Looking through an old ‘scrap book’ from my high-school days, I took a trip down memory lane. It’s amazing what simple pictures can do to the archived files in ones memory bank! Memories, good and bad, that I will never forget. I remember Mother Teresa, our Principal, a beautiful nun but one tough lady! Mother Dolorosa so frustrated at her failure to get maths into my head, Mother Philip who taught me Latin and History, Mother Carmel and all the other dedicated teachers of Loreto Convent, Valley Road. I remember drawing cartoons in the middle of a Geography lesson and I remember using chalk on my white canvas tennis shoes trying to make them ‘look’ white after a game of netball. All memories that bring a smile to my face but when I remember the last day before the school holidays, I cannot hold back my tears.
Excitement filled the air that day. We all arrived at school with our miniature tins of furniture polish and duster as every pupil had to pack her books and polish her wooden desk. At mid-morning we all lined up for Mass. What brings a tear to my eye is remembering the hymn we all sung together at the end of Mass. It was our Holiday Hymn. We loved it and all the girls and all the nuns and teachers sung it with their heart and soul putting feeling and emotion into every line. I still remember the words:
Mother of all that is pure and glad, All that is bright and blest, As we have taken our toil to thee, So will we take our rest. Take thou and bless our Holiday. O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae.
Airs that are soft and a cloudless sky, We would owe all to Thee, Speak to Thy Son as Thou didst of old, That feast day in Galilee. Tell Him our needs in Thine own sweet way, O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae.
Be with us, Mother, from morn till eve, Thou and Thy Blessed Son, Keep us from all that is grief to you, ‘Till the weeks and months are run. Thine be we still, when grave or gay, O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae.
Smile upon all that is dear to us, Smile on our school and home, Smile on the days we are passing now, Smile on the years to come. Brighten our work and gladden our play, O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae.
Keep us in all that is blest of God, Give us the joys that endure, Lips that have smiles and words for all, Hearts that are kind and pure; So wilt Thou be by night and day, O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae.
Come when earth’s tears and smiles are o’er, Mother of peace and love, Show to us Him who is joy to earth, And joy to the hosts above. So shall we laugh in the latter day, O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae
Gabriella's Blog 
OMG!!
Well that brought tears to my eyes too. And where on earth did you dig up those photos? WOW!!!
Special.
Thank you so much for this hymn. I have tried to recollect the words and often thought I’d been singing my own version of Latin(!). I can remember singing this hymn every year at the beginning of the hollidays and feeling exicted and happy. Wonderful memories. Can’t stop singing it now.
Great post (once again), Gabriella! Is the school still there?
Yes brings back memories of the Loreto Convent and the nuns who taught us. That was a most beautiful hymn we sung….dont hear it sung anymore these days.
Our school St Augustine’s has a beautiful school hymn : We Stand for God and for His Glory, the Lord supreme and God of All etc etc etc….but wow these days here at this school are so different……the kids are rude and cheeky and disobedient. We have endless disciplinary problems etc etc……makes teaching very unpleasant. We do take into account the background of these kids…most from broken homes and very disadvantaged but my gosh how very different from when we went to school in our days…..we never dared say a word in class and put up our hands for anything………..well as everyone seems to think…times have changed indeed…….but certainly not for the better (at this school anyhow)
Well well well 🙂 🙂 🙂
Look who I find by clicking on Loreto Convent Valley Road tags! 🙂
Gabriella, remember me? Your Polish classmate?
Please write to me. I’m so happy to have found you after so many years 🙂
Yes, I do remember the hymn – still gives me goosepimples.
I’m an artist, I now live in Oslo since many years.
Where are you?
🙂 🙂 🙂
Hi Christine,
I remember you so clearly along with many others from our class. I would love to contact you again, please write.
Margaret
Gabriella, it’s nice to see that I am not the only one remembering old school days and friends these days, I see from your above comment that you may be reuniting with an old friend as well!
Love the hymn! My Catholic grade school was very small, only 14 students in my whole grade, 5 girls in all. We 5 girls were the funeral choir, and we were terrible! I used to think all the poor mourners would cry over our off key singing instead of the grief they were feeling!
