"Vulgar" Hymn

William Henry Cardinal O'Connell, Archbishop of Boston, last week gave decisive publication to his wrath against certain English hymns which Roman Catholics have unwarily allowed into their funeral services. The specific hymn which His Eminence denounced was "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere." It goes:

Somewhere the sun is shining,

Somewhere the songbirds dwell,

Hush, then, thy sad repining,

God lives, and all is well.

Somewhere, somewhere,

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere!

Land of the true, where we live anew,

Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.

Everybody knows the melody. Jessie Brown Pounds and John S. Pearis composed it in 1897, when Cardinal O'Connell was in Rome, domestic prelate to Pope Leo XIII. Voices welling with young love sang it from stoops to hollyhocks and sunflowers nodding in moonlight; voices welling with grief sang it at funeral services. It still draws applause at burlesque shows, and it still can soften the memory of clods plumping down on coffins. It is an accepted hymn in many a Christian church.

Of "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere" Cardinal O'Connell commanded last week: "I have noticed lately that on several occasions at the funerals held in our churches, vulgar and profane English hymns, composed evidently by people who have no faith but plenty of maudlin sentiment, have been sung at the end of the ritual. One of these hymns, 'Beautiful Isle of Somewhere,' a flagrant outrage to faith and the ritual, seems to be the favorite sob-producer.

"The Catholic's ritual is so noble, so sublime and so divine that only a vulgar mind could be guilty of insulting it with such trash.

"I call this to the attention of the pastors and the people of the Archdiocese in order that this revolting experience will not be repeated. Any organist or choir director allowing such a stupid performance in the future will be immediately suspended or discharged."