Scripture Verse

Introduction

Origin of the Hymn

While tra­vel­ing in It­aly as a young priest, New­man fell ill and stayed at Cas­tel San Gio­van­ni al­most three weeks. Fin­al­ly, he was well enough con­tin­ue his jou­rney to Pa­ler­mo:

Before start­ing from my inn, I sat down on my bed and began to sob bit­ter­ly. My ser­vant, who had act­ed as my nurse, asked what ailed me. I could on­ly an­swer, I have a work to do in Eng­land. I was ach­ing to get home, yet for want of a ves­sel I was kept at Pa­ler­mo for three weeks.

I be­gan to vis­it the church­es, and they calmed my im­pa­tience, though I did not at­tend any ser­vic­es. At last I got off in an or­ange boat, bound for Mar­seilles. We were be­calmed for whole week in the Straits of Bo­ni­fa­cio, and it was there that I wrote the lines, Lead, Kind­ly Light, which have since be­come so well known.

John Newman

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This pray­er-hymn, cast in high po­et­ic form, was penned by John Hen­ry New­man, af­ter­ward a car­din­al in the Ro­man Ca­tho­lic Church, while on ship­board on Sun­day, June 16, 1833.

It is said that the ship had been com­pelled to pro­ceed slow­ly be­cause of the dense fog that en­compassed it. Dr. New­man was re­turn­ing to Mar­seilles, France, from a vi­sit he had made to Ita­ly. While in Si­ci­ly he was tak­en se­ri­ous­ly ill and on his re­co­ve­ry he wait­ed for his ship in Pa­ler­mo for three weeks.

Probably both of these facts en­tered some­what into the im­age­ry of the hymn, as is evi­denced by such phras­es as th’ en­circ­ling gloom and The night is dark, and I am far from home.

The thought and sen­ti­ment of the hymn, how­ev­er, were wrought out of the men­tal dark­ness in which New­man was then grop­ing. Some time be­fore, he wrote this note: Now in my room in Or­iel Col­lege, slow­ly ad­vanc­ing, etc., and led on by God’s hand blind­ly, not know­ing whi­ther he is tak­ing me. This dark­ness, be­cloud­ing his faith, had be­come still deep­er dur­ing the sum­mer of his It­al­ian jour­ney, dur­ing which he wrote Lead, Kind­ly Light.

But the ex­pres­sion of his su­preme trust in God, which shines through these lines, so uni­vers­al­ly po­pu­lar, has helped ma­ny a soul that has yearned for guid­ance amid th’ en­circ­ling gloom.

Price, p. 34