “They are our source book for teaching and for sermons.”

His inspiration came from the writings of the saints, the psalms and ancient texts that reflected on church teaching, Scripture or the Eucharist.

“Hymns form a rich scriptural quarry,” he said. “They are to convey the words of Christ memorably.” The language used should be “clear but not banal and above all simple”. He did not write “modern” hymns that relied only on current vocabulary, and encouraged people who did not understand the terminology to make the effort to learn.

He did not always use rhyme. Its absence “when you are setting out to capture words of Scripture, makes for greater fidelity to the text — providing that there compensating cadences”.

Quinn’s first experiments as a hymn writer began after the Second Vatican Council, which sat from 1962 until 1965. Commenting one day to the priest whom he assisted in a parish in Edinburgh that there would be a need for hymns in the vernacular to accompany the newly translated liturgy, the priest challenged him, saying: “You do it!” Though unsure he was equal to the task, Quinn consulted a headmaster whom he knew to be a musician. His best-known hymns include Forth in the Peace of Christ We Go, I Am the Holy Vine, The Bread That We Break and Christ Be Beside Me, a highly popular reworking of The Breastplate of St Patrick, inspired, said Quinn, by his family roots. “My own ancestry can be traced back to the 17th century in Northern Ireland,” he said. “That is really where I spiritually belong.”

James Quinn was born in Glasgow in 1919. He was educated at St Aloysius’ College and the University of Glasgow, and joined the Society of Jesus in 1939. He was ordained in 1950. He taught in Preston, Lancashire, and London and served as a parish priest in Edinburgh.

He was an observer at the 1964 assembly of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in Frankfurt and later acted as consultant to the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order conference at Louvain, Belgium, in 1972. The following year he joined the Scottish Religious Advisory Committee of the BBC. From 1972-76 he was a consultant to the International Commission on English in the Liturgy and later served as Spiritual Director of the Beda College Rome. In 1980 he was appointed secretary to the Scottish Commission for Christian Unity. In 1987 he became Episcopal Vicar for Ecumenism in the Archdiocese of Edinburgh.

Father James Quinn, SJ, hymn writer, was born on April 21, 1919. He died on April 8, 2010, aged 90