Voices Found for the Martyrs of Memphis, September 9, VF #65

          

                                                         White roses of remembrance
 

Voices Found # 65

Rejoice for martyrs strong,

the daughters of your love:

the nurses who tended your children 

bringing comfort from above.

Refrain:

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice,

rejoice, again I say rejoice,

rejoice again, I say rejoice.

Rejoice for charity!

Rejoice for servanthood!

Rejoice for saints who show us how to 

love and work for good

Refrain:

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice,

rejoice, again I say rejoice,

rejoice again, I say rejoice.

Words: Lisa Neufeld Thomas

Music: Mayfair, Frances McCollin (1892-1960)

In 1878 an epidemic of yellow fever struck Memphis, Tennessee. Although many residents fled the city, some faithful volunteers remained to care for the sick and dying.  Constance, Superior of the Sisters of St. Mary (Anglican), and others from the convent stayed.  Also among the volunteers were the rectors of two Episcopal churches in Memphis , one from New Jersey, three physicians, and several volunteer nurses from New York.  Those volunteers who gave their lives in service are remembered as the Martyrs of Memphis.

I wrote this hymn in 1966to be sung at a service held  in the Lady Chapel at St. Mark's, Locust Street, Philadelphia.  The Late Reverend Paulette Schiff, a member of the Voices Found Hymnal Committee, celebrated and sang  that Eucharist.  

Frances McCollin (1892-1960), a blind organist, choral conductor, and composer born in Philadelphia, wrote hymn tunes with harmonizations under the pen name "Mayfair."  Nearly a third of her more than three hundred compositions were published in her lifetime, and her orchestral works were performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, of which her father was a founder. She submitted this hymn tune to be included in the 1940 Episcopal hymnal but was rejected because she was a woman.  It is fitting finally  to include her work in Voices Found. McCollin's scores and manuscripts are available at the Free Library of Philadelphia where the librarians there graciously allowed me to access all of her music.

For more information and performance suggestions please see:

                                                                        

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