1834 - 1912 Person Name: Father M. Russell Hymnal Number: 68 Author of "A message from the Sacred Heart" in The St. Gregory Hymnal and Catholic Choir Book. Singers' ed., Melody ed. Russell, Matthew, s. of Arthur Russell of Killowen, Co. Down, was b. July 13, 1834, at Newry, Co. Down, Ireland. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1857, and is now (1906) at St. Francis Xavier's Church, Dublin. He has published many small volumes containing verse, most of which, being printed in Dublin, have not reached the British Museum; and has collected the sacred verse he thinks worth preserving in Vespers and Compline, 1900, and Altar Flowers, 1900. The best known of his hymns are:—
1. A message from the Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart of Jesus. In St. Patrick's Hymn Book, Dublin, 1890.
2. O Mary, dearest Mother. May.
No. 2 was first published in his Madonna, 1880, p. 23. See also Index of Authors and Translators.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)
Matthew Russell