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Frederick William Faber
Frederick William Faber (June 28, 1814 – September 26, 1863) was an English preacher, hymn writer, and theologian whose ministry transitioned from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, leaving a mark on 19th-century devotional life. Born in Calverley, Yorkshire, England, to Frederick Faber, a curate and secretary to the Bishop of Durham, and Elizabeth Ann Broadbelt, he was the eldest of five children in an evangelical Anglican family. Educated at Bishop Auckland Grammar School, Harrow School (1827–1832), and Balliol and University Colleges, Oxford (B.A. 1836, M.A. 1839), he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry in 1836, embracing Tractarianism under John Henry Newman’s influence. Faber’s preaching career began with ordination as an Anglican deacon in 1837 and priest in 1839, serving as rector of Elton, Huntingdonshire (1843–1845), where his eloquent sermons drew hearers. Converted to Catholicism in November 1845 after Newman’s example, he joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in 1848, founding its London branch in 1849, where he preached on divine love and Marian devotion until illness struck. Author of hymns like “Faith of Our Fathers” and books such as All for Jesus (1853) and The Foot of the Cross (1857), his sermons reached beyond the pulpit through print. Never married, he lived celibately as a priest and died at age 49 in London, England, from Bright’s disease.
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Frederick William Faber preaches about the universal tendency to hide certain aspects of ourselves from God, fearing the discomfort or change that may come with exposing those hidden corners. He highlights the instinct of corrupt nature to keep these areas locked away, avoiding the potential for a complete interior revolution or a higher calling that may disrupt our current way of life. Faber challenges the notion that we can keep these corners of self hidden from God, emphasizing that God can enter these spaces without our permission and see everything within, even without us shining a light on them.
Dark Recesses
"... then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you" (John 20:26). There is hardly a man or woman in the world, who has not got some corner of self into which he or she fears to venture with a light. The reasons for this may be various, as various as the individual souls. Nevertheless, in spite of the variety of reasons, the fact is universal. For the most part we hardly know our own reasons. It is an instinct, one of the quick instincts of corrupt nature. We prophesy to ourselves that, if we penetrate into that corner of self, something will have to be done which either our laziness or our immortification would shrink from doing. If we enter that sanctuary, some charm of easy devotion or smooth living will be broken. We shall find ourselves face to face with something unpleasant, something which will perhaps constrain us to all the trouble and annoyance of a complete interior revolution, or else leave us very uncomfortable in conscience. We may perhaps be committed to something higher than our present way of life, and that is out of the question. Religion is yoke enough as it is. So we leave this corner of self curtained off, locked up like a room in a house with disagreeable associations attached to it, unvisited like a lumber closet where we are conscious that disorder and dirt are accumulating, which we have not just now the vigour to grapple with. But do we think that God cannot enter there, except by our unlocking the door, or see anything when He is there, unless we hold Him a light?
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Frederick William Faber (June 28, 1814 – September 26, 1863) was an English preacher, hymn writer, and theologian whose ministry transitioned from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, leaving a mark on 19th-century devotional life. Born in Calverley, Yorkshire, England, to Frederick Faber, a curate and secretary to the Bishop of Durham, and Elizabeth Ann Broadbelt, he was the eldest of five children in an evangelical Anglican family. Educated at Bishop Auckland Grammar School, Harrow School (1827–1832), and Balliol and University Colleges, Oxford (B.A. 1836, M.A. 1839), he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry in 1836, embracing Tractarianism under John Henry Newman’s influence. Faber’s preaching career began with ordination as an Anglican deacon in 1837 and priest in 1839, serving as rector of Elton, Huntingdonshire (1843–1845), where his eloquent sermons drew hearers. Converted to Catholicism in November 1845 after Newman’s example, he joined the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in 1848, founding its London branch in 1849, where he preached on divine love and Marian devotion until illness struck. Author of hymns like “Faith of Our Fathers” and books such as All for Jesus (1853) and The Foot of the Cross (1857), his sermons reached beyond the pulpit through print. Never married, he lived celibately as a priest and died at age 49 in London, England, from Bright’s disease.