308. I hunger and I thirst
John S. B. Monsell, 1811-75
A simple, tender, communion hymn which ought to have a wider use.
John Samuel Bewley Monsell was educated at Trinity College, Dublin; labored for a number of years in the church in Ireland; and then became vicar of Egham in the Diocese of Worcester, England, and finally rector of St. Nicholas, Guildford. His home life at Guildford is described as having been “full of the beauty of holiness, with genial brightness and gaity playing like sunshine over all the troubles of life.” His life came to a tragic end when he fell from the roof of the church while it was being rebuilt. He composed about 300 hymns and is the author of many other poetic works.
MUSIC. MAINZ (MARIA JUNG UND ZART) originally appeared in a Catholic book, Ausserlesene Catholische, Geistliche Kirchengesänge von Pfingsten, biss zum Advent, Cologne, 1632. It was slightly changed and printed in its present form in Psalteriolum Harmonicum Sacrarum Cantilenarum, 1642.