Tabb Centenary Year LXVI

Three lyrics by Rev. John B. Tabb.

A Lily of the Field

In all his glory, Solomon
   Was never so arrayed;
Yet far more beautiful is one—
   A MOTHER and a MAID—
Whose loveliness and lowliness
God stooped from highest heaven to bless.

1899 (p. 206, Religion: The Blessed Virgin)

The Immaculate Conception

A dewdrop of the darkness born,
   Wherein no shadow lies;
The blossom of a barren thorn,
   Whereof no petal dies;
A rainbow beauty passion-free,
Wherewith was veiled Divinity.

January 1894 (p. 204, Religion: The Blessed Virgin)

Mary

Maid-Mother of humanity divine,
   Alone thou art in thy supremacy,
   Since God Himself did reverence to thee
And built of flesh a temple one with thine,
Wherein, through all eternity, to shrine
   His inexpressive glory. Blessed be
   The miracle of thy maternity,
Of grace the sole immaculate design!

1893 (p. 210, Religion: An Octave to Mary)

[The Roman Church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary on Dec. 8, nine months before the celebration of her birthday, Sep. 8. “A Lily of the Field”: the poem and its title allude to Luke 12:27. “The Immaculate Conception”: in “passion-free”, Father Tabb may have meant passions in a theological sense, especially unbridled passions.]

The references (page number and section) are to The Poetry of Father Tabb, ed. Francis A. Litz, Ph.D. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1928). All of Tabb's poems published here in the Father Tabb Centenary Year were originally published before 1923.

Biblical references link to the New Advent Bible comprising Bishop Challoner's edition of the Douay-Rheims Bible (English) and the Sixto-Clementine edition of the Vulgate (Latin), since they are the versions which Father Tabb would have used as a Catholic.

The year 2009 is the centenary of the death of Rev. John Banister Tabb, November 19, 1909.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 12/08/09 08:39:17 AM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.