Blessings to you!
Hey! Christine!
Can’t believe my eyes!
Wow. The wonders of internet.
Will write immediately.
Hi, Churchmouse.
It was the best girls’ school in the late 60s in Nairobi, Kenya.
Catholic school run by the Loreto nuns from Rathfarnham, Dublin Ireland.
As far as I know, it’s still standing but I guess there won’t be many nuns teaching nowadays 😉
Ahahahahah – would have loved to hear the ‘funeral choir’ 🙂
Anne, don’t you ever sleep?
Antonella, do you actually teach at St Augustine’s? What do you teach?
OH Gabriella, those photos are WONDERFUL! The song is lovely!
And I thank you for sharing those memories.
What a blessing to have been taught by the nuns of Loreto!!!!!!!!
And you were in Kenya, if I understood that correctly?
AMAZING!
I have fond memories of the Catholic school that I attended as a child. Not all the teachers were nuns though. The school was attached to a convent but, sadly, I don’t think this convent is used anymore[lack of vocations]. The song is great! Our Lady is so beautiful! We didn’t sing this one; this is the first time I have heard of it.
Funny thing, Gabriella, I was wondering if Anne ever slept too.
You can all stop wondering, the answer is practically never and I would love some prayers! Mine don’t seem to help in this regard and I’ve tried everything else I can think of. I am totally dragging this week especially! I have no trouble falling asleep about 9:00 in the evening (much to the irritation of my family) but by 2 am, I am wide awake and done for the night. I’m like a baby with my days and nights mixed up!
we still sang it in LC delhi ! it was such a haunting tune .
I believe this particular hymn to Our Lady was written specifically for the Loreto Colleges around the world. I don’t think anyone knows it or has ever heard it, unless they went to a Loreto College somewhere.
It does not get sung in parishes and churches as such, I believe.
Which is a pity …. ’cause it’s one of the most beautiful hymns I have ever heard: a wonderful prayer to Our Lady “Cause of our Joy.”
The hymn was sang at my junior school when we breaking up for the summer holidays. St Wilfrids Bishop Auckland County Durham its a beautiful hymn loveley to hum along to again
If this gorgeous old hymn was written for the Loreto Colleges then the Convent of the Holy Family in Sussex, UK, borrowed it at least all through the 50’s, 60’a and 70’s, probably even longer. We loved this hymn, the tune was wonderful and it was sung at the last assembly of every term, not just summer. We have had a few class reunions during the 2000’s and we belt out this Mother of all that is pure and glad…… All six verses. We are all in our sixties now but not a note is forgotten. I wish it was on You Tube. Wonderful hymns were sung in those days and I am not a religious person at all. A lapsed Catholic. How well I recall, Hail Queen of Heaven the Ocean Star, Faith of Our Fathers, Hail Glorious St Patrick and Full in the Panting Heart of Rome. Even a lapsed Catholic can be moved to a few tears at the sound of these tunes.
Was a boarder in Loreto College, Cavan, Republic of Ireland, 1962 – 1967, this hymn was sung the evening before each holiday, after prayers. Brings back sad and happy memories. No nuns left now in cavan, all lay teachers and school is now run and owned (Ithink) by Dept., of Education . Went back a few times for a look around and cried for lost days of youth, which I thought would never end!!.
I also have lovely memories of singing this hymn just before our holidays began and never thought that others would appreciate its sentiments as I do. Love it.
Dear Gabriella,
Can’t thank you enough for your post. I’m a Loreto Convent School girl from Bombay (now Mumbai) in India. It’s amazing to see how all of us- having been brought up in different countries, different cultures – unite under the Loreto Convent name. The ‘whitening your canvas shoes with chalk to make them look whiter’ part makes me feel like we were in the same school..doing exactly the same things! LOL..
Completely love my school and have beautiful memories of the nuns (especially Sr.Ursula from Ireland) and Teachers who made us the women we are today. Ours was the best girls’ school around. Now of course, the Irish nuns are gone and the school is being run by another set of people.
Love the holiday hymn and know its words even after all these years (passed out of school in ’94). Another song etched in the heart is the school Anthem:
“To East and West of that fair isle
Where the first Loreto stands
Loreto’s banner now doth fly in many distant lands.
In sunny Spain, on Affric’s strand
And under the Southern Cross
And westward ho, where rainbow-hued.
Niagara’s waters toss.
Chorus: Loreto’s banner gaily floats, in lands both East and West.
Loreto’s name each girl reveres
and holds it ever blest.”
Feels good to have read all these posts shared by the other Loreto girls across the globe. Its just so easy to connect!
So long.. 🙂
Hi
You must have been a contemporary of mine – I remeber a Gabrielle in my class – small and brown haired with freckles – is it you??? I was at Valley Road 1963-1970 (standard 2 to Form 1) loved it and was particularly fond of Mother Carmel. I am about to visit – literally – on 27 July 2012 with two of my daughters after 35 years away – is Antonella – Antonella Coccencelli? I am Jo Peberdy and am still in touch with Alison Campbell and through Alison hear news of Sandie Weekes. My sister was there too – Sally Peberdy – she is now living in South Africa – I ma in the UK.
I attended SFX Infants and Junior Schools, in Liverpool, England from 1960 to 1966 and we called this our Holiday Song. We performed it just before the 6 weeks summer holidays, but only one verse…………. Mother of all that is pure and glad, All that is bright and blest, As we have taken our toil to thee, So will we take our rest. Take thou and bless our Holiday. O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae. ……. I am so glad to hear of it’s origin, thank you so much, this song was everyone’s favourite and we used to ask our teacher could we sing it, we all loved it that much and sang it at the top of our little voices, and with such gusto, no doubt with the wonderful anticipation of the long, hot, summer holidays to come, playing out with our little playmates.
Hi Gabriella
So good to connect to your blog. I remember you and LCVR so well too. Can still recall you singing O Causa Nostrae Laetitia to this day.
Last year I met up with some of our class girls – Evelyn from Vancouver, Margaret from Calgary, Cathy from Ontario and Carmen who lives in Connicutt, but invited us all to her holiday villa at Cape Cod. We were all 60 last year and so it was part of a celebration.
I would love to hear from you and of course Christine Gebis, who I see contacted you too.
Love
Genny Ellis (nee Gracias)
I graduated in 1958 from Loreto House Calcutta, and Loreto Convent Darjeeling (India), and living now in Israel. I remember all those beautiful hymns (I was once tempted to steal the hymnbook from the church and almost regret that I didn’t!). I love O Causa Nostrae, Little King so fair and sweet, Mary from Thy Sacred Image, Who is this cometh over the mountains, and some others. Beautiful melodies. I find myself singing these hymns in the shower and when I’m driving alone. Comment to Preeti Bavnani from Bombay – “To East and West of that Fair Isle where the first Loreto stands” was probably only sung in India. Maybe I’m wrong. My love and good wishes to ALL LORETO GIRLS all over the world.
Ilana Sondak
I loved this hymn and it always made me cry. We also sung it before the start of the summer holidays. I went to Notredame High school during the 1960’s in a town called Dumbarton in Scotland. I seem to be the only person who remembers it and reading all your comments made me emotional all over again. Thank you
Gabriella:
Aye attended Montfort in Yercaud, Salem, Madras, India. Boarding School run by the Brothers of St. Gabriel – 1957 to 1966.
We sang this hymn every Sunday and Holidays and its refrain has haunted me. Actually it was the only hymn that would rattle the painted glass windows of the Chapel.
Was looking up the words – for which aye thank you.
Med King
Hi Gabriella,
I cannot believe that Mafalda came across your website and passed it on to the rest of us from Loreto Valley Road. I remember you well and your family. I would love to keep in touch. as Genny said we had a mini reunion recently and enjoyed meeting everyone again, I think it had been over 40 yrs since I had seen Carmen, Genny and Lorraine.
Christine I remember you well too and would like to share a picture of our class with both of you.
Please do contact me.
Love and Hugs,
Margaret
Hello All,
Its so nice to see all of us from the same banner come together from all parts of the globe. I am from Loreto Convent Darjeeling.
The education that Loreto infused into us is what makes us stand up tall in a crowd I am proud to say that. The nuns with their loving touch moulded us into what we are today. I serve a missionary school today under the Salesians, and feel the same spirit and love and care amidst them, but what has changed is the society and its effect shows on the learners. Was reading above about the ‘now’ and ‘then’ of education, and so true it is that what Loreto taught us, the respect for knowledge and the teachers and the love for the institution, are no longer in the value systems on the new day learners. It is painful but our mission is to go on hoping that we will make them see light.
Just a song that we sang before we broke for holidays brought all of us together…. it speaks volumes of what this banner taught us and gave us … hope to instill a little of that in each learner that I guide today.
With loving prayers for all of you…..God Bless…..
Piyali
This is a fascinating thread. I attended a Loreto in Australia (there is a Loreto school in every state here) and now my daughter goes to the same fantastic school. They still sing “Cruci dum spiro fido” as the school song, but never sing the holiday hymn, which we absolutely LOVED. About once a year the teachers would announce it was banned because we got so raucous, swaying and stamping our feet….but it always came back again the next year.
Angela,
I went to Kirribilli and we stamped and swayed our way through the Holiday Hymn back in the sixties but the school song was Queen of Loreto. Didn’t you sing that?
Judith
Went to my grandchildrens closing ceremony at a catholic international school in copenhagen yesterday. The children sang Cliff Richards ” Summer holiday”. A pop song from my youth. I remembered the hymn we sang at the end of term in Notre Dame Convent High. In Glasgow Scotland ,it was O Causa Nostrae ,
I went to a school in Ireland in the 1940s run by Presentation nuns and we sang the holiday hymn every year! One of the lay teachers and one of the nuns had sisters who were Loeto so maybe thet got the hymn thus?
I attended the Bar Convent, York, U.K. founded by the I.B.V.M.(Loreto in Ireland) in 1686. We also sang the Holiday Hymn every summer, most of us in tears. It is still sung every year at the Annual Reunion of ‘Old Girls’. The schoolis now the lower half of All Saints Catholic Comprehensive but the nuns,who now call themselves Congregation of Jesus (incomprehensively) still live in the 18th. century buildings.
hey were there any africans in that school at that time ave joined the school on 2013
How wonderful to see the words of this beautiful hymn – we sang it at the Ursuline Convent School I went to in Wimbledon, South London, in the late ’70’s/early ’80’s.
Does anyone remember the words to Queen of Loreto?
Hello Judith I too am seriously searching for the words to Queen of Loreto.
I do hope you and I can find them.
I have a local lead so will keep looking.
Julie
Hey Julie,
This is all I can remember
Queen of Loreto
thy mercy show
unto thy children
here below
la-la-la
Mary our shield
might is in thee
unto thy children
a rampart then be???
I mailed the IBVM generalate in Rome and asked them. If I get a reply I will post it straight away. I left school in 1972 and we weren’t allowed to sing Q of L at the last mass because some bright bird had written a satirical version. But having been at Loreto for 13 years I am amazed that I can’t sing the whole thing. I can manage all of O causa nostrae, especially when a little oiled on the way home after an ex-students get together (happy memories of six of us in a pajero driving up Pacific Highway at one in the morning).
I think it’s great that you can get a bunch of Loreto girls from anywhere in the world and we can all sing the same songs.
Cheers and may the Queen of Loreto shine upon you,
Judith
Kirribilli, Australia 1972
Got them from a friend, also called Julie!
Queen of Loreto, thy mercy show
Smile on thy children, here below
Humbly we ask aid in our need
Be to thy children a mother indeed (2X)
Guard us from sin, false are its joys
Bitter remorse all its pleasure destroys
Mary our shield might is in thee
Unto thy children a rampart then be (2X)
Called by your name, placed in your care
Our hope your glory, our strength your prayer
Searching in faith, be ever our guide
Show us Christ Jesus your son glorified (2X)
Cheers
Hi, I have really enjoyed reading your blog.
I am a Loreto girl from Melbourne Australia. We sang Queen of Loreto as the school hymn, Cruci Dum Spiro Fido whenever we needed a second rousing hymn for mass and we sang The Holiday Hymn at the end of every term.
As a teacher, I have just finished teaching at Loreto in Melbourne and have moved to Loreto in Brisbane, Australia. The 3 hymns are all known here too. It is so lovely that we all share these traditions, even if it is in slightly different ways, all across the world.
A new hymn was recently added to the repertoire called “Lead Us On Mary Ward”, written by Sister Deidre Browne, IBVM. Hopefully, it too will find its way into Loreto tradition the world over.
I am an expupil from Loreto Convent Coorparoo Brisbane and we sang all those hymns. Cruci, Queen of Loreto, the holiday Hymn. Deirdre Brown IBVM was the principal and we regularly sang a couple of hymns written by her. I just can’t remember them.
Hello Loreto Girls from Toorak,
Cruci dum spiro was also written by Sr. Dierdre for, I think, the 100 year celebration of Loreto in Oz in 1975.
Cheers,
LOLLGFK
(Little old lady Loreto girl from Kirribilli)
Recently I found this hymn when I was doing some research. It begins ‘Mother of all that is pure and glad…’ The ‘Holiday Hymn’ hymn (as it was sometimes known) was written by a Sister of Notre Dame (SMX) – I don’t know any more than her initials- and can be found in a hymnal ‘In Hymnis et Canticis’, published in 1903 by Paternoster House in London. Only the words are printed. It seemed to have been sung in many many catholic schools certainly in Scotland and I am sure also in England and beyond. I have never seen the music and would be glad to know if anyone has a copy.
Many thanks. Sr Margaret Rose Bradley SNDdeN.
Dear Sr Margaret Rose,
I don’t know where you are but if you contact any Loreto school in Australia, I am sure you could get the music to the Holiday Hymn. As you can see from the comments, it is still sung in all the Loreto schools. I’d forget the Loreto Generalate in Rome. They didn’t bother to reply when I asked for the words to Queen of Loreto. Toorak has them on their website. The Loreto Australia website is Loreto.org.au (I think).
I hope that helps,
Regards
Judith
Thank you Judith very much. I am in Scotland but I will certainly follow this up.
Thanks again.
Sr Margaret Rose
Dear Sister Margaret Rose,
The Loreto Association of schools has recently commissioned a recording and arrangement of the Holiday Hymn. If you were to contact Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak, I am sure that they would be happy to send you a copy of the music. Ask to be put in contact with their Liturgy Co-ordinator.
Dear Deana Thank you so much for your email regarding the ‘Holiday Hymn’. I will follow this up and let you know how I get on. It is indeed a small world! With blessings and thanks Sr Margaret Rose SND
Gabriella, thank you. I have been trying to remember the holiday hymn for 36 years. i only got to sing it once, on my last day at one of the convent schools of the Faithful Companions of Jesus. i was one of the few non-catholic girls there, but that didn’t matter, for that year was the happiest of my school days. we then moved to another part of the country, and i lost touch with my friends. I feel quite emotional reading the words, as i recall singing it with tears pouring down my face, and being held by my classmates and our 6th form prefect.
Thank you Gabriella for the words of ” O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae .I could only remember the first verse and was longing to find the rest of the words..
Thanks too, for sharing your memories and to all the other “girls ” for their memories and comments. I could identify with you all !
I am a Notre Dame ‘old girl’ from Kroonstad , South Africa. ( Matric 1960) We have the same feelings and camaraderie as the Loreto girls . We too sang the hymn at the end of each term. It arouses such special memories and emotions within one.
I note comments from two other Notre Dame girls.
Linda Mc Ilwraith , I wonder if you knew Sister Margaret (Mc Kenzie ) of the Holy Name. She was our headmistress and came from Dumbarton She retired back to Dumbarton sometime around 1960 ?
My husband and I were made so welcome when we stopped and visited at the convent in Dumbarton. in 1971,
Blessings to you all !
Teresa Genade (Barenbrug)
Wow so great to find this blog – I sang this hymn at the end of each term at my convent St Catherine’s in Twickenham in England 1966 – 1972. I adored it then and now and often find myself belting it out in the shower to myself at holiday time. Special for me too as my only daughter is named Laetitia!