[Magdalen] Bishops' choices of funeral hymns

[Roger Stokes]

On 26/11/2016 21:11, Joseph Cirou wrote:
> I think people's familiarity with hymns may vary, but I imagine some 
> priests don't study their hymnals very closely. I would be surprised 
> if "Strife Is O'er did not appear in some of the major British hymnals.
> Joe

I suspect that in most English churches there are a number of hymns in 
their chosen hymnal they don't use. "The strife is o'er" certainly 
appears in what I believe are the most widely ised ones this side of the 
pond - "Hymns Ancient & Modern" and "New English Hymnal". When I was a 
Curate I had the misfortune to preside at two funerals for the same 
family when three of the four hymns they specified came from the 
"Funerals" section of the hymn-book. did not know them and it seemed 
nobody else did either.

Roger