Fairest Lord Jesus

Hymn lyrics and .mp3 Download

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1. Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O thou of God and man the Son, Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

2. Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, robed in the blooming garb of spring: Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3. Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry host: Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast.

4. Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations! Son of God and Son of Man! Glory and honor, praise, adoration, now and forevermore be thine.

Words by: Munster Gesangbuch;
trans. by Joseph August Seiss
Music by: Schlesische Volkslieder;
arr. by Richard Storrs Willis
Video so you can sing along to Fairest Lord Jesus

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Story of the hymn Fairest Lord Jesus

"Fairest Lord Jesus" (also known as "Beautiful Savior" or "Crusader's Hymn") is a beloved Christian hymn of German origin. Its story involves anonymous authorship, Catholic roots, folk traditions, and later popularization—though some romantic legends around it are likely unfounded.

Origins of the Text

The original German text, "Schönster Herr Jesu" ("Fairest Lord Jesus"), is anonymous. It first appeared in print in the Münster Gesangbuch (Münster Songbook) of 1677, a Roman Catholic hymnbook from Münster, Germany. It was included in an appendix of "three selected beautiful new hymns." An even earlier version exists in a manuscript dated around 1662 (or 1662–1673) from the Münster area, suggesting the text circulated in Catholic devotional circles before publication.

Some sources link it to Jesuit influences (the Jesuit order was founded in the 16th century), but this remains speculative. The hymn praises Jesus as the most beautiful Lord, surpassing nature, and expresses devotion to Him as Ruler of all. The English translation most commonly used today was made by Joseph August Seiss in the late 19th century.

The Tune and 19th-Century Popularization

The melody now associated with it (often called "Crusader's Hymn" or "Schönster Herr Jesu") is not from the 17th century. It was collected in the 1840s by the German poet and scholar Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben.

He encountered it as a folk tune sung by rural people (possibly haymakers) in the Silesian/Prussian region of Glatz (now in Poland) and published it in Schlesische Volkslieder (1842), pairing it with the older text (with some alterations). This Silesian folk melody helped spread the hymn widely.

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