FAIRFIELD—In these dark hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, sacred music composer Anna Bendiksen has gifted us with a new hymn, “Hail Queen of Peace, a Hymn for the Ukraine.”
The first verse proclaims, “Hail, Queen of Peace, O blessed Virgin Mary! From warring earth in wretchedness we cry, Yet we recall Thy joy when Thou wast called; O glorify the Name of God! O glorify!.”
Her latest hymn is a source of consolation and strength as it sings praise of the Blessed Mother and celebrates the power of faith. She began working on this hymn last week and completed it today.
“Although my graduate degrees are in Slavic languages and literatures, I have never studied Ukrainian. I did learn at some point along the way a delightful fact about Ukrainian culture. When Ukrainians greet each other at Christmastime, one person says, “Khrystos rodyvsya!” (“Christ is born!”) and the other says, “Slavite Yoho!” (“Glorify Him!”)
“This has always struck me as a powerful statement of faith. Indeed we ought to glorify God at all times. This is how Our Blessed Mother responded to Him in the Magnificat—so I decided to include, in this hymn for Ukraine to our Queen of Peace, the words “Glorify the Name of God! O glorify!.” she said.
Anna said the tune name, KOROLEVA MIRU, is Ukrainian for “Queen of Peace.”
Anna Bendiksen, who grew up singing and playing the piano, is a writer, poet and author of hymn texts. A convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism, she is a Fairfield resident and member of the Parish of St. Catherine of Siena in Trumbull.
(For more information about Anna Bendiksen’s sacred music compositions, visit: www.annabendiksen.com)
