Hymns for Pentecost
Red for the Spirit, then the hardest Sunday of the year to preach and very nearly the hardest to sing.
Pentecost
Fifty days after Easter, red, and the end of Eastertide. The repertoire is smaller than the feast deserves, which is why the same four hymns appear in most parishes every year.
| Hymn | Where it sits | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Come down, O Love divine | Gradual or communion | Bianco da Siena, tr. Littledale; Down Ampney. Public domain |
| Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire | Opening | Veni Creator. The ordination hymn |
| Breathe on me, breath of God | Communion | Hatch; Carlisle. Public domain |
| O thou who camest from above | Offertory | Wesley; Hereford. Public domain |
| Spirit of the living God | Gradual | Iverson. In copyright — check your licence |
| Come, thou Holy Spirit, come | Sequence | Veni Sancte Spiritus, the Pentecost sequence |
Trinity Sunday
The Sunday after Pentecost, white or gold, and the one Sunday in the year whose subject is a doctrine rather than an event. That is what makes it difficult: hymns about the Trinity are either magnificent or they are lists.
| Hymn | Where it sits | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty | Opening | Heber; Nicaea. Effectively the Trinity Sunday hymn |
| I bind unto myself today | Gradual | St Patrick’s Breastplate. Long, and the point of it is the length |
| Father, Lord of all creation | Offertory | Abbot’s Leigh |
| Thou whose almighty word | Final | Moscow. Public domain |
| Firmly I believe and truly | Communion | Newman; Shipston. Public domain |
Practical notes
- St Patrick’s Breastplate is very long and changes metre partway through. Print it in full and warn the organist; abridging it is common and always contentious.
- Red is only for Pentecost itself. Trinity Sunday is white or gold, and the Sunday after that begins the long green stretch — see Ordinary Time.
- The Alleluia goes away after Pentecost in the sense that Eastertide ends; there is no prohibition, but the dismissal loses its seasonal Alleluias.
Questions
What hymns are sung at Pentecost?
Come down, O Love divine; Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire; Breathe on me, breath of God; and O thou who camest from above are the standard English parish repertoire.
What colour is worn on Trinity Sunday?
White or gold. Red belongs to Pentecost, the Sunday before.
Related
Choosing hymnsA method, not a scrambleHymns for AdventWaiting, not yet arrivingHymns for LentAnd what the Alleluia rule rules outHymns for EasterAll fifty days, not just oneHymns for RemembranceAnd the shape of the silenceHymns for HarvestRepertoire and the shape of the dayHymns for ChristmasAcross all the servicesHymn metreWhat 87.87.D means, and why it helps