Richard Crashaw - A Hymn to the Name and Honour of the Admirable Saint Teresa

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"Blest powers forbid thy tender life Should bleed upon a barbarous knife; Or some base hand have power to rase Thy breast’s chaste cabinet, and uncase A soul kept there so sweet; oh no, Wise Heav’n will never have it so; Thou art Love’s victim, and must die A death more mystical and high; Into Love’s arms thou shalt let fall A still-surviving funeral."

Richard Crashaw was a 17th-century English poet and Anglican priest who later in life converted to Catholicism. He taught at Cambridge and served as curate of the Church of St. Mary the Less, where he became known for his High Church Anglicanism. Puritan detractors cited him for his "Mariolatry", or excessive devotion to the Virgin Mary, and also found fault with his adornment of the church with Christian art and his use of Catholic vestments.

Under the rule of Oliver Cromwell, Crashaw was expelled from his parish and forced to flee the country. It was during this exile that Crashaw converted to Catholicism, eventually ending up in Rome under the employment of a Catholic cardinal. This same cardinal would appoint him to be canon of the Shrine of the Holy House of Loreto, where Crashaw died a few short months later.

Crashaw is known for his religious poetry with distinct mystical themes. He was inspired by the works of St. Teresa of Avila, despite the fact that she was largely unknown in England because her works had not yet been translated there. Crashaw wrote three poems about St. Teresa, of which "A Hymn to the Name and Honour of Saint Teresa" is the first. In it, Crashaw traces a development from the child Teresa's desire for physical martyrdom to the adult Teresa's mystical conquest of the inner self.

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us!

Links

"A Hymn to the Name and Honour of the Admirable Saint Teresa" full text: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44057/a-hymn-to-the-name-and-honour-of-the-admirable-saint-teresa

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Theme music: 2 Part Invention, composed by Mark Christopher Brandt, performed by Thomas Mirus. ©️2019 Heart of the Lion Publishing Co./BMI. All rights reserved.