Mary Byrne was a twenty-five-year-old university student doing research in a Dublin, Ireland library in 1905. She discovered a rare fourteenth-century copy of an ancient Irish poem that she translated into English for the first time. Most scholars attribute the poem to an anonymous author from the eighth century. Eleanor Hull came along seven years after Mary’s translation to trim the lyrics and add a traditional Irish folk tune that resulted in the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision.”
This well-loved hymn is composed as a prayer to God. You can imagine how the reference to God as “High King of heaven” resonated with people ruled by British monarchs. The reference to God’s protection as “battle-shield” and “sword” would immediately register with people weary from war. What is striking about the original 1905 version is the repetition of the phrase, “be thou.” There are eighteen references to “be thou” associated with God and two instances of “be I” in relation to God. Don’t you love the convoluted way it ended up in our hymnals: it represents the combined efforts of an anonymous eighth century poet, a fourteenth-century copyist, a twentieth-century translator, and a twentieth-century editor. Use this ancient poem as a guide in prayer today: