Hymn Story: O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High

O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High was written by Thomas A Kempis.

His father was a peasant, whilst his mother kept a dame’s school for the younger children of Kempen.

At the age of 12, he became an inmate of the poor-scholars’ house which was connected with a “Brother-House”. He remained there for six years before being received into the Brotherhood. He took his vows in 1407 and became a priest in 1413. He spent much of his time copying and transcribing biographies, tracts, hymns and wrote Imitatio Christi. He died in 1471.

Benjamin Webb translated the hymn into English. The hymn was first published in the 1852 The Hymnal Noted.

He was born in London, England in 1819. He served parishes in St. Andrews, Wells Street, and London. He wrote and translated hymns and served as one of the editors for the 1872 The Hymnary. He died in 1885.

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