My friend Andy Underhile compares “contemporary Christian music” with the 8th century hymn, “Be Thou My Vision,” written by Dallán Forgaill (530-598). Here’s hymnary.org’s write-up on Forgaill:
Saint Dallán Forgaill (ca. 530–598), also known as Dallán Forchella, Dallán of Cluain Dalláin, and born Eochaid Forchella, was an early Christian Irish poet, best known as the writer of the Amra Choluim Chille (“Eulogy of Saint Columba”) and the early Irish poem “Rop tú mo baile,” the basis of the modern English hymn “Be Thou My Vision.”
Dallán Forgaill’s given name was Eochaid, and his mother was called Forchella. He was the son of Colla, a descendant of the legendary High King Colla Uais. His nickname, Dallán (“little blind one”), was earned after he lost his sight, reputedly as a result of studying intensively.
He died in 598 when pirates broke into the island monastery of Inniskeel, County Donegal, where he is buried. He was reportedly beheaded, and it is also said that God reattached his head to his body after he was martyred. He was acclaimed a saint in the early 11th century, during the reign of the High King Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill. A medieval poem entitled “On the breaking up of a School” composed by Tadhg Og O Huiginn, c.1400, refers to the death of Dallán which caused his school to break up and the students to disperse as they would accept no other master. In a list of ancient Irish authors contained in the Book of Ballymote, Dallán is called “grandson of testimonyâ€.
The preferred tune for “Be Thou My Vision” is a traditional Irish folk tune called “Slane”:
“According to mythology [I prefer the word “tradition”], when St. Patrick was a missionary in Ireland in the 5th century, King Logaire of Tara decreed that no one was allowed to light any fires until a pagan festival was begun by the lighting of a fire on Slane Hill. In a move of defiance against this pagan ritual, St. Patrick did light a fire, and, rather than execute him, the king was so impressed by his devotion that he let Patrick continue his missionary work. Three centuries later, a monk named Dallan Forgaill wrote the Irish poem, “Rop tú mo Baile†(“Be Thou my Vision), to remember and honor the faith of St. Patrick. Forgaill was martyred by pirates, but his poetry lived on as a part of the Irish monastic tradition for centuries until, in the early 20th century, Mary Elizabeth Byrne translated the poem into English, and in 1912, Eleanor Hull versified the text into what is now a well-loved hymn and prayer that at every moment of our lives, God would be our vision above all else.”
Though we don’t sing this hymn much in our service—we prefer singing the Psalms—I still consider “Be Thou My Vision” to be a good Christian hymn without any obvious error. Which is much better than pantheistic-sounding “Everywhere I Go I See You” repeated umpteenth times until you’re sounding like Tweety Bird.