“Be Thou My Vision” began as an old Irish poem. Two women turned it into one of the best loved hymns

“Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.” The words sound like a prayer from the heart of the Irish church, because that is what they are.

The hymn comes from an Old Irish poem, “Rop tú mo baile”, which scholars date to the early medieval period. It has often been associated with St Patrick, the fifth-century missionary to Ireland, although it was written later. The poem is a prayer asking God to be the centre of every part of life.

Translation and tune

In 1905, the Irish scholar Mary Byrne published an English prose translation of the poem in the journal Ériu. In 1912, Eleanor Hull, another scholar of Irish literature, turned Byrne’s translation into rhyming verse. Hull’s version is the basis of the hymn sung today. The hymn is sung to Slane, a traditional Irish folk melody. The tune is named after the Hill of Slane in County Meath, where, according to tradition, St Patrick lit a Paschal fire in defiance of the High King of Ireland, announcing the arrival of Christianity. The words and tune were paired in a hymnal in 1919, and the combination spread widely.

The message

The hymn asks God to be the singer’s vision, wisdom, word, father, shield, dignity, delight, shelter and high tower. Its verses reject worldly riches: “Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise; Thou mine inheritance, now and always.” It echoes the call of Jesus to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) and the psalmist’s prayer, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee” (Psalm 73:25).

Popularity and why it lasts

“Be Thou My Vision” is sung in churches of almost every tradition: Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and Pentecostal. Modern worship bands have recorded new arrangements, and it is often sung at weddings, ordinations and funerals. In Ghana and Nigeria, the hymn is sung in schools, churches and chapels, especially in mission schools with Anglican and Methodist roots. Choirs often perform it in four-part harmony.

The hymn is short, simple and deeply personal. It asks for nothing but God’s presence.

Praying it

Read the words slowly as a prayer, one line at a time. Each line names something that we often put before God: riches, praise, even our own wisdom. A poem written by an unknown Irish poet more than a thousand years ago, translated by two women scholars, is now sung every Sunday somewhere in the world. Its writer asked God to be his vision. The request has not needed updating.