I have been singing as a tenor in the choir for over forty-seven years. I grew up in St. Mary’s Parish in Akron, Ohio and joined St. Mary’s Choir in my junior year of high school and continued to sing until St. Mary’s closed in 2010. After St. Mary’s closed, I became a parishioner at St. Paul’s Catholic Church, and I joined their choir.
In March of 2018 as the Feast of St. Joseph approached, I looked through our parish hymnal and was disappointed by the lack of devotional hymns to St. Joseph. So, I set about to gather as many hymns as I could from my collection of Catholic hymnals.
Over the course of three years, I surveyed over one hundred Catholic hymnals and found over eighty hymns to St. Joseph. The hymnals in the survey included those from England, Ireland, and America from the late 19th and early 20th century period. From there, I set out to identify the melodies of these hymns and I have put together fourteen of the most widely used Catholic hymns to St. Joseph and the melodies. These hymns were sung by Catholic Choirs and in Catholic Schools since the 1840s.
My collection of hymns to St. Joseph is now available on Amazon for purchase. This is my first-time publishing, and I am very excited! Each hymn has a melody and choir arrangement, a brief history of the hymns, and a short reflection.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B091F5QFD1
It my hope that these hymns will become part of a parish repertoire and help to renew our understanding and devotion to St. Joseph.
After eleven years at St. Paul’s I have returned to St. Mary’s, and I am once again singing with St. Mary’s Choir.
Don Howe
