They are in chronological order:

  • “Kinh hòa bình” [Peace Prayer] (1960) by Kim Long
  • “Make Me a Channel of Your Love” (1967) by Sebastian Temple
  • “Peace Prayer” (1976) by John Foley, SJ

The Vietnamese hymn by the diocesan priest Kim Long (1941-2025) has been among the most popular and beloved hymns in Vietnamese Catholicism. Popular enough that there was a special celebration upon its 50th anniversary in 2010. Two years later, the Conference of Vietnamese Bishops established a prize for Catholic hymns was established and named it after this hymn: Giải thưởng Thánh ca Kinh Hòa Bình [The Peace Prayer Hymn Prize]. Like some of the most popular Vietnamese hymns, it was written by a seminarian in his early 20s. Fr. Kim Long was born and raised in the Bùi Chu apostolic vicariate. Before 1954, it was arguably the most significant vicariate in northern Vietnam after Hanoi. He moved south in 1954, attended a minor seminary, and wrote his first hymn in 1957. Three years later, he composed the melody to Bishop Nguyễn Kim Điền’s translation of the Prayer of St. Francis. He wrote thousands of hymns before and after ordination to the priesthood in 1968, including many based on the Psalms, and conducted countless workshops in Vietnam and the diaspora.

The hymn by Sebastian Temple (1928-1997) was the work of an immigrant. Temple was born in South Africa, went to the U.K. for work, and then moved to the U.S. where he converted to Catholicism and became a Third Order Franciscan. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he recorded and released several albums of sacred songs written in the style of folk music, including Sing! People of God Sing! and Happy the Man (both 1967). It was on the latter album where “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” first appeared. Its arrangement was, well, something else. Quite unlike church versions that we commonly hear today. Although this song was already well known among trans-Atlantic, English-speaking Catholic communities, its inclusion in the funeral of Princess Diana raised its profile to a greater global audience. Coincidentally, Temple died only a few months after this event. I wouldn’t be surprised if the hymn was sung at his own funeral.

The hymn by the Jesuit priest John Foley (1939- ) makes the last recording of fourteen hymns in A Dwelling Place (1976), the third album of the St. Louis Jesuits. Foley grew up in the Midwest like his four fellow musical companions, but he was the only one with an education in classical music. This hymn isn’t among his most popular, but it’s been sung enough in churches and retreats, Catholic and Protestant alike.

The Prayer of St. Francis wasn’t from St. Francis, but its words were empowered by the invocation of the name and spirit of the beloved saint. (Click here to read my published if brief analysis.) Hymnal compositions based on this prayer could have come from any era of recorded music. Nonetheless, I wonder if there was a common reason accounting for the fact that these hymns came out of the turbulent period of the 1960s and 1970s. The Cold War comes to mind, and specifically the Vietnam conflict in the case of the Vietnamese tune. And perhaps the threat of nuclear annihilation was among the inspiration for the two songs in English. We can only guess. In the meantime, we can appreciate the anthemic quality in these hymns since they largely shared the same lyrics from the same anthemic prayer.

An a cappella performance of “Kinh hòa bình” by the Thiên Ca Choir in Vietnam:

“Make Me a Channel of Your Peace” sung at the funeral of Princess Diana:

The original recording of “Peace Prayer” sung by the composer: