Fount of Contrite Tears

A hymn in honour of the Sacred Heart today, written by Father Francis Stanfield, a priest of the Diocese of Westminster, who was also the author of the very popular Catholic hymn, Sweet Sacrament divine. Father Stanfield, like his father and brother (who was also a priest), had been an Anglican before his reception into the Catholic Church. In the 1880s he became Parish Priest of Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, close to The Strand, in central London; a parish that was elevated to the dignity of a shrine church of the Blessed Sacrament by Cardinal Nichols in June 2018. Mgr Ronald Knox preached there on 26 occasions.

O Sacred Heart,
Our home lies deep in thee;
On earth thou art an exile’s rest,
In heav’n the glory of the blest,
O Sacred Heart.

O Sacred Heart,
Thou fount of contrite tears;
Where’er those living waters flow,
New life to sinners they bestow,
O Sacred Heart.

O Sacred Heart,
Our trust is all in thee,
For though earth’s night be dark and drear,
Thou breathest rest where thou art near,
O Sacred Heart.

O Sacred Heart,
When shades of death shall fall,
Receive us ’neath thy gentle care,
And save us from the tempter’s snare,
O Sacred Heart.

O Sacred Heart,
Lead exiled children home,
Where we may ever rest near thee,
In peace and joy eternally,
O Sacred Heart.

Fr Francis Stanfield, 1835-1914