The Night Before our Saviour Died

This hymn about and for Holy Thursday was written by English Roman Catholic teacher, youth-worker and religious Brother Damian Lundy.

It was originally published in 1978 in Songs of the Spirit - Songs and Hymns of the Renewal by Kevin Mayhew Ltd, and they hold the copyright of the song today.

With meter 8.6.8.8.6, it was originally set to an un-named tune by English teacher and composer Gerard Markland. This has a 6/8 time signature, and in the key of D the first few notes are A, D D CB,A, A A Bcd.

Since thn, it has also been set to the tune REPTON (commonly used for 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind') which was written by C. Hubert H. Parry (1848-1918) - presumably because a better-known tune is preferred for a hymn which is only used once a year.   This is the setting which is presented in the current volume of Hymns Old and New.

Downloads

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REPTON, instrumental

Examples

Instrumental - organ. Tune - REPTON:

Instrumental - keyboard, original tune:

Lyrics

The lyrics are copyright so cannot be reproduced here. A rough outline is:

1 The night before our Saviour died ...

2 And taking then a cup of wine ...

3 And so today his people meet ...

4 Lord, send your Spirit into us ...

5 Lord Jesus, present in our meal ...

See more ...

• Hymns about the Eucharist
• Hymns for Holy Thursday

KEEP IN CASE ORIGINAL IS REMOVED, BUT DO NOT DISPLAY
The night before our Saviour died, He took a loaf of bread. He blessed it, broke it, passed it round And to the friends beside him said: ‘Take this and eat it, do, My body now for you.’ 2 And taking then a cup of wine, He offered thanks again, And gave it to his friends to drink In mem’ry of his coming pain. ‘This is my blood,’ he said, ‘For you it will be shed.’ 3 And so today his people meet, Remembering the night On which our Saviour gave himself To be our food, to be our light, To be our unity, The bread of charity. 4 Lord, send your Spirit into us And make us one, we pray. Make us your body and your blood Your presence in the world today. Take us and share us, do, Your body now for you. 5 Lord Jesus, present in our meal, Be with us all the day, In all the people that we meet, In everything we do and say. And our life will be yours, And your life will be ours.