Faith of our fathers, living still

E830 T830
1
Faith of our fathers, living still
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword,
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene’er we hear that glorious word!
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death!
2
Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free;
And blest would be their children’s fate,
If they, like them should die for thee:
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death!
3
Faith of our fathers, we will strive
To win all nations unto thee;
And through the truth that comes from God
Mankind shall then indeed be free.
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death!
4
Faith of our fathers, we will love
Both friend and foe in all our strife,
And preach thee, too, as love knows how
By kindly words and virtuous life.
Faith of our fathers! holy faith!
We will be true to thee till death!
121
Bruce A. Wilson

Charleston, WV, United States

This hymn was written in celebration of the Catholic Emancipation Act, by which it became legal for the first time since the Reformation for Roman Catholics to worship openly in England. The bit about 'our father's chained in prisons dark'--nobody had gone to prison for a while just for being Catholic, but there would have been English Catholics who were old enough to have remembered stories from their childhoods of it having happened to people of the immediately preceding generation.