all creatures great and small all things wise and wonderful

Although unexpected by her family, there was a great outpouring of condolences from all over the nation. Upon her death in 1895 in Londonderry, the cathedral bell began to ring announcing her passing to the city. Patrick’s Lorica” (or breastplate) into the hymn “I bind unto myself today.”ĭuring her lifetime Alexander was known for her devotion to the poor, mentally handicapped, the deaf and the sick. Following a personal tragedy, Alexander began to write hymns for adults, which culminated in her translation of a Gaelic poem called “St. The couple had two sons and two daughters. In 1850, Fanny married William Alexander, rector of Termonamongan, who later became Bishop of Derry, Archbishop of Armagh and primate for all Ireland. Although the hymns from these publications were intended for children, their simple language and imagery is widely popular among children of all ages. In Keble’s brief preface, he notes that the proceeds of this publication were dedicated to Lady Harriet Howard’s school for deaf and dumb children, Fanny’s favorite charity. After dedicating her first publication to Keble, the young Fanny approached him to write a preface for Hymns for Little Children (1848), which included some of her most famous hymns such as “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” “Once in Royal David’s City” and “There is a Green Hill Far Away.”

His most important collection, The Christian Year, was one of Fanny’s favorites. John Keble was a proponent of the influential Oxford movement and an author of religious verse. Walter Farquar Hook, who edited and wrote the preface to her first publication, Verses for Holy Season (1846).

She was greatly influenced by clergymen like the Rev. The introverted Fanny, as she was known to her family and friends, showed interest in poetry and writing, the earliest of which first appeared in a family weekly magazine. Cecil Frances Alexander, born in 1818 in Dublin, Ireland, was the daughter and third child of the former Elizabeth Reed and Major John Humphreys of Norfolk, land-agent to 4th Earl of Wicklow and later to the 2nd Marquess of Abercorn. His books are friends, you can get lost in them and they never wear out.Mrs. My favorite books to share with my kids are books with rich language, warm humor and evocative of nature. For the uninitiated, Jim Dale is simply the best audiobook narrator ever in the universe full stop.įor your read aloud pleasure, I leave you this pretty little poem that inspired this series.

All creatures great and small all things wise and wonderful